Business briefs 1/9/04

Judge accepts Enron wife's plea agreement

HOUSTON -- A federal judge tentatively accepted a plea agreement Thursday for the wife of former Enron Corp. finance chief Andrew S. Fastow, a move that could lead to a plea from Fastow and possibly his cooperation in the investigation of other top executives in the energy giant's collapse. Under the deal, Lea Fastow, a former assistant treasurer at Enron, would go to prison for five months -- a fraction of the term her husband faces but one that would not be made to overlap with his, so their children would have a parent at home.

Holidays prove profitable after all for some retailers

NEW YORK -- Consumers who frustrated retailers through the early part of December gave many store owners a respectable holiday season after all, coming through at the last minute with a spending spree right before and after Christmas. December sales figures issued Thursday by the nation's biggest retailers showed that procrastinators and post-Christmas shoppers helped companies including Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Target Corp. offset a slow start to the season.

NYSE seeks to recover money from former CEO

NEW YORK -- The New York Stock Exchange asked state and federal regulators Thursday to help it recover about $140 million in "unreasonable compensation" paid to its former chief executive and chairman Dick Grasso. The NYSE's board of directors forwarded an internal report by former federal prosecutor Dan K. Webb to the Securities and Exchange Commission and the New York attorney general, asking them to pursue the matter. The report examines the decisions that led to Grasso's ouster Sept. 17, when he stepped down.

-- From wire reports