The New York equities markets were up in midday trade.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.51 percent higher to 13,302.95, while the Nasdaq had added 0.55 percent to 2,555.8 and the S&P 500 was up 0.51 percent as well, to 1,469.92.

With crude oil prices higher, the oil sector saw gains.

ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) was 87 cents higher to $80.27, while ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) added $1.24 to $84.99, Chevron (NYSE: CVX) was up $1.41 to $86.89 and Valero Energy (NYSE: VLO) had gained $1.60 to $67.87.

New data on new home sales left the house building sector mixed. The Commerce Department reported that new home sales were up 2.8 percent in July after having dropped by 4 percent in June.

While the report seemed to ease fears that the housing slump could send the US economy into a recession, the fact remained that the sale of new homes was still 10.2 percent behind July sales last year.

Centex Corp (NYSE: CTX) added 16 cents to $32.02 after the report was issued, but Lennar (NYSE: LEN) dropped 3 cents to $29.96, Beazer (NYSE: BZH) was down 14 cents to $10.10 and Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) fell 23 cents to $17.36.

Clothing retailers were mixed on quarterly reports.

Gap (NYSE: GPS) added $1.03 to $18.43 after it said its earnings were up 19 percent and announced a share buyback worth $1.5 billion, but Aeropostale (NYSE: ARO) dropped 66 cents to $22.46 after its results didn’t meet analyst expectations.

Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 1.17 percent lower to 13,497.47.

The Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.99 percent to 2,587.07 and the S&P 500 was 1.47 percent lower to 1,475.54.

The financial services sector was lower as troubles in the subprime sector caused upset in Europe as well as in the United States.

Citigroup (NYSE: C) had dropped $1.84 to $47.65, while JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) fell $1.75 to $44.76.

Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) was down $6.32 to $114.80, while Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) had dropped $9.30 to $184.00.

Meanwhile, some retailers reported that sales were slow in July as back-to-school shoppers put off their purchases.

While Wal-Mart (NSYE: WMT) said that same-store sales were up by 1.9 percent, better than the 1.5 percent that had been expected, it warned that apparel and home furnishings sales were weak and that heavy discounting had hurt profits.

Wal-Mart was down $1.25 to $47.17 in early afternoon trade.

The Gap (NYSE: GPS) added 1 cent to $15.74, but it said that same-store sales were down 7 percent, worse than that 4.9 percent decline that had been anticipated.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, home improvement retailer Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was $1.92 lower to $35.88, while discount retailer Family Dollar Stores (NYSE: FDO) had dropped $3.38 to $27.

The New York equities markets saw declines on Thursday after two leading mortgage lenders said that more people were defaulting on home loans. At noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.4 percent to 12,612.47. The Nasdaq Composite was also 0.4 percent lower, to 2,481.90, while the S&P 500 fell 0.3 percent to 1,445.26.

The retail sector was mixed. Gap added 2.9 percent to $19.81 after it said that its sales are up. On the other hand, Costco dropped 0.3 percent to $56.34 after steeper declines earlier after underlying sales were reported to be up only 2 percent in January, below expected levels.

In the media sector, Walt Disney dropped 1 percent to $35.10 on profit-taking after Wednesday’s report that its net income more than doubled in the quarter. Meanwhile, Warner Music fell 4.7 percent to $20.50 after it reported that its fiscal first quarter profits were down 74 percent.

Declines in the financial sector followed reports from HSBC and New Century Financial, two large subprime mortgage lenders, that defaults are on the rise. New Century fell to $21.64. Other subprime lenders that saw declines were American Home Mortgage Investments, which dropped 6.9 percent to $33.50 and Accredited Home Lenders, down 7.6 percent to $26.81. Elsewhere in the banking sector, JP Morgan and Wells Fargo each were 1 percent lower, to $50.71 and $35.55 respectively, while Lehman Brothers dropped 1.7 percent to $84.14.

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.

The New York equities markets were lower in early afternoon trade on Thursday after the Chicago Purchasing Manager’s index showed regional manufacturing in the Midwest was at 49.9 in November, a drop from October’s reading of 53.5. It was the first time since April 2003 that the Chicago index had come in below 50, the level at which manufacturing is said to be contracting rather than expanding. Some analysts were afraid that the new data was an indicator of what the nationwide purchasing managers numbers will say when the Institute for Supply Management releases its new figures on Friday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.28 percent lower by early afternoon in New York to 12,193.01, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.08 percent to 2,430.18 and the S&P 500 was 0.07 percent lower to 1,398.50.

Other factors in the decline were higher oil prices, a weaker dollar, and more new unemployment claims filed last week than had been expected. The good news was that, according to the US Commerce Department, consumer spending was up 0.2 percent in October after having fallen in September. That news was tempered, however, by an announcement from Wal-Mart that it expects its same-store sales to be even to only 1 percent higher in December. That news sent shares in the discount retailer 78 cents lower to $46.11.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, Gap Inc. dropped 2.5 percent to $18.59 on a bigger decline in same-store sales in November than had been expected. Meanwhile, Abercrombie & Fitch fell 3.4 percent to $67.21.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Pfizer added 49 cents to $27.56 after it said that it has a number of products that would enter the end stages of the development process in the next few years. It also increased its forecast for profits for the full year.

Wall Street was higher by the middle of Wednesday’s session despite bad news from selected sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.2 percent higher to 11,521.22, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.5 percent to 2,226.05 and the S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 1,316.45.

Some of the bad news came from Hewlett Packard, which dropped 1.9 percent to $36.22 after the California Attorney General said that there was evidence that could lead to charges against company officials in connection with leaks by board members to the media.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, Merck fell 2.4 percent to $41.15 after its Vioxx drug was linked to kidney and heart problems in two reports which were published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

News was better elsewhere. Gap, the clothing retailer, added 2.3 percent to $17.48 on an upgrade from “equal weight” to “overweight” from Lehman Brothers. AMR, the parent company of American Airways, gained 2.6 percent to $22.78 on an upgrade from “neutral” to “buy” from Merrill Lynch.

The transport sector saw advances based on the news that spot-freight rates for grain are as high as they have been all year. CSX was 3.6 percent higher to #31.94, while Expeditors International gained 6.7 percent to $46.07.

Wall Street saw losses by midday on Thursday as higher crude oil prices and Treasury bond yields as well as upcoming employment data made investors nervous. The Dow Jones Industrial average had dropped 0.5 percent by mid-session to 11,188.81, while the Nasdaq Composite declined by 0.3 percent to 2,352.38 and the S&P 500 was down 0.5 percent to 1,305.26.

Merck hurt the Dow, dropping 4.5 percent to $34.38 after a $4.5 million court decision against the pharmaceutical company regarding side effects of its drug Vioxx. The loss increased the chances that more lawsuits would be filed against the company.

The retail sector was mixed as quarterly earnings reports were below estimates. The shortfalls were blamed on cold weather, higher gasoline prices, and a late Easter this year. Wal-Mart dropped 0.8 percent to $46.52 despite recording a 1.4 percent hike in March same-store sales. The Gap lost 0.5 percent to $18.57 on lower spring clothing sales that it blamed on the cold weather.

On the up side of retail, Target added 1.4 percent to $52.89 on slightly higher than expected sales figures. Bed, Bath & Beyond added 6.7 percent to $40.87 after profits were higher than had been predicted in their fourth quarter.

Apple Computer was up 4 percent to $69.92 after a gain of 9.9 percent on Wednesday on the release of new software that lets Macintosh users run Microsoft’s Windows operating system.

In midday trade in New York on Thursday, the equities markets were lower as retailers were mixed and banks were down.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.4 percent to 11,013.50 by mid-session, and the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 had lost 0.3 percent each, to 2,307.93 and 1,287.43 respectively.

Higher bond yields and continuing worries over interest rates sent the banking sector lower. Citigroup and Bank of America each lost 0.9 percent, with Citigroup trading at $46.12 and Bank of America at $45.12. Wells Fargo dropped 1.4 percent to $63.80.

In the retail sector, clothing retailers were generally lower, while department stores and discounters had a better day. On a report of same-store growth, Costco Wholesale was up 0.8 percent to $52.60, while Kohl’s gained 1.1 percent to $49.30 after reporting a rise of 3.4 percent in sales. But the Gap dropped 2.7 percent to $18.15 after it revealed that sales were down 11 percent in February. Meanwhile, Abercrombie & Fitch was down 10.3 percent to $60.35 on a report that same-store sales were up by only 5 percent on February, much less than the 14 percent that had been forecast.

The energy sector was up on higher crude oil prices, with energy providers in the lead. Halliburton added 3.5 percent to $71.81, while Schlumberger gained 2.2 percent to $120.70.