Traders are turning in another uninspiring performance today, as they appear to be mired in uncertainty.

All of yesterday’s war euphoria has dissipated amid reports of widespread lawlessness in Iraq, attempted suicide bombings, and the apparent assassination of a couple of prominent Shite clerics.

Economic data came in mixed, a bit better than expected in the U.S., a bit worse in Canada. Wading through it all, traders aren’t doing much.

The Toronto Stock Exchange’s S&P/TSX composite index is down just two points to 6412. Volume is on the light side at 87.8 million shares, with the selling swamping the buying by about nine to four. Market breadth is also negative, with losers outnumbering winners by about 16:13.

Most sectors are down today too. Energy is up about 1%. There are modest gains in financials and utilities. Everything else is lower at midday. Techs, telecoms, golds and miners are all notably weaker. Bonavista Petroleum is the day’s top trader, up more than 12% in heavy trading of more than 2 million shares on news that it is going to be jumping on the income trust bandwagon. While Bonavista’s trading is driven by company specific news, there is also some upside momentum in EnCana, SouthernEra Resources, Baytex Energy, Penn West Petroleum, and Compton Petroleum, which are all higher, too.

TD Bank is leading the financials higher, with a 0.4% gain in active trading. There also are gains in assorted firms such as Cinram, Noranda, Hudson’s Bay and Shaw Communications. The golds are leading the way down, notwithstanding some gains in Eldorado Gold. The big producers, Barrick and Placer Dome, are both weaker. Bombardier is lower, down 3.5% on heavy trading of 8.4 million shares, as its new class of shares debuts. Troubled Air Canada is taking another thumping, down 21% to $1.16 in heavy trading of 9.3 million shares.

There is selling in a selection of other stocks, including BCE, Cameco, Axcan Pharma, Nortel, Global Thermoelectric and Kingsway Financial. CoolBrands International has dropped 3.7% in active trading on news that it recorded net earnings for the last quarter of $5.2 million, as compared with net earnings of $3,646,000 for the same quarter last year.

In other news, Alliance Atlantis is buying back up to 5% of its shares. And, Vector Aerospace reported that its net earnings for the first quarter were $2 million, down from net earnings for the first quarter last year of $2.8 million.

In New York, markets opened a bit higher on some improved trade data, but they have since become bogged down in war news. The Dow is down 24 points to 8174. The S&P 500 is unchanged at 866. And, Nasdaq is more or less unchanged at 1356. The S&P/TSX Venture index is up three points to 1050. Volume is weak at 15.7 million shares. Once again, Spider Resources leads the trade, up a penny to 14¢ on 1.8 million shares.