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AP Business News
07/03/2008 23:48:30
| Service sector contracts as orders fall
NEW YORK (AP) - Higher oil prices caused service businesses to shrink in June, as falling new orders and rising costs hit the nation's coffee shops, paper mills and corner stores. The Institute for Supply Management said Thursday that the services sector index fell to 48.2 in June from 51.7 in May. It missed economists' prediction of a reading of 51.0, according to the consensus estimate of Wall Street economists surveyed by Thomson Financial/IFR. A reading above 50 signals growth. More » | Stocks end mixed following jobs, services data
NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street capped a shortened trading week with a mixed finish Thursday after some uneven economic data: news of a contraction in the nation's services sector and a tame reading on employment. But stocks still had their third dismal week in a row, with the major indexes again posting losses as worries about rising oil prices and the fallout from the credit crisis dogged the market. 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 reading touched off more misgivings about the well-being of the economy. More » | NY judge orders prison for former Refco CEO
NEW YORK (AP) - The former head of Refco Inc., blamed for the collapse of one of the world's largest commodities brokerages, was sentenced to 16 years in prison Thursday by a judge who decried the ``staggeringly arrogant'' greed of white collar criminals. Phillip Bennett, 59, a British citizen living in Gladstone, N.J., had previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and other charges for the eight-year fraud. More » | Oil heads past $145 for 1st time; pump cost up too
NEW YORK (AP) - Soaring fuel costs are taking some of the celebration out of this holiday weekend. Oil prices headed into the busy Fourth of July break by racing past $145 a barrel for the first time Thursday. The story was no different at the gas pump, where the national average soared to within a whisker of $4.10 a gallon. More » | Judge in NY scolds hedge fund scammer who ran away
NEW YORK (AP) - A hedge fund cheat who tried to fake his own death and spent nearly a month as a fugitive told a judge Thursday that he really did try to commit suicide while on the run, saying he thought it would be better to do himself in than turn himself in. One day after surrendering at a tiny Massachusetts police station after more than three weeks on the lam, Samuel Israel III again stood before an impatient and bitter U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon. She originally had pronounced his 20-year prison sentence in April while allowing him to remain free on $500,000 bail. More » |
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