Slumping technology shares have S&P/TSX composite index down 33.02 to 8,377.01 at midday.

In New York markets are higher as investors dealt with higher oil prices and mixed economic data.

The price of crude oil was up US58¢ at US$44.58 US a barrel in New York after Yukos, Russia’s largest oil producer, said it is unable to pay wages and that production is in imminent danger of stopping.

In Toronto, information technology stocks are down 0.68%, dragged down by Nortel Networks. Nortel shares fell 12¢, or 2.35%, at $4.98, after the firm said it is delaying its restatement of 2003 earnings by another month – until October. The high-tech company had previously said it planned to file statements for 2003 and the first two quarters of 2004 by the end of September.

In earnings news, Descartes Systems Group shares fell 14¢ to $1.33 after the firm said its second-quarter loss rose to US$22.7 million from US$14.7 million a year ago

Shares of Coolbrands fell more than 9% after the company put out financial guidance that came up short of analysts’ expectations.

The stock was off 95 cents at $9.25.

In other business news, shares of Onex Corp. rose 22¢ to $16.75 afte the company said its Onex Partners LP investment fund has agreed to buy $85 million of convertible subordinated notes of Compagnie Generale de Geophysique of Paris.

In New York, stocks rose after a revision in factory orders in June suggested orders are improving and some apparel makers raised profit forecasts or reported better-than-expected sales in August.

In weak trading volume, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 4 points, or 0.04%, at 10,172.38. The S&P 500 Index is ahed 1.03 points,, or 0.09%, at 1,106.94. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is up 2.91 points, or 0.16%, at 1,853.32.

Home improvement stocks were doing better as investors bought shares as Hurricane Frances bore down on the Bahamas and threatened possible landfall in Florida.