Wednesday morning headlines

Here we go again: Stocks are way down in early trading (more than 300 points on the Dow). The credit crisis may be easing a bit, but there's still a big, nasty recession in our midst. (AP)

Spending strike: Well, what do you expect? Clothes, furniture and especially autos were left sitting in stores and dealerships last month. From the NYT:

For years, consumer spending has been the engine of economic growth, accounting for more than two-thirds of gross national product. Now, retail sales have fallen for three consecutive months — the 1.2 percent decline in September was the steepest yet — and many economists predict that the consequences will be dire. Some say that the third quarter of 2008 will show the first quarterly decline in consumer spending in years.

More regulation needed: An LAT/Bloomberg poll found that nearly three-quarters of those surveyed thought the lack of regulation was partly responsible for the current financial and housing crises. Also, nine out of 10 polled said the economy was doing badly, and more than three-quarters said the country was facing a crisis.

Seeking relief in gas: L.A.'s average pump price for regular is $3.44 a gallon, down 12 cents from last week, according to the government's latest survey. That's the lowest price for gas since last March - and more declines are on the way. But the explanation for the fall - a stumbling economy - is not reassuring. From the LAT:

Although Americans are spending less on average for gasoline than they have since late February, they also are feeling that they have less to spend because of damaged investment portfolios and higher prices for many other items. Add weak consumer confidence, and experts don't expect motorists to start piling on mileage again. "We will continue to see lower prices, but the sad thing is that this is like losing weight from a parasitic ailment," said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service in New Jersey. The declines were not enough for behavior modification, he added.

New idea for Bev Hills project: The Candy brothers, who plan to develop the former Robinsons-May property, now want to throw in a fancy hotel in an effort to generate financial backing. They're looking at something roughly the size of the Peninsula (196 rooms). The original plan called for only condos, but hotel rooms can sometimes produce steadier cash flows. The Candy project is right next to a controversial proposed hotel and condo project at the Beverly Hilton. (LAT)

Oh, those Redstones!: They just can't stop squabbling, even in the midst of a financial meltdown. The latest flare-up is over the forced sale of a bunch of Viacom and CBS stock by the Redstone family’s theater chain, National Amusements. The sale was made to avoid breaching covenants on a $1.6 billion National Amusement loan. But Shari Redstone, Sumner’s daughter who runs National Amusements, insisted that it had nothing to do with that company's performance. From the WSJ:

People familiar with the situation have said the loan was used, at least in part, to expand the movie theaters, and it was linked to the operating performance of that business, as well as Viacom and CBS stock. "The implication that this stock sale was required by the operation and expansion of the company's theater circuit is not accurate," Ms. Redstone's movie theater unit said in an emailed statement Tuesday. "National Amusement's recent sale of a portion of its Viacom and CBS nonvoting stock was the direct result of last week's historic financial crisis, which included the precipitous drop in value of CBS and Viacom stock."

"Wall Street" sequel goes on: Well, they certainly have lots of material. Allan Loeb will write the screenplay and Michael Douglas is supposed to reprise his role as Gordon "Greed is good" Gekko. Loeb is a licensed stockbroker who once worked at the Chicago Board of Trade. (Variety)

Catching up on TV Guide: A Bev Hills private equity firms named OpenGate Capital is buying the publication. No purchase price announced. Silicon Valley company Macrovision, which acquired Gemstar-TV Guide International for $2.8 billion, had indicated that the magazine would be sold. Debra Birnbaum, the current editor-in-chief, and President Scott Crystal, are expected to stay. From the NY Post:

Crystal … pointed out that last year ad pages were up more than 20 percent, bucking an in dustry trend. "It's a huge vote of con fidence in what we've done and where we're going," said Crystal. Three years ago, TV Guide embarked on a radical redesign and slashed its rate base circulation to 3.2 million copies a week. It also stripped out most of the TV listings that had once been the main reason people bought the magazine. "We went from telling people what was on TV in our listings, to telling them what was worth watching," Crystal said.