Good news from Cisco Systems has sent tech stocks off to the races this morning.

At midday, the S&P/TSX index is up 116 points to 7.677.

Volume is strong at 95.8 million shares, with buying ahead of selling by about 17:13. Winners hold a decisive eight to five advantage on losers.

Cisco beat the Street last night and offered some encouraging words about the future. That has techs are up 6.7% today.

The rally is spilling over into every other sector, apart from golds, which are down 2%.

Resurgent biotechs have the health care sector up 3%, industrials are up 2.3% and telecoms have gained 1.5%. The hope that the telecoms may not all sink has the battered financials back up 1.5%,.too.

Celestica is leading the rally today, up 11.4% on strong volume. Nortel Networks has gained 6%, although these days that only takes it to $4.52 per share. Research in Motion, Cognos, JDS Uniphase, and GSI Lumonics are all up big. QLT is leading the biotechs higher, up 7%.

The renewed faith in techs and telcos, has the banks rallying too. Royal Bank is up 2.3%, TD has gained 1.3%. And, Amvescap is leading the fun managers higher, up 7%.

Other winners include CN Rail, EnCana and Enerchem.

As a group, golds are down, although there is some rotation in the sector, out of smaller players and into the big producers. Both Barrick and Placer Dome are holding small gains, but names such as Kinross, Meridian and Goldcorp, are all losers.

There is also weakness in paper firms, Abitibi and Norske Skog. Other sellers include Hurricane Hydrocarbons, CDI Education, E-L Financial, Forzani and Mitec.

In earnings news, RioCan Real Estate Investment Trust reports that net earnings for the three months ended March 31 were $39,481,000, compared with net earnings of $39,299,000 for the comparable period in 2001.

Hollinger Canadian LP experienced a net loss of $75,023,000 in its latest quarter, compared with net income of $522,641,000. For the year, the net income was $92.58 million, compared with net income of $598,191,000 for the prior year.

In New York, the good news from Cisco is being taken to heart. The Dow Jones industrial average is enjoying a 268 point rally to 10,105. The S&P 500 has added 32 points to 1,081. The Nasdaq 500 is romping to 92 point gain, sitting at 1,666.

The small caps are barely getting any attention during this big rally. At midday, the S&P/TSX Venture index is up a mere two points to 1152. Volume is average at 15.8 million shares. Titan Trading Analytics is the top trader, down 1¢ to 26¢ on 974,000 shares.