Shares of some top chemicals companies were up at the close of trading:

Shares of some top chemicals companies are mixed at noon:

Shares of some top chemicals companies are mixed at 10 a.m.:

DuPont said Wednesday it has opened a solar-materials business in India to help capture part of the rapidly growing market.

Chemical giant DuPont said Tuesday it plans to expand global production capacity for its Tedlar films designed for the solar power market.

Chemical maker DuPont Co. on Friday named Carl Lukach as president of DuPont East Asia and Karen Fletcher as vice president of investor relations, both effective Jan. 1, 2009.

DuPont Co. said Monday it is opening two new research centers in Italy and Hungary as part of an effort to boost its seed business in Europe.

The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday denied a request from Texas Gov. Rick Perry to cut the federal ethanol mandate in half for a year.

Wall Street so far has not merely survived earnings season, but has thrived as banks mostly lived up to lowered expectations.

Stocks surged in the final hour of trading as a sharp drop in oil prices and an analyst note prompted a late rally in financials. The Nasdaq eked out a gain but investors still punished select techs, including Apple and Texas instruments after the firms dispatched disappointing results.

Stocks advanced, buoyed by a sharp drop in oil prices, but technology stocks dragged on the market after disappointing earnings from Apple and Texas Instruments.

Stocks advanced, buoyed by a sharp drop in oil prices, but technology stocks dragged on the market after disappointing earnings from Apple and Texas Instruments.

Stocks dropped at the open, crushed by a wave of disappointing earnings reports both after the close Monday and before the bell Tuesday.

To give investors an edge on a day when the Dow seems to be maintaining its footing, CNBC asked the experts for their best trades now.

Stocks tumbled Wednesday as oil's resurgence lit the fuse of inflation fears, pushing the Dow to a three-month low.  Oil jumped about $5 a barrel, settling at $136.38. Financials were the hardest hit.