Markets open without direction, or energy
NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Improved earnings for U.S. retailers seemed to provide some lift to stocks, though gains Friday were minimal.
The Dow Jones industrial average slipped 3.55, or 0.04 percent, to 9,615.87 in mid-morning trading, while the Nasdaq composite index climbed 6.15, or 0.33 percent, to 1,888.07. The Stand and Poor's 500-stock index rose 1.36, or 0.13 percent, points to 1,035.01.
In Asia, stocks fell. Japan's Nikkei index was off 12.87, or 0.13 percent, to 9,852.83.
Among U.S. retailers reporting, Nordstrom climbed 8.9 percent after it said third-quarter profits more than doubled, as better fashions and upscale merchandise sold briskly and technology upgrades helped lower costs. The company also boosted its forecast for holiday profits, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Dillard's shares climbed 7.5 percent after it reported a wider fiscal third-quarter loss and a 2 percent drop in revenue. Still, the results -- a loss of 19 cents a share -- were better than the loss of 33 cents a share analysts expected.
Meanwhile, J.C. Penney rose 2.2 percent after it said it expects to receive a first round of bids Friday for the nation's fourth-largest drugstore chain, Eckerd.
Black: Neither shamed nor disgraced
LONDON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Former Hollinger chief executive Conrad Black says time will prove he is innocent of any wrongdoing regarding unauthorized payments.
On a tour to promote his newly published biography of Franklin D Roosevelt, Black snapped at his media critics, saying: "I urge you, no matter how addicted you are to representing me as having been shamed, disgraced, and chased out as a scoundrel, to contemplate the possibility that there's just a chance that I might be innocent. As time will prove, I am."
The London Guardian said Black told reporters there had been "no concealment and total co-operation" with securities regulators investigating the allegedly unauthorized payments made to him and other senior Hollinger executives.
Meanwhile, Chris Browne, managing director of Tweedy Browne, Hollinger International's second largest shareholder, which sparked the internal investigation that led to Black's resignation, has called for an additional $200 million be returned to shareholders.
Bronfman has edge in bid for Warner music
NEW YORK, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Former Seagram Co. head Edgar Bronfman Jr. has emerged as Time Warner Inc.'s preferred buyer of Warner Music Group.
Time Warner's board Thursday told Bronfman's investor group that it had until the end of the weekend to negotiate a final deal, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Bronfman's group is offering about $2.5 billion in cash for both Warner's recorded-music operations and its music-publishing business.
The basic deal has been agreed upon, the Journal reported. Time Warner has the option to keep as much as 20 percent of the music company, though it also will have the right to buy a minority stake at a discounted price in the future, and it may not choose to keep any stake now, a source close to the situation told the Journal.
If Time Warner can't reach a deal with Bronfman by Sunday night, it may go back to EMI, a British company offering as much as $1 billion in cash and an equity stake of 20-25 percent.
Freddie Mac may be out of accounting woes
WASHINGTON, Nov. 21 (UPI) -- Freddie Mac is reportedly ready to release long-awaited restatements of past earnings, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Meanwhile, an internal investigation into accounting woes could buttress worries about the possible role of Wall Street firms in some of Freddie Mac's past accounting maneuvers, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday.
Freddie Mac, the government-sponsored mortgage-finance concern, most recently had advised investors to expect a figure "at or above" $4.5 billion.
However, the restatement isn't expected to provide earnings for the first, second or third quarters of this year.
Those numbers won't be available until next year, people familiar with the situation said. Unlike most businesses, Freddie Mac isn't required to file quarterly statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission, although the company has promised to begin doing so in the future.
Freddie Mac spokesman David Palombi said he couldn't comment on details of the restatement, other than to say that the company's "top financial reporting priority to date" has been to get its financial statements correct for the period covered by the restatement.
Freddie Mac has said it can't calculate its 2003 earnings until it completes its 2002 results.
