Wall Street is being whip-sawed in another bout of volatility at midday Tuesday, while the fallout of the BCE Inc. and softer commodity prices are dragging Canadian stocks lower. The Dow Jones industrials are up 77 points after a slightly better-than-expected report on housing and deal news offset concerns about interest rates, the sub-prime mortgage market, and hedge fund woes. The broader S&P 500 index is unchanged, however. "We're trying to ascertain what the market is worried about now," Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co., told Dow Jones. "Last week, we were concerned about the yield of the 10-year bond and the Bear Stearns hedge funds time bomb." Many traders are staying on the sidelines ahead of the Fed's decision on interest rates later this week. While the central bank is widely expected to leave rates unchanged, traders will be paying close attention to the tone of the accompanying statement. Of the Dow's 30 components, 15 advanced, led by Merck & Co., Johnson & Johnson and AT&T Inc. Oil and gold prices are pushing lower, sending the TSX composite to a 30-point loss. On the flip-side, stronger financial stocks are providing support. Telus Corp. is up 2.4 per cent after it pulled out of the pursuit of BCE Inc., which is down 3.5 per cent and is pushing down the index by 10 points. The move came after Caisse de dépôt et placement de Québec and Onex Corp. also pulled out of the auction for BCE, dealing a blow to the consortium lead by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board.