By James Langton

(September 20 – 13:00 ET) – Markets are sliding this morning with Nortel Networks leading the charge once again. The TSE 300 is down 78 points to 10,836. Volume is moderate at 76.6 million shares, about 5:4 in favour of sellers. The decliners are also outpacing the advancers about 5:4.

On a sector basis, just four of the TSE’s 14 sub-indices are in the black, and only oil and gas and merchandisers are showing any real buying commitment. Everything else is down, led by the industrials. Also weak are media stocks, golds, miners, paper stocks and utilities.

Boring as it sounds, Nortel continues to be the market story at the TSE. It is down 1.6% today on about 3 million shares. Nortel is taking shots along with the rest of the world’s global giants on profit concerns driven by the weak euro and sky-high oil prices.

Joining Nortel on the downside are tech wrecks such as JDS Uniphase, 724 Solutions, Exfo Electro, BCE Emergis, and Alcatel. eDispatch has taken a thumping, down 24%, although there’s no news from the firm. Cell-Loc has dropped 10% on its widening losses.

The oils are the only firms benefiting from the energy crunch. Husky Energy is leading the way up, gaining 5% on 3.4 million shares today. Talisman is strong, too.

Rogers is the top trader of the day today, up almost 1% on 3.7 million shares. Its former takeover target, Videotron, is also active with 2.2 million shares trading so far. The price is flat.

Takeover target Clearnet is active today, too, up 40¢ to $66.45, on 1 million shares.

Rumoured takeover target, Alliance Atlantis has gained more than 7%. Astral Media and Chum are also strong. Other gainers include bargain hunter targets, Cognos, Ballard Power, Celestica, PRI Automation and Weston.

Among the financials, the banks are busy this morning. BMO is the top trader, up 1%. TD is up, too, while the others are down. Scotia is leading the losers, down about 1.6%. The insurers are down, too, led by Manulife. The fund companies are slightly positive.

American markets are slumping. The Dow is off 115 points to 10,674. The Nasdaq composite is down 26 to 3,839. The S&P 500 is off 17 points to 1,442.

Profits are the big concern here, too, with techs leading the way south. Recent strong results at Goldman Sachs yesterday and before the bell in Lehman Brothers is boosting the financials, and oils are strong as well, but that’s about it for strength in the U.S.

The CDNX is a busy market today, with the index dropping 12 points to 3,642 on heavy volume of 36.7 million shares. Techs are weak, as are mines. Oils remain the only pillar of strength.

Waratah Pharma Inc is the top trader, up 140% to $2.02 on incredible volume of 12.6 million shares. The firm is debuting on the CDNX in an IPO led by Yorkton and joined by Canaccord for the new biotech firm.