House builders were mixed on Wall Street Thursday after the Commerce Department said that sales of new homes rose by 4.8 percent in September over August’s numbers.

The news initially sent markets higher, but the indices returned to declines on the reality that the increase had more to do with a revision lower in August’s numbers and discounted prices on homes in September in an attempt to sell inventory than with a real rise in sales.

At midday in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.26 percent lower to 13,639.08.

The Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.84 percent to 2,751.43 while the S&P 500 was down 0.34 percent to 1,510.69.

Durable goods orders that were down by 1.7 percent in September, a bigger drop than had been anticipated, also weighed on the markets.

The mixed results among house builders also had to do with quarterly results.

Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) was down 29 cents to $14.70 after it said it lost $787.9 million in the quarter on a pre-tax charge and new orders that were down 37 percent from the previous year at the same time.

Elsewhere in the sector, KB Home (NYSE: KBH) dropped 27 cents to $26.54, but Lennar (NYSE: LEN) and Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) each added 26 cents to $22.84 and $10.27 respectively.

The Nasdaq was hurt by a decline by software group Symantec (NAS: SYMC), which dropped $2.51 to $18.51 on a disappointing outlook.

Also on the Nasdaq, cable television and internet service provider Comcast (NAS: CMCSA) fell $1.85 to $22 after it said profits were down by 54 percent in the third quarter amid a competitive environment.

Wall Street dropped at midday on Tuesday as crude oil prices continued to rise and on comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke Monday night that the housing market is a “significant drag” on the economy.

In addition, investors expected more bad news concerning the housing sector when the National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo issues its October housing market index later in the day.

At mid-session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.5 percent lower to 13,914.65, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.23 percent to 2,773.78 and the S&P 500 fell 0.52 percent to 1,540.7.

The housing sector was down on Mr. Bernanke’s comments and on separate comments from Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, who said in a speech Geogretown University’s law school that the housing slump is the most serious risk currently facing the economy.

DR Horton (NYSE: DHI) dropped 30 cents to $13.80 after it said that orders were down 39 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter, while cancellations were at 48 percent.

Elsewhere in the sector Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) fell 32 cents to $14.11 while Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) was 36 cents lower to $21.79, Beazer Homes (NYSE: BZH) was down 41 cents to $8.75, Centex (NYSE: CTX) dropped 69 cents to $25.80 and KB Home (NYSE: KBH) fell 79 percent to $26.91.

The Dow was hurt by losses for General Motors (NYSE: GM), which was down $1.15 to $39.96 after a broker downgrade from “peer perform” to “under perform” from Bear Stearns.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) dropped 85 cents to $45.42 ahead of its third-quarter results, due Wednesday, while Citigroup (NYSE: C) was $1.11 lower to $45.14 after it reported Monday that its earnings were down 57 percent in the third quarter due to losses in mortgage-backed securities and higher operating expenses.

The New York markets were lower in midday trade on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.8 percent lower to 13,980.57, while the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.62 percent to 2,788.15 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.69 percent to 1,551.

Investors were worried after Citigroup (NYSE: C) after it said that earnings were down by 57 percent in the third quarter.

Citigroup fell $1.33 to $46.54.

Medical devices manufacturer Medtronic (NYSE: MDT) was $7.08 lower to $49.25 on the news that it has stopped selling its Sprint Fidelis defibrillation leads after they were show to be defective.

Meanwhile, biotechnology group Biogen Idec (NAS: BIIB) added $14.40 to $83.83 after it said it might put itself up for sale after talking to potential bidders.

A little earlier in the session, Boeing (NYSE: BA; TYO: 7661) was down $1.46 to $95.24 after a broker downgrade from “outperform” to “market perform” on the possibility that the announced six-month delay in the delivery of the aerospace group’s 787 Dreamliner could stretch further.

A downgrade also sent house builders lower.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) dropped $1.31 to $27.63 after UBS (NYSE: UBS; SWX: UBSN; TYO: 8657) dropped its recommendaton from “buy” to “neutral” and said that the housing market is not likely to recover until at least 2009.

Lennar Corp (NYSE: LEN) fell 49 cents to $23.71.

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.

New York equities markets were down at midday on Friday after a report from the US Commerce Department that August retail sales were down 0.4 percent when expectations for a gain of 0.1 percent had been anticipated.

The figures excluded auto sales.

Other, separate reports, showed industrial production up only 0.2 percent in August and September consumer confidence down according to the RBC Cash Index and only slightly higher in the Reuters/University of Michigan survey.

US markets were also disturbed by Northern Rock’s (LSE: NRK) troubles in the UK.

However, declines were limited by hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut US interest rates when it meets next Tuesday.

In midday trade, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.08 percent to 13,413.99, while the Nasdaq Composite was down 0.14 percent to 2,597.47 and the S&P 500 had fallen 0.15 percent to 1,481.79.

Despite the general declines, house builders were higher in light trading ahead of the Fed’s decision next week.

KB Home (NYSE: KBH) was 38 cents higher to $27.07, while D. R. Horton (NYSE: DHI) had added 39 cents to $14.15.

Lennar (NYSE: LEN) gained 43 cents to $25.50, Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV) was up 51 cents to $10.54, Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) added 54 cents to $20.56, and Centex (NYSE: CTX) climbed 67 cents to $26.81.

Some airlines were also higher, despite oil prices that remained high even though there had been some decline from Thursday’s gains.

Alaska Air Group (NYSE: ALK) was $1.66 higher to $24.68 after it announced a stock buyback worth as much as $100 million, while Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) gained 24 cents to $32.70.

Most other US airlines also saw gains, but Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) fell 2 cents to $17.50.

Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade after Janet Yellen, president of the San Francisco Fed said in a speech that interest rate policies should not be used to bail out investors even though market upheavals could hurt the economy, causing investors to worry that interest rates might not drop this month, as many had assumed.

Analysts said that if the Fed does not reduce rates the markets could see a major sell-off.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.38 percent lower to 13,064.04, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.63 percent to 2,549.43 and the S&P 500 was down 0.63 percent as well, to 1,444.37.

House builders saw major declines after Moody’s Investors Services said that the housing slump will likely last at least until 2009.

Hovnanian Enterprises (NYSE: HOV) was down 5.3 percent to $10.01 after its target share price was cut from $20 to $8 by JMP Securities in the wake of last week’s reported third-quarter losses.

Other declines in the sector included KB Home (NYSE: KBH), which was 4.7 percent lower to $26.62.

Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) dropped 3.1 percent to $15.02, Lennar (NYSE: LEN) fell 2.9 percent to $25.74, and Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) was down 2.4 percent to $19.85.

Mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) was 5.4 percent lower to $17.22 after Friday’s report that it will cut up to 12,000 jobs in an effort to rise above the sector’s problems and after it said it believes new mortgages will fall by 25 percent next year.

Gainers on the day included Apple (NAS: AAPL; LSE: ACP; FWB: APC), which added 2.7 percent to $135.20 on the news that it sold its 1 millionth iPhone Sunday.

The New York equities markets were higher in early afternoon trade on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.84 percent to 13,617.78.

The Nasdaq Composite was 1.92 percent higher to 2,610.69, while the S&P 500 had added 1.15 percent to 1,493.72.

The gains came on comments from the Federal Reserve on Tuesday that it expects the US economy to continue to grow moderately and after Cisco Systems (NAS: CSCO; SEHK: 4333) said its profits were up by 25 percent in the most recent quarter and upped its revenue prediction for the full year.

Cisco gained $1.78 to $31.47 after it made its report.

Meanwhile, house builder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL) said that revenues are down 21 percent in its preliminary third-quarter report and refused to provide an earnings guidance in what it called a volatile market.

Still, Toll Brothers added $1.06 to $24.01 because the declines weren’t as steep as analysts had expected them to be.

That, and a statement from KB Home (NYSE: KBH) that it had used cash on hand to repay $650 million in debt sent the sector higher.

KB added $3.36 to $36.42, while DR Horton (NYSE: DHI) was up $1 to $18.39, Pulte Homes (NYSE: PHM) was $2.46 higher to $22.84, and Centex (NYSE: CTX) gained $2.73 to $38.40.

Financial services also saw gains.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) added 70 cents to $34.97, Citigroup (NYSE: C) gained 88 cents to $49.47, and Bank of America was 94 cents higher to $49.61.

Meanwhile, Lehman Brothers was up $4.44 to $65.15, while Goldman Sachs added $5.55 to $196.80 and Bear Stearns was $7.35 higher to $124.24.

Wall Street was mixed at noon on Tuesday as the earnings season prepares to get into full swing, with companies such as Apple, IBM, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan and General Electric all scheduled to release their fourth-quarter reports this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.04 percent to 12,560.88, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1 percent to 2,500.97. The S&P 500, meanwhile, was 0.02 percent higher to 1,431.01.

Homebuilders were lower. KB Home dropped 1.2 percent to $48.76, while Centex fell 2.8 percent to $51.68. The S&P homebuilders index dropped 2 percent.

Technology stocks were responsible for the decline in the Nasdaq. Cisco was 2.9 percent lower to $28.08 on broker downgrades, while Symantec fell 8.8 percent to $18.67 after it said that profits in 2007 will not rise to expected levels. The semiconductor sector also fell on negative news from brokers. Novellus Systems was down 2.2 percent to $32.03 and KLA-Tencor dropped 2.6 percent to $50.83. Intel, which was scheduled to issue its report after the close of trade Tuesday, was 0.5 percent lower to $22.02.

The banking sector saw gains, with Wells Fargo 2.3 percent higher to $36.33 on earnings of 64 cents per share in the fourth quarter.

In the transport sector, FedEx gained 2.7 percent to $111.77 as the Dow Transports Average gained 1.3 percent on the session so far and 5.7 percent since the beginning of the year.

Wall Street was down on Friday and both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 looked set to end the week down as well, although the Nasdaq Composite was likely to notch a gain for the week. The Dow had lost 0.7 percent by midday to 12,388.96, down 0.6 on the week despite hitting a new all-time high on Wednesday. The S&P was 0.8 percent lower on the session so far and 0.7 percent lower for the week at 1,407.94. While the Nasdaq was 1.1 lower over the session at midday, to 2,425.36, it was still up 0.4 percent on the shortened week.

The oil sector performed particularly badly as crude oil prices dropped over the week. Chevron was 4.4 percent lower to $70.32, while ExxonMobil dropped 5.6 percent to $72.34. ConocoPhillips was down 7.8 percent to $66.35 as it dropped its marketing and refining margins for the fourth quarter. Marathon Oil fell 8.5 percent over the week to $84.60.

Homebuilders saw declines. KB Homes dropped 4.4 percent to $49.03. Lennar was 4.8 percent lower to $49.92 after it said it would probably see a loss in the fourth quarter.

Technology stocks did better for the most part, although Motorola dropped 7.8 percent on the week to $18.95 after it said that fourth quarter earnings would be below predictions due to slow mobile phone sales. Chipmaker Intel added 3 percent to $20.86. Cisco was up 3.1 percent to $28.19 on the announcement that it has bought an e-mail security company. Internet search engine Yahoo gained 7 percent to $27.32, while BMC Software added 7.6 percent to $34.65.

Home improvement retailers did not seem affected much by the drop in the home construction sector. While Home Depot held steady at $41.84 for the week, Lowes added 2.9 percent to $32.04.

In early after noon trade on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.60 percent to 12,481.57. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were also higher, with the Nasdaq gaining 0.63 percent to 2,428.80 and the S&P advancing 0.51 percent to 1,424.19. The Russell 2000 small-caps index was up 0.87 percent to 795.03. Trade volumes were low.

Ford was up 11 cents to $7.60 and US-traded shares in Toyota gained $2.03 to $133.64 on the news that top executives of the two automakers had met for talks.

Homebuilders were up on new data showing that new home sales were up more than had been anticipated in November. Hovnanian Enterprises added 44 cents to $33.68, while Toll Brothers was 66 cents higher to $32.35 and KB Home gained 79 cents to $51.58.

The retail sector was mixed on figures from the International Council of Shopping Centers that showed pre-Christmas holiday shopping was not as strong has had been hoped. Federated Department Stores was up 37 cents to $38.13, but Target only managed to hold steady at $57.09 and Wal-Mart fell 13 cents to $45.98.

Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. dropped 43 cents to $42.64 after it announced that it will sell the Minneapolis Star Tribune to a private equity company in a deal worth $530 million.