New York markets were higher at midday on Monday on investor hopes that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates again when it meets later this week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.31 percent higher at mid-session, at 13,849.45, while the Nasdaq Composite was up 0.23 percent to 2,810.73 and the S&P 500 had added 0.24 percent to 1,538.95.

The oil sector was also higher after crude oil hit a new record high at $93.20 early in the session.

Chevron (NYSE: CVX) was up 1.6 percent to $93.11, while ExxonMobil (NYSE: XOM) gained almost 2 percent to $93.91.

Gains in oil prices also sent shares in solar power-related companies higher.

China Sunergy was up 21 percent to $11.07, while Suntech Power Holdings (NYSE: STP) gained 9.1 percent to $60.16 and LDK Solar (NYSE: LDK) was up 8.4 percent to $41.08.

In the computers sector , Dell (NAS: DELL) added 2.6 percent to $29.72 on an upgrade from Goldman Sachs.

In the retail sector, consumer electronics chain Radio Shack (NYSE: RSH) was up 5.8 percent to $20.75 after reporting a profit in the most recent quarter.

The New York equities markets were down in mid-day trade on Tuesday on a mixed but mostly lower retail sector and declines in the computer hardware sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.3 percent in the middle of the day to 11,070.74, the Nasdaq composite had dropped 1 percent to 2,260.27, and the S&P 500 had declined by 0.4 percent to 1,282.25.

Federated Department Stores, which owns Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, saw a decline of 0.8 percent to $71.06 despite an gain of 59 percent in fourth quarter net profits, which was still short of the expected gain. Wal-Mart also saw fourth-quarter earnings grow less than expected, sending the retailer’s shares down 1.3 percent to $45.67. Electronics retailer Radio Shack dropped 0.3 percent after reporting a 62 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings. Home Depot bucked the trend, but only slightly, rising 0.1 percent to $41.67 on a 30 percent gain in fourth-quarter earnings, a better result than had been expected.

In the computer hardware sector, Hewlett Packard dropped 3 percent to $33.05. Apple was down 2.1 percent to $68.82. Dell dropped 1.2 percent to $30.02. These declines affected the bigger technology sector as chipmaker Texas Instruments fell 2.5 percent to $30.68, Broadcom was down 2.6 percent to $66.16, and Applied Materials declined by 2.9 percent to $19.15.