Thursday morning headlines

No news is good news: Where to begin? The dollar fell today to a 12-year low against the yen, European and Asian markets tumbled, oil hovered near record highs, and retail sales took an unexpected tumble in February. The Dow is way down this morning, both in reaction to all of the above and the possible collapse of Carlyle Capital, the investment fund managed by Washington-based Carlyle Group. From AP:

”This is just an extremely nervous market given the uncertainties overhanging the outlook for the world,” said David Cohen, a regional economist with Action Economics in Singapore. “The clouds are the combination of the oil prices, the nervousness about the U.S. slipping into recession and dragging down the global economy and ... the turmoil in the credit markets that doesn't want to go away.”

CFOs betting on recession: Fifty-four percent of the chief financial officers surveyed said the nation is already in a recession and another 24 percent said there is a high likelihood of one starting later this year. In response, companies are scaling back plans for capital spending and do not plan on significant hiring, in part because of high labor costs, according to the survey by Duke University and CFO Magazine. (Reuters)

Downtown on the ropes: This one shouldn't be a big surprise for LABO readers. Condo prices have fallen more sharply in downtown L.A. than in Los Angeles and Orange counties overall - and more than one-third of the residential projects approved by city officials have been derailed. The boosters are still boosting, but there's increasing talk that developers and planners miscalculated its appeal as a residential community. From the LAT:

"There was great hype," said Fred Sands, a veteran real estate broker who sold his namesake firm and now invests in commercial properties. "There was sort of a mania that fed on itself. People said downtown was the future, and young people bought into it. Some of those buildings should not have been built." Downtown developers counter that argument, saying there are too many people working downtown and not enough places for them to live. Traffic gets worse every year, they point out, which will drive up demand for housing closer to where people work.

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Real estate experts say those rough edges -- including pockets of homeless people and areas that still appear run-down -- remain an obstacle. Sands said he was seriously considering buying apartment buildings in the downtown warehouse district three years ago. He said he changed his mind after seeing "an attractive young woman pushing an infant in a stroller, with winos all around her."

Another bad foreclosure month: More than 223,000 properties were in some stage of default, or 1 in every 557 U.S. households. Nevada, California and Florida had the highest rates, and among metropolitan areas Stockton had the second-highest rate. May and June could be especially bad because that's when more adjustable-rate mortgages are scheduled to reset. (Bloomberg)

Pellicano assistant in tears: Government witness Tarita Virtue told her former boss that she was "shattered" and "scared" about the gumshoe’s possible retaliation for telling the FBI and a grand jury about his alleged wiretapping. "I wanted you to think I would always be loyal to you," Virtue told Pellicano, who is defending himself in the case, "because I was in fear for my safety." From the LAT:

Pellicano suggested that Virtue's anxiety and courtroom statements were driven not by fear but guilt or a sense of betrayal for testifying against him. But Virtue rejected Pellicano's explanation. Choking back tears, she recalled how her father had called her, alarmed, five years ago when he received an allegedly threatening phone call about his daughter from Pellicano, just as she had begun talking to authorities. "Would I threaten to kill my own daughter?" Pellicano asked Virtue in a calm voice. "You already did," she answered, sobbing, "when you made that call to my parents in Florida."

Splitsville for Harry Potter: Double the pleasure - and the profits. Warner Bros. will split the seventh and final novel in the J.K. Rowling series into two films. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I" will hit theaters in November 2010, followed by "Part II" in May 2011. Daniel Radcliffe, the star of the franchise, said it was the dense action of the final novel that made the decision, not any financial considerations (yeah, right). BTW, Radcliffe is now 18 and by the final film will have spent half of his life in the Harry Potter role. (LAT)

Charter to sell L.A. data: The cable company has cut a deal with Nielsen Co. to supply information from digital set-top boxes (Charter has subscribers in Long Beach, Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, Malibu, Alhambra, Whittier and Riverside). To protect the privacy of its customers, no identifying information will be included in the data - or so the Charter people claim. The information will show the specific channel the box is tuned to. Of course, there's no way to tell how many people are actually watching TV. (LAT)

Activision sues Gibson Guitar: The Santa Monica-based company maintains that the popular "Guitar Hero" game doesn't infringe on a Gibson patent. "Despite being aware of the Guitar Hero game for many years, Gibson has encouraged Activision to manufacture and sell devices it now alleges infringe" the patent, the lawsuit said. Activision decided it didn't want or need a license under Gibson's patent. (WSJ)

Flight reductions sought: The air traffic controllers union wants the FAA to cut the maximum number of jetliners allowed to land at LAX and end the practice of allowing arriving airplanes to land on the same runway used by departing aircraft. The request comes after the FAA imposed a new rule requiring air traffic controllers to receive a correct "read back" of flight instructions from pilots landing at the airport - a move that is supposed to provide another layer of safety. But union officials say that it increases the controller's workload. (Daily Breeze)