Stocks are down on some weak corporate news and mediocre economic data. At midday, the S&P/TSX composite index is down 28 points to 7,200.

Canadian GDP rose 0.1% in May after a setback in April. The rise was expected, but it got markets thinking about the soft economic conditions.

Toronto volume is on the light side at 99 million shares, with the selling edging the buying by a 25:21 margin. Market breadth is similarly negative, as losers outnumber winners 53:40.

There is weakness in the gold group, down about 1.5% on fears about the miners’ profit picture. There is more modest selling in a variety of sectors, including financials, diversifieds and consumer plays.

Real estate is taking up much of the slack though, roaring to a 3.5% gain, albeit on a thin trade. Industrial stocks are higher, too.

Telecom giant, BCE, is leading the way down today. It has dropped 2.5% on heavy volume of almost 2 million shares, after it reported that second quarter earnings reached $478 million. This was ore or less in line with a year ago, although sales were reported weaker. Profit held up due to cost cutting.

Telus shares gained 2.3% following the release of BCE’s results.

Gold stocks are a notable source of weakness after some of the big producers copped to higher production costs that may crimp profits. Barrick is down 1.2% in heavy volume. Placer Dome has dropped 2.6% in strong trading too. Meridian Gold is also notably lower.

Elsewhere in the mining business, Noranda is down another 2% in heavy volume of 2.7 million shares, as traders react to its latest share issue.

TSX Group is down 4.3%, as sleepy investors respond to its latest earnings report showing flat revenues. There is also weakness in biotechs such as Biovail and Cardiome Pharma. Abitibi, Duke Energy, Shaw Communications and Xplore Technologies are down too.

Nortel is unusually subdued today, gaining 0.5% on just 6.3 million shares. There are gains in energy names such as EnCana, and PetroKazakhstan.

There is also some bargain hunting in beaten up names such as Stelco and Bombardier.

There are also gains in Hip Interactive, VSM Medtech and Brookfield. Brookfield is up 3.8% on modest volume, as traders applaud its latest earnings report, driving the real estate group strongly higher.

In earnings news, Talisman Energy has posted record cash flow and earnings for the first six months of 2003. Earnings were $774 million, compared with $191 million during the first six months of 2002. Quarterly earnings were $201 million, compared with $90 million during the second quarter of 2002.

Emera has recorded consolidated net earnings of $15.5 million in the second quarter of 2003, compared with $15.7 million in the second quarter of 2002.

Basis100 recorded net income of $9.1 million for the quarter. This compares with a net loss of $5.2 million for the same quarter in fiscal 2002.

Call-Net Enterprises says its net income was $2.5 million, compared with a net loss of $62.4 million in the second quarter of 2002.

Cascades reported net earnings of $40 million for the second quarter of 2003, flat compared with the same period in 2002.

Stocks are also trading slightly negative in the U.S., without much economic or corporate news to drive the trade. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 14 points to 9,190. The Nasdaq composite index has dropped 10 ticks to 1,721. The S&P 500 is unchanged at 989.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is flat at 1,190. Volume is decent at 17.5 million shares. Biotech Holdings is the day’s top trader, up half a cent to 7¢ on 746,000 shares.