Stocks aren’t trading with much conviction Wednesday, with a dearth of market moving news. The S&P/TSX composite index is up seven points at midday to 7,482.

The Canadian wholesale trade numbers released this morning did nothing to change the outlook for the economy or interest rates.

Toronto volume is still decent at 129 million shares, despite the ongoing efforts at power cutbacks to avoid blackouts.

The power outage threat actually diminished a bit on news that Ontario will be importing power from Quebec to keep the lights on as the weather heats up.

In Toronto, buying is well ahead of the selling by about three to one. Market breadth is also quite positive today, with winners outnumbering losers 11 to nine.

However, despite the bullish internals, weakness in the heavyweight banking group is weighing on the market. The financials are down 1%, as traders react to the first bank earnings report from CIBC.

Most other sectors are higher at midday, with the biggest gains coming in golds, up 2.8%. Materials, diversifieds and industrials are also strongly higher.

CIBC is the stock of the day, down about 2% in heavy trading, after announcing its latest quarterly earnings. The firm reported a big profit jump, banking $788 million in the quarter, up from $193 million in the quarter last year. However, much of the profit improvement came due to fewer writedowns and a tax windfall. Traders are punishing the stock because loan loss provisions were bigger than expected, coming in at $425 million, up from $290 million last year.

The selling in CIBC is also spilling over to the other banks, with TD Bank down 1.8% and Scotiabank 1.3% lower at midday. National Bank has dropped more than 2%.

Apart from the banks, there is strength in the market, led by a big rally in gold stocks. Barrick is booming, up 5% on the day. Placer Dome has added 3% in active trading. And, there are also gains in Pan American Silver, and Birim Goldfields is up almost 10% in heavy trading on news that it has finalized the sale of its Dunkwa property to Golden Star Resources for US$3.4 million and a sliding-scale net smelter return royalty.

Nortel is stronger, leading the techs with a 3% gain of its own on decent volume. And, there is strength in Ivanhoe Energy, First Calgary Petroleums, Sino Forest, Canico Resources and Orezone Resources.

Weakness is coming in names such as Call-Net, Cryocath, Hydrogenics, Westaim and PetroKazakhstan.

In business news, Transat and WestJet are teaming up with a deal that will see Transat tour operators chartering WestJet’s 737s to specific destinations. The contract is worth an estimated $29 million.

In earnings news, Cabletel Communications reported that it lost $2.5 million in the second quarter.

In New York, stocks remain lightly traded. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 25 points at midday to 9,403. The Nasdaq composite index has gained a point to 1,762. The S&P 500 is down a point to 1,001.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is actually the strongest market today, gaining 15 points to 1,265. Volume is strong too at 28.5 million shares. Klondex Mines is the day’s big trader, down 4.5¢ to 43.5¢ with 1.5 million shares trading.