In early afternoon trade on Wall Street on Thursday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.05 percent higher to 13,885.22, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.3 percent to 2,707.02 and the S&P 500 had gained 0.17 percent to 1,528.07.

House builders were mixed, with some seeing gains even though the Commerce Department reported that new home sales were down again in August, dropping 8.3 percent even though analysts had expected a decline of just around 4.6 percent.

In addition, KB Home (NYSE: KBH) reported that revenues were down 32 percent in the quarter ending 31 August.

Besides reporting losses in the quarter, the CEO of KB Home said that he sees the housing market continuing its decline into next year, with no sign of recovery yet in sight.

Still, just before 1 p.m. New York time KB had added 5 cents to $24.13.

At the same time, Centex (NYSE: CTX) was up 22 cents to $25.66 and D. R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) had gained 2 cents to $12.88.

On the other hand Lennar (NYSE: LEN) had dropped 56 cents to $21.70.

Elsewhere, oil refiners were lower after analyst comment that their earnings are likely to see declines in the third quarter.

The analyst, from Friedman, Billings, Ramsey, rated the sector at “market weight”.

Individually, he rated Valero (NYSE: VLO) at “outperform”, but its shares still were 82 cents lower to $67.44.

Frontier Oil (NYSE: FTO) was $1.05 lower to $42.22, while Holly Corp. fell $1.51 to $60.52, Sunoco (NYSE: SUN) was down $1.79 to $71.58, and Tesoro (NYSE: TSO) dropped $2.16 to $47.54.

In the New York equities markets on Friday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was down, while the Nasdaq composite and the S&P 500 both gained slightly. Friday’s declines were due to sell-offs ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Rita.

Speculation about decreased refining capacity and economic slowdown was common even though some analysts downplayed concerns about the impact of high energy prices on the economy.

The Dow fell 0.02 percent on the day to 10,419.50, while the Nasdaq gained 0.29 percent to 2,116.84 and the S&P was up 0.06 percent to 1,215.12.

The oil and gasoline sector was up on the week, with Frontier Oil gaining 11.1 percent, Tesoro up 7.5 percent, Sunoco adding 5 percent, and Valero Energy ending the week 2.3 percent higher. Fears of rising energy costs sent several sectors down on the week.

US Steel fell 6.3 percent. In the trucking sector, Swift Transportation lost 6.9 percent. Both Swift and US Steel posted profits warnings.

Some retailers also issued warnings. Avon Products fell 15.9 percent on the week on a reduced earnings forecast for 2005, while fellow cosmetics company Estee Lauder cut its second-half sales estimate and fell 12.5 percent on the week.

Elsewhere, Palm, which makes handheld computers and smart phones, lost 16.5 percent to $29.20 in early trade and was off by 20.3 percent on the week as it warned of lower sales in the upcoming quarter.

Alcoa Aluminum lost 9.2 percent on the week, 6.4 percent of that on Friday morning on a warning that third quarter profits would not reach estimates due to higher costs and lower profits.

On the positive side, Goodyear Tire & Rubber gained 4.4 percent on Friday to $15.66 as it announced a program meant to cut costs by up to $1 billion by 2008.