On Wall Street Tuesday the equities markets were a bit higher at midday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.1 percent higher to 12,778.87. The Nasdaq had added 0.4 percent so far on the session to 2,506.20, while the S&P 500 was up 0.2 percent to 1,458.13.
Oil and related sectors were lower after weather reports sent crude oil prices down. ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) dropped 0.7 percent to $74.76. Meanwhile, oil services group Baker Hughes (NYSE: BHI) fell 3 percent to $63.77.
In the airlines sector, JetBlue (NASDAQ: JBLU) was 5.1 percent lower to $12.86 on a broker downgrade after the air carrier said that weather disruptions to its schedule that left some passengers stranded on planes on the ground for several hours could cost it as much as $30 million.
Retailers were mixed. Home Depot (NYSE: HD) dropped 0.1 percent to $41.40 after bigger losses earlier in the session. It reported that the weak US housing market had meant quarterly profits were down by 28 percent. Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT), however, reported better than anticipated quarterly numbers and added 2.8 percent to $49.83.
News that satellite radio providers Sirius (NAS: SIRI) and XM (NAS: XMSR) have proposed a merger sent both companies higher even though it is not clear that regulators will actually allow such a merger to take place. Sirius added 8.1 percent to $4, while XM was up 11.6 percent to $15.59.