Stocks are taking a thumping today due to a decidedly negative news flow. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is down 76 points to 6,751.

Volume is average at 135 million shares, with the selling swamping the buying by a three to one margin. Market breadth is also negative, as losers outnumber winners 19:13.

Every sector is down today. Techs are leading the way with a 4.7% drop following poor outlooks from IBM and Microsoft. Weak earnings and a string of negative economic reports from the U.S. is also weighing on the rest of the market. Diversifieds, golds, industrials, materials and financials are all down at midday.

Nortel is powering the tech slide, down 6.3% on strong volume of 22.1 million shares. ATI is down about 7%. And, there is weakness in JDS Uniphase, Celestica, Research in Motion, Ballard Power and CGI Group.

This conspicuous weakness is flowing over into financials, where Scotia, Manulife and CIBC are all down on active volume. Fairfax is the sector’s big loser once again though, dropping more than 8% on the day.

Other notable losers include Suncor Energy, Teck, Shaw Communications and Goldcorp.

While the dominant trends are all down, there are a few winners on the market today, mostly resource firms. Stocks with notable gains include Southwestern Resources, FNX Mining, Baytex Energy, Peyto Explorations, Acclaim Energy Trust and the SFK Pulp Fund.

Niko Resources is up almost 4% on news of “significant gas discoveries” off the east coast of India.

Moore Corp. is also up 2.5% on news f its long-awaited acquisition of Wallace Computer.

O & Y Properties Corp. and Bentall Capital LP have entered into discussions to pursue a potential combination of their Canadian property management, facilities management and leasing businesses through a partnership to be known as Bentall/O & Y Limited Partnership.

Each of the parties intends to carry out due diligence sufficient to enable them to determine if they wish to proceed with this transaction, and if so, to negotiate mutually satisfactory terms. It is anticipated that any merger of activities could be completed, subject to obtaining any necessary regulatory approvals, by the end of the first quarter of 2003.

In other business news, Investment Executive’s parent, GTC Transcontinental Group’s board has approved a name change to Transcontinental Inc., and a two-for-one stock split.

Lorus Therapeutics reported that it lost $3.96 million in the second quarter.

In New York, the combination of poor corporate outlooks and a series of negative economic reports, covering trade, industrial production and consumer sentiment, are all conspiring to send stocks lower.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 110 points at midday to 8,588. The S&P 500 has dropped 12 ticks to 902. The Nasdaq composite index is 40 points lower at 1,384.

The small caps are holding up best today, with the S&P/TSX Venture index down just one point at 1,126. Volume is average there too at 25.5 million shares. William Multi-Tech remains the top trader, moving another 1.9 million shares at 1¢ each.