Thursday morning headlines

Stocks higher: In early trading, the Dow is up more than 100 points. Guess traders had already factored in the lower GDP numbers. Or something.

Candy firm defaults: That luxury condo project on the site of the former Robinson-May store in Bev Hills has gotten even shakier. CPC Group, founded by Christian Candy of London's Candy & Candy development-management firm, has defaulted on a $365 million loan for the land. CPC has not been able to get construction financing, and one of its partners in the project, Iceland's Kaupthing Bank, was taken over by the Icelandic government. From the WSJ:

CPC sought to modify or extend its loan, which matured early this month. But its efforts faltered, and Credit Suisse Group, acting as agent for a group of creditors, on Wednesday filed a notice of default in the office of the Los Angeles County registrar. The move is the first step toward foreclosure, though it doesn't preclude the parties from continuing negotiations toward salvaging the project.

Wynn still building: Recession? What recession? Steve Wynn's company, Wynn Resorts, is installing Italian tile and crystal chandeliers as it prepares for the December opening of its latest Vegas resort: the $2.3 billion Encore. And though Wynn Resorts' stock price is down, it's not as down as some of the competition. From the WSJ:

"It's sort of like dancing at a funeral. I feel guilty that my company is in such good shape," the 66-year-old Mr. Wynn said in a recent interview. Mr. Wynn had little choice but to press ahead with Encore, which was well under construction by the time the consumer downturn and global market meltdown rippled through Las Vegas. Mothballing a massive resort is costly and complicated. And delaying Encore would mean losing the very revenue that would help pay for its cost. Still, he could have cut back on some trimmings.

Roadblock in port plan?: The Federal Maritime Commission will ask a federal judge to strike down parts of the pollution-control program at the ports of L.A. and Long Beach. This could be a big deal - the LAT reports that "the normally low-profile commission is perhaps one of the most powerful regulatory entities in Washington that most Americans have never heard of." The trucking industry has been trying to upend the pollution program, which got going earlier this month.

Elements of the ports' clean truck program "are likely, by a reduction in competition, to produce an unreasonable increase in transportation cost or unreasonable reduction in service," the commission said in a statement. Among the provisions to which the commission objects is the Los Angeles port's requirement that truck drivers work for approved concessionaires. Before the program began Oct. 1, port truck transportation was dominated by thousands of independent owner operators.

Pay cut at Daily Grill: A dozen of the chain's top executives will have their compensation trimmed by 10 percent in order to help offset the effects of lower sales. Last week, Daily Grill's parent, Grill Concepts, said it has begun exploring strategic alternatives, including possibly selling assets. Other possibilities include a merger. The stock is trading at just over $1.

"Get Your Money" campaign: The Screen Actors Guild has more than $25 million in unclaimed residuals that are owed to more than 66,000 people. Disbursing funds has been a sore subject for the guild. From Variety:

The campaign’s being launched as the guild moves to settle a lawsuit over how it disburses millions of dollars from foreign tax revenues to actors. Settlement talks were set to begin last month over the suit by Ken Osmond, alleging SAG mishandled those funds and lacks the authority to oversee them in the first place. Osmond’s allegations brought to light SAG’s disclosure last year that it had collected $8 million of the foreign funds for its members. The guild’s asserting that those foreign royalties are separate from more than $25 million in unclaimed residuals; it’s also asserted in a SAG Actor article that it’s disbursed $2 million of the foreign funds.