In early afternoon trade in New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.34 percent to 13,657.53, while the Nasdaq Composite gained 0.08 percent to 2,668.52 and the S&P 500 was 0.07 percent higher to 1,531.51.

The gains came as the earnings season was about to get underway.

Mergers and acquisitions activity was in focus with a report that Apollo Management has raised its offer for chemicals group Huntsman (NYSE: HUN) to $28 per share.

Huntsman added 20 cents to $28.20.

FedEx (NYSE: FDX) gained 4.2 percent to $115.51 after a media report that private equity could be interested in making a bid.

Meanwhile, Boeing (NYSE: BA) was 92 cents higher to $99.80 in the wake of its unveiling over the weekend of its new aircraft, the Dreamliner 787.

Reports are that the aerospace group has received enough orders for the new plane that it is sold out until 2015.

Pharmaceutical and consumer products group Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) added $1 to $63.13 after its board approved a share buyback worth $10 billion.

Exchange operators were mixed on the expectation that shareholders in the Chicago Board of Trade (NYSE: BOT) are likely to approve a deal to merge with the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (NYSE: CME).

While the Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE), which has also bid in for CBOT, added 46 cents to $156.55, CME dropped $4.29 to $570.51 and CBOT declined $1.60 to $222.40.

Wall Street was mixed at noon on Tuesday as the earnings season prepares to get into full swing, with companies such as Apple, IBM, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and General Electric all scheduled to release their fourth-quarter reports this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.04 percent to 12,560.88, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1 percent to 2,500.97. The S&P 500, meanwhile, was 0.02 percent higher to 1,431.01.

Homebuilders were lower. KB Home dropped 1.2 percent to $48.76, while Centex fell 2.8 percent to $51.68. The S&P homebuilders index dropped 2 percent.

Technology stocks were responsible for the decline in the Nasdaq. Cisco was 2.9 percent lower to $28.08 on broker downgrades, while Symantec fell 8.8 percent to $18.67 after it said that profits in 2007 will not rise to expected levels. The semiconductor sector also fell on negative news from brokers. Novellus Systems was down 2.2 percent to $32.03 and KLA-Tencor dropped 2.6 percent to $50.83. Intel, which was scheduled to issue its report after the close of trade Tuesday, was 0.5 percent lower to $22.02.

The banking sector saw gains, with Wells Fargo 2.3 percent higher to $36.33 on earnings of 64 cents per share in the fourth quarter.

In the transport sector, FedEx gained 2.7 percent to $111.77 as the Dow Transports Average gained 1.3 percent on the session so far and 5.7 percent since the beginning of the year.

Dropping crude oil prices put investors in a better mood, sending the New York equities markets up at the mid-point of the session on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6 percent to 11,355.13, while the Nasdaq Composite was 0.9 percent higher to 2,159.29. The S&P 500 also added 0.6 percent, to 1,302.33.

Oil prices, which fell after weather forecasters said it was not likely that tropical storm Ernesto would hit any oil facilities in the Gulf of Mexico, sent shares in oil companies lower. Occidental Petroleum was 1.6 percent lower to $52.58, while Valero Energy dropped 2.3 percent to $60.98.

Internet stocks were up on the day. Google and Ebay both advanced after the two companies said that they would collaborate on advertising. Google added 1.6 percent to $379.34, while Ebay was 2.1 percent higher to $25.82. Elsewhere in the sector, Amazon advanced by 3.2 percent to $28.92 on news of a stock buy-back worth $500 million.

In other computer related sectors, chipmaker Intel gained 1.8 percent to $19.23 and Dell Computer added 2.1 percent to $22.21.

Package delivery company FedEx was up 2.1 percent to $101.23 after it reached a provisional agreement for a four-year contract with its pilots’ union over the weekend.

A falling transportation sector led the New York equities markets lower by midday on Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3 percent to 11,018.64, while the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 each had dropped by 0.2 percent, to 2,058.46 and 1,258.22 respectively.

United Parcel Service fell 14.5 percent to $68.44, its worst ever one-day performance. The decline came after its quarterly report did not meet expectations and it said that full-year earnings would only reach the low end of what has been forecast. The problems of Ups dragged the rest of the sector down as well. Federal Express dropped 2.7 percent to $107.50, while Burlington Northern Santa Fe declined by 4.5 percent to $66.67 and Expeditors International was 4.8 percent lower to $46.

The telecommunications sector, on the other hand, was up after AT&T said that its second quarter earnings were up by 81 percent. AT&T gained 4.4 percent to $28.99, while BellSouth added 4.8 percent to $37.95. BellSouth is scheduled to be purchased by AT&T later in the year.

In the technology sector, Sandisk added 14.8 percent to $37.95 after it reported that strong sales of memory cards for mobile phones sent profits up 36 percent in the quarter. Meanwhile, Texas Instruments reported that its earnings were up by 27 percent in the quarter, sending its shares 4.3 percent higher to $29.03.

BJ Services added 5.5 percent to $32.76 on third-quarter profits that were up by 86 percent.

Wall Street was higher at mid-session on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 1.2 percent to 11,102.19. The Nasdaq composite had added 1.7 percent to 2,141.75, while the S&P 500 gained 1.1 percent to 1,253.63. The number of shares traded stayed fairly low, which is a problem according to some analysts, who would like to see more shares change hands before considering the markets to be in recovery from recent losses.

Homebuilders saw advances. Toll Brothers was up 2.6 percent to $26.73, while Kaufman & Broad added 2.9 percent to $45.34 and Pulte gained 3.8 percent to $28.25.

Many technology stocks were higher as well. Cisco Systems was up 2.8 percent to $20.29, Hewlett-Packard added 3.2 percent to $33.92, and Amazon gained 3.7 percent to $36.49. However, Jabil Circuit dropped 3 percent to $25.45 ahead of a scheduled earnings report.

The New York Times added 4.7 percent to $24.52 after it said that it was looking at strategies for increasing the amount of for-pay content on its online service.

Darden Restaurants, which owns Olive Garden and Red Lobster, saw a gain of 5.5 percent to $37.52 on the news that its fourth-quarter profits were up by 10 percent, around what had been predicted.

Also reporting fourth-quarter earnings was Federal Express. The parcel service said its fourth-quarter earnings were well ahead of analyst predictions, adding 27 percent. Its share price gained 4.7 percent on the day to $113.14.

Univision, the Spanish-language broadcaster, dropped 4.1 percent to $33.96 after one potential bidder missed a Tuesday deadline to submit an offer.

In New York on Thursday, equities markets were up mid-way through the trading day as several retailers issued good quarterly earnings reports. These reports overcame worries over new data releases that tended to increase the likelihood of further interest rate hikes to offset pressures toward inflation.

At midday the Dow Jones Industrial Average had gained 0.4 percent to 11,450.71, the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.8 percent to 2322.16, and the S&P 500 had added 0.4 percent to 1,312.85.

Earnings reports from the retail sector were led by Whole Foods, a supermarket chain that specializes in organic foods, which saw a 27 percent hike in profits in the quarter, ahead of predictions, and an increased sales outlook for the year. Shares in Whole Foods were up by 11.7 percent to $69.42. Other retailers with good reports included Talbots, which added 8.37 percent to $25.50, and Abercrombie and Fitch, up 2.3 percent to $61.75.

In the transport sector, Expeditors International gained 18.4 percent to $104.18 after it raised its divident by over 40 percent and said that its earnings per share were 20 percent above what had been forecast. Federal Express also saw a gain, adding 2.6 percent to $117.13. These helped the Dow Jones Transportation index, which was up 3.4 percent so far during the session and has added 17 percent so far this year.

Apple Computer has now gained back half of the 31 percent in share price that it lost in the first quarter of the year and was up 1.4 percent so far in the session to $72.15.

Among the days losers, Archer Daniels Midland dropped 5.3 percent to $41.01 on a downgrade to “neutral” on sustainability concerns. Before the loss the company, which makes ethanol among other activities, had added 21 percent since last week and 77 on the year so far.

The New York equities markets were down on Wednesday as crude oil prices rose yet again and as another hurricane threatens the US mainland before the business community has yet been able to assess the full impact of Hurricane Katrina.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 1 percent to close at 10,378.03, the Nasdaq composite fell 1.2 percent to 2,106.64, and the S&P 500 fell 0.9 percent to 1,210.20.

The oil sector defined the downward trend of the day. Chevron was up 0.4 percent to $64.27, ExxonMobil rose 0.7 percent to $64.97, Murphy Oil gained 2 percent to $50.92, and ConocoPhillips added 2.2 percent to $70.43. Among refiners, Valero Energy gained 3.6 percent to $113.14, while Sunoco was up 4.5 percent to $78.10.

Another notable gainer on the day was FedEx, which gained 8 percent to $83.15 on an upgraded earnings forecast for the year to May 2006.

Among losers was cosmetics company Avon Products, which fell 11.8 percent to $27 as it became the latest company to blame a cut it its forecast for earnings this year on higher oil costs.

Among department stores, Sears lost 3.7 percent to $115.15 and Wal-Mart dropped 1.7 percent to $42.49.

At least part of this downtrend was due to a warning from the National Retail Federation that holiday sales growth in the US would be only 5 percent this year, compared to last year’s growth of 6.7 percent.

This smaller growth forecast was blamed on falling consumer sentiment. In the airlines sector, Continental Airlines fell 8.6 percent on the day to $9.91 as Houston, one of its hubs, prepared to evacuate ahead of Hurricane Rita.