In New York, midday saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 all 0.2 percent higher. The Dow stood at 12,283.21, 1.4 percent higher for the week. The Nasdaq was at 2,391.51, while the S&P had added 1.3 percent on the week to 1,404.76.

Mortgage lender New Century Financial (NYSE: NEW) lost more than 18 percent to $3.05 after it said it was no longer accepting loan applications due to lack of support from its creditors. Many analysts expect the lender to enter bankruptcy soon.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS), which lends money to New Century, managed to gain 5.6 percent over the week anyway, to $75.62. Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) added 6.6 percent this week to $75.79.

Steel makers also saw substantial gains on the week. US Steel (NYSE: X) was 5.9 percent higher to $91.08, while Nucor (NYSE: NUE) gained 10.9 percent to $64.19. Nucor made positive comments pertaining to coming demand for steel.

Tire maker Goodyear (NYSE: GT), up 26 percent so far this year, added 5.6 percent during the week to $28.76. The gains were explained by analysts as the result of a new study showing that Americans have begun replacing the tires on their cars more frequently.

Declines came in sectors as diverse as the internet and retail. Internet search engine Yahoo (NAS: YHOO) dropped 5.4 percent to $29.04 on rumors that it is talking to AT&T (NYSE: T) about changes in their partnership. Meanwhile, warehouse retailer Costco (NAS: COST) fell 2.9 percent to $54.12 on new sales and profits data that did not please analysts.

Equities markets in New York were mixed on Wednesday at midday despite some good news in the form of an upwardly revised number for the gross domestic product in the second quarter. Instead of the first estimate of GDP growth of 2.5 percent in the quarter, growth was estimated to have been at 2.9 percent, fairly close to the expected 3 percent growth.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was close to flat, up only 4.32 points halfway through the session, to 11.374.26. The Nasdaq Composite was 0.3 percent higher to 2,179.51, but the S&P 500 was 0.1 percent lower to 1,303.58.

The telecommunications sector was mixed. After reporting that its third-quarter earnings were down by 50 percent, ADC Telecommunications dropped 8.3 percent to $13.53. With share values down by 40 percent so far this year, Credit Suisse reduced its recommendation on ADC from “outperform” to “neutral”. Harris, another telecoms equipment manufacturer, was 2.8 percent lower to $44.01, also after a broker downgrade. Prudential lowered their rating from “neutral weight” to “underweight.” Gainers in the telecoms sector included Qualcomm, which added 1.3 percent to $38.12. In addition, Lucent was 2.6 percent higher to $2.36.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber was up by 2.2 percent to $13.51, bringing its gains to 37 percent in just six weeks.

The oil sector was lower as crude prices declined again after this week’s inventories report showed gains in crude oil and gasoline stockpiles. Nabors Industries dropped 2.4 percent to $32.70, while Marathon Oil declined 3.6 percent to $84.70.

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.