Stocks are sliding again today, with weaker corporate profits taking the blame.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down 38 points to 6,862. Volume is very weak today at 58.8 million shares, with selling ahead of buying by about nine to four. Losers outnumber winners three to two.

The selling is relatively broad-based once again. There’s spot strength in paper stocks, utilities and the banks are boosting the financial group.

Biotechs are the strongest sub-sector, boosting the consumer group considerably. Everything else is down. Techs are particularly weak, as are transports, conglomerates, energy and gold.

Nortel Networks is the top trader today, down almost 6% in active trading. Nortel beat the Street last night, but didn’t offer much hope for the immediate future.

This theme seems to be afflicting the tech sector generally. Although Celestica is posting a small gain today, and Cryptologic is bouncing back too.

There’s also some relatively aggressive selling of energy stocks. Pan Canadian Energy is down, as is Alberta Energy and Canadian Natural Resources. Canadian Hunter is flat. Bleak economic fundamentals seem to be the culprit here.

There’s also weakness in Air Canada, Fording, Telesystem International Wireless, Nova Chemicals and Quebecor.

Biotechs are powering higher today, led by QLT, which is up 21%. QLT is gaining on news that the centres for Medicare and Medicaid Services intend to expand its national coverage policy for Visudyne therapy. The simple prospect of more patients has the stock rocketing higher.

There are also some gains in names such as Thomson, Rothmans, Domtar, West Fraser Timber, Bombardier, Telus, Emco, Cryptologic and Alcan.

In business news, Sun Life Capital Trust has completed its offering in Canada of $950 million of Sun Life exchangeable capital securities. The proceeds of the offering will be used to finance a portion of the purchase price for Keyport Life Insurance Co. and Independent Financial Marketing Group Inc. The lead underwriters for the offering were Scotia Capital Inc. and Merrill Lynch Canada Inc.

In New York, stocks are drifting lower today too. Weak earnings forecasts are the trouble, as economic data is mostly being ignored, and the report of a new anthrax case has become business as usual. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 70 points to 9,093. The Nasdaq composite index has dropped 21 points to 1,631. The S&P 500 has slid 10 points to 1,058.

The CDNX is weak today too, down five ticks to 2,885. Volume is light there too at 10.3 million shares.

Energy stocks are to blame for the slide, overwhelming slight gains in techs and miners. Norwood Resources Ltd. is the top trader, up 33% to 40¢ on volume of 496,000 shares.