By James Langton

(April 20 – 09:00 ET) – Nortel Networks Corp. announced a $2.5 billion loss for the quarter, last night, along with another 5,000 job cuts, a total of 20,000. Lower sales forecasts is hurting the view on the stock. In early morning trading Nortel stock has dropped.

More bad news came from Ericsson AB which will be cutting another 10,000 jobs, and may see a wider loss in the second quarter due to slowing demand. It’s down 16%.

In economic news, the Canadian Consumer Price Index for March climbed 0.3%, running at a 2.5% annual rate. Higher food and energy prices were responsible for almost 50% of the advance in the CPI in March. Inflation appears to be moderating.

Also wholesalers saw their sales fall in February to $31.8 billion, down 1.6% from January. The slump in the auto sector has been the biggest factor. It accounts for about 17% of wholesale activity. Excluding the auto sector, wholesales sales would have risen 0.3%, and increases were reported in seven of the 11 trade groups.

In Europe, stocks are mixed with the telecoms weighing on the market. The FTSE in London is up 19 points to 5890. The Paris CAC 40 is flat at 5480. The German DAX is down six ticks to 6175.

Overnight in Asia stocks slipped. The Nikkei finished down 103 points to 13766. The Hang Seng dropped 101 points to 13448.

In earnings news, Aliant Inc. today reported first quarter net income was $30.8 million, or 23¢ per share, compared with 33¢ for the first quarter of 2000.