Stocks Opened Mixed ahead of Confidence Data

U.S. stocks wavered in the early trading on Friday ahead of consumer confidence data and on European uncertainty. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately fell 22.89 points to 12,506.86. The S&P 500 Index rose 0.92 point to 1,321.60. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.02 point to 2,839.40.

Belgian deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders issued a new warning over Greece, saying it would be a “grave professional error” if central banks and companies were not preparing for a Greek exit from the euro zone.

Profits at big U.S. companies broke records last year, and so did pay for CEOs. The head of a typical public company made $9.6 million in 2011, according to an analysis by The Associated Press using data from Equilar, an executive pay research firm.

NBCUniversal is in talks to buy out Microsoft Corp’s 50 percent stake in joint venture MSNBC.com, media reports said. NBCU parent Comcast Corp is conducting due diligence and the partnership with NBC News could be unwound by this summer, said Adweek, which first reported the talks.

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc said it would acquire the remaining 26.5 percent of apartment company Archstone that it didn’t already own from Barclays Capital (LSE:BARC.L – News) and Bank of America Corp (NYS:BAC – News) for $1.58 billion.