Stocks are down ahead of a tomorrow’s decision on interest rates in the United States, but volume is so light that it’s hard to put much importance on today’s slide. The S&P/TSX index is down 47 points at midday to 6,599.

Volume is just 48 million shares with selling almost double the buying. Market breadth is negative, too, with losers edging winners by nine to seven.

Just about every sector on the TSX is down, as traders sell stocks across the board in response to the growing realization that the Federal Reserve probably isn’t going to cut U.S. interest rates tomorrow. Techs are down about 1.6%, leading the way, and there’s weakness in industrials, diversifieds, materials, utilities and financials. But no sector is down much more than 1%. Real estate, telecoms and health care are all down, but they are holding up best overall.

In such a light volume day, financials are the notable downside traders, with CIBC, Royal Bank and Manulife Financial leading the way lower.

Many of the market’s biggest names are slumping, too. There’s selling in EnCana, Alcan, Inco, Bombardier, Hudson’s Bay and Barrick Gold.

Techs are weaker, with Nortel Networks down 2.6% on 1.8 million shares. There’s also weakness in Research in Motion, Descartes Systems, and Shaw Communications.

BCE is up 0.6% in active trading, after it finally closed its big $2 billion share offering.

There are also gains in a select group of stocks, including CAE, Ballard Power, Nova Chemicals, Potash, Clublink and Fairmont Hotels.

In New York, stocks opened the day lower in anticipation of tomorrow’s rate decision, and all morning they’ve been bouncing around on the downside. The Dow Jones industrial average is off 108 points at midday to 8,638. The S&P 500 is down 11 ticks to 897. The Nasdaq composite has lost 14 points to 1,293.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is flat at midda. It has gained less than a point to sit at 1,033. Volume is low at 9.6 million shares. NTI Newmerical is the top trader, up a penny to 34¢ on 527,000 shares.