If today’s early market action could be read as a verdict on yesterday’s federal budget, it would appear that traders are giving finance minister Ralph Goodale a modest thumbs down. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is down 32 points to 8,442.

Income trusts, in particular, are weak on news that Ottawa will restrict the ability of pension plans to invest in some of these vehicles.

Investors dealing with news that French police have averted a possible train bombing outside Paris. But there was some good economic news from the U.S., where orders for durable goods jumped 2.5% in February.

Toronto volume is very light at 111 million shares, with selling outpacing buying by a margin of almost 11:10. Market breadth is also modestly negative, with losers edging winners 57:53.

There is weakness in most sectors, led by miners, health care, materials and trusts. Only technology shares are really resisting the selling pressure.

Nortel is the day’s top trader, but it is hardly changed, down just 3¢ on 10.7 million shares. It reported news of a class action lawsuit being filed against the firm in the U.S.

Research in Motion is down a bit, but Zarlink Semiconductor is leading the group higher, gaining more than 5%. Manitoba Telecom is up almost 1% in the telecom sector, but BCE is down a similar amount.

Familiar names are facing a selloff on general economic and geopolitical jitters. Recently, that means names such as Inco, Alcan, and EnCana are all down notably. Placer Dome, Suncor Energy and Barrick are all selling off too. Smaller names in the resource area are falling harder, including Tahera, Sino-Forest, Aur Resources, Enerplus and Nexen.

Teck Cominco is down about 5% on news that it’s exercising an option to earn an initial 30% interest in a diamond property located in Nunavut, by exercising its 454,545 warrants at a price of $1.10. Teck Cominco has increased the 2004 exploration program from $2 million to $3 million as well.

Petro Canada is bucking the trend, up a little, as traders continue to react to the news of the government’s full divestiture of its stake in the firm.

There is some buying in smaller resource firms such as Southwestern Resources. It has jumped 15.7% on its latest assay results. Miramar Mining, Connacher Oil & Gas, Dynatec, Russel Metals and Glamis Gold are all up, too. Glamis reported strong assay results.

Financials are down on balance, with Scotia, Royal Bank and TD Bank all sliding. Manulife is down 0.8%, and Sun Life is 1% lower.

Biovail is leading the health care group lower, dropping 3%. And, VFC and CoolBrands are weaker. Oncolytics Biotech is taking some of the sting out of the Biovail weakness, with a 6% rally in its stock.

In earnings news, Saskatchewan Wheat Pool saw a net loss of $4.8 million in its latest quarter. Last year, the loss was $18.8 million for the quarter.

Viking Energy Royalty Trust saw a loss of $45.1 million in 2003. Crescent Point Energy Trust said its earnings jumped to $9.0 million in 2003.

Paramount Energy Trust recorded net earnings of $2.6 million, as compared with net earnings of $10.3 million in 2002.

Bow Valley Energy saw earnings slip to $3.84 million in 2003.

Luc Desjardins, has been named CEO of Transcontinental Inc. (the company that publishes Investment Executive). He has been president and chief operating officer since May 2000. Remi Marcoux, Transcontinental’s founder, becomes the executive chairman of the board and retains his controlling interest in the company.

In New York, the trading session has been rather subdued, up and down all morning. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is up 18 points to 10,081. The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite index is 13 ticks higher at 1,915.

The S&P/TSX is weaker today, dropping five points to 1,849. Volume is fairly light at 35 million shares, led by Spider Resources Inc. It is down 14% on 2.25 million shares, after announcing drilling results.