New York equities markets were higher in early afternoon trade even though comments in a speech by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke did not mention interest rates.

Analysts and investors had been hoping that Mr. Bernanke would say something that would indicate what the Fed is planning on doing about interest rates when it meets next.

Confidence was also boosted by new Commerce Department data showing that the US trade deficit narrowed slightly, from $59.4 billion in June to $59.2 billion in July in the face of conventional wisdom that said it would widen.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.89 percent to 13,244.91, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.86 percent to 2,581.05 and the S&P 500 gained 0.72 percent to 1,462.17.

The Dow was helped by good sales news from fast food chain McDonalds (NYSE: MCD) when it said that global sales at restaurants open at least a year were up 8.1 percent in August.

McDonalds shares added $2.25 to $52.40.

The Nasdaq was helped by a big gain from biopharmaceutical group ImClone Systems (NAS: IMCL), which added $7.99 to $45.92 on the news that late-stage studies of the drug Erbitux has improved survival in lung-cancer patients.

Bristol-Myers Squibb (NYSE: BMY), also involved in the development of the drug, added 31 cents to $28.31.

Most railroads were higher after broker comments that a recent judicial decision on coal rates have taken some regulatory and legislative pressures off the sector.

The decision found in favor of Burlington Northern Santa Fe (NYSE: BNI) in two cases where the railroad was accused of charging too much to transport coal.

Burlington Northern added 70 cents to $80.92.

Kansas City Northern (NYSE: KSU) was up 75 cents to $31.16 and Norfolk Southern (NYSE: NSC) gained 91 cents to $50.01, while Union Pacific (NYSE: UNP) was $1.71 higher to $107.58.

However, CSX (NYSE: CSX) was 48 cents lower to $38.81.

The New York equities markets were up at mid-session on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average reaching a new intra-day high of 11,786.49. By midday the Dow had settled to 11,779.29, a gain of 0.4 percent. The Nasdaq Composite was 1.1 percent higher to 2,267.39, while the S&P 500 had added 0.5 percent to 1,340.96.

Dropping commodities prices sent miners and oil-related stocks lower. Anadarko Petroleum was 2.1 percent lower to $40.24 after a downgrade from “buy” to “neutral” issued by Bank of America. Phelps Dodge dropped 3.1 percent to $77.57.

Among retailers, Wal-Mart declined 1.5 percent to $48.73 on same-store sales in September that were up 1.3 percent, against a predicted gain of 1.8 percent.

Technology related stocks were higher on the day, however. Nvidia, helped by rumors that Intel was considering a bid, added 6.5 percent to $30.13. Sandisk was up 3.6 percent to $55.23 after it said it will begin distributing its flash-memory products in India, starting with 2,000 outlets in the next few weeks and increasing that to 14,000 outlets by the end of next year. Software giant Microsoft gained 1.4 percent to $27.76, while internet auctioneer Ebay was 5.2 percent higher to $29.65.

The pharmaceuticals sector was mixed on the session. While ImClone was up 6 percent to $28.80 after it reported that it had received a bid last month, which it had rejected, from a major pharma group. On the other hand, Genentech dropped 1.6 percent to $82.50 after an analysts said that cancer-drug sales in the third quarter might have been below expectations.

Wall Street was lower by the middle of the session on Tuesday after new data showed that new housing starts were down sharply in August and Yahoo issued a profits warning. By midday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.5 percent lower to 11,502.09, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 1.1 percent to 2,212.25 and the S&P 500 was 0.5 percent lower to 1,315.23.

The news that housing starts were down by 6 percent in August, double the expected drop, hurt the homebuilding sector. Centex and Toll Brothers each dropped 3.2 percent to $51.94 and $27.27 respectively.

Internet search engine Yahoo was 11.6 percent lower to $25.65 when its chief financial officer announced that this quarters results would only reach the lower levels of earlier predictions. The news also hurt Google, which fell 4.5 percent to $395.77.

Dow Jones, which publishes the Wall Street Journal, was also lower on a revised earnings guidance, dropping 2.5 percent to $33.02. In yet another lowered guidance, semiconductors company Maxim Integrated Products declined by 6.1 percent to $29.45.

In the pharmaceuticals sector, ImClone Systems fell 6.3 percent to $28.59 after a judged ruled that the process it used to come up with its cancer drug Erbitux was actually invented by three Israeli scientists, whose employer could be entitled to royalties due to ImClone’s use of the process.