The New York equities markets were up slightly at midday as investors returned from the Christmas holiday weekend, but trade was light with many expected to remain on holiday all week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.31 percent higher to 12,381.27, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.32 percent to 2,408.75 and the S&P 500 was up 0.29 percent to 1,414.89. The Russell 2000 index of small-caps was 0.72 percent higher, to 786.41.

The oil sector was higher. ConocoPhillips added 32 cents to $71.37, while Chevron gained 42 cents to $73.15. Anadarko Petroleum was 55 cents higher to $42.69 after it said it will sell two of its gas fields in Louisiana, part of its plan to sell assets to lower its debt after purchasing Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources earlier in the year. ExxonMobil, meanwhile, was up 56 cents to $75.96.

Retail was mixed but mostly lower. In late morning trade, department stores were lower. Federated Department Stores dropped 0.2 percent to $38.03, while Kohls fell 0.7 percent to $69.30 and J. C. Penney was 1.3 percent lower to $78.54.

Other retailers were also down. Discount retailer Target dropped 0.6 percent to $56.98, while consumer electronics retailer Best Buy was 1.5 percent lower to $49.19. By midday, however, Wal-Mart had gained 28 cents to $45.82 after seeing declines earlier.

Internet shopping sites were mixed, with eBay gaining 0.8 percent to $30.45. Amazon, on the other hand, had dropped 1.6 percent to $39.58.

Wall Street was slightly higher at mid-session on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.1 percent to 12,329.28 but was well down from the new record high of 12,368.61 it reached earlier in the day. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was up a bare 0.02 percent to 2,432.03 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.2 percent to 1,414.26. The small and mid-cap Russell 2000 index was 0.08 percent higher to 789.01.

Airlines were higher after United Airlines said that it has opened talks with Continental Airlines concerning the possibility of a merger. United was 4.5 percent higher to $45.54, while Continental gained 5.2 percent to $45.11. Elsewhere, the news that AirTran Holdings’ bid for Midwest Air had been rejected sent Midwest 21.26 percent higher to $11. AirTran added 1.5 percent to $12.53.

The retail sector was mixed. Home Depot added 1.3 percent to $39.22 on the news that it has acquired 12 stores in China. Best Buy and Circuit City both declined, however, after Prudential Securities issued a downgrade on both consumer electronics retailers on worries about the low price of flat-screen televisions. Circuit City dropped 1.4 percent to $23.24, while Best Buy was 1.5 percent lower to $50.51.

Anadarko Petroleum fell 3 percent to $46.19 after Goldman Sachs dropped its rating on the oil company from “buy” to “neutral”.

A broker upgrade helped Apple Computer to a 1.9 percent gain to $87.80. Morgan Stanley kept its recommendation for the computer maker at “overweight”, but upped its target share price from $90 to $110 on the theory that revenues could be increased by the introduction of new products.

The New York equities markets were up at mid-session on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a new intra-day high of 11,786.49. By midday the Dow had settled to 11,779.29, a gain of 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq Composite was 1.1 percent higher to 2,267.39, while the S&P 500 had added 0.5 percent to 1,340.96.

Dropping commodities prices sent miners and oil-related stocks lower. Anadarko Petroleum was 2.1 percent lower to $40.24 after a downgrade from “buy” to “neutral” issued by Bank of America. Phelps Dodge dropped 3.1 percent to $77.57.

Among retailers, Wal-Mart declined 1.5 percent to $48.73 on same-store sales in September that were up 1.3 percent, against a predicted gain of 1.8 percent.

Technology related stocks were higher on the day, however. Nvidia, helped by rumors that Intel was considering a bid, added 6.5 percent to $30.13. Sandisk was up 3.6 percent to $55.23 after it said it will begin distributing its flash-memory products in India, starting with 2,000 outlets in the next few weeks and increasing that to 14,000 outlets by the end of next year. Software giant Microsoft gained 1.4 percent to $27.76, while internet auctioneer Ebay was 5.2 percent higher to $29.65.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed on the session. While ImClone was up 6 percent to $28.80 after it reported that it had received a bid last month, which it had rejected, from a major pharma group. On the other hand, Genentech dropped 1.6 percent to $82.50 after an analysts said that cancer-drug sales in the third quarter might have been below expectations.

Stocks were up but trade was light at midday in New York on Monday ahead of the Independence Day holiday coming up on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were each 0.7 percent higher at mid-session. The Dow had gained 77.32 points to 11,227.54, while the Nasdaq was up 14.44 points to 2,186.53 and the S&P added 9.31 points to 1,279.51.

Technology stocks saw gains. Hewlett Packard was up 2.8 percent to $32.58 after it agreed to include a port technology in its laptops that would let those machines use multiple peripheral devices. Computer Sciences Corporation recovered some of its 13 percent loss on Friday, gaining 4.3 percent to $50.65. The losses last week came when CSS said it was no longer interested in mergers.

The oil sector was up as crude oil prices went higher. ConocoPhillips added 2.2 percent to $66.98, while Anadarko Petroleum gained 2.5 percent to $48.88.

Miners also were higher. Alcoa was up 2.9 percent to $33.29 on talk that it could be the target of takeover activity, while Newmont Mining gained 4.4 percent to $55.26 and Freeport McMoran advanced by 4.7 percent to $58.01.

In the retail sector, Wal-Mart dropped 1.3 percent to $47.53 on the announcement that June sales would only make the lower end of expectations. Home decorating retailer Michaels, however, added 2 percent to $42.08 on the announcement that it will sell to two private equity groups for over $6 billion.

The automobile manufacturing sector saw declines. Despite early gains, General Motors was down by 0.6 percent at mid-session to $29.60 as Renault and Nissan said they would talk about extending their partnership to include GM, as had been suggested last week by Kirk Kerkorian, the largest single shareholder in the US carmaker. Ford fell 3.3 percent to $6.70 when it said it would achieve its intention of making 250,000 hybrid cars per year by 2010.

Investors seemed to ignore data on inflation to send New York equities markets higher at the mid-point of the day on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.8 percent to 10,905.22, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 1.7 percent to 2,120.64 and the S&P 500 gained 1 percent to 1,242.29.

Banks saw gains. Goldman Sachs was up 2.7 percent to $142.26, Lehman Brothers gained 2.9 percent to $62.68, and Bear Stearns added 3.4 percent to $128.37 on a report that profits were up 81 percent in the second quarter.

With crude oil prices rising again, ConocoPhillips gained 2.3 percent to $60.81, while Anadarko Petroleum advanced by 4 percent to $47.25. Ethanol producer Verasun Energy, however, which made its trading debut Wednesday with a gain of 30 percent, dropped 9.7 percent to $27.10.

Stock exchange operators saw gains on the day. Nasdaq was up 6 percent to $26.63, while NYSE Group gained 7.1 percent to $54.50.

Construction machinery manufacturer Caterpillar added 3.9 percent to $70.11 on the news that its quarterly dividend will go up by 20 percent.

In the semiconductor sector, upgrades from “neutral” to “buy” sent both Nvidia and Sandisk higher. Sandisk gained 5 percent to $53.07, while Nvidia was up 7 percent to $21.87.