The New York equities markets were mixed on Thursday as more bad news from the hurricane zone came in as well, on top of several items of negative data on the economy.

While the S&P 500 was up slightly to 1,221.59, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.7 percent to 10,459.63 and the Nasdaq composite was down slightly to 2,147.90.

Among the reports released during the day were those showing that consumer spending was up by 1 percent in July, while personal income was up only 0.3 percent and personal savings was at negative 0.6 percent, the lowest level in the 46 years the government has been keeping statistics. Another report showed manufacturing activity down in August.

Energy stocks did especially well on the day. XTO Energy was up 2.4 percent to $40.77, Valero Energy gained 2.8 percent to $109.50, and ExxonMobil added 2.97 percent to $61.68.

Among retailers, Costco gained 0.5 percent to $43.18 and Wal-Mart was up 0.3 percent to $45.09 on a 3.3 percent rise in sales, but Target lost 1.8 percent to $52.78 even though it reported an increase in sales of 6.3 percent.

One of the biggest gainers on the day was in the pharmaceutical sector, as Chiron gained 17.81 percent to $42.93 when Novartis offered $4.5 billion to purchase the rest of the company. Novartis gained 1 percent to $49.19.