Monday morning headlines

See-saw stocks: Weighing the prospect of higher interest rates. Dow is up slightly in early trading.

Bailout cost slashed: TARP bill is now running $141 billion, down from the $341 billion projection in August. The nation's largest banks are repaying the money faster than expected. From the WSJ:

The government's efforts appear to have helped stabilize the financial sector, and banks have already repaid the Treasury about $70 billion. Bank of America Corp. has said it will return its $45 billion investment as early as this week, and the government now expects total repayments to reach as much as $175 billion by the end of next year. Altogether, it invested $204 billion in 690 firms.

Yeah, but....: The smaller, regional banks continue to have a tough time because of mounting defaults from malls, hotels and other commercial property. They're more concentrated in commercial loans than the big banks. (Bloomberg)

Ugly breakup: L.A.-based money management giant TCW fired its star chief investment officer, Jeffrey Gundlach, after claiming that he had threatened to leave and take some folks with him. TCW then bought a rival firm to be in charge of the funds that Gundlach had overseen. From the LAT:

Gundlach, 50, isn't going quietly: He said Sunday he was "inappropriately ousted" and had never threatened TCW. Even so, he said he was exploring whether to jump back into money management, either by starting his own firm or by joining another, and expected he could lure many of his longtime clients away from TCW. Over the weekend, Gundlach got support from some of his lieutenants at TCW. Philip Barach and Louis Lucido, two senior managers of TCW's mortgage-backed securities funds, said they had resigned rather than remain at the firm without Gundlach.

Little change in housing numbers: The November median price in L.A. County dipped $1,000 from a month earlier, to $339,000, and sales fell 1.1 percent, according to HomeData. Lots of cross-currents make it hard to spot a trend. (Business Journal)

New plans for Grand Avenue?: City Councilwoman Jan Perry talks about putting up something smaller than the mega-billion dollar development that has been held up by financing problems. From the Downtown News:

Perry also indicated that there might be other changes to the multi-phase mega project, formally titled The Grand, being developed by the New York-based Related Companies. "It's impossible to predict the future, but I'm guessing they may have to rethink their plan for [phasing] it in, while preserving the elements we agreed upon," Perry said. "Whether it's condos or apartments remains to be seen." Related West Coast President Bill Witte, when asked about potential changes to the timeline or other aspects of the project, said, "There's a lot of stuff being talked about right now. I can only say it wasn't Related that precipitated this discussion."

Battle over valets: L.A. City Council considers an ordinance that would require parking valet companies to have operating permits. Measure is being supported by the city's major valet companies. From the Business Journal:

As L.A. nightlife experienced a resurgence in some areas, especially Hollywood, problems with valet parking proliferated. Among the complaints: alleged price gouging, valets who take up metered spaces, valets who tear up parking tickets and upstart valet companies that undercut established businesses.

Hollyywood hand joins Discovery: Former Fox programming executive Peter Liguori is being named COO of Discovery Communications. This could mean that the cable channels want to be a bigger player in the entertainment business. (LAT)