Volume is strong at 102 million shares, with buying actually ahead of the selling by about 11:8. However, market breadth is negative, with losers outnumbering winners decisively, about five to four.

Consumer stocks are notably lower today, with the staples stocks down 1.7%, and discretionary names down 0.5%, on news that retail sales were weaker than expected in September. There is also some selling in techs, energy, industrials and diversifieds. Still, the financials are strong once again, as are golds and materials.

Nortel Networks continues to account for much of the upside volume, gaining just 0.8% on 21.3 million shares traded. Cognos is up, too. Research in Motion, however, is weighing on the group, dropping 10% in heavy volume on news that it has lost a patent case in the U.S.

TD Bank is powering the banks higher, as traders applaud its latest executive shuffle. It is up 2% on 2.1 million shares. Scotia has gained 2.7%, Royal Bank is up a little, and Manulife Financial has gained 2.3%.

Golds are up, driven by gains in Glamis and Newmont Mining. There is also buying in CanWest Global, Van Houtte, ID Biomedical, and Mega Bloks.

On the downside, Quebecor is down 2.3% in strong trading. Other blue chip losers include Suncor Energy, Agrium, Loblaws and Compton Petroleum.

TransAlta is down 4% on news that it plans to take three initiatives to improve long-term performance, decommissioning a coal plant, advancing its Alberta thermal plant maintenance schedule, and cancelling orders for four turbines. Fourth quarter results are therefore expected to be a loss of $50 million to $60 million. The firm also said that it assumes that 2003 market conditions will be no better than 2002.

Other losers include Biovail, Hemosol, Cott and Vector Aeropace.

In other business news, Canadian National says that it is prepared to invest more than $30 million in ONRail assets and employees following its proposed acquisition of the Northeastern Ontario railway.

Market weakness is also prevailing in New York, with some weak news from tech firms leading the way down a bit. The Dow Jones industrial average is down 34 points at 8,812. The S&P 500 has dropped four ticks to 930. The Nasdaq composite is down 11 points to 1,457.

The small caps are trading with the crowd for a change today. That means the S&P/TSX Venture index is down, too, dropping three points to 943. Volume is average at 13.1 million shares. Epicentrix is the day’s top trader, flat at 5¢ per share on 347,000 shares.