IN BRIEF - Newsday.com

SEC PROBES BIG-BROKER STOCK TRADES. The U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission requested 10 major securities firms turn over stock-trading records for the last two weeks of September, opening a review of how Wall Street handles confidential information. The examination is aimed at determining whether details about trades big enough to push a stock price up or down were leaked to other firms, Lori Richards, director of the SEC's office of compliance inspections and examinations, said yesterday. The review may be the first to target a specific period of time for a group of the biggest firms, and is focusing on possible insider trading at brokerages that cater to the most profitable customers, including hedge funds, Richards said.

She declined to name the firms, but The New York Times reported yesterday that the firms include Merrill Lynch Co., Morgan Stanley, UBS AG and Deutsche Bank AG. $10M FINE FOR ACCOUNTING FIRM.

PricewaterhouseCoopers Llp, the world's largest accounting firm, must pay $10 million in a lawsuit by two brothers who said the firm failed to discover fraud at a health care company it audited, a Georgia jury said. The jurors in state court in Marietta didn't find the Manhattan-based accounting firm liable for fraud or racketeering claims by the investors, who sought $400 million in damages and attorneys fees. Samuel and Stiles Kellett sued the auditor in 2002 after the collapse of a successor company to Mariner Health Group Inc.

Mariner, which paid the Kelletts $120 million in stock for their nursing home chain, was audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers. The successor's bankruptcy revealed that Mariner inflated income from 1988 to 1998, including $30 million in Medicaid and Medicare revenue, the lawsuit said. VIACOM LOOKS AT SALE OF A MUSIC UNIT.

Media company Viacom Inc. said it may sell its Famous Music publishing business and hired UBS AG as adviser. Famous Music, founded in 1928 to publish film sound tracks, holds copyrights from acts including Shakira, Eminem and Busta Rhymes, Manhattan-based Viacom said yesterday.

The business also administers the catalogs of Viacom's MTV, Nickelodeon and BET. Chief executive Philippe Dauman is investing in faster-growing areas such as the Internet. Global music sales fell 4 percent in the first half of 2006 as a 10 percent drop in physical sales outweighed gains in downloads, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said in October.

NEW MORTGAGE, CREDIT COMPANY FORMED. Mortgage insurance provider MGIC Investment Corp. said yesterday it will buy rival Radian Group Inc.

for $4.9 billion in stock, forming a mortgage and credit-risk insurance company with total assets of nearly $15 billion. Under terms of the deal, 0.

9658 share of MGIC will be exchanged for one Radian share. The deal values Radian at $60.78 per share.

The new company will be called MGIC Radian Financial Group Inc. and will be based in Milwaukee, where MGIC is located. BLACKSTONE RAISES BID FOR EQUITY OFFICE PROPERTIES.

Blackstone Group Lp raised its cash offer for Equity Office Properties Trust to $39 billion yesterday with assumed debt to thwart rival bidder Vornado Realty Trust a day before shareholders vote on what would be the largest leveraged buyout. Blackstone increased its bid to $55.50 a share after investors with almost 12 percent of Equity Office's stock said they favored Vornado's proposal of $56 a share in cash and stock.

The latest bid from Manhattan-based Blackstone is 4 cents higher than Equity Office's closing share price yesterday. Equity Office's board, led by chairman Sam Zell, rejected a revised proposal from Vornado that would have sped up payment of the cash portion of its offer. GLOBECOMM 4TH-QUARTER EARNINGS CLIMB.

Globecomm Systems Inc., the Hauppauge-based provider of satellite-based communication products and services, said earnings per share rose by 83 percent to 11 cents in its second fiscal quarter from 6 cents a year earlier. Revenues rose by 22.

8 percent in the quarter ended Dec. 31 to a record $36.7 million.

The company cited continued success in the government marketplace. Net income for the quarter doubled, to $1.8 million from $900,000 a year earlier.

VICON EARNINGS SOAR. Vicon Industries Inc., a maker of video security and surveillance systems, reported a substantial increase in earnings for its first fiscal quarter - to $1.

11 million or 24 cents per share, from $147,000 or 3 cents per share a year earlier. Chairman and chief executive Ken Darby said revenue growth worldwide powered operating results. Sales in the quarter were $17.

9 million, up 25 percent from the year-earlier total of $14.3 million, the Hauppauge-based company said. - TOM INCANTALUPO AVON SHOWS EARNINGS GROWTH.

Avon Products Inc., world's largest door-to-door seller of cosmetics, posted its first earnings increase in six quarters. Fourth-quarter net income rose 0.

5 percent to $184.1 million, or 41 cents a share, the Manhattan-based company said yesterday. Revenue climbed 9.

4 percent to $2.6 billion. Sales rose in all regions except Asia-Pacific.

Avon spent $89 million on advertising in the fourth quarter, almost double a year earlier, as chief executive Andrea Jung tries to draw customers from rivals such as Procter Gamble Co. The number of active sales representatives in North America gained for the first time in nine quarters. DILLER DISAPPOINTED IN IAC PROFIT.

IAC/InterActiveCorp, the Internet and media company assembled by Barry Diller, posted fourth-quarter revenue that missed analysts' estimates as sales at its HSN home-shopping unit flattened during the holidays. Revenue increased 7.8 percent to $1.

82 billion, the slowest pace in a year. Sales growth less than 10 percent is "unacceptable," Diller said yesterday. Retailing revenue, which includes HSN and accounts for half of Manhattan-based IAC's sales, increased 4 percent on higher costs and lower prices.