Markets are little changed Wednesday, as stocks trade on their own specific news, rather than in response to any macroeconomic trends. The S&P/TSX composite index is down 10 points to 6,684.

Volume is strong once again at 118.2 million shares, with the buying edging the selling 13:10. Market breadth is almost evenly divided between winners and losers, with losers holding a slight 49:47 edge.

There is a fairly even split between the TSX sectors, with modest gains in several groups including telecoms, consumer staples and energy. Only the real estate group is up as much as 1%.

There is weakness in techs, materials and financials, but golds are the only group down as much as 1%.

Nortel Networks is leading the trade, but it is hardly moving, up just 0.2% on hefty volume of 16.2 million shares.

Golds as a group are down, but Barick is up 1.1% in heavy trading on news that it plans to buyback up to 35 million shares, about 7% of its public float. The company has allocated up to $500 million for the buyback. Elsewhere in the group however, there is weakness in Kinross, Glaims, Agnico Eagle, Nevsun, Meridan and Iamgold.

Shoppers Drug Mart has dropped 2.2% on news that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters for a $690 million secondary offering by shareholders of 30 million of the company’s common shares at an offering price of $23 per share. Closing is expected to take place on May 22. CIBC World Markets Inc. and Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. are co-lead managers for the underwriting group. Other members of the underwriting syndicate are RBC Capital Markets, Scotia Capital Inc., Credit Suisse First Boston Canada Inc., Morgan Stanley Canada Ltd. and TD Securities Inc.

The financials stocks are weaker, led by a 0.9% slide in CIBC. Scotia is down a little in active trading, too.

On the insurance side, Fairfax is sliding again, down about 3% so far. Industrial-Alliance Life Insurance Co. has dropped 3.5% on news that the company ended the first quarter with shareholder net income of $28.4 million, compared with restated net income of $8.1 million for the same period in 2002. Earnings for the first quarter of 2002 were affected by a $19.4 million provision the company took to cover two bonds it held in Teleglobe, without this provision, the net restated income for the first quarter of 2002 would have been $27.5 million.

Other notable losers include Alcan, Imax and Thomson.

BCE is higher today, up 0.8% in active trading on news of its reorganization, and AT&T Canada is making gains, too. There are also gains in travel-related firms Air Canada, Transat, and Four Seasons. Cott, Pivotal Energy and Blackrock Ventures are also up.

Weston has added 3.2% on news that its net earnings for the first quarter of 2003 increased $26 million, or 24%, to $134 million from 2002.

Uni-Select reported net profits of the company increased by 10.8% to $3.43 million in its latest quarter.

In New York, the trading is mixed. The Dow Jones industrial average up 24 points at midday to 8,613. The S&P 500 has added a single point to 935. The Nasdaq composite is down four points to 1,519.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is following the Dow today, gaining five points at midday to 1,061. Volume is a bit softer at 16 million shares. Epic Energy is leading the trade, up 7¢ to 16¢ on 493,000 shares.