Toronto stocks are sliding on fears that U.S. growth will slow, hitting Canadian firms. U.S. durable goods orders for August came in weaker than expected, and there was no real improvement in U.S. weekly jobless claims either.

Most economists still see employment, or the lack of it, as the biggest threat to the U.S. recovery.

The S&P/TSX is down 59 points at midday to 7,543. Volume is strong at 168.6 million shares, with the buying almost double the selling. Market breadth is negative however, with losers outnumbering winners by a margin of seven to six.

Techs and energy trust stocks are the only groups showing any real resistance. There is weakness in the energy sector, biotechs continue to take it on the chin, and there is selling in golds, financials, materials and telecoms.

BCE is leading the way down, dropping 1.5%, after Verizon Communications in the U.S. cut its profit forecast. BCE Emergis and Stratos Global are down, too.

Nortel Networks has dropped 2% in very heavy trading of 29 million shares. Zarlink Semi and Ballard Power are down, too.

There is some strength in the group with Cognos up 2.4% on talk that it may do some buying. Celestica is also higher.

Biotechs are lower yet again, with Biovail down 3.3% on negative analyst talk. Aeterna Labs has dropped 8.4%. ID Biomedical, Neurochem and MDS are all lower.

There are also slides in big name golds and financials. Royal Bank, CIBC, Scotia and Manulife are down on the financial side.

Placer Dome is leading the golds lower, off 2.2%, with similar slides in Barrick, Kinross and Newmont. Pan American Silver, Golden Star Resources and Meridian Gold are also down.

Nevsun Resources is making gains though, as is Defiance Mining, Ivanhoe Mines and Northern Orion Exploration.

EnCana is leading the energy group lower, down 1.1%, but Ivanhoe Energy is up 9% in active trading.

There is also selling in Alcan, CP Ships, Potash and Bennett Enviro.

To buck the selling pressure, stocks need a good story showing that they are different. Maple Leaf Foods is making a case, gaining 5% on news that it is buying Schneider Corp. of Kitchener, Ont., for US$378 million, including the assumption of Schneiders’ outstanding debt. The transaction is expected to close by year-end or early 2004, subject to normal conditions including obtaining clearance for the transaction from the Canadian Competition Bureau.

Tundra Semiconductor is also winning investors’ trust with news that it has purchased Motorola’s PowerPC host bridge product line for US$20 million. It is up 4% on the news.

Hudson’s Bay is up 3.5% as investors applaud its strategic plan to accelerate the company’s sales growth over the next five years. The firm is targeting $9 billion in sales and revenue, and $2.85 in earnings per share by 2008, three times the level of expected earnings per share in 2003.

In other news, Corus Entertainment says that it will beat its stated financial targets for fiscal 2003. Its outlook for fiscal 2004 remains positive.

In the U.S., stocks opened the day lower on weak economic news, but markets have clawed their way back. The Dow Jones industrial average is now up nine points to 9,435. The Nasdaq composite index has added eight points to 1,852. The S&P 500 has gained four points to 1,013.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is also one point higher at 1,403. Volume continues to be strong at 44 million shares. ECU Silver Mining is the day’s top trader, flat, with with almost three million shares traded.