Wall Street results were mixed at midday on Friday, with the Nasdaq Composite down for the week and the day so far, while both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down on the day but up for the week. The Dow was down 0.3 percent on the day until noon but up 1.4 percent on the week to 10,893.52, while the Nasdaq was 0.5 percent lower for the day and 0.4 percent lower for the week to 2,028.46 and the S&P was down 0.3 percent for the day and 0.7 percent higher over the week.
Computer-related stocks were mixed. Software company Microsoft had a weekly gain of 7.2 percent to $23.90. Even though its quarterly report showed earnings down 24 percent, it was helped by the announcement of a $40 billion share buyback. Among computer makers, Apple Computer added 20.6 percent over the week to $61.09 on profits that were 48 percent higher in the second quarter, but Dell was 12.6 percent lower to $19.14 after it said that profits in the second quarter would not meet predictions. Internet search engine Yahoo fell 20 percent during the week to $25.68 on a 78 percent drop in earnings in the second quarter, even though these losses were expected.
In the semiconductor sector, Advanced Micro Devices was down 11.5 percent this week to $19.12 despite reporting higher profits in the quarter. Investors were worried about lower revenues due to margins that were being cut in the effort to compete with Intel, which dropped 3 percent on the week.
Oil services companies saw losses during the week after oil prices dropped during the week. BJ Services lost 13.3 percent to $30.35, while Halliburton dropped 17.3 percent to $30.55.