Nike Beats Estimates

Nike (NKE Quote) reported third-quarter earnings of 44 cents a share, 6 cents higher than the 14-analyst First Call estimate and ahead of the year-ago 25 cents. But the retailer said it's cautious about near-term growth and it posted revenue down 2% from the year-ago period. Nonetheless, the stock inched up to 55 from a close of 54 1/2 in late composite trading.

---

Merrill Lynch (MER Quote) is reconsidering a merger with Chase (CMB Quote), according to a report in Forbes that will be published in the magazine's April 5 issue. The magazine will report it "has seen documents that indicate that the brokerage firm [Merrill Lynch] is now reconsidering an offer from Chase Manhattan to merge with that $366 billion bank."

---

iVillage (IVIL:Nasdaq), publisher of the women's Web site of the same name, hopes to raise $87.6 million during its 3.65 million-share IPO tomorrow. Goldman Sachs priced the offering top range at $24 a share tonight. The expected range was raised to $22 to $24 from an initial $12 to $14 earlier this week.

---

...