Tuesday morning headlines

Stocks gain ground: The Dow is up 270 points after about an hour of trading, perhaps influenced by the relatively upbeat comments of Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit. He says the bank has been operating at a profit through the first two months of the year.

Yeah, but…: There's continuing talk of dead cat bounces and bear market rallies. Stocks can't keep falling without some rallies along the way, though they might only lead to profit taking and then even deeper drops. Money & Co. explains.

Regulatory overhaul needed: Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a speech today that the failure of government oversight helped precipitate the current mess (no kidding). He called for a review of the accounting rules that determine how companies value assets, a big deal in trying to resolve the bank crisis. (NYT)

Assessing woes: Property tax collections will be down in L.A., Riverside and San Bernardino counties, the result of the drop in home values. These revenues had been a relatively stable source of money for cities during the recession, especially with the loss of sales tax revenue from auto dealers. From the LAT:

Even with the decline in home values, the property tax base in five Southland counties grew last year thanks to continuing sales and the completion of construction begun during the 2003-2006 building boom. But assessors in those counties said they have reduced the value of more than half a million properties and expect to make deeper cuts to their rolls by the summer. This is bad news for local governments that have been relying on property tax proceeds to help make up the shortfall from reduced incomes and spending in their areas. Already, cities and counties across California have been freezing jobs, imposing work furloughs and pay cuts, postponing repairs and reducing some public services.

Down on Disney: Pali Research analyst Richard Greenfield downgraded the Mouse House to "sell" from "neutral," Here's what he says in his report: "While Disney has one of the best secular asset mixes within the media sector, essentially everything is going wrong at the same time, with the length of pain likely to extend further than we had previously expected." Disney is up this morning, but so is the rest of the market. (Money & Co.)

Gas back up: The average price of self-serve regular in the L.A. area is $2.198, up about a nickel from last week, according to the government's latest survey.

Gordon Ramsay sells restaurant: The celebrity chef is apparently running into money troubles. The new owner of Gordon Ramsay at the London West Hollywood is the hotel's operator, LXR Luxury Resorts, according to the Daily Mail. (Daily Dish)

Lacter on radio: This morning's business chat with KPCC's Steve Julian cover the layoffs at several big L.A. law firms and the indictment of former KB CEO Bruce Karatz. Also at kpcc.org and on podcast.