After some early declines, Wall Street was mixed at midday on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.11 percent lower to 12,461.30, a rebound to about 13 points lower after having fallen around 50 points earlier in the session. On the other hand, the Nasdaq Composite was 0.64 percent higher to 2,438.59, while the S&P 500 was up slightly to 1,416.68. Volume was at 761 million shares changing hands by the middle of the session.

Lower oil prices helped retailers, some of which saw slight gains even though they issued profits warnings earlier in the session. Target gained 4 cents to $57.22 even though it did not live up to earlier estimates of sales. The Gap added 5 cents to $10.36 despite saying that its fourth quarter of 2006 will not meet expectations. Federated Department Stores was 16 cents higher to $37.67. Limited Brands, however, dropped $1.98 to $27.60 on reports that store traffic was down.

The oil sector, on the other hand, declined on the lower prices for crude oil. Chevron dropped 35 cents to $70.62, while ExxonMobil fell 68 cents to $73.43.

Several new bits of economic data affected trade during the day. The Institute of Supply Management’s services sector index showed that growth was slower in December than it had been in November. On the other hand, the Commerce Department reported that factory orders were up in November, but the news was tempered by the fact that the comeback was smaller than expected and partly the result of a big demand for military aircraft. Additionally, the Labor Department said that unemployment claims were at their highest level since late in November.

In early after noon trade on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.60 percent to 12,481.57. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were also higher, with the Nasdaq gaining 0.63 percent to 2,428.80 and the S&P advancing 0.51 percent to 1,424.19. The Russell 2000 small-caps index was up 0.87 percent to 795.03. Trade volumes were low.

Ford was up 11 cents to $7.60 and US-traded shares in Toyota gained $2.03 to $133.64 on the news that top executives of the two automakers had met for talks.

Homebuilders were up on new data showing that new home sales were up more than had been anticipated in November. Hovnanian Enterprises added 44 cents to $33.68, while Toll Brothers was 66 cents higher to $32.35 and KB Home gained 79 cents to $51.58.

The retail sector was mixed on figures from the International Council of Shopping Centers that showed pre-Christmas holiday shopping was not as strong has had been hoped. Federated Department Stores was up 37 cents to $38.13, but Target only managed to hold steady at $57.09 and Wal-Mart fell 13 cents to $45.98.

Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. dropped 43 cents to $42.64 after it announced that it will sell the Minneapolis Star Tribune to a private equity company in a deal worth $530 million.

The New York equities markets were up slightly at midday as investors returned from the Christmas holiday weekend, but trade was light with many expected to remain on holiday all week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.31 percent higher to 12,381.27, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.32 percent to 2,408.75 and the S&P 500 was up 0.29 percent to 1,414.89. The Russell 2000 index of small-caps was 0.72 percent higher, to 786.41.

The oil sector was higher. ConocoPhillips added 32 cents to $71.37, while Chevron gained 42 cents to $73.15. Anadarko Petroleum was 55 cents higher to $42.69 after it said it will sell two of its gas fields in Louisiana, part of its plan to sell assets to lower its debt after purchasing Kerr-McGee and Western Gas Resources earlier in the year. ExxonMobil, meanwhile, was up 56 cents to $75.96.

Retail was mixed but mostly lower. In late morning trade, department stores were lower. Federated Department Stores dropped 0.2 percent to $38.03, while Kohls fell 0.7 percent to $69.30 and J. C. Penney was 1.3 percent lower to $78.54.

Other retailers were also down. Discount retailer Target dropped 0.6 percent to $56.98, while consumer electronics retailer Best Buy was 1.5 percent lower to $49.19. By midday, however, Wal-Mart had gained 28 cents to $45.82 after seeing declines earlier.

Internet shopping sites were mixed, with eBay gaining 0.8 percent to $30.45. Amazon, on the other hand, had dropped 1.6 percent to $39.58.

The New York equities markets were lower during the day on Wednesday in reaction to election results that put control of the US House of Representatives in the hands of the Democratic Party for the first time in 12 years. Investors believed that some sectors of the business community would be subject to stricter regulation under the Democrats than they have been with a Republican majority in power.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 percent lower to 12,135.16, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.08 percent to 2,373.99 and the S&P 500 fell 0.1 percent to 1,381.1.

Defense-related stocks saw declines. Boeing dropped 0.4 percent to $84.18, while Northrop Grumman lost 1.3 percent to $65.53, Lockheed Martin was 1.4 percent lower to $86.24, and Raytheon declined 2 percent to $48.70.

The pharmaceuticals sector was lower as well. Pfizer was 1.8 percent lower to $25.56, while Merck fell 3.5 percent to $44.29. On the other hand, biotech company StemCells added over 10 percent to $3.39 on the theory that it’s research into stem cell-based therapies for central nervous system diseases would get more support from a Democratic house than it has under the Republicans.

In the retail sector, Wal-Mart dropped 1 percent to $47.17 on investor concern that a Democratic House will put more pressure on the discount retailer on the issue of working conditions for its employees. Elsewhere in the sector, Federated Department stores fell 1.2 percent to $39.87 after it reported that it lost 1 cent per share in the third quarter.

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.

The New York equities markets were down in mid-day trade on Tuesday on a mixed but mostly lower retail sector and declines in the computer hardware sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.3 percent in the middle of the day to 11,070.74, the Nasdaq composite had dropped 1 percent to 2,260.27, and the S&P 500 had declined by 0.4 percent to 1,282.25.

Federated Department Stores, which owns Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, saw a decline of 0.8 percent to $71.06 despite an gain of 59 percent in fourth quarter net profits, which was still short of the expected gain. Wal-Mart also saw fourth-quarter earnings grow less than expected, sending the retailer’s shares down 1.3 percent to $45.67. Electronics retailer Radio Shack dropped 0.3 percent after reporting a 62 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings. Home Depot bucked the trend, but only slightly, rising 0.1 percent to $41.67 on a 30 percent gain in fourth-quarter earnings, a better result than had been expected.

In the computer hardware sector, Hewlett Packard dropped 3 percent to $33.05. Apple was down 2.1 percent to $68.82. Dell dropped 1.2 percent to $30.02. These declines affected the bigger technology sector as chipmaker Texas Instruments fell 2.5 percent to $30.68, Broadcom was down 2.6 percent to $66.16, and Applied Materials declined by 2.9 percent to $19.15.