Markets are taking another thumping today on a batch of earnings reports. Traders are selling off stocks with disappointing results and weak forecasts. The S&P/TSX index is down about 61 points at midday to 7,651.

Volume is strong, but not heavy, at 126.8 million shares, with the selling swamping the buying by a margin of more than three to one. Market breadth is also decisively bearish, as losers outnumber winners by a three to two margin.

Every sector is down at midday. Weak earnings outlooks are slamming the techs particularly hard, down 3.4%. Telecoms, diversifieds and health care stocks are all more than 1% lower too. Consumer stocks and trusts are holding up best, only seeing modest declines.

Celestica is leading the decline in techs, dropping more than 12% in heavy trading on news that, while it narrowed its loss for the current quarter, it will miss analyst expectations for the coming quarter. It reported a net loss for the third quarter was $64.8 million, compared with net loss of $91 million for the same period last year. Included in the loss, for the third quarter of 2003, is a $49.1 million charge associated with the company’s previously announced restructuring activities.

Open Text is also getting whacked, dropping 11% on news that its earnings decreased to $3.4 million in its latest quarter. This compares with $5.4 million a year ago.

Elsewhere in the tech sector, Nortel is down 2.5%, and there is notable weakness in ATI, Zarlink Semi, and Sierra Wireless. The telecoms are down, led by a 2.5% drop in BCE, on news that communications regulators are looking to improve competition, and may limit discounting. Telus is down about 4.5% on the news. However, Manitiba Telecom is up 1.2%.

Old economy companies are also taking hits, with selling in Alcan, Inco, and EnCana. Quebecor is down 4.5% on news that for the third quarter 2003, it will be reporting net income of $60 million. This compares with net income of $99 million in the third quarter last year.

Financials are sliding, with Royal Bank down 1.2%, and smaller slides in Manulife, and Scotia. Kingsway Financial is recovering a bit though.

Golds are providing no safe haven today, with Barrick down 0.5%, and selling in Aur Resources and Rio Narcea. Although there is buying in FNX Mining, and Cambior.

A few stocks are making gains, with Canadian Zinc rallying on higher commodity prices. This is also boosting Noranda, which is up 1.2% due to higher earnings from higher zinc and copper prices.

QLT Inc. is another firm making gains on its latest earnings. It is up about 3.4% on news that strong sales helped it earn US$13.1 million in the third quarter.

Other gainers include Isotechnika, CN, and Ivanhoe Energy.

In other earnings news, Dofasco reported that its third quarter earnings dropped to $29.9 million. In the previous quarter, Dofasco’s net income was $38.8 million.

TransAlta Corp saw its third quarter earnings surge to $124.2 million.

Imperial Oil reported that it posted third quarter net earnings of $375 million, compared with $347 million for the third quarter of 2002. The increased earnings resulted primarily from higher industry margins for petroleum products and higher prices for natural gas, and partly offset by lower prices for bitumen and higher exploration and planned maintenance expenses.

Bennett Environmental said it earned $6,796,616 in the third quarter.

In New York, markets opened lower following some turmoil in Asia. But, encouraging news in terms of jobless claims helped cheer traders. At midday, the Dow is down just 17 points to 9,581. The Nasdaq composite index has dropped 15 points to 1,883. And, the S&P 500 is up a point at 1,031.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is also down 13 points to 1,454. Volume is strong at 37.9 million shares. Tagish Lake Gold is leading the trade, up 3% to 33¢ on 2.7 million shares.