Stocks opened lower today and continue to trade down on some profit concerns. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is down 53 points to 6,587.

Volume remains robust at 127.4 million shares, with selling trumping the buying by about 33:15. Market breadth is also negative, with losers outnumbering winners 22:15.

Negative comments on the future of tech spending from Hewlett Packard has sent tech stocks lower today, and much of the rest of the market has followed along. Techs are down 5.4% so far today, followed by losses in financials, telecoms and consumer plays. Golds are stronger, up 1.5%, as are industrials.

Nortel Networks has dropped more than 7% on heavy trading of 40.6 million shares, thanks to the HP news. There is also some robust selling in Celestica, JDS Uniphase, Zarlink Semi, ATI, Descartes Systems, Cognos, CGI Group and Ballard Power.

The weakness in techs is spilling back over into the banks which hold their loans. TD Bank is down 2%. Scotia is weaker in active trading too.

Other losers include Abitibi, Alcan, Inex Pharmaceuticals.

Barrick Gold is down a little today too, but this is bucking a general flight to safety move into the golds. Rival Placer Dome is up 2.3%. And, there are notable gains in TVX Gold, IAMGold, Repadre, Kinross, Glamis, Bema, and Agnico Eagle. Other gainers include Baytex Energy and Southwestern Resources Co.

In financing news, NAL Oil & Gas Trust has closed its public offering of 4.95 million trust units for gross proceeds of $45 million. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to reduce indebtedness and strengthen NAL’s balance sheet to facilitate the implementation of its 2003 capital development program. RBC Capital Markets led the underwriters syndicate, which included BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc., CIBC World Markets Inc., Scotia Capital Inc., National Bank Financial Inc., Canaccord Capital Corp. and Desjardins Securities Inc.

In New York, the weakness in HP’s forecast has been weighing on the market all morning, overwhelming some neutral to strong economic data. At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 25 points to 8,718. The S&P 500 has dropped five ticks to 916. The Nasdaq composite index is off by 27 points, almost 2%, to 1,422.

The small caps are lower once again, too. The S&P/TSX Venture index is down almost two points to 958. Volume is hefty at 19.8 million shares. Hydromet Environmental is the day’s top trader, gaining a penny to 3¢ on 2.3 million Shares.