Wall Street was lower in early afternoon trade on Monday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was back down below the 13,000 level to trade at 12,993.32, a decline of 0.66 percent, just before 1:30 pm in New York, while the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.64 percent to 2,489.1 and the S&P 500 was 0.99 percent lower to 1,431.6.

The retail sector was mixed.

Rite-Aid (NYSE: RAD) was even at $4.88, while Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) had dropped 25 cents to $43.24.

Home improvement retailers, however, saw gains after Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) reported that its earnings were at 67 cents per share in the second quarter, against expected earnings of 61 cents per share.

Despite dropping its forecasts for the third quarter and the full year, Lowe’s added $1.51 to $28.38, while rival Home Depot (NYSE: HD) gained 19 cents to $33.50.

The financial services sector saw declines.

Troubled mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) was down $1.43 to $20.

Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) dropped 61 cents to $36.63, while Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) fell 84 cents to $61.39, Citigroup (NYSE: C) was 86 cents lower to $47.95 and Bank of America was down 96 cents to $50.80.

JP Morgan Chase (NYSE: JPM; TYO: 8634) fell $1.44 to $45.57, Lehman Brothers (NYSE: LEH) was down $1.78 to $56.30, Merrill Lynch (NYSE: MER; TYO: 8675) dropped $2.01 to $74.03, and Goldman Sachs (NYSE: GS) was $3.87 lower to $171.13.

Wall Street was higher in early afternoon trade on Monday as it tried to overcome last week’s declines.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 57.7 points to 13,324.6, while the Nasdaq Composite had added 9.8 points to 2,572 and the S&P 500 was 6.2 points higher to 1,465.

Home Depot (NYSE: HD) was the biggest gainer on the Dow, adding 79 cents to $37.54.

Rival home improvement retailer Lowe’s (NYSE; LOW) was up 38 cents to $28.15.

Elsewhere in the retail sector, drug store chain Rite Aid (NYSE: RAD) had gained 2 cents to $5.40, while discount retailer Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) was up 20 cents to $46.14.

Aerospace group Boeing (NYSE: BA) also helped the Dow as it added $2.12 to $105.83.

Some banks were higher.

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM) gained 6 cents to $44.29, while Citigroup (NYSE: C) was up 18 cents to $47.15, Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) had added 41 cents to $47.82, and Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) gained 69 cents to $34.25.

On the other hand, mortgage lender Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) was 96 cents lower to $28.89.

American Home Mortgage Investment Corp (NYSE: AHM) had trading halted before the market opened after it fell $6.39, or 39 percent, to $10.47 in premarket trading after it delayed its quarterly dividend.

Friday it said it was “struggling” due to the crisis in the subprime sector.

Equities markets in New York were lower just past mid-session on Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.2 percent to 12,443.76, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.02 percent to 2,427.16 and the S&P 500 was 0.1 percent lower to 1,421.99.

In the airlines sector, Delta Air Lines added 5 percent to $1.28 despite only a tepid vote of confidence from its creditors committee for its plan to remain an independent carrier as it comes out of bankruptcy. The committee said that it would continue to consider other alternatives. US Airways recently made a hostile bid for Delta.

Johnson & Johnson dropped 0.3 percent to $66.21 because while the US Food and Drug Administration approved its schizophrenia drug Invega, the FDA required a warning label on the product concerning an increased risk of a potentially fatal side effect.

The retail sector was mixed. Rite Aid added 2 percent to $5.48 even though it took a slight loss in the third quarter, due to an increased volume of prescriptions filled and better pharmacy sales. Best Buy was up 2.7 percent on an upgrade to “outperform” from Credit Suisse. On the other hand, Bed Bath & Beyond dropped 3.6 percent to $38.48. While it said that its profits in the quarter were up 6 percent, this was below what had been expected.