Wall Street was up at midday on Friday and looked to be ready to end the week at its highest levels in three months. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.7 percent higher on the day so far and 1.6 percent higher for the week to 11,465.51. The Nasdaq Composite had added 0.5 percent on the day and 2 percent on the week to 2,194.21, while the S&P 500 was 0.6 percent higher to mid-session and up 1.2 percent on the week to 1,310.94.

The semiconductors sector saw significant gains during the week. Intel added 5.3 percent to $19.90 on an upgrade from “market perform” to “outperform” from Friedman Billings Ramsey. Meanwhile, LSI Logic gained 8 percent to $0.86 and PMC Sierra was 9.8 percent higher to $6.73.

Retailers were also up. Discount retailer Family Dollar was up by 10.8 percent to $26.12 on higher than anticipated sales in August and an improved fourth-quarter guidance. Nordstrom had its best week in more than a year, adding 11.7 percent to $38.02.

Internet stocks did well. Ebay was 11.1 percent higher to $28.11 on an announcement of an advertising agreement with Google. Amazon gained 12.8 percent to $31.63.

Losers on the week included the oil and telecommunications equipment sectors. Ciena, which manufactures networking equipment, dropped 4.6 percent to $3.95, while JDS Uniphase was 11.2 percent lower to $2.29.

In the oil sector, Marathon Oil fell 8.5 percent to $84.26, while Sunoco dropped 6.4 percent to $72.39.

The New York equities markets saw advances on Tuesday, fueled by inflation that appears to be under control, by optimism based on first quarter earnings reports, and by falling crude oil prices.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended the day up 0.5 percent to 11,203.85, while the Nadsaq Composite gained 0.4 percent to 2,345.36 and the S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to 1,305.93.

Banks were up on the day. Bank of America advanced by 1.4 percent to $46.29. Wells Fargo gained 0.8 percent to $64.87. JPMorgan added 1.6 percent to $42.27.

The Dow was helped out by 3M, which makes Scotch tape and post-it notes. 3M was up over 1.5 percent to $77, gaining after it said it might sell its pharmaceuticals business. Machinery manufacturer Caterpillar also helped the Dow, gaining 2.5 percent to $75.30 after it was reported that it could receive orders worth up to $5 billion from Canadian oil and mining companies.

Internet company Google added 3.8 percent to $404.34, going above the $400 level for the first time since February.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Merck was up 0.2 percent to $35.48 when it revised its quarterly guidance up.

The telecommunications sector saw declines, however, after equipment makers were downgraded as a sector from “positive” to “neutral”. JDS Uniphase, lost 4.2 percent to $3.91, while Ciena dropped 5.9 percent to $4.91.

Midway through the trading day on Monday, the New York equities markets were working on the biggest one-day gain in a month and a half. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 1.2 percent at mid-session to 11,241.87, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.8 percent to 2,357.24 and the S&P 500 had gained 1.1 percent to 1,308.92. Once again, mergers and acquisitions provided much of the fuel for the advances, along with higher commodities prices and strong construction data.

Miners were up on new high prices for such commodities as gold and copper. Copper miner Phelps Dodge added 5.1 percent to $84.62, while gold miner Newmont Mining gained 1.6 percent to $52.71 and aluminium company Alcoa was up 2.5 percent to $31.32.

In the oil sector, rising crude oil prices took the Amex Oil index up 1.9 percent. ExxonMobil advanced by 1.6 percent to $61.82, while ConocoPhillips was up 3.1 percent to $65.12.

New figures on construction took construction machinery company Caterpillar 4.6 percent higher.

The announcement of the anticipated merger between Alcatel and Lucent meant gains for both telecommunications equipment makers. Lucent added over 1.6 percdent to $3.10 and Alcatel was up 6 percent to $16.33 on news of the deal, worth $13.4 billion. Hopes for further consolidation in the sector took Ciena up 2.3 percent to $5.33.

Casino operator Aztar was up 5.7 percent to $44.37 on the announcement that Ameristar Casinos had offered $2.25 billion, or $42 per share. It was the third bid Aztar had received. Ameristar Casinos dropped 5.9 percent to $24.26 on the news.

The New York equities markets were mixed in mid-afternoon trading on Monday. While the telecommunications equipment sector helped the Nasdaq Composite add 0.2 percent to 2,316.74, both the Down Joines Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were down on the day. The Dow had lost 0.3 percent at mid-afternoon, to 11,248.67, while the S&P was down by 0.1 percent to 1,301.31.

The telecommunications equipment makers were still being helped by the possibility of a merger between Lucent and Alcatel of France. Prudential Equity reiterated its rating of “overweight” on Lucent, which added 1.3 percent to $3.10. This advance was on top of an 8.5 percent gain Friday. Elsewhere in the sector, Qualcomm was up 1.1 percent to $49.91, while Ciena gained 1.8 percent to $55.24 and JDS Uniphase added 0.3 percent to $4.04.

The home construction sector was also up during the day. Toll Brothers gained 3.9 percent to $35.69 on an upgrade from “market perform” to “outperform” from Wachovia. Among other homebuilders, Ryland was up 1.6 percent to $71.96, while Lennar added 0.9 percent to $60.44.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed, as Santarus gained 5.9 percent to $6.62 on a report that the FDA had approved a new form of its heartburn drug Zegerid. On the other hand, Encysive Pharmaceuticals dropped 46.8 percent to $4.83 after the FDA asked for more trials on Encysive’s high blood pressure drug Thelin.

Elsewhere, consumer electronics retailer Circuit City received an upgrade from Lehman Brothers, sending its shares up 1.5 percent to $24.62.