By James Langton

(June 27 – 13:00 ET) – The June FOMC meeting opened this morning without incident, and without any early hints on a rate decision. Traders remain convinced that rates will not move.

In the meantime stocks are sliding in Toronto as some of yesterday’s gains are surrendered. The TSE 300 has dropped 48 points at midday to 10,179. Volume is still on the low side, but it has picked up since yesterday to 77.3 million shares. Volume is about 14:9 in favour of buyers, with decliners edging advancers.

Tech stocks are suffering a little profit-taking this morning, pushing stocks down. The industrials are off about 1.25%, oil and gas service stocks and insurers are sliding, too, although most of the losses are moderate. Golds are down, as well, despite consolidation talk.

Most other groups are up, although the gains are generally small. Only mines are showing any credible strength, up 2%. The sin stocks, brewers and tobacco are up notably. Brewers are gaining on the news that Molson will sell the Montreal Canadiens.

Fund companies are up, too.

Corel is one of the big gainers on the day, up 28% in huge trading on news of an alliance with Hewlett-Packard. Skeptical analyts have been downplaying the news, but eager retail traders seem to love it.

Weakness in Nortel Networks is naturally slugging tech stocks, it is off 2%. Slides in JDS Uniphase, Certicom, and Angiotech seem to be little more than sympathetic. Research in Motion is off 13% with some analysts lowering their growth estimates for the firm.

In other news, high profile president Rick Segal is bailing out on floundering Chapters Online, he has quit to pursue a new “opportunity”. The stock is down 35¢ to $4.15 on the news.

In New York the action is mixed, with technology down and old economy stocks posting some gains, although Fed watching has replaced trading for many players. The Dow Jones industrial average is up 37 points to 10,580. The NASDAQ composite has dropped 13 points to 3,899. The S&P 500 is up two points to 1,457.

The big news in the U.S., apart from the Fed fetish, is that the U.S. Justice Department has filed suit to stop the US$147 billion merger of WorldCom Inc. and Sprint Corp., as expected. The deal will likely sink as a result.

In other merger news, another Internet deal today sees Media Metrix Inc. buying research rival Jupiter Communications Inc. for about US$413 million in stock.

The small caps continue to slide today. The CDNX is down seven points to 3,451 on average volume of 20.3 million shares. Mines and techs are both weak, while oil plays are flat to positive. Conac Software Corp. is a leading trader, up 11% to 58¢ on volume of 1.2 million shares.