They changed the name of the index this morning, but that didn’t distract traders looking to sell stocks.

The newly-named S&P/TSX index is down 53 points in its market debut, to 7,610.

Volume is strong at 92.2 million shares, with selling outnumbering the buying by about eight to seven. The losers have a decisive five to four edge on winners today, too.

Many of yesterday’s trading patterns are unwinding. In other words, golds are up, everything else is down.

A cynic may suggest that portfolio managers bought the market to window dress their portfolios for the end of the month yesterday, and are now unwinding those positions.

Whatever the reason, techs are down almost 4%, consumer and health care stocks are down about 1%, and financials have dropped 0.8%. Pretty much everything else is down modestly.

The banks are really leading the way down today, as traders worry about credit quality and possible trouble lurking on the banks’ balance sheets, ahead of their earnings confessions.

TD Bank is leading the way in that category, down 4% in heavy trading of 3.2 million shares. CIBC is down 2.2% in heavy trading too. Although, some of this selling is rotating into Royal Bank and Scotia, both of which are up a bit in active trading.

The big insurers are weak, . Sun Life has also dropped 1.6% in the wake of its latest earnings release. Manulife is down about 1.6%.

Apart from the floundering financials, the techs are a big weak spot. Zarlink Semi is leading the selling, down almost 8% at midday. Butthere’s also plenty of weakness in names such as Celestica, Nortel Networks, Cognos and Research in Motion.

Other losers include Biovail, Bennett Enviro, Maple Leaf Foods, Ballard Power and DuPont.

The upside is dominated by gold stocks. The heavy hitters, Barrick and Placer Dome are leading the way, up 3% and 2.5% respectively. There are also compelling gains in Bema Gold, TVX Gold, Kinross, Meridian, Glamis, Newmont, Agnico Eagle and Goldcorp.

Notable non-gold gainers include EnCana Corp. and WestJet.

In earnings news, Fortis’s earnings were $15 million for the first quarter of 2002 compared with $15.5 million for the first quarter of 2001.

Husky Energy recorded net earnings of $126 million in the first quarter of 2002, compared with $192 million in the same quarter of 2001.

Domtar has recorded a net loss of $11 million for the first quarter of 2002. It blames the result on a $45-million provision related to the closure of its St. Catharines mill. Excluding this provision, net earnings would have been $19 million, compared with net earnings of $21 million for the corresponding quarter of 2001.

Canada Bread reports that its net earnings for the quarter were $6.4 million, compared with $3.3 million last year. The increase in net earnings reflects the strong improvement in operating earnings, which was partly offset by higher interest expense on debt incurred to purchase the remaining shares of Multi-Marques, it says.

On the financing front, Stratos Global has entered into an agreement for a $118 million bought deal with a syndicate of underwriters led by RBC Capital Markets.

Indigo Books & Music has successfully completed an offering that was fully subscribed and resulted in gross proceeds of $14,853,443.

In New York, stocks are trading lower on the heels of assorted corporate news, but also some economic data showing that the economic recovery is continuing, but at a slower pace than previously thought.

The Dow Jones industrial average is down 81 points in response to 9,865. The S&P 500 has dropped eight points to 1,069. Nasdaq has shed 36 points to 1,652.

The S&P/TSX Venture index is again bucking the trend today, gaining two points to 1,160. Volume is average at 15.8 million shares. Photochannel Networks Inc. is the top trader, down 17% to 10¢ on 2.7 million shares.