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.

The New York equities markets were up at midday on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made comments to a Congressional committee that led analysts to believe that the string of interest rate hikes by the Fed might soon be over. Also encouraging investors were new, positive earnings reports. They seemed not to pay much attention to data indicating that inflation is strong.

At mid-session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite, and the S&P 500 were each 1.4 percent higher, to 10,948.51, 1,071.09, and 1,254.23 respectively.

Not included in the strong quarterly earnings reports was Yahoo, which dropped 21 percent to $25.62 on its report that earnings were down 78 percent in the second quarter. The drop in earnings had been expected, but investors were unhappy that a new advertising platform’s introduction had been put off.

Financial sectors did will, however. JPMorgan Chase was up 5.3 percent to $42.87 on higher expected profits in the second quarter, while Bank of New York gained 6.5 percent to $33.91 after it reported second quarter earnings were up by 13 percent.

Among discount brokers, Ameritrade added 5.2 percent to $15.46 and E*trade was up 5.3 percent to $21.95.

Homebuilders saw gains after Mr. Bernanke’s testimony raised the possibility that interest rates might not go too much higher. Lennar added 3.6 percent to $41.96, while Pulte gained 3.8 percent to $28.08.