The New York equities markets were mixed at midday on Thursday ahead of new employment numbers, due Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.02 percent higher to 12,311.41, but the Nasdaq Composite had fallen 0.3 percent to 2,439.48 and the S&P 500 was down 0.04 percent to 1,412.33.
In the software sector, Oracle dropped another 2.3 percent to $17.47. The software maker was 5.2 percent lower on Wednesday on a “sell” recommendation from Lehman Brothers.
Among automobile manufacturers, Ford fell 1.6 percent to $7.24 on the sale of 30-year convertible bonds that could eventually become equity and dilute shareholder value.
Eli Lilly dropped 1.3 percent to $54.16 on a statement that its shares should earn $3.25 to $3.35 per share in 2007, lower than analysts estimates of $3.39 per share. Elsewhere in the sector, Auxillium Pharmaceuticals fell 7.6 percent to $14.74 as the specialty drug maker halted a late-stage clinical trial.
Among retailers, Home Depot was 1.1 percent lower to $39.47 after it announced that a review of stock option grants showed an unrecorded expense of around $200 million.
In the media sector, News Corp added 4.6 percent to $22.73 on a report that it will trade its stake in DirecTV for News Corp shares held by Liberty Media. Liberty gained 2.6 percent to $90.25.