Wall Street was mixed in early afternoon trade in New York Tuesday as investors waited for the US Federal Reserve to issue its latest decision on interest rates before committing to anything serious.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.03 percent lower to 13,464.88, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.09 percent to 2,544.98 but the S&P 500 had added 0.19 percent to 1,470.52.

In addition to the expected rate decision, investors were also looking at new data from the Labor Department that showed productivity was up by 1.8 percent on an annualized basis in the spring quarter.

Among those reporting quarterly results, Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK) added 40 cents to $18.30 even though it said profits were down in the second quarter.

Cisco Systems (NAS: CSCO; SEHK: 4333) dropped 13 cents to $29.37 ahead of a quarterly report that was due after the close of trade on the session.

Hurting the Dow were Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), which was 42 cents lower to $80.58 and aerospace group Boeing (NYSE: BA), which fell $1.32 to $103.02.

Carmakers saw gains.

Ford Motor (NYSE: F) had added 6 cents to $8.25, while General Motors (NYSE: GM) was up 58 cents to $33.03.

Financial services were higher. Citigroup (NYSE: C) was 15 cents higher to $48.50 and Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) added 40 cents to $48.56, while Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) gained $1.28 to $75.83 and Goldman Sachs was $3.42 higher to $75.83.

The equities markets were mixed in New York at midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 percent higher to 12,638.03, but the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.6 percent to 2,455.52 and the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to 1,443.95.

National Semiconductor dropped 4.3 percent to $22.31 after it reduced its guidance for its fiscal third quarter. It wasn’t the only decline in the sector, as 17 of the 19 companies listed on the Philadelphia Semiconductor index were lower on the session, taking the index 1.4 percent lower to 460.83.

Earnings reports were in focus. Avon Products, the cosmetics company, added 9.2 percent to $37.82 after it reported its first profit in six quarters. Net income was at $184.1 million, up from $183.2 million in the previous quarter. But Emerson Electric dropped 1.3 percent even though it reported that its profits were up by 12 percent in its fiscal first quarter. Duke Energy held steady at $20.28 despite reporting that its net income in the fourth quarter was down by 36 percent.

Cisco Systems dropped 1 percent to $27.24 ahead of its quarterly report, which was scheduled to be released after the end of the session. It is expected that it will report earnings that were 20 percent higher in the quarter.

Wall Street saw gains by midday on Thursday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq composite, and the S&P 500 were all up by 0.8 percent. The Dow stood at 11,056.97, while the Nasdaq was at 2,129.55 and the S&P had reached 1,255.34. The gains came ahead of any announcement concerning interest rates from the US Federal Reserve.

Miners were up as the prices of gold and copper went higher. Newmont Minng added 2.1 percent to $50.28, while Barrick Gold was up 2.7 percent to $28.55 and Freeport McMoran advanced by 3.4 percent to $51.86.

Oil stocks were higher as well as the price of crude oil topped $73 per barrel. Sunoco was up 3 percent to $67.23, while Valero added 3.1 percent to $65.37, a six-week high. Duke Energy gained 3.6 percent to $29.39 after it said it will spin off its natural gas business. The announcement spurred an upgrade from “equal weight” to “overweight” from Lehman Brothers.

Technology stocks were mixed. In the semiconductor sector, Micron Technology dropped 6.7 percent to $14.89 after it issued a third quarter report that was disappointing even though it showed a profit during the period this year after having sustained losses during the same time last year. Software maker Red Hat was down 8.9 percent to $22.78 on an earnings report that was below expectations due to acquisitions and accounting charges.

On the other hand, Microsoft and Yahoo were both up at mid-session. Microsoft added 1.2 percent to $23.43, while Yahoo had gained 1.7 percent to $32.45.