Markets are weaker once again today. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is down another 50 points to 7, 638.

Volume is very heavy at 133.8 million shares, with buying overwhelming selling by a 16 to 9 margin.

A load of small cap trades are driving all the volume, though. Market breadth is quite negative, with losers trumping winners by 27:20.

Every sector is down today, apart from golds. A continued flight to safety bid has the golds up about 2.4%.

The tech stocks remain the biggest source of weakness, down another 2% today, as traders fret over the long-awaited return of capital spending. This is feeding a general concern over corporate profits, which is taking down financials, health care, consumer stocks and industrials.

The banks are the big movers today, led down by a 1.4% drop in TD Bank on 2 million shares traded.

Royal Bank is down about half that, on about half the volume, after reporting second-quarter net income rose 14% to $710 million. Royal also announced its plan to buy back 3% pf ots outstanding common shares.

Bank of Nova Scotia has dropped almost 3%, too.

Also in financial sector earnings, Power Financial reported that its net earnings dropped to $198 million in the first quarter of 2001, compared with $237 million for the same period of 2002.

The big deal between CI and Sun Life has CI up 1.4% at midday, on active volume. Sun Life is down about 0.6% on average volume, in response to the deal.

Aside from the financials, techs are down again today. Nortel Networks has dropped 3% to just over $4 per share. Celestica is down, as is Cognos and CoolBrands.

Other losers include, Air Canada, Baytex Energy, Stelco, Teck and CCL Industries.

Gold is the only group making gains. Barrick is leading the way higher with a modest increase. Stronger jumps are coming in names such as Goldcorp, Meridian Gold, Bema Gold, Glamis Gold, Kinross and Eldorado. Other gainers include Pan American Silver, Echo Bay Mines, International Minerals, and Golden Star Resources.

One non-miner making a gain is Bennett Environmental, up 4%, on news that it has been awarded a $40 million contract, the largest in its history, to treat contaminated soil in New Jersey.

In New York, trading has been up and down all day, without much direction or volume. The Dow Jones industrial average has dropped 38 points to 10,068. The S&P 500 is down four points to 1,076. The Nasdaq composite index has shed 12 points to 1,652.

The only refuge for the bulls once again is the S&P/TSX Venture index, which is up another 12 points to 1215. Volume is strong there too, at 24 million shares. IMA Exploration is the top trader on the day, gaining 15% to 70¢ on 811,000 shares.