Wall Street ended the holiday-shortened trading day with mixed results as traders reacted to $145 oil prices, the sixth straight month of job losses and a service sector that contracted in June. 

Today's Market

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 73.03 points, or 0.65% to 11288.54, the Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 1.38 points, or 0.11%, to 1262.90 and the Nasdaq Composite Index lost 6.08 points, or 0.27%, to 2245.38. The consumer-friendly FOX 50 rose 4.94 points, or 0.56% to 892.95.

Considering the multitude of disappointing headlines, the stock market could have had a much worse day. Then again, it's hard to put much credence in the performance as it was a relatively light volume day as traders took advantage of the three-day weekend. The markets closed at 1 p.m. EDT instead of the usual 4 p.m. EDT. 

The S&P managed to avoid closing in bear market territory as its cousins the Dow and Nasdaq did a day ago. Bear market territory is when an index declines more than 20% from a previous high, in this case ones that were set in October 2007. 

United Technologies (UTX) led the the Dow, rising more than 2% on the day. General Motors (GM) posted modest gains a day after the auto maker suffered double-digit percentage losses on a negative analyst note. On the downside AIG (AIG) tumbled almost 2%. 

The Nasdaq Composite failed to post a rebound from a 2% loss a day ago. Graphics chip maker Nvidia (NVDA) led the way down on the Nasdaq 100, plunging 30% after the company cut its second-quarter revenue outlook. Yahoo! (YHOO) posted some of the largest gains on the Nasdaq 100, rising more than 3% on a Wall Street Journal report that the company has had talks with several media giants for an alternative deal in the wake of the failed buyout from Microsoft (MSFT). 

Wall Street initially reacted positively to the Labor Department's all-important employment situation report, which showed employers slashed another 62,000 jobs in June, equaling the sixth straight month of declines. However, the number wasn't much worse than the 55,000 jobs that economists polled by Dow Jones had been looking for.

Also, the government said the nation's unemployment rate held steady at 5.5% in June. All told, the U.S. has lost 438,000 jobs in 2008, including an upwardly revised 62,000 jobs in May. Separately, the Labor Department said weekly initial jobless claims increased by 16,000 to 404,000 -- the highest level since the end of March. 

The day's other major economic news was also bleak, as the Institute for Supply Management's service sector index deteriorated in June to 48.2, worse than the 51.0 reading that had been expected. It was also worse than the 51.7 reading from May. The difference is significant because a reading below 50 indicates contraction. Aside from the growth implications of the report, inflation worries will likely be confirmed by the ISM June price index, which stands at a record high. 

The dollar strengthened against the Euro on Thursday, rising more than 1%, even as the European Central Bank hiked interest rates by 0.25% to fight inflation. The market noted that Jean-Claude Trichet, the president of the ECB, did not hint that more rate cuts were coming, as he has done in the past. That would be a positive development for the greenback, which has been weakened by the gloomy U.S. economy and a string of interest rate reductions by the Federal Reserve. 

The stronger dollar helped curtail another rally in crude oil, which nearly hit $146 a barrel on Thursday morning before backing off. Oil prices are often affected by the direction of the dollar because the commodity is traded in dollars. Crude was up 83 cents to $144.40 per barrel as the stock market closed. Earlier in the day crude hit an all-time intraday record of $145.85. 

Corporate Movers

Yahoo! (YHOO) has spoken with media giants Time Warner (TWX) and News Corp. (NWS) about possible business combinations in the wake of a failed buyout from Microsoft (MSFT), The Wall Street Journal reported. Talks to fold Time Warner's AOL unit into Yahoo! have heated up but remain a long shot, the newspaper reported. In that scenario, Time Warner would reportedly take a minority stake in the combined company. Yahoo! has also flirted with News Corp., the parent company of FOXBusiness, but they have not been substantive, according to the Journal. 

Nvidia (NVDA) plunged 30% after the chip maker slashed its second-quarter revenue outlook, prompting analysts to lower their price targets on the stock. Nvidia, which makes graphics cards, sees sales coming in at $875 million to $950 million, compared to mean estimates of $1.1 billion from analysts. The company cited global end-market weakness, delays and price adjustments due to competition.

General Electric (GE) plans to use newly acquired Walter Engines, a Czech small airplane-engine company, to fight rival Pratt & Whitney in the jet engine market, The Wall Street Journal reported. Pratt & Whitney, which is owned by United Technologies (UTX) has been able to charge a premium on its turboprop engines because of its large market share, the newspaper reported.

World Markets

The Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index, a gauge of the 50 biggest companies in Europe, rose 44.80 points, or 1.36%, to 3333.32. The FTSE 100, London's benchmark index, gained 49.00 points, or 0.90%, to 5475.30.

On the continent, Paris's CAC 40 Index picked up 41.32 points, or 0.96%, to 4337.80 while Germany's DAX rose 73.26 points, or 1.16%, to 6378.68.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 Index fell 176.83 points, or 1.31%, to 13286.37. Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 397.56 points, or 1.8%, to 21704.45.