Toronto stocks are following the U.S. markets lower today. Positive U.S. economic news has traders moving to lock in profits. At midday, the S&P/TSX index is down 50 points to 6,528.

Volume is heavy today, as many traders get their bets in ahead of the slowdown expected with the U.S. holiday on Thursday. So far, 135.5 million shares have traded, with buying more than doubling the selling. But market breadth tells the tale, with losers outnumbering winners by 18:13.

Every sector is down today, apart from the golds. Energy stocks are notably lower, as talk of war with Iraq starts to dim a bit. There is also weakness in financials, health care stocks, industrials, and diversifieds.

Nortel Networks continues to drive the volume on the TSX. The stock is up another 2.4% today, with huge volume of 48.9 million shares crossing the tape and skewing the volume stats. Research and Motion and CAE are also rallying, but fellow techs are weaker, with notable selling in Celestica, Wireless Matrix, Cognos, Descartes Systems and MDS.

CN is weighing on the market, down 3% after it announced job cuts and big charges relating to accounting changes.

Qubecor continues to struggle, down another 2.7% today.

The banks are lower today, as traders digest earnings from Bank of Montreal. TD Bank has dropped 0.4%, Royal Bank is down 1.1%, Manulife has dropped 1.7%, and Canada Life is down 2.7%.

BMO reported net income of $1.4 billion for its fiscal year, down modestly from a year ago. Excluding non-recurring items in both years, net income was $1,456 million, up 6% from the prior year. Excluding non-recurring items, return on equity was 13.8%, up from 12.9% a year ago.

Other losers today include Teknion, and Suncor Energy.

On the upside, safe haven Barrick is leading the way higher, with a 1.3% gain on heavy volume of 2.8 million shares. It is joined by gains in Kinross.

Other gainers include BCE, Hudson’s Bay and Finning. Finning is up on news that it has reached agreements to acquire the Caterpillar dealerships in Argentina, Uruguay and Bolivia. The transactions are expected to close within the next 60 days. The purchase price for the shares of these companies is $51 million, which will be financed through debt. In addition, Finning will be assuming approximately $51 million in debt.

A number of companies are planning to tap the markets. Enerplus Resources Fund has filed a prospectus to raise gross proceeds of $182 million. CIBC World Markets Inc. and Salomon Smith Barney Inc. are the lead managers and book runners. The net proceeds of the offering will be used to reduce outstanding borrowings which were incurred in connection with the acquisition of Celsius Energy Resources Ltd. and to finance Enerplus’s continuing acquisition and development activities.

Maritime Life Assurance has entered into an agreement with a syndicate of underwriters led by BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc. and CIBC World Markets Inc. under which they have agreed to buy four million preferred shares, representing a total amount of $100 million.

Aastra Technologies has reached an agreement with TD Securities Inc. to offer approximately 1,892,000 common shares at $18.50 per share in accordance with its previously filed prospectus.

Traders are also taking down stocks on Wall Street, despite some encouraging economic data. The Dow Jones industrial average has shed 104 points to 8,745, well off its intra-day lows. The S&P 500 is off by 10 ticks to 923. Nasdaq is down 14 points to 1,468.

The small caps make it a unanimous down day. The S&P/TSX Venture index is down two ticks to 943. Volume is hefty at 17.2 million shares. Bioenvelop Technologies is the day’s top trader, down 9% on more than 1 million shares.