Israel

NEW YORK

Market ends with mixed finish

NEW YORK — Wall Street capped a shortened trading week with a mixed finish Thursday after uneven economic data: news of a contraction in the services sector and a tame reading on employment. Stocks had their third dismal week in a row.

Investors hoping for some guidance from two key economic reports got very little. The Institute for Supply Management said its index of service sector activity fell to 48.2 from 51.7 in May. The look at the service sector followed a largely as-expected report from the Labor Department, which said the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.5 percent last month. The government also reported that 62,000 jobs were lost in June, close to economists' forecasts.

The Dow rose 73.03, or 0.65 percent, to 11,288.54. Broader stock indicators ended mixed. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 1.38, or 0.11 percent, to 1,262.90, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 6.08, or 0.27 percent, to 2,245.38.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.98 percent from 3.96 percent late Wednesday.

The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices fell.

Oil prices dominated trading during the week as they have for months. Light, sweet crude settled up $1.72 at a record $145.29 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Hedge fund cheat to forfeit bail

NEW YORK — The hedge fund cheat who faked his death before going on the lam told a Manhattan judge Thursday that he tried to kill himself with a drug overdose before he surrendered in Massachusetts.

The unsympathetic judge replied that Samuel Israel III, who scammed nearly half a billion dollars from investors, must forfeit his $500,000 bail.

Israel went on the run June 9, when he was supposed to report for a 20-year prison sentence. He abandoned his SUV on a bridge north of New York City. The massive manhunt ended Wednesday when he surrendered in Massachusetts.

Israel told U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon that he had decided to commit suicide Tuesday by swallowing morphine tablets and the painkiller fentanyl. "I woke up battered and bruised, and I realized God didn't want me to do that and I turned myself in," he said.

Israel got the 20-year sentence in April for conspiracy and fraud. He could face an extra 10 years if he is convicted of a new charge of failing to report to prison.

GERMANY

European Central Bank ups rate

FRANKFURT — Wary of higher energy and commodity prices, the European Central Bank raised its benchmark interest rate Thursday by a quarter percentage point to 4.25 percent, which it hopes will help curtail rising inflation in the 15 countries that use the euro.

The move comes despite worries that it could dampen growth, but ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet said that the fundamentals of Europe's economy "are sound" and that the bank was focused on inflation — which he said could remain high "for a more protracted period than previously thought."

The increase was the first since June 2007. Trichet said the decision was unanimous among members of the bank's governing council.

— From wire reports