Wall Street was higher in early afternoon trade Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average 0.36 percent higher to 13,413.01.

The Nasdaq Composite had added 0.62 percent to 2,569.81, while the S&P 500 was up 0.21 percent to 1,468.94.

In the media sector Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIAb), which owns MTV
and Nickelodeon cable channels and Paramount Pictures, added 1.8 percent to $38.69 on a quarterly report that was better than had been anticipated.

Pharmacy chain CVS Caremark (NYSE: CVS) also issued a better than expected report and gained 3.6 percent to $45.54.

Microsoft (NAS: MSFT) gained 1.1 percent to $29.61 on the announcement that is renewed a font licensing agreement with Apple (NAS: AAPL; LSE: ACP; FWB: APC), which was 0.16 percent higher to $135.21.

In mergers and acquisitions news, Fiserv Inc (NAS: FISV) added 0.5 percent to $49.41 on the news that it will purchase electronic payment company CheckFree Corp (NAS: CKFR), which was 24 percent higher to $45.54.

Banks were slightly higher, with Bank of America (NYSE: BAC) adding 0.15 percent to $47.70 and Citigroup (NYSE: C) gaining 0.71 percent to $46.64.

But Accredited Home Lenders Holding Co (NAS: LEND) dropped nearly 40 percent to $4.97 after the subprime lender said it might not be able to stay in business.

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.

Midday on Wall Street saw the main indexes down amid profit-taking following gains on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had dropped 0.4 percent to 11.092.99. The Nasdaq composite was nearly unchanged at 2,284.09, but the S&P 500 had fallen by 0.3 percent to 1,289.

The Nasdaq was helped by a 3.1 percent rise by Google, while the Dow was hurt by declines from several companies. Other news helped send the indexes down as well, as lower reported unemployment claims led to more speculation of more interest rate hikes to come. Losses were limited, though, as crude oil prices dropped after weekly inventories reports showed that US crude oil stockpiles had grown again.

Banks, insurers, and pharmaceuticals were down on the day, as was Viacom, in its first earnings report since parting ways with CBS. Viacom reported fourth-quarter profits were down 67 percent, sending its shares down 3.2 percent to $40.75. Paint maker Sherwin-Willams was also down, by 5.7 percent to $40.75.

Other losers on the day included American International Group, down 1.1 percent to $67.20; IBM, which dropped 1.3 percent to $80.30; and General Motors, dropping 1.9 percent to $20.78.

Fannie Mae, on the other hand, was up 2.5 percent to $57.33 after an internal investigation into an accounting scandal found no further problems.

Toll Brothers, the homebuilder which had seen recent losses, was up 2.6 percent on the day to $33.32 after it reported first-quarter earnings had risen 49 percent and that net income was up $163.9 million, which worked out to a gain of 98 cents per share.

Meanwhile, grocery chain Safeway was up 4.8 percent to $24.37 on a report of higher quarterly earnings than had been expected and comic book publisher Marvel Entertainment gained $1.27 to $17.38 after reporting on its fourth quarter and raising sales and earnings forecasts for this year.