Stocks are taking another thumping today. Traders seem to be throwing in the equities towel. The S&P/TSX is down about 3% at midday to 6338. Volume is about average at 86.3 million shares, with selling holding a massive 21:1 edge over buying. Market breadth is deeply negative too, with losers outnumbering winners by about four to one.

Every sector is down. Canadian markets got a particular jolt from lower than expected retail sales numbers, suggesting that Canada’s ability to outperform America may finally have been exhausted. This has sparked massive selling. Materials and diversifieds have dropped more than 4%. Golds, energy and techs are down about 4%. Consumer plays have dropped 3%, as have telecoms.

Blue chip names are bleeding lots of red ink today. Alcan is down 7.5%. Nortel Networks has dropped 13% on massive volume of 25 million shares. BCE is down 6%. Barrick and Placer Dome have both lost about 5%. There’s heavy selling in a broad selection of names, including Jean Coutu, Cinram, CHC, Falconbridge, Abitibi, Patheon, SouthernEra Resources and TVA Group.

Financials are down 2.3%. CIBC is down more than 3%. Royal Bank is down 2%, TD has dropped 2.4% and Scotia has lost 1.5%. Manulife is down 1.5% too, after announcing it is buying its Singapore subsidiary, OUB Manulife, from its joint venture partner Overseas Union Bank for S$30 million.

There are a few stocks actually gaining ground today. Creo is up, as is takeover target Ketch Energy. So is Dofasco, Teck and Maax. Fairmont is up 3% on news that income from continuing operations increased 10.7% to $28.9 million for the second quarter of 2002 compared with $26.1 million in the prior period.

The S&P/TSX Venture index has also dropped nine points to 1094. Volume is about average at 12.7 million shares. The top trader is Western Pacific Gold, down 1¢ to 2¢ on volume of 732,000 shares.

In M&A news, Thomson Financial has acquired privately held TowersData Inc. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Queenston Mining has closed the purchase of Newmont Mining Corporation of Canada’s 50% interest in the Kirkland Lake joint venture for $3 million cash and the issuance of 1,085,625 common shares of Queenston, and warrants for a further 542,812 common shares.

In the U.S., at midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 279 points to 7740 . The NASDAQ composite index has dropped 45 points to 1274. The S&P is down 23 points to 825.