Stocks look weaker this morning, although for a change it’s not techs that are leading the way. Oil stocks are looking weaker on lower oil prices as inventories hold up more than expected.

Also, drug stocks are lower, led by Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., which is suffering from competition from the producers of generic drugs.

U.S. initial jobless claims slipped a little last week, but continuing claims remain at a 19-year high.

In Canada, it was reported that manufacturers’ prices declined 1.5% in April compared with the same month a year earlier, the seventh consecutive period of decline. On an annual basis, petroleum and coal product prices fell 14.8%, the 10th successive month that the year-over-year change was negative.

If petroleum and coal product prices had been excluded, the IPPI would have decreased 0.6% instead of declining 1.5%. Also, manufacturers paid 5.7% less for their raw materials than they did in April last year, the ninth consecutive year-over-year decline.

Also, in March, average weekly earnings for all employees were virtually unchanged from February. Employees on payrolls increased by 27,000, although employment growth would have been substantially higher if not for the Ontario public service strike that reduced employment in public administration by approximately 30,000.

In Europe, stocks are lower again today, led by telecoms and their weak profit outlooks. The FTSE is down 43 points to 5,039. The CAC 40 has lost 63 points to 4,271. The DAX is down 97 points to 4,785.

Overnight in Asia, stocks were weaker, too. The Nikkei dropped 83 points to 11,770. The Hang Seng shed 50 ticks to 11,381.

In M&A news, South African Breweries plc is buy Miller Brewing Co. from Philip Morris Cos. for US$5.6 billion in stock and assumed debt.

Also, AurionGold Ltd. says that the unsolicited $1.19 billion offer from Placer Dome Corp. may be too low. It is seeking more suitors.

In financing news, ProMetic Life Sciences Inc. has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by Dundee Securities Corporation and including National Bank Financial, Scotia Capital and Desjardins Securities for a bought deal that could generate maximum gross proceeds of up to $34,068,250.