Wall Street was lower after the Institute of Supply Management’s non-manufacturing index, which fell from 55.8 in August to 54.8 last month, showed that the service sector’s expansion slowed in September.

In addition, the Mortgage Bankers Association reported that applications for mortgages were down by 2.7 percent in the week ending 28 September.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.29 percent to 14,006.67 in early afternoon trade, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.16 percent to 2,742.6 and the S&P 500 fell 0.2 percent to 1,543.46.

The airlines sector saw gains as crude oil prices hovered around the $80 per barrel level.

UAL Corp. (NAS: UAUA), the parent company of United Airlines, was up 83 cents to $49.62, while Continental Airlines (NYSE: CAL) was 51 cents higher to $35.73 and Northwest Airlines (NYSE: NWA) added 35 cents to $18.49 after Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) rated it at “outperform” and assigned a target share price of $23 by the end of next year.

Automakers were mixed after September sales numbers were down over the sector.

General Motors (NYSE: GM) added 80 cents to $37.85 after it said sales were flat last month.

Ford Motor (NYSE: F) dropped 1 cent to $8.56 on its report that sales were down by 21 percent in September, mostly due to a large cut in the number of cars it sold to car rental agencies.

US-listed shares of Toyota Motor (TYO: 7203.T; NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT) were $2.03 lower to $116.20 as its sales were down by 4 percent in September.

The New York equities markets were lower in early afternoon trade after the US Labor Department released new data showing that 92,000 jobs were created in July, lower than the 135,000 new jobs that had been expected and less than the 132,000 new jobs created in June.

Unemployment was up to 4.6 percent in July after a reading of 4.5 percent in June.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 0.6 percent lower to 13,380.99, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.8 percent to 2,555.59 and the S&P 500 had dropped 0.9 percent to 1,458.85.

American Home Mortgage (NYSE: AHM) was 67 cents lower to 78 cents, down from around $10 a week ago, after it announced Thursday that it had stopped taking applications for mortgages and was laying off most of its 7,000 employees, effective today.

Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) dropped $1.38 to $25.39.

Elsewhere in the financial sector, Bear Stearns (NYSE: BSC) fell $3.28 to $112.35 after Standard & Poor’s cut its credit rating to negative on fears that earnings will fall.

In the automobile manufacturing sector General Motors (NYSE: GM) dropped 79 cents to $32.60, but US-traded shares of Toyota (NYSE: TM; LSE: TYT; TYO 7203.T) were up 94 cents to $119.53.

Among consumer goods manufacturers, Proctor & Gamble fell 31 cents to $62.98 after it dropped its full-year profit prediction slightly.

In early after noon trade on Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had added 0.60 percent to 12,481.57. The Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 were also higher, with the Nasdaq gaining 0.63 percent to 2,428.80 and the S&P advancing 0.51 percent to 1,424.19. The Russell 2000 small-caps index was up 0.87 percent to 795.03. Trade volumes were low.

Ford was up 11 cents to $7.60 and US-traded shares in Toyota gained $2.03 to $133.64 on the news that top executives of the two automakers had met for talks.

Homebuilders were up on new data showing that new home sales were up more than had been anticipated in November. Hovnanian Enterprises added 44 cents to $33.68, while Toll Brothers was 66 cents higher to $32.35 and KB Home gained 79 cents to $51.58.

The retail sector was mixed on figures from the International Council of Shopping Centers that showed pre-Christmas holiday shopping was not as strong has had been hoped. Federated Department Stores was up 37 cents to $38.13, but Target only managed to hold steady at $57.09 and Wal-Mart fell 13 cents to $45.98.

Newspaper publisher McClatchy Co. dropped 43 cents to $42.64 after it announced that it will sell the Minneapolis Star Tribune to a private equity company in a deal worth $530 million.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up another 74.1 points, 0.6 percent, to 12,179.7 at midday on Tuesday after its 119-point gain on Monday. The Nasdaq Composite was also up, by 0.8 percent to 2,385.8, while the S&P 500 had added 0.45 percent to 1,385.97. The gains came as US voters went to the polls in mid-term elections.

In the telecommunications sector, Verizon was 0.2 percent higher to $37.06 on the news that it is discussing a deal with YouTube, which was recently purchased by Google, to offer YouTube’s video clips on its cell phones.

In the automobile manufacturing sector, General Motors stood unchanged at $34.70 after it revised its third-quarter figures, showing a smaller loss than previously announced. GM said that instead of losing $115 million in the quarter, it lost $91 million. Meanwhile, US-traded shares of Toyota Motor Corp. added 1.7 percent to $121.75 after its fiscal second-quarter report showed net profits up 3.5 percent over the same period last year.

Semiconductors were higher, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index 2.5 percent higher to 468.86 and all but one of its component stocks up on the session. Altera led the charge, with a gain of nearly 6 percent to $19.50 on a third-quarter report that exceeded expectations.

Toll Brothers added 0.2 percent to $28.11 after early declines. It said that its revenue in its fiscal fourth quarter had declined by 10 percent, while its chief executive said that signs for a recovery in the sector are not yet visible.