By James Langton

(April 14 – 13:00 ET) – The stock market is being gutted today. The tech sell-off continues unabated. Rather than resist the sell-off old economy stocks are joining the flight to the exits on the heels of a very strong Consumer Price Index in the U.S.

The CPI came in double what most analysts expected, removing any hope for cyclical strength in the face of a tech sell-off. The “flight to quality” is now skipping stocks altogether and heading straight to bonds, as future rate hikes loom large.

At midday the TSE 300 is down 285 points to 8680, a 3.2% drop. Volume is heavy at 106 million shares and the market tone is deeply negative. Volume is 7:1 in favour of sellers, and decliners are outpacing advancers 4:1.

The only safe haven on the markets is gold. That sector has jumped an incredible 7.5% as investors flee for higher ground. Everything else is down and down deeply. Industrials, utilities and consumer products are all down more than 4%. Software is leading the plunge down almost 10%. Financials are off almost 4% on the dimmer rate outlook, banks lead the way down off 4.5%. Everything else is sliding too.

The usual suspects are taking the biggest blows. 724 Solutions is down more than 20%, Certicom is off 25%, BCE Emergis has dropped 16%, JDS Uniphase has shed 10%. Ballard Power is down 9%. The list goes on.

Unusually, the resources are some of the heaviest traders. Abitibi is down 1.3% on 3.4 million shares. Placer is feasting on everyone else’s misery, up 12% on 3 million shares. Franco-Nevada has added 10%, Barrick is up more than 6%.

The same picture is prevailing in New York. The CPI has the old economy Dow off 321 points to 10602. Nasdaq is down about 7%, dropping 245 points to 3431, and blowing through key support levels by the minute. The S&P has lost 51 points to 1389.

Naturally, the overheated small caps are taking a beating too. The CDNX is off 323 points to 3402. Volume is heavy at 39.5 million shares. Techs are down 16%, but miners and energy stocks have each dropped about 3. 5% too. A.C. Global Capital Corp. is the hottest trader and is one of the few bright spots, up 80% to 36¢ on 2.5 million shares.