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Five Days

A Verdict, a Deal and an Online Masquerade Exposed

From left, Dick Evans, Alcan chief executive; Tom Albanese, Rio Tinto chief; Yves Fortier, Alcan chairman; and Paul Skinner, Rio chairman.Credit...Christinne Muschi/Reuters

THE Conrad Black jury came to a decision, while the Whole Foods chief executive fell under scrutiny for online postings, and Alcan agreed to a rich takeover offer.

STOCKS CLIMB Wall Street shook itself out of an expensive paranoia fit this week. Worries about rising interest rates, tightfisted American consumers and even more fallout from the bust in the subprime mortgage market sank stock prices early in the week.

But by Thursday, as a $38 billion deal for the aluminum manufacturer Alcan neared approval and Wal-Mart Stores reported better-than-expected sales in June, those worries vanished. The Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index and the Dow Jones industrial average ended the week at their highest levels ever. The S.& P. rose 22.06 points for the week, or 1.44 percent, to 1,552.50. The Dow average climbed to 13,907.25, up 295.57 points, or 2.17 percent.

Investors will have plenty of potential market-moving events to watch next week, including earnings announcements of blue-chip companies like Google, Microsoft, Citigroup and Coca-Cola, along with the government’s monthly inflation report and testimony on Capitol Hill by Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. JEREMY W. PETERS

BLACK VERDICT A Chicago jury cleared Conrad M. Black, the media tycoon, of nine counts, including racketeering, in a federal fraud investigation, but it found him guilty of four lesser charges yesterday.

The verdict came nearly four months after Mr. Black and three associates were put on trial together after being charged in 2005 with looting more than $80 million from Hollinger International, the Chicago-based company that Mr. Black led. At the trial, the amount was reduced to $60 million.

The jury found Mr. Black guilty of three counts of mail fraud and one count of obstruction of justice. The associates were each found guilty of three counts of mail fraud.

Mr. Black, who faces a long prison sentence, is expected to appeal. Besides his potential incarceration, Mr. Black also faces more civil lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from former shareholders of Hollinger International as well as from the company itself and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

RICHARD SIKLOS

ANONYMOUS POSTS John P. Mackey’s online alter ego may get him into trouble. Mr. Mackey, the co-founder and chief executive of Whole Foods Market, used his online persona Rahodeb, based on his wife’s name, Deborah, to praise his company’s stock anonymously.

The pseudonym surfaced in a sealed court document that was filed last month by the Federal Trade Commission but became public Wednesday evening. The agency is trying to block Whole Foods’ $565 million buyout of Wild Oats Markets on the ground that it would limit competition.

Whole Foods declined to comment, and Mr. Mackey was not available for comment, but the disclosure surprised legal and stock-market analysts, who suggested that the postings on Yahoo message boards could be illegal. A spokesman at the Securities and Exchange Commission declined to comment.

ANDREW MARTIN

TOP THIS The Canadian aluminum producer Alcan endorsed a $38.1 billion takeover offer from the mining company Rio Tinto on Thursday.

The $101-a-share bid represents a 32.8 percent premium over an earlier hostile offer from Alcoa. Alcan also agreed to pay a hefty $1.24 billion fee if it does not finish a deal with Rio Tinto, which is based in London.

The transaction would create the world’s largest aluminum producer and the largest miner of bauxite, a crucial material in producing aluminum.

Rio Tinto’s bid for all of Alcan’s outstanding shares may face a hurdle. While Alcan and Rio Tinto executives took pains at a news conference to play down any nationalist objections, the combination would mean yet another large Canadian resource company falls under foreign control.

IAN AUSTEN

DOWNGRADES AHEAD Two big credit rating agencies, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s Investors Service, said Tuesday that they would downgrade certain bonds backed by subprime mortgages.

Investors and policy makers have been asking whether Standard & Poor’s, Moody’s and a third agency — Fitch Ratings — have been lax in their evaluations of the mortgage bonds that Wall Street banks have sold to investors like pension funds, insurance companies and endowments. Fitch followed suit on Thursday, saying it may downgrade bonds because of rising delinquencies and defaults on subprime mortgages.

The moves, including a suggestion from S.& P. that it would tighten the standards it uses to rate such mortgage bonds, were an acknowledgment that the agencies might have been too optimistic about the housing market.

Investors are worried that if expectations deteriorate further, the highest rated portion of subprime securities could also be downgraded, forcing pension funds and other big institutional investors to liquidate their holdings. So far, the highest rated bonds have not been downgraded.

VIKAS BAJAJ

GUILTY PLEA David J. Bershad, a former partner at the securities class-action law firm of Milberg Weiss, pleaded guilty Monday to conspiracy and agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors who are investigating accusations that the firm paid secret kickbacks to plaintiffs.

Mr. Bershad was indicted last year with the law firm and another named partner, Steven G. Schulman. The 20-count indictment, which included conspiracy and other charges, detailed what was said to be a scheme that began in the 1970s and continued until as recently as 2005.

Representatives for the firm have been holding settlement talks with prosecutors. The guilty plea put renewed pressure on William S. Lerach and Melvyn I. Weiss, the firm’s founders, who have been the focus of the federal investigation. Neither Mr. Lerach nor Mr. Weiss has been indicted. JULIE CRESWELL

MOST POPULAR Following are the most popular business news articles on nytimes.com from July 7 through July 13:

1. Increasing Rate of Foreclosures Upsets Atlanta

2. A Chinese Reformer Betrays His Cause, and Pays

3. For Elderly Investors, Instant Experts Abound

4. Can’t Sell Your Home? Maybe It’s Priced Too Low

5. Whole Foods Executive Used Alias

Links are at nytimes.com/business.

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