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Rupert Murdoch is a hero to the right and a demon to the left. But Wall Street doesn’t care about red state/blue state distinctions.

News Corp. shareholders, despite the lingering newspaper phone-hacking scandal in the United Kingdom, continue to look at the company’s chairman and CEO and only see green.

Even though Murdoch admitted Thursday at a media ethics inquiry in London that there was a "cover-up" of numerous hacking incidents at the now defunct News of the World tabloid, shares of News Corp. fell just slightly. News Corp. (, Fortune 500) actually rose on Wednesday as Murdoch was making his first appearance before the British government-backed judicial panel.

In fact, News Corp.’s stock is up 8% so far this year and nearly 30% since Murdoch and his son James both appeared in front of Parliament last July to address the hacking issue.

This is in stark contrast to how investors have reacted to other corporate scandals as of late. Wal-Mart (, Fortune 500) plunged nearly 5% Monday and another 3% Tuesday following a New York Times report over the weekend alleging bribery by executives at the retailer’s Mexican unit.

Not just Wal-Mart: Dozens of U.S. firms face bribery charges

And shares of natural gas company Chesapeake Energy (, Fortune 500) have fallen about 5% since Reuters first reported last week that the company’s CEO used stakes in Chesapeake’s wells to take out more than $1 billion in personal loans.

Why are investors still shrugging off the tabloid soap opera while the mainstream media continues to focus on it? There are several reasons.

No smoking gun. For one, Rupert Murdoch keeps professing his innocence. He has said on numerous occasions that he and News Corp. have been the victims of rogue employees. He’s also apologized several times for the wrongdoing at the paper. And in case you forgot, he shut the News of the World down.

Now competitors in rival newsrooms may snicker at all this. There are a lot of legitimate questions about how remorseful Murdoch, who is no stranger to controversy, really is.

There are also probably a lot of doubts among journalists that Murdoch really could have been ignorant of what was going on at his British newspapers. After all, this is a guy who still loves the publishing business. It’s in his blood.

But none of that matters to investors because there still are no real smoking guns that would indicate that Rupert or James themselves did anything illegal. Barring that, there is no legitimate reason for investors to worry about a Murdoch winding up in court.

Without absolute proof that Rupert did something that would jeopardize any of his company’s many broadcast licenses around the globe, this is just a distraction for investors. In a strange way, it might even be helping to boost the stock.

Thanks for the cash, Rupe! Since the hacking scandal unfolded last year, News Corp. has boosted its dividend and increased the amount of its share buyback program.

David Bank, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets in New York, argues that these actions are directly a result of the hacking scandal. It is an attempt to keep investors happy at a time when there is a lot of bad press.

"The more pressure that Rupert Murdoch is under, the more likely it is that he will manage the use of cash in a shareholder-friendly way," Bank said.

The problems in the U.K. are also being dismissed because newspaper publishing — which includes The Wall Street Journal and other Dow Jones properties as well as The New York Post — is now one of the least important parts of the News Corp. empire.

James Murdoch out as head of U.K. publishing unit

The papers are lumped in with News Corp.’s publishing division. That unit also houses the HarperCollins book publisher. Revenue and operating profits for News Corp.’s publishing division fell in the company’s most recent quarter.

I wrote a column last July in which I suggested that News Corp bad credit payday loans. should sell its newspapers in order to rid itself of a business that now yields little in the way of financial rewards and a lot in the way of public relations headaches. That probably won’t happen as long as Murdoch is calling the shots .. which brings me to my next point.

Next CEO likely won’t have Murdoch surname. Murdoch is 81. Not to be macabre, but is it unimaginable that a point will come in the not-so-distant future where he may decide to retire … or be forced to step down for medical reasons?

If that happens, investors seem to be betting that the next CEO will not be son and deputy chief operating officer James, but James’ boss: current News Corp. COO Chase Carey.

"If something happened to Rupert Murdoch tomorrow where he couldn’t carry on duties as chairman and CEO, his successor would very likely be Chase Carey and that would be viewed positively," Bank said.

Carey was previously the CEO of satellite broadcaster DirecTV (, Fortune 500). Before that, he worked for Fox for 15 years. His roots are in broadcast media, not newspapers. He might be the type of person who would be more willing to sell off publishing assets.

Sales and earnings were up at News Corp.’s broadcast television, cable television and movie studio units in the most recent quarter. And those three divisions account for nearly two-thirds of News Corp.’s sales and virtually all of the company’s profits.

Heck, as heretic as it may be to the Murdoch family, a Carey-led News Corp. would probably be wise to just simply rename the company Fox to reflect where all the real profits and growth opportunities are anyway.

Value and growth are "fair and balanced." Finally, the stock seems reasonably valued too. At 14 times fiscal 2012 earnings estimates, it is trading at a bit of a premium to Viacom (, Fortune 500) and CNNMoney parent company Time Warner (, Fortune 500). News Corp. has outperformed both of those stocks this year.

What’s more, shares trade only slightly below the valuation of Walt Disney (, Fortune 500) and CBS (, Fortune 500), two media stocks that News Corp has lagged this year. But it makes sense that News Corp. would be trading roughly in line with its top peers. Media profits overall are expected to be fairly decent this year.

If you look beyond the bad headlines about phone hacking — which investors clearly are — you discover that News Corp. is a pretty healthy media company. Earnings are expected to grow 16% this fiscal year and 23% in fiscal 2013.

The days of a Murdoch discount seem to be gone too. After a flurry of pricey deals a few years ago — Dow Jones and the since-disposed-of MySpace being the most prominent — News Corp. has slowed down its acquisitive ways.

So if anything is going to bring down Murdoch and News Corp’s stock price, it’s not likely to be more bad news about British tabloids. Investors are rightfully focused more on television ratings and box office numbers.

Best of StockTwits: Bit of a dull day today after Apple (, Fortune 500) euphoria Wednesday. But one comment about casino operator Las Vegas Sands (, Fortune 500), which is down despite pretty good earnings, caught my eye.

Dasan: Adelson comparing his company performance to $AAPL. He’s right, actually. $LVS

CEO Sheldon Adelson makes an interesting point. But it depends on the time frame. Shares of Las Vegas Sands and Apple have doubled over the past two years. However, Apple has been a much better stock over the past decade. And I keep waiting for Apple to get into gambling. iSlots anyone?

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Paul R. La Monica. Other than Time Warner, the parent of CNNMoney, and Abbott Laboratories, La Monica does not own positions in any individual stocks. 

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A strong showing by Socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the first round of France’s presidential election Sunday may rattle U.S. and global financial markets in the coming weeks.

Hollande wants to renegotiate a European treaty, agreed to just last year, intended to limit excessive government spending. He wants the pact to emphasize growth over austerity. He has also promised to roll back some deficit-cutting reforms put in place by his opponent, current President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Many economists fear that those steps would upset the delicate cooperation with Germany that has been key to Europe’s response to its financial crisis. Sarkozy has formed a partnership with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Europe’s debt crisis, so close that many commentators refer to them as “Merkozy.”

“Europe is not `fixed’ yet, but if you have France and Germany agreeing on certain policies, that makes it more likely they will fix it somehow,” said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wells Fargo Securities. Disagreement between the countries’ leaders raises the risks that Europe’s crisis could worsen, he said.

Hollande finished just ahead of Sarkozy out of a 10-candidate field. They will face off May 6 in the final round of voting. Sarkozy is struggling to avoid becoming France’s first one-term president since 1981.

Hollande is a 57-year-old career politician and party boss who has never held a high-ranking position in French government. He led the Socialist Party during its last two presidential defeats, including in 2007, when his former partner, Segolene Royal, lost to Sarkozy.

Like most of Europe, France’s economy is struggling and jobs are one of the top issues on voters’ minds. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will barely expand this year. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent.

France’s election results come as the European debt crisis has flared again after months of relative quiet. Many analysts question whether Italy and Spain can stick to steep budget cuts and labor market reforms that they have promised to get their finances in order and jump-start economic growth.

Europe’s financial problems have repeatedly roiled U.S. stock markets in the past two years. The European Union is the United States’ largest trading partner and a financial meltdown in the region would cut into U.S. exports and reduce factory production. U.S. banks would also likely pull back on lending to preserve cash in response to a worsening financial crisis.

Italian and Spanish bond yields, after falling earlier this year, have risen in recent weeks. That indicates investors see the bonds as riskier and are demanding higher rates to buy them.

The renewed fears about Italy and Spain make it a particularly risky time for France and Germany to disagree over how to resolve the debt crisis, economists said.

“It raises uncertainty, and markets never like uncertainty,” Bryson said high quality business cards.

That increased risk, in turn, makes it more likely that investors in the U.S. and around the world will shift money to safer assets _ U.S. and German government bonds, for example _ and away from riskier holdings, such as stocks.

Bonds from highly indebted European countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, are also likely to take a hit. Hollande’s campaign promises, such as his commitment to lower France’s retirement age, could worsen the country’s budget deficit.

And his pledge to raise the top tax rate for the wealthiest in France to 75 percent would slow the country’s economy, economists say. That would make it harder to generate the tax revenue to pay off its debts.

Hollande also uses anti-free market rhetoric that could also alienate investors. In a rally last week, he pledged to be a president “stronger than the markets, stronger than finance.”

There are already some signs that investors are worried about the election’s ultimate outcome. Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at BTIG, an institutional brokerage, said that yields on France’s 2-year bonds have jumped in recent weeks.

Currently, 10-year French government bonds yield about 3 percent, Greenhaus said, after creeping up a bit recently. That’s much lower Italian and Spanish 10-year debt, where yields are just below 6 percent. But the gap between French and German bond yields has widened steadily since last summer.

“Nervousness about the election is clearly having an effect,” he said.

Still, Jeffrey Bergstrand, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the possibility that financial markets will drive up France’s borrowing costs will limit Hollande’s ability to sharply disagree with Germany or radically depart from Sarkozy’s policies.

“He can’t go rogue,” Bergstrand said. “There’s too much on the line.”

The timing of the market’s reaction is also uncertain. Most investors expected Hollande would edge out Sarkozy and that the two would face each other in the run-off election, Greenhaus said. Since Sunday’s results met those expectations, the initial market reaction may be limited.

One result that wasn’t forecast was the strong showing by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who ran on an anti-immigrant platform aimed mostly at Muslims. She captured 19.2 percent of the vote.

Those voters may be more likely to support Sarkozy in the second round, rather than Hollande, Bryson said. That raises Sarkozy’s chances, Bryson said, “and that’s the market’s preferred outcome.”

A stronger combined showing by Hollande and a far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, would have unnerved markets more in the short run, he added.

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About 100 students protested Friday ahead of a speech at Cambridge University by Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief whose career collapsed after he was charged with sexual assault.

The 62-year-old French politician, often called DSK, was scheduled to speak on Europe’s financial crisis at the university’s debating society later Friday despite calls for the event to be canceled. The protesters said the university should not give a platform to a man with such a troubling attitude toward women.

“It’s got nothing to do with freedom of speech,” said student Francesca Williams, 21. “They’re inviting a man who hates women. I don’t think DSK should be given the privilege of speaking in front of a private audience.”

Earlier, police arrested a man and a woman, both in their early 20s, on suspicion of vandalizing The Cambridge Union Society building. The Cambridge News website displayed photos showing its walls defaced with messages including “DSK GO AWAY” and “WOMEN DESERVE BETTER.”

Strauss-Kahn resigned as head of the IMF after allegations last May that he sexually assaulted New York hotel maid Nafissatou Diallo no fax payday advances. Prosecutors later dropped criminal charges against him, but Diallo has brought a civil case against him.

In an unrelated case, he was questioned by police in Lille, France, last month about a suspected hotel prostitution ring.

Diallo’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, spoke to about 100 Cambridge students and journalists on her behalf at a rival event earlier Friday. Letting Strauss-Kahn speak at the prestigious university was “giving him a platform to use Cambridge University to help his publicity campaign,” Wigdor said.

A statement posted Friday on the debating union’s website states that the invitation was made well before Strauss-Kahn’s controversial departure from the IMF. His experience in French politics mean that he was “exceptionally well qualified” to speak on the financial crisis and the French presidential election, it said.

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Europe’s leaders are traveling to Brussels hoping to chart the continent’s way back to growth.

The two-day summit of EU leaders is for once taking place amid relative calm in financial markets, after the European Central Bank’s latest massive injection of cash into fragile banks.

Investors have also been relieved that Greece looks likely to avoid imminent bankruptcy.

Finance ministers from the eurozone are also in the Belgian capital on Thursday to check on Athens’ progress on reforms and cuts it has to implement before receiving a euro130 billion ($173 billion) bailout.

Heads of state and government, meanwhile, will scrutinize each others efforts to boost growth and limit deficits amid a shrinking economy and high unemployment.

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Nobel-prize winning economist Paul Krugman said Greece is

Cass Informations Systems reported fourth-quarter 2011 net income of $5.5 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with $5.1 milllion, or 48 cents per share, in the corresponding period of 2010.

For the year, Cass–a Bridgeton-based provider of invoice payment and information services–reported record net income of $23 million, or $2.21 per share, compared with $20.3 million, or $1.95 per share, in 2010.

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One year after Egypt knocked global finance off the agenda at the World Economic Forum, Arab officials returning to Davos may struggle to drum up interest in the region.

Across North Africa, where uprisings ended the autocratic rule of three men, economic growth has stalled, stock markets have slumped and Egyptian bond yields are at a record, with the nine-month treasury bill at 15.802 percent. Foreign direct investment in the Middle East and North Africa last year was the lowest since 2005.

Failure to lure investments threatens to hinder the transition to democratic rule and may spark more deadly protests, while energy-rich states, such as Saudi Arabia, may struggle to diversify their economies and cut the world

Deutsche Telekom and AT&T vowed Thursday to press ahead with the planned sale of the German company’s T-Mobile USA unit to the U.S. cell phone operator despite concerns raised by American authorities.

Nevertheless, AT&T said it plans to take a pretax accounting charge of $4 billion in the current quarter to reflect the break-up fees that would be due to Deutsche Telekom if regulators block the deal.

The two companies said they had withdrawn applications to the Federal Communications Commission regarding the merger and intended to seek its approval again “as soon as practical.”

They took the step to consider “all options at the FCC and to focus their continuing efforts on obtaining antitrust clearance for the transaction from the Department of Justice,” which filed a lawsuit in August to stop the deal, AT&T said in a statement.

“Both companies are continuing to pursue the sale of T-Mobile USA to AT&T,” Deutsche Telekom stressed.

Both U.S. agencies worry that the deal would hamper competition and lead to higher prices for consumers.

Deutsche Telekom AG and AT&T Inc. made their move after the chairman of the FCC earlier this week came out against the merger.

Julius Genachowski made his position known in a document he circulated to fellow commissioners Tuesday.

He recommended sending AT&T’s proposed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile to an administrative law judge for review and a hearing. That’s what the FCC does when it opposes a merger.

In a research note Thursday, Jefferies International analyst Ulrich Rathe said the withdrawal of the FCC application, as well as the opposition by the Justice Department, indicate that “the companies are already well into working out a new version of the deal.”

The analyst, who rates Deutsche Telekom “Buy,” said the charge confirms the break-up fee will be difficult for AT&T to avoid if the deal is not completed.

In Frankfurt, Deutsche Telekom shares closed down 0.6 percent Thursday at euro8.69 ($11.67), almost mirroring the 0.5 percent decline in the DAX index of blue-chip stocks.

The proposed deal, announced in March, would vault the combination of America’s No. 2 carrier AT&T and No. 4 T-Mobile into the top spot ahead of Verizon.

Dallas-based AT&T has about 101 million wireless subscribers. T-Mobile, the Bellevue, Washington-based subsidiary of Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, has 34 million.

Verizon Wireless, a joint venture between Verizon Communications Inc. and Vodafone Group PLC, has about 108 million, while Sprint Nextel Corp. has 53 million.

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WASHINGTON