The New York equities markets were mixed at midday on Wednesday after the release of some mixed earnings reports. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were each 0.2 percent lower, to 11,842.04 and 1,351.44, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.1 percent higher to 2,316.78.

Alcoa dropped 5.7 percent to $26.69 after it said Tuesday evening that profits were up 86 percent in the third quarter, a significant gain but much less than had been expected. The results were put to lower prices for aluminium and declines in automobile manufacturing and homebuilding.

Fund manager Legg Mason was 17.3 percent lower on a warning that earnings in its second quarter would be substantially lower than has been estimated. Merrill Lynch cut its recommendation on Legg from “buy” to “sell”. The news, coupled with an offer from Bank of America that gives 30 free trades per month to customers with $25,000 in bank deposits with BofA, sent other brokerages lower. Charles Schwab dropped 5 percent to $17.16, while E*trade declined 10 percent to $22.05 and TD Ameritrade was 10.6 percent lower to $17.07.

Ag biotech and fertilizer group Monsanto was 5.1 percent lower to $44.05 on the news that its losses in the third quarter were greater than had been expected. It also said that next year’s earnings would be lower than earlier estimated.

Among gainers, drug retailer CVS added 4.2 percent to $30.97 on a preliminary third-quarter earnings report that was better than had been forecast. Insurance provider Progressive, meanwhile, was 2.8 percent higher to $25.40 on a third quarter report that showed earnings up by 34 percent in the quarter.

Higher oil prices and bond yields sent the New York equities markets lower on Monday after a long holiday weekend. At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.5 percent to 11,085.54. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.35 percent to 2,317.93, while the S&P 500 had declined by 0.26 percent to 1,286.49. The declines came despite good quarterly reports from the financial services sector .

Citigroup said that its profits in the fourth quarter were up 4 percent to $5.64 billion, sending its shares 0.5 percent higher by mid-session to $48.29. Wachovia reported profits that were 7.4 percent higher in its first quarter but this did not stop its share price from declining by 24 cents to $55.61. Much higher quarterly earnings, to the tune of a 68 percent jump, also did not prevent shares in Charles Schwab from losing 31 cents to $17.28.

Also among those companies issuing quarterly reports, industrial goods maker Eaton added 2.2 percent to $76.25 on a strong showing.

Stock exchanges were mixed, with the NYSE Group, owner of the New York Stock Exchange, dropped 2 percent to $73.55 after last week’s disclosure that it is in talks with companies it is interested in acquiring. Nasdaq, however, added 3 percent to $43.52 after its purchase of nearly 15 percent of the London Stock Exchange last week.

Digital video recorder manufacturer TiVo was up 16 percent to $9.14.