Volume on the Toronto Stock Exchange is still lousy, but at least the market has direction. Unfortunately for bulls, the direction is down.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down 73 points to 7,533. Volume is light today at 53.3 million shares, with sellers holding a three to two edge over buyers. Losers outnumber winners nine to seven.

Techs are leading the way down, off almost 4%. Transports, conglomerates, miners and financials are all notably weak.

Merchandisers are the only area of resistance. Apart from that, safe havens, gold and real estate are the only groups finding any buyers.

Nortel Networks is dragging the techs lower again today, off 4.4% on 3.9 million shares. It is joined by slides in C-Mac, Celestica, Leitch and Ballard Power. A negative take on tech profits generally seems to be driving the selling.

Old economy names are doing their share of suffering, too, as investors turn negative on the economy and stocks. PanCanadian Petroleum is down, along with CP, Suncor Energy, Bombardier, Hudson’s Bay, Shire, Spar, MEC and AT&T Canada.

Even the upside as gloomy overtones to it, led by stocks, such as Hemosol, that are simply rebounding from recent drubbings. Other gainers include Metro, Slocan Forest, PRT Forest, Richelieu Hardware, DuPont, Tundra Semi and Mosaic.

On the earnings front, Maritime Life is reporting second quarter earnings of $13.7 million, up 21% over the $11.3 million reported in 2000. The increased earnings in the first half of 2001 are due to emerging synergies from the company’s Aetna Canada acquisition, improved group claims experience and changes in the provisions for future policy benefits in both group and retail lines.

Trading in New York is also light, and displaying a bearish bias. The Dow Jones is off about 24 points to 10,389. The Nasdaq composite is down 35 points to 1,929. The S&P 500 has dropped seven points to 1,179. Techs are leading the way down there, too.

The CDNX is the lone market bucking the downward trend today. At midday, it s up four points to 3,085. Volume is on the light side at 14.7 million shares.

Techs are down, but this is outweighed by strength in oils and miners. C-Com Satellite Systems is the top trader, up 35% to 19¢ on volume of just over 1 million shares.