With bond markets closed, trading in equity markets is thin on both sides of the border as investors look ahead to economic news due out later in the week. The S&P/TSX is down 35 points at midday to 7,780.

Volume is on the light side at 112.7 million shares, with the selling more than doubling up on the buying. Market breadth is also certainly bearish, as losers outnumber winners by about three to two.

Investors are waiting to see reports on U.S. producer prices, the Michigan sentiment index and Canadian manufacturing shipments.

The weakest group is on the TSX today is mining stocks. It’s down about 1.6%. There is also some selling in industrials, real estate and financials, but nothing is down as much as 1%. The only gainer is golds, as traders take cover in that sector amid the light volume. It is up about 1%.

The big cap gold stocks, Barrick and Placer Dome, are the biggest market movers today, up about 2% and 1.6%, respectively, in heavy trading. While they are shifting the most market cap, there is also strong price action in lesser gold miners, including Yamana Gold, Bema Gold, Eldorado Gold and Glamis Gold.

The selling in the mining group is led by a 2.4% drop in Noranda, on news that its CFO, Lars-Eric Johansson, is retiring effective today. He will be replaced by Steven Douglas, who was executive vice-president and CFO of Brookfield Properties. Inco is also weak, as are Falconbridge and Ivanhoe Mines.

Nortel is leading tech stocks lower, with another 1.4% slide. Trading volume is rather light by Nortel’s standards at just 3.4 million shares. Celestica and CAE are weak, too, as is BCE, although BCE Emergis is stronger.

Trojan Technologies is down more than 5% on news that it will record an additional provision of between $2.0 million and $2.5 million against additional start-up and warranty costs on certain waste water systems. As a result, the company’s earnings will be below analysts’ expectations for the third quarter, and for the full fiscal year.

CGI Group has gained 1.4% on news that its net earnings increased 30.6% to $177.4 million compared with net earnings reported for fiscal 2002.

Biotechs are down, with the selling led by ConjuChem and Angiotech. However, VSM MedTech is up in active trading.

Axcan Pharma reported that its net income was $9.1 million and $33.4 million for the quarter and year, before unusual costs associated with the takeover bid for Salix Pharmaceuticals. After these costs for the fourth quarter net loss was $1.9 million, but it still had full year earnings of $19.9 million.

GeneVest Inc. earned $9 million in the third quarter.

CIBC is leading the banks lower, with a 0.8% slide. There is also selling in TD Bank. And, AGF is more than 2% lower in unusually active trading.

Air Canada is giving up yesterday’s gains, dropping 10% so far today in heavy volume. Rival WestJet reported that foreign ownership of its shares has risen to 21.3%, up 4.3%. Non-Canadian ownership of airline voting shares is limited to 25%.

Yesterday’s other big news story, the bid for Moore Wallace, also continues to delight traders. It is up almost 1% in active trading.

In New York, markets are light and lower. The Dow Jones industrial average has dropped 23 points at midday to 9,733. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is down 14 points to sit at 1,928, while the broader S&P 500 has lost a point to 1046.

The small caps are joining the selling action today, with the S&P/TSX Venture index losing two ticks to 1,597. Volume is much lower there too at 28 million shares. Hydromet Enviro is leading the trade, down just 0.5¢ to 1.5¢ on 1.3 million shares.