Wall Street was higher in midday trade Tuesday after the Commerce Department reported that core personal consumption expenditures were 1.9 percent higher in June.

However, the same report also said that personal spending was up only 0.1 percent in June, its slowest growth in nine months.

Meanwhile, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidences was at a six year high.

At mid-session, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.54 percent higher to 13,429.84, while the Nasdaq Composite had gained 0.25 percent to 2,589.62 and the S&P 500 was up 0.48 percent to 1,480.93.

Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) and News Corp (NYSE: NWS, NWSa; LSE: NCRA; ASX: NWS) were both higher after the Wall Street Journal, a Dow Jones-owned newspaper, reported that the Bancroft family is close to agreeing to a deal to be bought by News Corp.

The Rupert Murdoch-owned News Corp added 6 cents to $22.90, while Dow Jones was $6.29 higher to $57.85.

Fast food chain Wendy’s (NYSE: WEN) was also higher, adding $1.59 to $35.28 on an offer of between $37 and $41 per share.

Sun Microsystems (NAS: SUNW) was up 3 5 cents to $5.24 on a better than anticipated quarterly report, while in the automobile manufacturing sector General Motors (NYSE: GM) was up 82 cents to $33.43, also on a good quarterly result.

Despite a decline in profits of 30 percent in the second quarter from the same period last year, Waste Management Inc (NYSE: WMI) added $2.38 to $39.87 on an upped full-year forecast.

Wall Street was up in midday trade on Tuesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average crossed the 14,000 mark for the first time to a record high of 14,011.51 before dropping back to 13,989.51, still a gain of 0.3 percent at mid-session.

The Nasdaq Composite was 0.4 percent higher to 2,707.94, while the S&P 500 had added 0.2 percent to 1,551.86.

In the computer-related sectors, search engine Yahoo (NAS: YHOO) and semiconductors maker Intel (NAS: INTC; SEHK: 4335) were both higher ahead of their quarterly reports, scheduled to be released after the close of trade.

Yahoo was 4 cents higher to $26.74, while Intel had added 27 cents to $26.22.

Online auctioneer eBay (NAS: EBAY), expected to report on Wednesday, was 9 cents lower to $34.30.

In the media sector, News Corp (NYSE: NSWS, NWSa; LSE: NCRA; ASX: NWS) and Dow Jones (NYSE: DJ) reached a tentative agreement for News Corp to buy the publisher of the Wall Street Journal.

The deal still has to be approved by the Dow Jones board of directors and by the Bancroft family, which controls a majority of Dow Jones stock.

News Corp added 2.7 percent to $24.27 on the news, while Dow Jones fell 0.7 percent to $56.56.

Pharmaceuticals and consumer goods group Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) dropped 2 percent to $63.51 despite a second-quarter report that showed profits were up 9.3 percent and international sales had grown by 18 percent.

Wall Street was mixed at mid-afternoon on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.2 percent to 12,645.48, while the S&P 500 was even at 1,447.93 after gains early in the day reversed. The Nasdaq Composite was 0.6 percent higher to 2,486.12 on fiscal second quarter results from Cisco Systems, released after the close on Tuesday.

Cisco added 3.3 percent to $28.18 after it exceeded profits expectations and projected that sales will be strong this year. Its fiscal second quarter net income was at $1.9 billion and it said that it believes that third quarter revenues will be up by around 20 percent. In related sectors, chipmaker Broadcom was 5.3 percent higher to $33.69.

In the media sector, News Corp. added 1.6 percent to $24.53 even though profits were down in its fiscal second quarter. Revenue was up 18 percent, however, and successes with Borat and X-Men for its film division helped sales.

Health insurer Cigna added 2 percent to $139.93 after releasing a fourth-quarter report that showed profits up 10 percent and net income at $232 million, besting estimates by analysts.

Whirlpool dropped 3 percent to $92.02 on net profits that were down 13 percent for the year, with fourth-quarter profits below what had been anticipated.

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.

Technology-related sectors were up in New York on Thursday but health care and pharmaceuticals companies were lower, resulting in mixed results on Wall Street at midday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.3 percent lower to 12,142.37, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.42 percent to 2,395.03 and the S&P 500 dropped 0.04 percent to 1,385.12.

In health sectors, Johnson & Johnson was 1.25 percent lower to $70.29 and Pfizer fell 1.8 percent to $26.14. HealthSouth was 6.1 percent lower to $20.65 after its report for the third quarter showed losses related to price pressure in all its units, while it had fewer patients in its acute-care hospital unit. Elsewhere, 3M was a bit lower to $79.24 on the news that it is selling its pharmaceuticals interests.

Cisco Systems added 7.3 percent to $26.93 on a report that its net income was $1.61 billion in the quarter. Computer maker Dell gained 2.8 percent to $24.85 after it said it will expand its customer call center in Ottawa, adding 1,000 employees. Apple Computer, meanwhile, was 1.64 percent higher to $83.80 on reported interest in its new iPod Shuffle.

The oil sector was higher on gains in the price of crude oil, with ExxonMobil and Chevron each adding 1.1 percent, to $74.64 and $70.29 respectively.

The media sector was mixed. News Corporation added 0.2 percent to $21.90 on a better than anticipated quarterly report, while Disney gained 1.2 percent to $33.48 ahead of its report, due later in the day. Viacom, however, was 2.2 percent lower to $38.81 after its third quarter report showed that profits were down by 16 percent in the third quarter.

Wall Street was down at midday on Thursday after crude oil prices jumped again, retail sales data for April was disappointing, and several sectors saw significant declines. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1 percent to 11,531.95, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 1.6 percent to 2,284.60 and the S&P 500 declined by 0.9 percent to 1,311,12. Also contributing to losses were concerns that interest rates are already too high or are close to being too high after the Federal Reserve raised rates again on Wednesday.

In computer-related stocks, Apple Computer lost 3.8 percent to $67.93, while Cisco Systems was down again, this time by 2.9 percent to $20.14.

Glassmaker Corning, which manufactures glass components for LCD computers and televisions, dropped 5.5 percent to $25.68 after an admission earlier in the week that internal accounting controls for asbestos litigation were weak.

Insurer American International Group, the world’s largest, was down 4.7 percent to $64.44 after issuing its quarterly report late Wednesday. AIG’s first-quarter earnings were 5 percent lower than had been predicted.

Among gainers, News Corporation was up 3.1 percent to $19.72 on a third-quarter earnings report that showed net profit more than doubled in the quarter and earnings per share 30 percent above what had been expected. Along with the report, the company said that it was doubling its share buyback.