The buying momentum generated at Friday’s open has wilted through the morning.

Despite some strong corporate news and positive economic data on both sides of the border, the S&P/TSX index is down seven points at midday to 7,625.

Volume is average at 90.7 million shares, with selling overwhelming the buying by a 10 to seven margin. The market breadth is more even, but nevertheless slightly negative, with losers outnumbering winners by about eight to seven.

The market weakness isn’t particularly concentrated this morning, but it is widespread through sectors such as technology, real estate, health care and consumer stocks. There isn’t much buying opposing this move either, just tiny gains in telecoms, utilities and golds.

Financials might be the best example of the market action today, with some names up, some down, and not much movement in the overall index. The banks are certainly among the most active traders today following a stronger than expected jobs report, which foretells higher interest rates.

Scotia is down about 1% in active trading. On the flip side, Royal Bank is up 1% and TD Bank has gained 0.7%, both in active trading. Bank of Montreal has gained 0.4%, as traders yawn at its latest little U.S. acquisition.

Trilon is trading actively, moving 1.4 million shares, although its price hasn’t gone anywhere. The stock is moving on news that it has acquired a 55.2% interest in MIST for just $8,036,006. MIST is in the business of applying smart cards in secure transactions for the financial services industry.

Large cap resource stocks are the other active traders, with small slides in big gold producers, Barrick and Placer Dome. Smaller players, Kinross Gold, Glamis, TVX Gold and Bema Gold, are all rallying today.

Techs are generally weaker, with Zarlink Semiconductor down another 9%, despite reports of stronger chip sales from one of the industry’s big players. Celestica, Vector Aerospace and Ballard Power are all weaker.

Old economy losers include Abitibi, EnCana, Finning, Thomson and Fairmont Hotels. But there’s strength in Stelco, Onex, Trizec Properties and SouthernEra Resources.

In New York, early buying momentum has also faded away. It looks as if traders have decided not to go long into the weekend. The Dow Jones industrial avearage is down six points to 10,032. The S&P 500 has slid less than a point to 1,067. The Nasdaq composite index has the most direction, dropping 21 points to 1,630.

The S&P/TSX Venture index continues its contrary behaviour this week, gaining three points to 1160. Volume is strong at 18.9 million shares. Argonauts Group is the top trader, up 5¢ to $4 on more than 1 million shares traded.