Markets are sliding again today as traders fret over the corporate profit picture.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down 34 points to 7,414.

Volume is decent at 67 million shares, favouring sellers over buyers by a two to one margin. Losers are outnumbering winners five to three.

Tech stocks are down again, driving the industrials sub-index down 2%. Weakness in the biotechs is sinking the consumer stocks. Conglomerates, miners and paper plays are down, too.

Earnings warnings from names such as Manugistics are spooking traders, as are fears that Intel may issue a warning soon, and word that Microsoft has privately refused to affirm its guidance.

Nortel Networks is leading the way down, off 3.6% in active trading. Celestica is down a similar percentage, joined by slides in JDS Uniphase, ATI, Sierra Wireless and BCE Emergis.

Angiotech is leading the slide in biotechs, off 12%. CP, Co-Steel, Vermillion Resources and Fairmont Hotels are also among the losers.

The only real resistance is in energy, pipelines and transports, as takeover talk continues to buzz around the sector.

Anderson Exploration continues to lead the trading volume, up a tiny bit on 2.3 million shares. Husky Energy is popping 5.5% in heavy volume on hopes that it may be the next candidate for a takeover. There are also continuing gains in Canadian Hunter, Ensign Resource Services and Suncor.

The banks are up a bit today, leveraging the whole financial group with them. TD Bank is leading the way, up 25¢ on heavy volume. CIBC and Bank of Nova Scotia re both up in active trading, but Royal Bank is down. This morning’s other gainers include Cryptologic, AnorMed, Moore Corp, Sobeys and Cameco.

In earnings news, Van Houtte reports that has exceeded its target of a 20%t increase in net earnings for the first quarter of its 2002 fiscal year. First quarter net earnings came in at $7 million, up from $5.7-million recorded in the corresponding quarter of the previous fiscal year.

TECSYS Inc says that in its first quarter of fiscal 2002 ending July 31, losses from operations were US$623,000 compared with US$3.1 million in the same period last year. The net loss was US$707,000, compared with US$2.88 million for the same period last year.

In M&A news, TransAlta says it intends to sell its 60% interest in the Fort Saskatchewan cogeneration facility to TransAlta Cogeneration, L.P. TransAlta expects to realize cash proceeds of approximately $35 million from the sale, resulting in a gain of approximately 3¢ per share. The proceeds will be used to finance corporate growth initiatives.

In New York, stocks have been weak all day and they are getting weaker at midday as profit worries grip traders. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 190 points to 9,843. The Nasdaq composite has dropped 45 points to 1,714. The S&P 500 is off 23 points to sit at 1,108.

The CDNX is following the herd again today, down 23 points to 2,978. Volume is weak at 12.1 million shares.

Technology is leading the way down there, followed by smaller drops in oils and mines. William Multi-Tech is the top trader, dropping in half from 2¢ to 1¢ on volume of 495,750 shares.