Today’s notoriously-volatile data for U.S. durable goods orders blew away economists expectations, causing some traders to fret that interest rate hikes are coming soon. The latest rate worries have the S&P/TSX composite index down nine points at midday to 8,671.

Volume is on the light side at 124 million shares traded, with selling action outpacing the buying by a margin of about four to three. Market breadth is more modestly bearish, as losers outnumber winners by a 14:13 margin.

Techs are the standout group on the upside, with a 1.7% gain under its belt. Consumer staples are the only other group showing any gain, but even that is very modest. Conversely, there is real weakness in miners, golds, materials and REITs. Most other groups are more or less flat.

Celestica is playing the Nortel role today, powering the tech group higher almost single-handedly. It has jumped 18% in huge volume of 4.5 million shares, as traders appear to be applauding its restructuring efforts. The firm is cutting 10% to 15% of its workforce. It will also take a pretax restructuring charge of US$175 million to US$200 million this year. The cuts are expected to save the company between US$100 million and US$120 million in annual costs. The firm also boosted its sales and profit forecasts.

Following Celestica, Nortel is up just 0.6% in modest volume. There is also strength in ATI, Open Text and Cinram. Rogers Wireless is up too, but Sierra Wireless is down sharply.

Resources remain the other big story of the day, with most big names sliding on the latest interpretation for future interest rates in the U.S. Suncor Energy is down 1.5%, Alcan has dropped 1.3%, as has Wheaton River. There is also selling in names such as EnCana, Iamgold, Goldcorp, Golden Star Resources, Impact Energy, Teck, Glamis Gold and Northgate Exploration.

Financial stocks are mixed , with banks down and insurers and asset managers up. Manulife has gained 1.7% on word that its index weight will be bumped up following its acquisition of John Hancock Financial Services. CI has added 1.3% too. TD Bank, CIBC and Scotiabank are all down.

Other losers include biotechs such as Lorus Therapeutics Inc., which is down 5% on news that its third quarter loss grew to $8.2 million. Angiotech Pharma is down, too.

Against this, there’s strength in a mixed bag of apparently-unrelated names such as AnorMed, Onex, Cott, Nikos Resources, Sino-Forest and Esprit Exploration.

In earnings news, Abitibi-Consolidated recorded a first quarter loss of $31 million, compared with net earnings of $180 million in the first quarter of 2003 and a loss of $81 million in the fourth quarter of 2003. Included in the quarter’s results was an after-tax loss of $35 million on the translation of foreign currencies, and an after-tax gain of $70 million from the sale of its remaining 25% stake in SFK Pulp General Partnership.

Weyerhaeuser first quarter earnings jumped to $121 million, compared with a loss of $54 million for the first quarter of 2003.

In other business news, Alliance Atlantis Communications announced that it’s adopting a streamlined operating structure. As part of this structure, Phyllis Yaffe is being appointed to the new role of chief operating officer, effective immediately.

In New York, the good economic data is spooking traders once again. The Dow Jones industrial average is 37 points lower at midday to 10,425. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is three points higher at 2,036.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is down three ticks to 1741. Volume is average, with 32 million shares traded. Aadco Automotive is the day’s big trader, down 0.5¢ to 17¢ on 4.1 million shares traded.