Stocks are looker weak again this morning due to poor corporate news and renewed war jitters.

Fibre-optic equipment maker, JDS Uniphase Corp., is leading the parade of poor corporate news, cutting its sales forecast. It says that sales may be down as much as 9.5% below forecast. Qwest Communications International Inc. is also cutting US$95 million in sales from its books to appease a federal accounting investigation.

On the war front, news that Iraq has rejected UN conditions for renewed weapons inspections has upped tensions and pushed oil prices higher this morning.

In economic news, Canadian retail sales posted a 0.3% sales decline in July, following a 1.9% gain in June and a 1.0% decline in May. Retail sales in
July were $25.6 billion. Excluding sales by auto dealers, retail sales decreased 0.1% in July, after a 2.2% gain in June. July’s weakness in retail
sales was concentrated in the clothing, furniture and general merchandise. In constant dollars, retail sales fell 0.7% in July, following a 1.8% increase in June.

In Europe, stocks are down. The weekend election victory by Germany’s Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has traders worried about the strength of recovery in that country. The London FTSE has dropped 71 points to 3789. The Paris CAC 40 has lost 52 points to sit at 2839. And the German DAX is down 13 points to 2962.

Overnight in Asia, Japanese markets were closed. The Hang Seng traded down just 13 points to 9315.

In M&A news today, Dole Food Co.’s chairman and CEO, David Murdock, has made an unsolicited US$2.5 billion bid to take to take the firm private. The firm is the world’s largest fruit and vegetable producer. Alcan Inc. announced its intention to re-organize its global fabrication technology sites to more closely align the R&D activities with the operating business groups. This will enable Alcan to continue developing technology in the most cost-effective manner. The company will focus its R&D serving the fabrication businesses into two locations: Kingston, Ont. And Neuhausen, Switzerland. This will result in the closure of the Banbury, U.K., R&D facility.