New York markets fall at midday

The New York equities markets were down in mid-day trade on Tuesday on a mixed but mostly lower retail sector and declines in the computer hardware sector.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 1.3 percent in the middle of the day to 11,070.74, the Nasdaq composite had dropped 1 percent to 2,260.27, and the S&P 500 had declined by 0.4 percent to 1,282.25.

Federated Department Stores, which owns Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s, saw a decline of 0.8 percent to $71.06 despite an gain of 59 percent in fourth quarter net profits, which was still short of the expected gain. Wal-Mart also saw fourth-quarter earnings grow less than expected, sending the retailer’s shares down 1.3 percent to $45.67. Electronics retailer Radio Shack dropped 0.3 percent after reporting a 62 percent drop in fourth-quarter earnings. Home Depot bucked the trend, but only slightly, rising 0.1 percent to $41.67 on a 30 percent gain in fourth-quarter earnings, a better result than had been expected.

In the computer hardware sector, Hewlett Packard dropped 3 percent to $33.05. Apple was down 2.1 percent to $68.82. Dell dropped 1.2 percent to $30.02. These declines affected the bigger technology sector as chipmaker Texas Instruments fell 2.5 percent to $30.68, Broadcom was down 2.6 percent to $66.16, and Applied Materials declined by 2.9 percent to $19.15.