Thursday morning headlines

Et tu, Dow?: Yeah, this is the Ides of March, all right, and the market has gotten so nutty these past couple of weeks that stock analysts are actually referring to that famous moment in their assessment of today's action. Bottom line: lots of potential for more volatility (mixed economic reports, tomorrow's quadruple witching hour, speculation about New Century filing for bankruptcy). But so far, it's a pretty tame morning, with the Dow up about 40 points after 90 minutes of trading.

H-P case not over: Getting minimal notice in yesterday's dismissal of state criminal charges against former Hewlett-Packard Chairman Patricia Dunn is the ongoing federal inquiry. WSJ quotes an unnamed source as saying that the feds appear to be moving forward, but federal investigators will rarely tell you that they've stopped looking into something, so it's not at all clear where that inquiry stands. Still, it's hard to believe they'll really go after Dunn, who faces serious health problems. The Journal source did say that the next likely step in the U.S. investigation will involve Action Research Group, the Florida firm that had been subcontracted to do the actual prying into people's phone records, otherwise known as "pretexting." WSJ. As to what happen with the state case, the San Jose Mercury reports that California prosecutors just didn't have much. "Boy, did this case go south," said Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne State University in Detroit. "This may be the best resolution the state can get."

Some legal observers said the case against Dunn was not very strong from the beginning. "The case against Pattie Dunn, in my view, should never have been brought," said Joe Grundfest, director of the Rock Center for Corporate Governance at Stanford University. "The overwhelming evidence based on my understanding of the facts is that whatever one thinks of pretexting, Dunn did not herself engage in illegal conduct."

OC home prices dip: Not by much - just 0.4 percent - but February's results marked the first year-over-year decline in median home price in more than a decade. San Diego and Ventura counties have been posting price declines for some time, although L.A. County's median in February was up almost 8 percent from a year earlier. Some analysts still expect L.A. to get theirs, considering that it has been somewhat of a laggard in the Socal housing market. LAT

More loan delinquencies: That's the word from Pasadena-based IndyMac Bancorp Inc., although the nation's ninth- biggest mortgage lender said this morning that its exposure to subprimes is small - about 3 percent of the mortgages it underwrote last year. Nonetheless, IndyMac is being swept up by the current subprime hoo-ha, with its stock down 36 percent so far this year. "IndyMac has been inappropriately categorized by many media sources as a subprime lender, and we wish to clarify our position,"' the company said in a statement. Well, that's kinda, sorta true - IndyMac specializes in "near-prime" loans to customers who can't always meet the typical financial requirements for taking out a loan. Bloomberg

Socal banks merge: The deal will have First California Bank merging with Century City-based National Mercantile Bancorp in an $88 million deal. The new holding company, to be called First California Financial Group Inc., will operate 12 bank branches and four loan production offices between Ventura and Irvine. The deal, first announced in June, includes National Mercantile Bank's offices in Century City and Encino, and the company's South Bay Bank offices in Torrance and El Segundo. Ventura County Star