Wall Street down on day, up on week

The New York equities markets were lower at midday on Friday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average unmoved for the day so far at 11,332.32, the Nasdaq Composite 0.4 percent lower to 2,149.10, and the S&P 500 down 0.1 percent to 1,296.38. The declines, however, could not erase the weeks gains and at mid-session the Dow stood up 2.2 percent on the week, while the Nasdaq was 4.4 percent higher and the S&P stood 2.3 percent above where it began the week.

The oil sector did not help the weeks gains, although dropping oil prices had a positive effect on investor sentiment. Among oil companies, Valero Energy was 5.5 percent lower on the week to $61.27 and Hess dropped 6.7 percent to $48.44.

Computer makers saw advances, although Dell was only 0.2 percent higher for the week at $21.12 at the middle of Friday’s session, having lost the 8 percent it had gained during the week after the company reported that its second-quarter earnings had fallen by 51 percent. In addition, it was revealed that the Securities and Exchange Commission has been investigating Dell for the past year in connection with its accounting practices. Elsewhere in the sector, Hewlett-Packard added 7.4 percent over the week, to $35.50, on the strength of a better than expected earnings report and the announcement of a share buyback.

Semiconductors also had a good week. Intel was 5.6 percent higher to $18.38, while Broadcom added 17 percent to $29.29. Advanced Micro Devices rode a Citibank upgrade from “hold” to “buy” to an 18.5 percent advance to $23.43. PMC-Sierra gained 24.3 percent over the week to $6.29.

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