At midday in New York on Monday, Wall Street had made no progress to speak of. Midway through the session both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 were steady, at 12,647.40 and 1,452.10 respectively. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite was 0.3 percent lower to 2,508.19.

The chemicals sector was higher on bids rumors. Lyondell Chemical (NYSE: LYO) added 4.3 percent to $33.00 on rumors that Dow Chemical (NYSE: DOW; TYO: 4850) could receive a bid from private equity. Even though there have been no confirmations of such an offer in the works, Dow gained 5.2 percent to $45.72.

The pharmaceuticals sector was also up. Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) added 0.5 percent to $54.50 after the Food and Drug Administration approved its Cymbalta antidepressant for use in treating generalized anxiety disorder. Meanwhile, Merck (NYSE: MRK) gained 4.1 percent to $44.70 after Citigroup (NYSE: C) raised its recommendation on the drug maker from “hold” to “buy” based on its hopes for Merck’s Januvia diabetes treatment.

An announcement that private equity will purchase Texas utility TXU (NYSE: TXU) for $45 billion. The deal will set a new record for a leveraged buy-out. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and Texas Pacific Group will pay $32 billion in cash and take on $12 billion in existing debt.

The New York equities markets were mixed at midday on Thursday ahead of new employment numbers, due Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.02 percent higher to 12,311.41, but the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.3 percent to 2,439.48 and the S&P 500 was down 0.04 percent to 1,412.33.

In the software sector, Oracle dropped another 2.3 percent to $17.47. The software maker was 5.2 percent lower on Wednesday on a “sell” recommendation from Lehman Brothers.

Among automobile manufacturers, Ford fell 1.6 percent to $7.24 on the sale of 30-year convertible bonds that could eventually become equity and dilute shareholder value.

Eli Lilly dropped 1.3 percent to $54.16 on a statement that its shares should earn $3.25 to $3.35 per share in 2007, lower than analysts estimates of $3.39 per share. Elsewhere in the sector, Auxillium Pharmaceuticals fell 7.6 percent to $14.74 as the specialty drug maker halted a late-stage clinical trial.

Among retailers, Home Depot was 1.1 percent lower to $39.47 after it announced that a review of stock option grants showed an unrecorded expense of around $200 million.

In the media sector, News Corp added 4.6 percent to $22.73 on a report that it will trade its stake in DirecTV for News Corp shares held by Liberty Media. Liberty gained 2.6 percent to $90.25.

Wall Street was down on Wednesday as investors expressed fears over missile tests conducted by North Korea as the United States celebrated Independence Day. At midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.7 percent to 11,145.26, while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.7 percent to 2,152.72 and the S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent to 1,268.94.

Miners were down and so was the steel sector. Among miners, Phelps Dodge dropped 1.9 percent to $82.05, while Freeport McMoran was down 4.3 percent to $56.00.

In the steel sector, US Steel declined by 3 percent to $68.08. Nucor was down 3.3 percent to $54.08.

Airlines saw gains on the release of new data on passenger traffic. Continental Airlines and Southwest Airlines each added 1.6 percent by mid-session on the news that passenger traffic had increased for both carriers in June. Continental was trading at $29.98, while Southwest was at $16.74.

McGraw Hill gained 2.1 percent to $51.39 after Citigroup upgraded the publisher of Business Week from “hold” to “buy”.

Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly also got a boost as Goldman Sachs upgraded its shares from “in line” to “outperform”, adding 1.1 percent to $56.28.

The semiconductor sector, however, saw declines. Advanced Micro Devices dropped 1.3 percent to $24.28, while Intel declined by 2 percent to $18.98. Marvell Technology was down by 7.9 percent to $41.32 after it said that the Securities and Exchange Commission had asked it to supply documents concerning its practices surrounding the granting of stock options.

After gains early in the day, the New York equities markets retreated on Tuesday after the US Federal Reserve raised interest rates once again, by 25 basis points to 4.75 percent. The statement that came along with the announcement of the hike, while hinting that the series of rate hikes might come to an end at some point in the foreseeable future, still led some analysts to believe that there are more hikes to come before that time comes.

At mid-afternoon, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were both flat on the day, at 2,316.01 and 1,301.67 respectively, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped by 0.2 percent to 11,226.26.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed. Eli Lilly dropped 3.9 percent to $56.36 on a pair of downgrades. Friedman Billings Ramsey cut the drugmaker from “market perform” to “underperform”, while Merrill Lynch reduced its rating from “buy” to “neutral”. Both cited the lack of market share of Lilly’s antidepressent Cymbalta as one reason for the ratings reductions.

Elsewhere in the sector, Immunicon added 9.1 percent to $3.94 after it said it was extending a research and development agreement with Pfizer. Pfizer, meanwhile, was down 1 percent to $25.56 after it was revealed that the company is being sued for fraud over the marketing of its drug Lipitor.

The oil sector saw advances in both companies that produce oil and in those that provide oilfield services. ConocoPhillips gained 2.9 percent to $64.93, while ExxonMobil added 0.7 percent to $61.69. These advances took the Amex oil index up 1.2 percent on the day. Meanwhile, oil service company Halliburton advanced by 3.1 percent to $73.81 and Schlumberger rose 1.8 percent to $125.18.