Markets are mired in another mixed trade Wednesday. Traders are mulling over conflicting economic news with earnings reports from a variety of firms. The S&P/TSX composite index is up just six ticks to 6,494.

Volume is decent at 103.8 million shares, with the buying swamping the selling by a 20:13 margin. Market breadth is also bullish, but only slightly.

The market action is split by sectors, too, with gains coming in the techs and golds primarily. There is weakness in telecoms and financials. But again, there is not a lot of dramatic action in most groups.

Nortel is leading the tech stocks higher again, rising about 3% on strong volume of 15 million shares. Open Text, Zarlink, Geac Computer and Celestica are all joining the tech rally. The same enthusiasm is not spilling over to the telecoms, where there is notable selling in Telus, BCE, and Rogers Communications.

Financials are on the downside today, with Canada Life down in active trading. However, Royal Bank is a bit higher, and Fairfax Financial is making gains.

There is mixed trading in the energy sector, with Petro Canada down in heavy trading, and EnCana up more than 1%. Peyto Explorations is down notably.

Elsewhere, Bombardier is up, and there are gains in golds, Wheaton River Minerals and Meridian Gold.

Cott is up 4.4% in active trading on news that it earned US$10.5 million in the first quarter of 2003. The company reported operating income of $24.8 million, up 35% from last year. The company also amended its guidance for the full year, raising its estimate of earnings per share to 93¢ to 96¢ from 90¢ to 92¢.

The flipside of Cott’s earnings success story is Stelco, which is down 16.6% on heavy volume of 1.9 million shares on news that it now estimates a net loss for the first quarter 2003 of $44 million. This loss compares with a fourth quarter 2002 profit of $22 million and a first quarter 2002 loss of $32 million.

The major factors contributing to the reduced first quarter 2003 results compared with fourth quarter 2002 are lower average revenue per tonne, increased energy and operating costs, and costs related to the closure of Welland Pipe Ltd.

Other notable losers include Air Canada, Bennett Enviro, Magellan Aerospace, CN Rail and Dofasco.

In other news, Sears Canada reports that its net earnings for its latest quarter were $11.4 million, compared with a net loss of $115.9 million for the same period last year. Last year’s results include an after-tax expense of $124.3 million, primarily related to the conversion of the remaining Eatons stores to the Sears banner. Excluding these non-comparable items, operating earnings in the quarter were $7.1 million compared with $8.4 million last year.

Also, Leroux Steel said that its board of directors has established a special committee to evaluate the takeover offer from Russel Metals.

In New York, traders have been shaking off some better than expected economic data to trade the broader market lower. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 79 points at midday to 8,323. The S&P 500 has dropped a point to 886, while the Nasdaq composite index is up 11 points to 1,402.

The small caps are also a little weaker at midday, with the S&P/TSX Venture index down six ticks to 1,032. Volume is stronger at almost 18 million shares, led by Cubacan Exploration, which is down half a cent on 1.6 million shares traded.