Stocks are sliding once again today, with war fears continuing to take most of the blame. The S&P/TSX index is down 45 points at midday to 6345. Volume stays on the soft side at 89.4 million shares, with the selling ahead of the buying by about 11:5. Losers are also outnumbering winners by 18:11.

The slide in stocks is broad-based, with every group on the downside. Health care stocks are weakest, down about 2.5%. There is also notable selling in real estate, golds, materials, industrials, and diversifieds.

Bombardier Inc. continues to serve as the market’s favourite whipping boy. It is down another 7.8% today in strong trading of 11.7 million shares.

Other firms are simply giving up recent gains, as traders take their profits. Biovail is down 2% in active trading. And, Patheon has dropped 14% in the biotech space, on news of its latest earnings.

Golds are slumping too, led by a 5% slide in Kinross. Other losers in the group include Iamgold and Meridian Gold.
Financials are joining everything else on the downside. Manulife is leading the way, down about 1%. Scotia and Royal Bank are weaker too.

Other losers include Noranda, Stelco, EnCana, Nortel, Abitibi, Sears and Ipsco.

On the upside, Rogers Communications has gained 0.8% in heavy trading of 3.2 million shares. It announced that it has entered into agreements to purchase 3.0 million subordinate voting shares of Cogeco Cable from a group of investors unaffiliated with Cogeco. The Cogeco Cable shares are being purchased for investment purposes, it says, noting it has no plans to buy more. After the deal, it will own 30% of the subordinate voting shares, and 18% of all the common shares.

News is also driving a 3% gain in Hudson’s Bay, on heavy volume of 2.3 million shares. Traders are rallying the retailer after it reported net earnings for the latest quarter were $105.1 million, compared with $66.3 million in the same quarter last year. Net earnings for the 2002 fiscal year were $111.5 million, versus $72.8 million last year.
Other gainers include a mix of names such as First Calgary Petroleums, Western oil Sands, ATI, Geac Computer, and CoolBrands.

In other earnings news, Empire reported that its third quarter net earnings reached $39.3 million versus $36.1 million last year.

Also, MDS saw its earnings jump to $24 million in the first quarter, an increase of 31% from the same quarter of 2002.
Eldorado Gold reported that it earned US$2.1 million in 2002.

Mitec Telecom saw its net loss for the third quarter reduced to $4.9 million from the net loss of $7.4 million in the corresponding period last year. This decrease is mainly attributable to an improvement in gross margins in the satellite communication and microwave segments.

Sleeman reported that its earnings increased to $12.32 million in 2002, compared with $9.8 million in fiscal 2001. In the fourth quarter, net income was $2 million, compared with $2.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2001.

On the financing front, Great-West Lifeco says that it has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of investment dealers, led by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and Merrill Lynch Canada Inc., for the sale of $600 million in debentures, to be offered in two series. The proceeds from the debentures will be used for general corporate purposes, and as part of the financing of the proposed acquisition of Canada Life Financial Corp.

In New York, war worries, heightened by news of a surprise news conference by U.S. president Bush tonight, are weighing on stocks once again. The Dow is down 92 points to 7683. The S&P 500 is down eight ticks to 822. Nasdaq has dropped 11 points to 1303.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is weaker today too, down six points to 1093. Volume is improved at 20.4 million shares. International Barrier Tech is the day’s top trader, up 11¢ to 22¢ on 2.1 million shares.