Wall Street was up at midday on Friday and seemed headed for gains on the week as well. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.3 percent higher on the session so far and up 1 percent on the week to 12,315.34, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 0.6 percent on the session and 1.2 percent for the week to 2,442.48 and the S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent on the day and 1.1 percent on the week to 1,411.46, its highest level since late in 2001.

Ford dropped 11.7 percent on the week to $7.10 on fears that the convertible bonds it sold this week could dilute the value of existing shares some time in the future.

The pharmaceuticals sector was active over the week, with mixed outcomes based largely on the results of drug trials. Pfizer dropped 9.8 percent to $25.13 after it halted development of a cholesterol drug due to harmful side effects. Auxillium Pharmaceuticals fell 13.8 percent to $14.35 after it stopped a clinical trial in its late stages, and Onyx Pharmaceuticals was 29.5 percent lower to $12.34 after a kidney cancer drug proved ineffective in treating advanced skin cancer.

On the other hand, Vanda Pharmaceuticals added 70.6 percent to $25.75 after a new schizophrenia drug proved to be effective in trials. Likewise, Halozyme Therapeutics gained 119 percent to $6.24 on an agreement to do research in tandem with Roche.

Wall Street was slightly lower at the middle of the session on Wednesday ahead of November’s employment numbers, due to be released on Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.1 percent lower to 12,318.30, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.3 percent to 2,446.23 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.1 percent to 1,413.73. The small-cap Russell 2000 index held steady at 797.09.

The software sector was lower. Oracle dropped 4.6 percent to #$17.99 after Lehman Brothers told its clients to sell because Oracle might not meet expectations for the quarter. Novell was 5.4 percent lower to $5.99 after it reduced its guidance for its fiscal 2007.

A change in management did not help revive Yahoo, which is over 38 percent lower than it was in January. By midday, the internet company was down 1.9 percent to $26.92.

Burlington Northern Santa Fe fell 3.5 percent to $75.88 after Merrill Lynch downgraded the railroad operator from “buy” to “neutral. The broker pointed out that the railroad is nearing its target share price.

In the semiconductor sector, Novellus dropped 3.5 percent to $33.32 on a downgrade from “neutral” to “sell” from Goldman Sachs.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed. Merck fell 1.2 percent to $44.35 after it repeated its earnings outlook for this year. But Halozyme Therapeutics, a biotech drug developer, gained 56.5 percent to $4.46 on the announcement of a cooperation agreement with Roche.