This morning’s economic data was mixed, but traders are shaking that off and chasing a U.S. rebound in stocks. The S&P/TSX composite index is up 47 points at midday to 7,831.

Canadian retail sales dropped in September, disappointing expectations of a small increase. However, strong wholesale trade numbers picked up much of the slack.

There’s no economic data out in the U.S., but traders are bargain-hunting ahead of Thanksgiving, and the start of the big U.S. shopping season.

Toronto volume is on the light side at 123 million shares, with buying edging the selling 15:14. Market breadth is certainly positive, with winners outnumbering losers 58:49.

Financials stocks are powering the gains, with a 1% rise. There is also considerable strength in miners, health care, and techs are very strong, too.

On the down side, gold stocks are off 2%.

CIBC is leading the financial stocks higher, gaining 2% in strong trading. TD Bank is up 1.5%, Scotia and Bank of Montreal have each gained about 1%, too. BMO reported that it is buying Lakeland Community Bank in Illinois for $46 million.

Elsewhere in the financial group, Manulife is up 1.5%.

Nortel is leading the tech group higher, following a U.S. rally heading into the big shopping season. Nortel is up 3% in moderate trading. Research in Motion is up 4%, and there is strength in Cedara Software and Celestica, too.

Biotechs are making gains include Angiotech and VSM MedTech. Biovail has rebounded 2.2% from last week’s heavy selloff.

This general buying spree in stocks is focused on blue chips, with strength in BCE, CN Rail, Magna International, and Agrium. And, there are gains in First Calgary Petroleums, Rona and Ivanhoe Mines. On the flip side of this, CP Rail is down, and there is weakness in energy names such as Petrobank, EnCana and Ivanhoe Energy.

Golds are slumping, as the gold price slides on an unwinding of the safe haven that drove it up heading into the weekend. Placer Dome is down 2%, and Barrick has dropped 1.5%. There is also selling in Nevsun Resources, Queenstake Resources, Bema Gold, Wheaton River Minerals, Eldorado Gold and Iamgold.

News is also leading to some selling. Domtar has dropped 1% on news that rival Tembec plans to temporarily shut down two of its sawmills on Dec. 1. It says that the mills have been negatively impacted by the softwood lumber trade war with the U.S., and the stronger Canadian dollar has aggravated the situation.

Alliance Atlantis Communications is down 7.4% on news that its net loss for its fiscal second quarter was $12.2 million, compared with a net loss of $6.7 million in the same period last year.

In other news, Atlas Cold Storage Income Trust has received the resignation of Patrick Gouveia as president and chief executive officer and a director of Atlas Cold Storage Holdings. Gouveia stated, “It is now evident that a number of accounting and other irregularities have occurred during my tenure as president and CEO. As such, I feel that I should accept responsibility for all irregularities and tender my resignation. What is important is that investor confidence in Atlas be restored and I feel that my resignation will assist in this regard.”

B.C. Pacific Capital Corp. reports that it has completed its sale of 82.5 million shares of Northgate Exploration to a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets. The secondary offering resulted in total gross proceeds to B.C. Pacific of $218.7 million.

In earnings news, Counsel returned to profitability in the third quarter of 2003, with net earnings of $800,000, compared with a loss of $2.7 million in the second quarter of 2003 and $8.4 million in the third quarter of 2002.

Ivernia West Inc reported third quarter earnings of US$7.5 million. Trinidad Energy Services Income Trust earned $2.7 million in the third quarter. Celtic Exploration generated $1.8 million in the third quarter. And, Endev Energy said that it earned $1.2 million in the quarter. Rio Alto Resources International saw its earnings drop to $720,000 in the quarter.

In New York, there is a bit of a relief rally underway today, as the string of terrorist incidents that occurred at the end of last week did not continue over the weekend. Traders are also looking forward to the Thanksgiving holidays at the end of the week.