The New York equities markets moved little on Thursday on a mixed batch of economic news. The Dow Jones Industrial average was up a bit to 10,558.75, the Nasdaq composite fell 0.2 percent to 2,146.15, and the S&P 500 gained a fraction to end the session at 1,227.71.

One analyst said that the market’s unwillingness to move too much stemmed from uncertainty over what the Federal Reserve will do with interest rates when it meets on September 20.

Meanwhile, government figures showed that inflation was being kept in check, but reports from the New York and Philadelphia Federal Reserve Banks showed that manufacturing costs were higher and orders were down in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

In addition, first time unemployment claims jumped by 71,000 last week, also largely due to Katrina.

Shares in internet search companies were mixed on the day. Google dropped 0.1 percent to $302.62 when it priced its $4 billion secondary share offering at $295 per share, while Chinese internet search company Baidu gained 0.8 percent to $82 after a 28 percent drop on Wednesday.

Time Warner, meanwhile, added 3.2 percent to $18.48 on newspaper rumors that it was in talks about selling a part of its stake in AOL to Microsoft. Shares in Microsoft was up 0.2 percent on the news.

In the fast food sector, McDonald’s led the Dow ahead of an analysts’ meeting, advancing by 3.4 percent to $33.45.

The New York equities markets were down on the day Wednesday as new government data revealed slower than expected retail sales and weak industrial production numbers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5 percent to 10,544.90, the Nasdaq composite was down 1 percent to 2,149.33, and the S&P 500 lost 0.3 percent to 1,227.16. In the airlines sector, amid more talk of imminent bankruptcies, Northwest Airlines added 19 percent but Delta Air Lines dropped another 9 percent.

Retailers were mostly down on the day. Hardware retailer Loew’s dropped 2.2 percent to $65.99, while Target was off by 2.7 percent to $52.75. Bedding retailer Linens ’n Things, however, saw a gain of 8.9 percent to $28.25 on reports that it has called in advisors and is thinking offering itself for sale.

Elsewhere, internet search engine Google was to begin selling $4.4 billion in new shares, with the goal of building a fund that might be used on new acquisitions, after the close of the trading day. In advance of the offering, Google’s shares dropped 2.8 percent to $303.00 on the day. Among gainers was investment bank Lehman Brothers, which added 1.3 percent to $113.75 after it announced that its quarterly profits were up by 74 percent.

Higher oil prices managed to wipe out any early gains on the New York equities markets on Wednesday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed down 0.8 percent to 10,434.87, the Nasdaq composite ended up 0.4 percent lower at 2,128.91, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.7 percent on the day to close at 1,209.59.

The early gains had been in response to data showing record new-home sales in the US in July, and some home builders managed to hang on to their gains at the end of the session.

Beazer Homes was up 2.6 percent to $60.98, Pulte Homes added 1.6 percent to $84.84, and Centex rose by 0.9 percent to $66.13.

The restaurant industry saw losses on the day as worries continued that high gasoline prices are cutting into consumer spending.

Restaurant chain Applebee’s International lost 7 percent to $22.37 after it cut its 2005 earnings forecast and blamed it on high oil prices. Outback Steakhouse also was down on the day, falling 2 percent to $42.92, while Brinker International dropped 3 percent to $42.49.

Meanwhile, Google gained 1.1 percent to $282.57 when it announced its first venture into the internet telephone market.

The New York equities markets were mixed but generally lower on Thursday on light trade volumes and concerns about crude oil prices as one analyst said that since September 11, 2001, investors have had one thing after another to worry about.

At the close of the trading day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was very close to its Wednesday close at 10,552.46, while the Nasdaq composite lost 0.4 percent to 2,135.99 and the S&P 500 settled down by 0.1 percent to 1,218.72.

One of the biggest gainers on the day was Six Flags, the amusement park operator, which gained 18 percent to $6.48 when it’s largest investor announced that he wanted to triple his amount of shares in the company.

While Google announced that it will issue 14.2 million shares of its class A stock for sale, said to be worth around $4 billion, the internet search company’s shares were down 1.8 percent on the day to $279.99.

In the retail clothing sector, meanwhile, J. Crew announced that it will launch an initial public offering to raise $200 million. Elsewhere in the sector, Gap released its quarterly earnings report. In response, its shares lost 1.6 percent to $20.15.

Hot Topic, which sells teenage clothing, cut its forecasts for the third and fourth quarters after falling short of expectations in the second quarter. It lost 10.6 percent on the day to close at $14.14.

In London on Friday, the FTSE 100 fell 0.2 percent to 5,345.8, but it saw a gain on the week of 0.6 percent. Meanwhile, the FTSE 250 gained 0.1 percent on Friday to close at 7,705.8, notching an 0.3 percent gain on the week. Trade volume for the day reached 2.4 billion shares.

Mobile phone group O2 traded 130 million shares on the day, gaining 2.8 percent to a record high of 149 ½p on rumors that a consortium might offer 175p to 180p per share for the company. Rumors of takeover bids have centered on Dutch group KPN, Telefonica, and Deutsche Telekom, but all the named companies have disavowed the reports.

British Airways lost 0.8 percent to 290p on their need to cancel flights due to a dispute with contractors at Heathrow airport.

Oil shares fell despite continuing advances in the price of crude oil. Royal Dutch Shell “B” shares declined by 1.1 percent to £19.23. Meanwhile, oil exploration company Burren Energy lost 7.5 percent to 756 ½p on the news that it has agreed to reduce its stake in the M’Boundi oil field and exploration rights to the Kouilou permit are in the Congo, trading 10 percent of its 35 percent interest in the concern to SNPC, the state-owned oil company in the Congo, for $35 million. Oriel Securities cut Burren’s rating to “reduce” on the appearance that SNPC was getting the concession at a discount.

Fund manager Schroders gained 2.3 percent to 898.5p on reports that it will raise over $370 million in association with China’s Bank of Communications for the first fund of their joint venture in asset management.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Nasdaq composite, and the S&P 500 were all down on the day as investors awaited word on whether the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this month as expected.

The Dow lost 0.2 percent to close at 10,536.93, the Nasdaq fell 0.6 percent to 2,164.39, and the S&P declined by 0.3 percent to end the day at 1,223.13.

Several reports and rumors of bids and mergers also captured the attention of investors.

Kerr-McGee, the oil and gas company, gained 3.7 percent to $85.01 on the news that it had agreed to let Moller-Maersk purchase its oil interests in the North Sea for $3.5 billion.

E*Trade announced it would buy the online brokerage operations of Harrisdirect, sending shares in E*Trade up 8.3 percent to $16.10. The purchase will cost E*Trade $700 million.

Whirlpool upped its bid for Maytag by $2 to $20 per share. Maytag was up 9.4 percent to $18.58 on the news, and Whirlpool gained 3.5 percent to $82.40.

Department store group Saks saw its shares go up on a report in Women’s Wear Daily that Bon-Ton Stores and Cerberus Capital Management might spend up to $4.2 billion to purchase Saks. Shares in Saks gained 9.1 percent to $22.10 on the strength of the report.

In Europe on Monday, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 gained 0.6 percent to 1,181.34 after reaching up to 1,183.52 earlier in the day.

The telecommunications sector was mixed. Nokia gained 1.1 percent to €13.06 on rumors that US company Cisco Systems could be getting ready to bid for the Finnish mobile phone manufacturer. Nokia denied any knowledge of the reports.

Alcatel was up by 0.3 percent to €9.90, but Ericsson lost 0.4 percent to SKr26.20.

The oil sector was up substantially on new record high crude oil prices. Repsol was up by 1.8 percent to €23.42, total gained 1.3 percent to €208.70, and Eni advanced by 1.7 percent to €23.66. Norsk Hydro gained 2.5 percent to NKr643 and Statoil added 2.3 percent to NKr147.50 as the two companies announced that they would develop the Troll oil and gas field off Norway at a possible cost of $8 billion.

The airlines sector was up despite rises in oil prices. Air France-KLM gained 3.6 percent to €13.68 on a rise of 9.2 percent in passengers in July, while they filled 85.2 percent of their available seats, a record. Meanwhile, Germany’s Lufthansa was up 2.1 percent to €10.70 as it announced that July traffic was 6.8 percent higher than last year in July.

In other sectors, French luxury goods company Hermes lost 1.9 percent to €162.80 although it said its half-year sales were up. Adidas-Salomon fell by 2.4 percent to €151.40 on profit-taking after its large advance last week on news that it would purchase Reebok.

In New York on Monday, the main equities indexes closed mixed as technology stocks did better than the blue-chips.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 0.2 percent to 10,623.15, while the Nasdaq composite gained 0.5 percent to 2,195.38 and the S&P 500 was up by 0.1 percent to 1,235.35.

EBay gained 4.4 percent to $43.61 on an upgrade to “buy” from Smith Barney. Google gained 1.3 percent to $291.61, but Yahoo lost early gains to close even at $33.33.

The energy sector saw gains on the rise in crude oil prices. ExxonMobil rose 0.8 percent to $59.23, and Kerr-McGee was up 1.7 percent to $81.53.

Proctor and Gamble reported a 9 percent rise in net profits overall, and sales in its health and family division grew by 13 percent. However, because of lukewarm guidance, P&G shares fell 0.6 percent to $55.32.

Wal-Mart, which sells P&G products, rose 0.4 percent to $49.53 based on monthly sales growth figures near the high end of forecasts. Meat processor Tyson Foods fell 3.7 percent to $17.95 on a report that its second-quarter profits were lower than expected due to expenses connected to settlement costs after a lawsuit by pork farmers.

Equities markets in New York were up on Wednesday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.54 percent to 10,637.09, the Nasdaq composite was up 0.47 percent to 2,186.22, and the S&P 500 advanced by 0.46 percent to 1,236.79.

The telecommunications sector was the most successful on the day, advancing as a while by 1.2 percent on Sprint’s better-than-expected quarterly report, which showed earnings more than doubling on wireless growth. Shares in Sprint gained 3.7 percent to $25.90.

Amazon reported that second quarter net income was down 32 percent due to tax charges that overtook higher sales. However, because investors had been expecting worse news and because profit margins were up, the company’s shares were up by 12.4 percent in early trade to $42.32.

Boeing also reported it’s quarterly earnings, which topped expectations even though profits fell by 7 percent in the quarter. The aerospace company raised its outlook for the third quarter and by early afternoon shares were up 1.5 percent to $67.35.

Restructuring costs caused household goods group Colgate-Palmolive’s earnings to fall in the second quarter. Even through earnings were at 62 cents per share, down from 66 cents per share a year earlier, C-P’s shares advanced 0.6 percent to $52.05.

Export-dependent stocks in Tokyo were up on Wednesday as investors took note of the yen’s weakness against the US dollar and crude oil prices which had fallen sharply since the beginning of the week.

Toyota was up 0.8 percent to ¥3,920, while Canon advanced by 0.3 percent to ¥5,890. Shares in oil companies lost value however with the drop in the price of oil.

Japan Petroleum Exploration was down 2.1 percent to ¥4,640, while gas and oil project developer AOC declined by 3.7 percent to ¥1,627.

In the banking sector, meanwhile, Mitsubishi Tokyo Financial Group was up by 1.4 percent to ¥939,000 and UFJ gained 1.2 percent to ¥576,000 on the news that shareholders had approved the merger of the two companies.

The internet services sector was mixed as Livedoor was down 1 percent to ¥383 as it backed off from recent advances, while Yahoo Japan advanced 3.1 percent to ¥234,000 after Yahoo in the US reported strong performance.

The Nikkei 225 gained 0.6 percent to 11,577.44, its highest level in 11 weeks, while the Topic index rose by 0.5 percent to 1,176.48.