NEW YORK—Wall Street finished mixed Thursday after investors largely shrugged off a jump in oil prices and focused instead on a bullish call on Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. that eased worries about the financial sector.

Stocks ended off their lows of the session after a Ladenburg Thalmann analyst raised his rating on Lehman to “buy,” saying he believes the nation’s fourth-biggest investment bank has become a hostile takeover candidate. That call helped ease concerns about that company as well as the financial sector, which has been hit by a spike in bad mortgage debt.

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