Wall Street was substantially lower in midday trade Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.56 percent lower to 13,155.25, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 1.86 percent to 2,565.73 and the S&P 500 was down 1.45 percent to 1,457.08.

The decline came after the Labor Department reported that there were 4,000 fewer jobs in August, the first time in 4 years that the number of jobs has dropped.

Some analysts believe that the new data seals the case for a drop in interest rates in September, even though the unemployment rate was reported to have remained at 4.6 percent.

Investors were also worried by comments from former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan, who compared the current state of the markets to conditions ahead of the 1987 “Black Monday” crash.

There were declines in a variety of sectors.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) was $1.20 lower to $29.85 after Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) cut the auto maker’s target share price from $42 to $37 reduced its earnings estimates through 2009.

In a related sector, motorcycle manufacturer Harley-Davidson (NYSE: HOG) dropped $5 to $49.09 after it said its earnings will drop by 4 to 6 percent in 2007.

Aluminium producer Alcoa (NYSE: AA) was down $1.55 to $34.95, while chipmaker Intel fell 75 cents to $25.40.

There were some gainers on the session. Citigroup (NYSE: C) was up 19 cents to $45.85. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) was up 1 cent to $54.67.

Wall Street was lower at mid-session on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.28 percent to 13,539.25.

The Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.04 percent to 2,643.89, while the S&P 500 was 0.21 percent lower to 1,521.64.

While the Institute for Supply Management showed the service sector expanding in June with in index reading of 60.7 in June, higher than May’s 59.7, investors worried as bond yields were up again as ten-year yields rose back above 5 percent.

Mergers and acquisitions news brought many of the gains for individual companies.

Hilton Hotels (NYSE: HLT) added 26 percent on the news that it had accepted an all-cash offer from Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX), while chemicals group Huntsman Corp (NYSE: HUN) gained 12.6 percent to $27.48 on an offer of around $6 billion from private equity.

Not all bids news brought gains, however. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO) fell 26 cents to $52.64 after it said it was thinking of offering for Cadbury Schweppes’ (LSE: CBRY; NYSE: SCG) Snapple brand.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) dropped 3.7 percent to $36.57 on a downgrade from Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) after Tuesday’s news that GM’s sales were down 21.3 percent in June from last year at the same time.

Declines on the Nasdaq were limited by gains by Apple (NAS: AAPL; LSE: ACP; FWB: APC), which was 2.9 percent higher to $130.79.

Wall Street was up in afternoon trade on Wednesday after US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress that the US economy continues to grow and inflation is beginning to recede. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.7 percent to 12,742.02, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 1.4 percent to 2,492.98 and the S&P 500 was 0.8 percent higher to 1,456.36.

Mr. Bernanke’s comments especially helped homebuilders and mortgage lenders. Among homebuilders, DR Horton added 1.4 percent to $28.25 after Mr. Bernanke said that he sees indications that the housing market is beginning to stabilize. Meanwhile, among mortgage lenders, New Century Financial gained 7.6 percent to $20.01.

Manufacuturers of farm and building equipment were up after Deere issued a quarterly report showing that profits were better than expected. Deere added 9.8 percent to $112.74, while Caterpillar was 2.6 percent higher to $66.42.

Coca-Cola dropped 0.8 percent to $47.81 after it reported that profits are down. Even though profits declined, operating profits and quarterly revenue were better than had been anticipated.

Warner Music dropped 7.1 percent to $18.01 after UK rival EMI warned on profits, citing poor sales in the United States. Standard & Poor’s droped its rating outlook on the media company from “stable” to “negative”.

A combination of continuing concerns about the Middle East, lack of investor enthusiasm over quarterly earnings reports, and producer price inflation data that was above expectations to the New York equities markets lower at mid-session on Tuesday. Producer prices, which were expected to remain level in June, were 0.5 percent higher overall, with the core PPI at 0.2 percent higher.

By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1 percent lower to 10,734.87, while the Nasdaq composite had dropped 0.5 percent to 2,928.34 and the S&P 500 had fallen 0.2 percent to 1,231.91.

The retail sector was down as investors worried about a downturn in sales. Target dropped 5.3 percentr to $45.01 after it said it was lowering its sales forecast. The announcement led AG Edwards to downgrade its recommendation on the discount retailer from “buy” to “hold”. Elsewhere in the sector, Nordstrom declined by 3.9 percent to $32.25, while JC Penney was down 4.3 percent to $62.82 and Federated Department Stores was 4.6 percent lower to $32.92.

Merrill Lynch dropped 1.9 percent to $67.01 even though its profits were up a reported 44 percent in the second quarter.

United Technologies and Coca-Cola also reported quarterly results that were better than expected. United Technologies, with earnings up 14 percent, added 1.1 percent to $58.58. Coca-Cola was 1.2 percent higher to $43.19 on its report showing profits up by 7 percent in the second quarter.

In the engineering sector, ITT Industries was up 4.5 percent to $47.81 on an upgrade from “neutral” to “buy” from Merrill Lynch.

Wall Street results were mixed by midday on Tuesday as the homebuilding sector was affected by bad news from luxury builder Toll Brothers, even as firms in other sectors released better-than-anticipated quarterly reports. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.1 percent to 10,805.63 by the middle of the trading day, the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 had each lost 0.3 percent to 2,251.86 and 1,260.79 respectively.

Homebuilder Toll Brothers released a report saying that sales in the first quarter were down 29 percent and cutting is sales guidance for the year. This was seen as yet another sign that the US housing market is not as robust as it has been in recent times. Toll Brothers was down 3.1 percent to $30.23. In addition, DR Horton lost 2.7 percent to $34.01, while Pulte Homes dropped 1.6 percent to $37.33.

Besides affecting homebuilders, the news from Toll Brothers also had an effect on the retail home improvement sector. Home Depot was down 1.6 percent at midday to $38.86, while Loews dropped 0.9 percent to $62.36.

The Dow was helped by good news from Walt Disney and Coca-Cola. Disney’s report of an unexpected rise in first-quarter profits, combined with the announcement that it’s radio division was merging with Citadel Broadcasting sent shares in Disney up 5.1 percent to $26.24. This wasn’t quite as advantageous for Citadel, which dropped 4.8 percent to $11.42.

Meanwhile, Coca-Cola also reported quarterly gains, which sent its shares up 0.7 percent to $41.22.