Toronto stocks are slumping today as financial issues are assailed once again.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down 58 points to 6,846.

Volume is average at 72.4 million shares, with sellers holding a 14 to nine edge on buyers. The split between winners and losers is almost even, though.

Banks are weak spot, as are financials generally after an earnings warning from Canada Life and talk of credit quality concerns at the banks.

Oils, paper stocks and conglomerates are also weak today. There’s some strength in media stocks, food processors and golds.

The insurers are taking a thumping, down about 3%, after Canada Life issued its warning yesterday. Manulife and Canada Life are leading the way down, off almost 4% each. Sun Life is down almost 3%.

The banks aren’t doing much better. CIBC is down almost 4% in active trading. Bank of Montreal and Royal Bank are weak in heavy trading too. TD Bank is actually up a tick, bucking the trend.

The other areas of weakness are resource stocks, and companies with crappy earnings. Names such as Pan Canadian Energy, Equatorial Energy and Rio Alto are sliding. There’s also weakness in Nova Chemicals, Aliant, Vincor and Stelco.

Nortel Networks is down a bit today, but this is offset by gains in Celestica. Bell Canada International is bouncing back strongly today, as is Air Canada, Quebecor and MDS.

Golds are seeing some uniform buying, with names such as Barrick, Kinross, Goldcorp and Meridian Gold all making gains.

In New York, markets are mixed. There’s some weakness in the broader economy, but techs are generally up. Earnings are the big reason.

Warnings and poor results are hurting the old economy names, while there have been some positive surprises in technology. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 29 points to 9,310. The Nasdaq composite index is up 16 tics though to 1,720. The S&P 500 has dropped two points to 1,082.

The CDNX is down four points at midday to 2,928. Volume is average at 14.1 million shares.

Techs are down, while miners and oils are up a bit. Newcomer, Dev Investments Inc, is the top trader, up 33% to 20¢ on more than 2 million shares in its debut.