By James Langton

(November 16 – 13:00 ET) – Nortel Networks is proving to be a cruel mistress to the TSE yet again. The stock is down sharply this morning, taking the TSE 300 down 196 points to 8,991.

Volume is on the light side at 62.9 million shares, but deeply negative. Down volume is overwhelming the upside five to two. Breadth is a little more encouraging, with losers outnumbering winners seven to five.

It’s all about Nortel today, the stock is down 6% on heavy selling of 5.6 million shares. Yorkton appears to be the top seller today, and although there are lots of small trades, a few big blocks have crossed the floor today,too.

Nortel has taken the industrials down 4.5%, and the Toronto market has followed it. There’s no big news on the stock; sentiment and trading strategy seem to be driving the slide.

Nortel is far and away the biggest factor on the index, but it’s not alone on the downside today. Financials, miners and software are also notably weak.

Following Nortel down on the tech side are JDS Uniphase, Celestica, Certicom, 360networks, QLT and Ballard Power.

With the recent tech weakness, MGI Software Corp. has pulled its expected Nasdaq listing until market conditions improve.

The banks are also down in heavy trading with TD and Scotia leading the way. Yesterday’s credit concerns are mostly out of the way, now its a general slowing and bearish sentiment hitting those stocks. TD reported improved earnings for the year, matching analyst expectations. All the big banks and insurers are going south.

In the mutual fund arena, Mackenzie Financial is down 95¢ to $27.80 in heavy trading. Speculation is that hope for a competing bidder is fading, and that the C.I. bid will either win, be withdrawn or amended.

The fight could get ugly since Mackenzie put a gold-tinged company-wide retention plan in place. C.I. is down 20¢ to $15.10, the other fund companies are mixed.

Also down in active trading are Anderson Exploration and Gulf Canada. There’s some buying in the natural resources, with Uniforet, Burlington, Canadian Hunter and Ensign all up. Other gainers include Sierra Wireless and Descartes Systems.

Tembec Inc. reported a fourth quarter profit of 79¢ a share, up from 33¢ a share in the quarter last year.

Dorel Industries reports earnings for its last quarter were 27¢ a share, down from 34¢ a share in the year ago period.

COM DEV International Ltd. says it has won more than US$100 million worth of supply contracts for its wireless division for 2001. The buyer is an unnamed wireless network supplier.

In New York, stocks are morose, but the slide is hardly dramatic. The Dow Jones industrial average is currently off 28 points to 10, 679. The Nasdaq composite is down 38 to 3,126, and the S&P 500 is down 6 ticks to 1,383.

Chip stocks are taking a thumping after Merrill Lynch lowered its ratings on Broadcom, Conexant, PMC-Sierra and Vitesse. Financials are providing some resistance in the U.S. though, bouncing off yesterday’s drop.

The CDNX is down 36 points to 3,146 on light volume of 13.7 million shares. Oils are down hardest, off 2.3%, followed closely by tech. Mines are down slightly. Stampede Oils Inc is the top trader, off 37% to 12¢ on 517,400 shares.