With no economic news on either side of the border today, and U.S. traders gearing up for a long weekend, the morning trading has been rather subdued.

The S&P/TSX index was up just five points to 6785 at noon. Volume is on the light side at 95.6 million shares, with buying edging the selling by a five to four margin. Market breadth is even more bullish, as winners outnumber losers seven to five.

The diversified sector is the only TSX group that has moved as much as 1% in either direction. In its case, that direction is up. There are also gains in techs, materials, golds and consumer staples. Health care stocks, financials, and consumer discretionary names are weaker.
TD Bank is leading the financials lower, as traders continue to react to its latest earnings news. It is down another 1.8% on decent volume today. Bank of Montreal, Scotiabank, CIBC and Sun Life are all a bit weaker too. Royal Bank is up a little however, and Fairfax Financial has gained 3.2%.

Air Canada remains an active trade, as it works through its restructuring plans. Today, it is down 11% in heavy trading.
Some of the celebrations at Rothmans has died down, and that stock is pulling back 2% today, after a couple of days of strong gains. There is also weakness in Ballard Power, CCL Industries, Decoma International, BCE and TransCanada Corp.

Research in Motion is leading the way higher for the techs today. It has jumped 8.5% on heavy volume of 1.4 million shares, although there is no news from the company. Nortel is up a bit too.
Other gainers include EnCana, Kinross, Norske Skog, Vector Aerospace, Southwestern Resources, Weston, Neurochem, Inco, Alliance Atlantis and Ensign Resource Services.

In M&A news, Bombardier has sold the Belfast City Airport to Ferrovial of Spain, for $77.7 million. This divestiture is part of Bombardier’s recapitalization program, which was announced on April 3, 2003.
Domtar reports that it will temporarily cease operations at its White River sawmill on June 23. This temporary closure will affect
195 employees. The mill’s annual production capacity represents 10% of Domtar’s softwood lumber production capacity.

Mega Bloks has filed a final short form prospectus for a secondary offering by certain affiliates of the Blackstone Group. The offering is scheduled to close on May 29. Merrill Lynch Canada Inc. is the lead underwriter in a syndicate that includes CIBC World Markets Inc., BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., National Bank Financial Inc. and Canaccord Capital Corp.

In New York, the markets are also quiet. the bond market is closing early today, and most traders are looking ahead to traffic jams and cookouts. The Dow is up a scant nine points to 8603. The S&P 500 has added a single point to 933. Nasdaq is four points higher at 1511.

The small caps are also modestly higher today. The S&P/TSX venture index has gained three ticks to 1082. Volume is about average at 17 million shares. The day’s top trader is Points International, which is up 19¢ to $1.47 on volume of 959,900 shares.