Wednesday morning headlines

Market tries again: A rebound does seem likely today. But after 30 minutes of so, the Dow is up only 70 or so points.

Early look at February jobs: Private employers cut 697,000 jobs last month, according to ADP, more than what forecasters had expected. The government's employment report for the month comes out on Friday, and economists expect around 650,000 job cuts. (Reuters)

Great Recession's Ground Zero: NYT columnist Dave Leonhardt places it in El Centro, where the unemployment rate is 22.6 percent.

It’s an agricultural area — because of water pumped in from the Colorado River, which allows lettuce, broccoli and the like to grow — and unemployment is in double digits even in good times. But El Centro has lately been hit by the brutal combination of a drought, a housing bust and a falling peso, which cuts into the buying power of Mexicans who cross the border to shop. Until recently, El Centro was until recently one of those relatively cheap inland California areas where construction and home sales were booming. Today, it is pockmarked with “bank-owned” for sale signs. A wallboard factory in nearby Plaster City — its actual name — has laid off workers once kept busy by the housing boom. Even Wal-Mart has cut jobs, Sam Couchman, who runs the county’s work force development office, told me.

Amazing stat: Of all the homes in the U.S., 20 percent had mortgage debt at the end of December that was greater than what the properties were worth, according to First American CoreLogic. California ranked first in the sheer number of borrowers with negative equity, while Nevada had the highest percentage. (Bloomberg)

Election wrap-up: Charter Amendment B, the solar energy initiative, is trailing by a very slim margin (too close to call), while Charter Amendment E, which would have provided economic incentives for business development, appears headed for defeat. As expected, turnout was pitiful. (LAT)

Manny-Dodgers deal?: ESPN.com reports that Ramirez has agreed to general terms on a two-year, $45 million deal, though there still appear to be obstacles in completing the contract. The LAT reports that Ramirez is scheduled to meet with Dodgers owner Frank McCourt today.

Such a deal: Travelocity estimates that airfares for the 100 most popular domestic and international routes are 40 percent lower than their peak last June. Some coast-to-coast round trips are running less than $250, and some fares from NY to Europe are under $400. From the WSJ:

With consumers reluctant to fly, fare sales are proliferating. "I don't remember a year other than 2001 that we've seen this kind of commotion in airfares," says Tom Parsons, chief executive of Bestfares.com, a discount travel Web site. Last week, discount airline AirTran Airways launched a domestic fare sale with one-way tickets as low as $39 between American cities. Two days later, American began trumpeting one-way fares to some European cities for around $200 and a one-way price of $75 between Los Angeles and Los Cabos, Mexico. Rival airlines were quick to match offers.

Energy-efficient L.A.: The EPA awarded its top conservation designation to our fair city. SF came in second, followed by Houston. A total of 262 buildings in L.A. earned the agency's Energy Star. Typically, these properties use 35 percent less energy. (LAT, USA Today)

Three MySpace executives venture out: The group, which includes COO Amit Kapur, are leaving the News Corp.-owned company to create a new business (no details announced). A company-wide memo from CEO Chris DeWolfe announcing the departures focused on the health of MySpace, which has been facing lots of competition from Facebook. (Cnet)