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 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 higher at midday on Thursday despite major declines in the health insurance sector. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.7 percent higher at mid-session to 11,174.87, while the Nasdaq Composite had gained 0.5 percent to 2,081.01 and the S&P 500 was up by 0.4 percent to 1,272.92.

Semiconductors were higher, with National Semiconductor 4.8 percent higher to $22.55 and Broadcom gaining 4.9 percent to $23.04.

Cable tv provider Comcast added 5.3 percent to $34.25 after it reported that profits were up 7 percent in the second quarter and it upped its subscriber growth forecast for the year.

Symantec was up 10.3 percent to $17.42 even though the maker of anti-virus software reported that its profits were down by 52 percent in its first quarter, with operating expenses more than doubled. The gain came because the results were better than had been expected.

Health insurer Aetna dropped 19.8 percent to $32.03 on a 1 percent decline in earnings in the second quarter, but even more due to investor concerns about large claims on its Stop-Loss product. The rest of the sector was also lower. Cigna fell by 7.1 percent to $96.81, while Humana was 4.5 percent lower to $53.97 and United Healthcare dropped 4.2 percent to $48.43.

Dow Chemical was down 9.6 percent to $33.70 after it reported that second-quarter earnings were 19 percent lower because record revenues had been offset by higher prices for fuel.

At midday on Wednesday the New York equities markets were down as investors awaited the latest decision by the US Federal Reserve on where interest rates are headed. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was nearly steady, down only 2.39 points to 11,637.38, the Nasdaq Composite had dropped 0.4 percent to 2,328.74 and the S&P 500 was down by 0.2 percent to 1,322.80.

Comptuer networking equipment maker Cisco Systems was down 2.5 percent to $21.13 on a disappointing fourth quarter revenues prediction. The decline came despite a quarterly report that was better than had been expected.

In the semiconductor sector, Micron Technology was down 4.4 percent to $16.49 after Infineon announced that it will spin off its memory chip unit and list it on the New York Stock Exchange later this year. Infineon’s announcement comes shortly after rumors that Intel will be spinning off its flash-memory unit.

Still in computer-related stocks, software company Symantec added 3.8 percent to $17.74 after better than expected quarterly figures. Meanwhile, Chinese search engine Baidu.com jumped 27.3 percent on a first-quarter report that showed revenue up 196 percent and profit up 76 percent, a great deal more than had been expected.

Disney announced that quarterly profits were up 12 percent, sending its shares up 1.3 percent on the day to $29.95 despite revenue figures that were not up to predictions.

On the announcement that it has increased its holdings in the London Stock Exchange to 24.1 percent, Nasdaq added 0.3 percent on the day to $38.45. Its rival for control of the LSE, the New York Stock Exchange, gained 2.2 percent to $71.80.