Stocks are shaking off some of their earlier jitters to trade higher at midday. The S&P/TSX index is up 23 points to 6,833.

Volume is heavier than usual at 159 million shares, with buying outnumbering the selling action two to one. Market breadth is split down the middle between winners and losers however.

Traders got a scare from some soft U.S. retail sales numbers for December, but after having chewed through the numbers they have decided they might not be as weak as first thought.

As well, some jitters about the UN’s findings in Iraq have been dispelled, after the UN came out and said there was nothing new or significant to report about its inspections.

Tech stocks are stronger at midday, following some stronger than expected sales at Alcatel SA. Diversifieds, consumer stocks and financials are also notably higher. The calming of the market has taken about 2% out of the golds, and there is weakness in energy names too.

Nortel is leading the trade once again today, up 3%, with 38.2 million shares changing hands. Zarlink Semi is up strongly, too.

The resolution of Fording’s situation also continues to drive trading. Fording is up a little in active trading today. Sherritt isn’t as active but it is seeing much more price movement, up more than 5% on the day.

The financials are also busy, as traders puzzle out the implications of the revelation that the government rejected Manulife’s attempt to buy CIBC earlier this year. CIBC is up 0.8% today. There are also gains on active volume in Royal Bank, Sun Life, and Scotia.

The only news out of the sector comes from National Bank, which has arranged a public offering of $150 million of preferred shares. The offering may be increased to $200 million prior to the closing date. The offering will be underwritten by a syndicate led by National Bank Financial Inc. The expected closing date is Jan. 31.

Other gainers today include Rogers Communications, Cogeco Cable, Abitibi, Domtar, Intrawest, Falconbridge and Royal Group Tech.

All of this positive action in the market generally is bad news for gold stocks. Barrick is leading the losers, down 0.8% in active trading. There are widespread losses in the sector, with price drops coming in Cambior, Kinross, Meridian Gold, Agnico Eagle, TVX Gold and Wheaton River Minerals.

Other losers include Air Canada and Angiotech.

In M&A news, Uni-Select has completed its deal to buy the assets of Piston Service Wholesalers and the assets of Mar-Lac Distributing Co., automotive aftermarket warehouse distributors located in Seattle. This deal is expected to add annual sales of $60 million to Uni-Select’s Automotive Group USA. These acquisitions are Uni-Select’s fifth and sixth in the U.S. since 1998, and are in keeping with the company’s strategic plan that calls for an increased presence in this important market.

In New York, markets have followed much the same trajectory, sliding on the open and recovering by midday. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 18 points to 8,804. The S&P 500 is up 2.5 points to 929. The Nasdaq composite index s up 10 ticks to 1,456.

The small caps are the only losers today, with the S&P/TSX Venture index down nine points to 1114. Volume remains robust at least, with 26.2 million shares crossing. The top trader is Foothills Oil & Gas, down about 3% with almost 5 million shares changing hands.