Bulls and bears have fought their way to a draw so far on Thursday. Corporate earnings and other news is driving the trade.

At midday, the TSE 300 is down a single point to 7,712.

Volume is hefty 112 million shares, with buyers ahead of the sellers by 11 to eight. Losers outnumber winners though, by about eight to seven.

The major source of weakness is the healthcare stocks, down about 2% so far today. There’s also selling in consumer names, techs and telecoms.

On the upside, there’s some strength in energy plays, golds, utilities, miners and materials.

There’s heavy trading in BCE once again today, as traders take some quick profits after yesterday’s monster gain. The stock is down 1.5% on 5.4 million shares so far today. Telus and Bell Canada are down, too, dropping 2.5% and 3% respectively.

The tech weakness comes after the resumption of accounting worries concerning tech stocks, and some mixed earnings reports. There’s selling in names such as JDS Uniphase, Research in Motion, ATI Technologies, GSI Lumonics and C.I. Group.

In the biotech arena, Biovail is leading the way down. It is off 5% on 668,900 shares, after announcing its latest results. Angiotech is weak, too.

The energy group is stronger today, with EnCana leading the charge. It is up about 2.2% in strong trading. The firm reported $186 million of earnings and $765 million of cash flow on a pro forma basis during the first quarter of 2002.

Gold stocks are stronger, once again led by Barrick. It is up another 2.5% on heavy volume of 1.9 million shares. Placer Dome is riding Barrick’s tail, although its gain is more modest. there’s also strength in TVX Gold, Bema Gold and Eldorado Gold.

Financials are more or less flat today, althought there is some strength in the banks, led by Bank of Nova Scotia. Royal Bank and TD Bank have small gains, too.

There’s also some buying in Open Text, Dorel Industries and Extendicare.

In other earnings news, Suncor Energy reported that its first quarter net earnings were $90 million, down from $125 million in the first quarter of 2001. Suncor says that its net earnings for the quarter were affected by a significant year-over-year decline in commodity prices and downstream refining margins, along with higher cash, non-cash and financing costs. These effects were partially offset by higher oil sands production.

In financing news, Bombardier has closed an offering in the U.S. of US$550 million of 10-year notes. In response to strong demand, Bombardier increased the size of the offering, initially planned for US$500 million. The offering was made through a joint syndicate led by Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. and UBS Warburg LLC.

Also, Pioneer Natural Resources intends to offer $150 million of senior notes due 2012. Proceeds of the offering will be used to repay bank debt. Credit Suisse First Boston and J.P. Morgan will be joint bookrunning managers for the offering.

CHC Helicopter has completed its treasury offering of 4.2 million subordinate voting shares to a syndicate of underwriters led by Scotia Capital Inc. for gross proceeds of $119.28 million. The proceeds will be used by CHC Helicopter for repayment of debt and general corporate purposes, which may include the further repayment of debt and asset acquisitions.

Finally, there’s a little M&A action, too, with news that Van Houtte has acquired two office-coffee services. It has bought Montreal’s Snackon Food Services Ltd., and Dallas-based Eve’s Seeds Inc. for slightly more than $2.5 million.

In New York, stocks are slumping on earnings news, accounting worries, and Tyco’s move off its plan to break up into four firms. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 36 points at midday, back below the 10,000 mark, to 9,995. The S&P 500 has dropped two ticks to 1,091. The Nasdaq composite index is down by a single point to 1,712.

The S&P/CDNX index is weak today, too. It is down five points to 1,160. Volume is average at 17.4 million shares. William Multi-Tech Inc. is the top trader, flat at 1¢ on 600,000 shares.