Bulls and bears are fighting to a draw today. At midday the S&P/TSX composite index is down two points to 8,317.

Toronto volume is robust at 151.1 million shares, with the buying holding a seven to five edge on the selling. Market breadth is slightly bullish too, with winners outnumbering losers by a 29:27 margin.

The nearly dead even markets also betrays some strong, diametrically-opposed sector moves. Golds and miners are jumping on the positive economic outlook. Materials, techs and telecoms are generally stronger, too.

However, energy stocks are slumping notably, as are industrials.

Bombardier is the market’s main villain today, it is down 12% in heavy trading on its latest results. It posted a first quarter loss of US$174 million, although revenues grew 6%. It cited higher costs, job cuts and weak sales for the results.

There is also some conspicuous weakness in RBC. It is down 2.4% in strong trading, on news that quarterly net income was $774 million, up 12% from $689 million last year. However, U.S. operations recorded net income of $69 million compared to $81 million a year ago, as that segment continues to struggle a bit. It has also pledged to renew its share buyback of 25 million shares.

TD Bank, National Bank and Laurentian Bank reported, too. TD Bank said that it earned $511 million in its second quarter. National Bank made $180 million. Laurentian earned $13.3 million, it also shuffled the executive suite at B2B Trust.

Manulife has gained 1.4% amid all of this, but Scotiabank is down 1%. CIBC is down a little, TD is up a little.

Barrick is leading the gold group higher today, up 1.4% in solid volume. And, there is also strength in Inco, Alcan, Wheaton River, Orezone, Cambior, and Northern Orion Resources. Orezone is jumping 12% on some strong assay results from a mine in Burkina Faso. Also, CP Rail is up 2.7%, and CN has gained 3.3%.

Nortel is rallying impressively today. It is up 4% in heavy trading of 15.7 million shares on news that former finance minister and deputy prime minister John Manley is joining its board, presumably adding credibility and bolstering confidence in the troubled tech giant. ATI is up 3.3%. However, Open Text is lower. On the telecom side, BCE has gained 1%, Manitoba Tel has added 3.4%.

Com Dev is jumping 18%, after it reported earnings yesterday. ConjuChem and CoolBrands are up too.

There is broad weakness in energy stocks, as traders take their profits in that hot sector. Canadian Natural Resources is down 5%, EnCana is 3% lower, Suncor is down, as is Petro Canada, PetroKazakhstan, and Nexen. And, Hudson’s Bay Co. is weak, too.


In New York, positive economic data and renewed investor confidence is driving the trade. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 75 points at midday to 10.185. The tech-heavy Nasdaq compoisite is just two ticks higher at 1,978 though.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is up seven points to 1,603. Volume is on the low side at 24.1 million shares, led by Pan-Global Energy. It is up 19¢ to $1.49 on 936,000 shares traded.