Wall Street saw losses by midday on Thursday as higher crude oil prices and Treasury bond yields as well as upcoming employment data made investors nervous. The Dow Jones Industrial average had dropped 0.5 percent by mid-session to 11,188.81, while the Nasdaq Composite declined by 0.3 percent to 2,352.38 and the S&P 500 was down 0.5 percent to 1,305.26.
Merck hurt the Dow, dropping 4.5 percent to $34.38 after a $4.5 million court decision against the pharmaceutical company regarding side effects of its drug Vioxx. The loss increased the chances that more lawsuits would be filed against the company.
The retail sector was mixed as quarterly earnings reports were below estimates. The shortfalls were blamed on cold weather, higher gasoline prices, and a late Easter this year. Wal-Mart dropped 0.8 percent to $46.52 despite recording a 1.4 percent hike in March same-store sales. The Gap lost 0.5 percent to $18.57 on lower spring clothing sales that it blamed on the cold weather.
On the up side of retail, Target added 1.4 percent to $52.89 on slightly higher than expected sales figures. Bed, Bath & Beyond added 6.7 percent to $40.87 after profits were higher than had been predicted in their fourth quarter.
Apple Computer was up 4 percent to $69.92 after a gain of 9.9 percent on Wednesday on the release of new software that lets Macintosh users run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.