North American markets are off their lows, but are still down notably at midday.

The TSE 300 has dropped 61 points so far today, to 6,835. Volume is improved, but still light, at 66.2 million shares.

Selling volume is outpacing buying by more than three to one. Losers outnumber winners 11 to six.

There’s broad-based selling today as recession fears feed profit worries. Traders are dumping most sectors and buying gold and, to a lesser extent, pipelines.

Techs are leading the way down, joined by miners, oils, media companies and merchandisers. Financials are down very slightly.

The weakness in techs is led by Celestica, with selling in JDS Uniphase, Descartes Systems and C-Mac.

Bombardier is being hammered today, down almost 8%. It is joined by slides in blue chips such as BCE, Quebecor, TD Bank, CIBC, Manulife and Royal Bank.

Manulife has reported its third quarter net income was $248 million, compared with $315 million in 2000.

Bank of Montreal is bouncing back a bit today off yesterday’s heavy selling. But there are also slides in Air Canada, Baytex Energy and Co-Steel.

The upside is all about safety plays. That means some heavy buying in Placer Dome, Kinross, Barrick, Goldcorp and Franco Nevada. There are also gains in Transalta, Teknion, and SynX Pharma.

In earnings news, Mosaid Technologies says it now expects a $19 million to $20 million loss in the second quarter on revenues of $11 million. It noted that it has cut 13% of its workforce and will incur a one-time restructuring charge of approximately $1 million in the quarter, which includes the costs related to the earlier restructuring announced in September. It also says it expects difficult market conditions will persist for some time.

Glamis Gold has closed its $10 million financing in a bought deal led by Research Capital Corporation, with BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and National Bank Financial Inc. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to finance the company’s Marigold expansion project in Nevada.

In New York, markets opened weaker and then got very weak as soft consumer confidence data was released. Markets began fighting back late in the morning, paring losses substantially.

At midday, the Dow Jones industrial average is down 123 points to 9,147. The Nasdaq composite index is off 25 points to 1,674. The S&P 500 has shed 16 ticks to 1,063.

The CDNX is down today too, off 17 points to 2,927. Volume is average at 13.8 million shares.

Mines and oils are weaker, and tech are flat. eStation.com Inc is the top trader, flat at 3¢ on 556,000 shares.