Toronto stocks are down slightly after trading in a narrow range all morning. Investors are cautious as oil prices remain near record highs, and bank earnings season kicks off tomorrow.

At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index has slipped 2.60 points to 8,333.02. Volume is light at just under 90 million shares.

Solid gains in the information technology sector, which is up 2.61%, are being offset by losses in energy and gold stocks.

The energy sector is down 1.08%, as light crude oil for October delivery sold for US$46.62 a barrel, down US10¢, in trading in New York.

Among energy issues Canadian Natural Resources is down 61¢ to $42.27, while Suncor is off 58¢ at $36.07.

Penn West Petroluem is bucking the downtrend in energy shares. The stock is up $3.39, or 5%, at $68.81 after announcing Friday that it plans to convert to an income trust.

TSX gold stocks are off 1.7%. Shares of Kinross Gold are down 10¢ to $7.70, while Barrick Gold is off 42¢ to $25.83.

The heavily-weighted TSX financial sector is up 0.27% in advance of the third-quarter earnings season for Canada’s banks, which kicks off Tuesday.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index is off 6.92 points at 1,516.93.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 5.67 points at 10,115.81. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is up 7.99 points at 1,846.01. The broader S&P 500 is up 1.30 points at 1,099.65.

Weighing on the U.S. markets, etailing giant Wal-Mart cut its August sales forecast on today blaming the impact of hurricane Charley and slow back-to-school sales.

Shares of the Dow component fell US$1.14 to US$53.51 after the company said it expects sales will range from flat to up 2%.