Thursday morning headlines

Stocks edge higher: Big drop in new jobless claims and strong earnings from JPMorgan Chase aren't doing it so far. Dow is up 25 points in early trading.

Bank earnings soar: JPMorgan Chase reports better-than-expected results, thanks to gaining market share in mortgages and retail banking. You might recall that the bank was allowed to pay back its $25 billion taxpayer investment. (NYT)

Boeing deal helps economy: The aerospace giant will be building four communications satellites for Intelsat that should save a bunch of jobs at the El Segundo facilities (not to mention the jobs at hundreds of smaller firms that supply parts for the satellites). From the LAT:

The Intelsat contract comes at a time when the El Segundo facility was in the midst of a business drought and recovering from development problems with its new generation of commercial satellites. It's been almost two years since the company obtained a multisatellite deal.

CA budget update: Lawmakers and the governor say they'll resume negotiations today in hopes of resolving the budget crisis. (LAT) Meanwhile, former Assembly Speaker Willie Brown
tells NPR that term limits and the two-thirds vote required to pass a budget were largely to blame for the current problems. (Of course, it was Brown's long tenure in the Assembly that became Exhibit A for term limits proponents.)

"In a democracy, it works best when people get to know each other, when people begin to respect each other and when people work together," he tells NPR's Madeleine Brand. "And in some cases, people with superior information and knowledge on certain subject matters are, in fact, looked to for advice and counsel. You don't have any of that in Sacramento."

Trading IOUs: An online market has been established that allows investors to buy and sell the state's registered warrants, or IOUs. From the LAT:

It isn't clear how much of a market for the IOUs will develop. Buyers might include hedge funds and investors who might otherwise buy municipal notes or bonds. The best news for potential sellers: They'll be able to see how much bidders are offering and what other sellers have received.

Wal-Mart thinking green: The retail giant wants to create a universal rating system that scores products based on how environmentally and socially sustainable they are. Information to be available includes the product's carbon footprint, the gallons of water used to create it, and the air pollution left in its wake. From the NYT:

Did this T-shirt come from a cotton crop that was sprayed with pesticide? Was excessive packaging used to ship these diapers? Wal-Mart's goal is to have other retailers eventually adopt the indexing system, which will be created over the next five years. "We have to change how we make and sell products," Michael T. Duke, Wal-Mart's president and chief executive, plans to tell about 1,500 of the company's suppliers and employees on Thursday at a "sustainability meeting," according to a copy of his prepared remarks.