Toronto stocks are trading lower at midday. The TSE 300 composite index down 21 points, at 7,595.

The tech-heavy industrial products sector is leading the decline with a 1.3% drop.

Earlier today, JDS Uniphase issued a warning that its third quarter revenues could fall another 10% to 15% from the second quarter. Analysts had been expecting a 4.5% increase. Shares of the company are down about $1.50 to $18.60 at midday.

Nortel Networks is down about 3.8% to $13.35.

Gold stocks were are off this morning as U.S.-based Newmont Mining has increased its bid for Australian mining concern Normandy Mining .

Franco-Nevada Mining Corp. Ltd is trading lower as Newmont said it would offer another $2.58 billion in shares to buy the Canadian gold royalty firm.

Bank shares are up in anticipation that the U.S. Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25 basis points to 1.75% on Tuesday.

In New York, stocks moderately lower at midday as investors seek out direction ahead of tomorrow’s Fed meeting..

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 71 points to 9,978, while the Nasdaq composite index is off 12 points to 2,009. The S&P 500 has slipped 9 points to 1,149.

The S&P/CDNX composite index made its debut this morning. It replaces the existing CNDX index. The new index is calculated in a manner similar to the TSE 300 composite index and includes approximately 500 venture capital stocks. At midday the S&P CNDX composite index is up 39 points to 3,162.