A new chapter may be evolving in Rupert Murdoch’s dogged pursuit of Dow Jones.

One indicator Wall Street pros point to is Friday’s brisk action in Dow Jones shares: The stock jumped 2.6%, or $1.35, to $51.10 after trading during the session as high as $54.79. Trading volume was a brisk 3.2 million shares.

Sparking the day’s action, several traders told me, was Street talk that Mr. Murdoch’s News Corp., which owns the Fox News cable network, was ready to raise its unsolicited $5 billion ($60 a share) bid for the parent of the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s to as much as $70 a share.

“It sure looked like some people knew something or thought they knew something,” one trader said about the day’s activity.

If anything, Friday’s action re-enforced the view in some Street quarters that the top brass and staffers at the Wall Street Journal and Barron’s will eventually collect their paychecks from Mr. Murdoch, the Australian press baron.

One of Wall Street’s leading publishing analysts, Prudential Financial’s Steven Barlow, sees it this way: “I believe the deal will go through because Mr. Murdoch isn’t trying to steal the company; he’s patient and offering a reasonable price.” The analyst also says he thinks the board has a fiduciary responsibility to endorse the offer because he says he can’t imagine anyone else who would pay $60 a share and create an auction.

Mr. Murdoch, who didn’t respond to calls seeking comment, has given no indication to date he would fatten his offer. However, one money manager with an investment firm that holds a hefty Dow Jones stake tells me a News Corp. contact at a high level suggested to him not to rule out a higher offer. Partially as a result of this, his firm, which did some selling after Mr. Murdoch’s announced bid, eased up on the selling, the manager says.

Last week, I reported that a number of hedge funds, theorizing News Corp. would fail in its effort to acquire Dow Jones, initiated short positions in the publishing company (a bet its price would fall) after a runup in its shares to the $50s from the mid-$30s following Mr. Murdoch’s bid. After that offer, Dow Jones’s stock ran up roughly 50%, to a 52-week high of $58.47.

The general Wall Street view, which Mr. Barlow shares, is that if for any reason News Corp. were to drop its bid, Dow Jones’s shares would take a drubbing, quickly tumbling to around $35. In fact, based on his 2007 earnings estimate of $1.50 a share, that’s about what he believes the company’s stock is worth. Without Mr. Murdoch’s offer, he says he thinks it would require years for the stock to attain current market levels. “Solely on fundamentals, it would take the stock a long time to get to $60,” he says.

While Mr. Barlow expects the transaction to happen, he’s quick to note that “it may require a higher price and a lot of patience on the part of News Corp.”

What about the opposition of the controlling Bancroft family, which owns 64% of Dow Jones’s voting shares?

Taking note of reports that 52% of the Bancrofts’ voting shares oppose the deal, Mr. Barlow observed that this means some are in favor of it, and there is always the possibility that members of the opposition camp could change their minds — especially so, he points out, because the family has hired advisers to evaluate the company.

One Dow Jones staffer, a columnist, has told some Wall Street contacts that “if Mr. Murdoch were to up the ante to about the $65 to $70 a share level, we’re a sure goner if we already aren’t.” A number of Wall Street pros agree.

An outspoken celebrity global money manager, Jim Rogers, describes Mr. Murdoch’s offer for Dow Jones as a “brilliant maneuver.” If he can pull it off at a reasonable price, Mr. Rogers, who frequently appears on Fox business shows, figures that Mr. Murdoch, who has announced plans to start a cable business network to rival CNBC, could in time “put CNBC out of business and get his money back.”

In an intriguing sidelight, there’s talk in investment banking circles that a large overseas publishing company might make a separate pitch just for Barron’s should the Bancroft family change its mind and be amenable to a deal with News Corp.

dandordan@aol.com