Tuesday morning headlines

Stocks sharply higher: After yesterday's 78-point drop, the Dow is up more than 100 points in early trading.

Spinning the budget: Still no details, but both sides are starting to point out what they accomplished. From the Sacramento Bee:

For Schwarzenegger, that includes at least four things: reducing pension benefits for future state employees, cutting pay for current state workers, blocking general tax hikes and placing another measure on the ballot to strengthen the state's "rainy-day fund."

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Democrats will say their biggest win was reducing the size of cuts in the agreement. Schwarzenegger originally proposed $12 billion worth of reductions, including the elimination of welfare-to-work and subsidized child care for 142,000 children. But Democrats spared those safety net programs and lowered the cut number to about $7.5 billion.

Unemployment checks go plastic: Starting next month, benefits will be paid out via Bank of America debit cards. Recipients can access the money wherever debit cards are accepted. Funds also can be transferred. (OC Register)

No impact from attack alert: A few cancellations after the warning of potential terrorist attacks in Europe, but for the most part it's business as usual. (Reuters)

Televisa takes stake in Univision: The $1.2-billion deal would end years of acrimony between the two biggest Spanish-language broadcasters. From the WSJ:

The deal gives Univision more stable financial footing after the company was sold to a group of investors led by billionaire Haim Saban in 2006. It helps ensure that Televisa programming reaches the fast-growing U.S. Hispanic television market. It also represents a victory for Televisa, whose fractious takeover play for Univision in 2006 lost out to Mr. Saban and a group of leveraged buyout shops...

Office market improving: Average effective rents nationwide fell by just a penny in the last three months, the smallest quarterly decline since 2008. But they're still 12 percent below 2008 highs. (WSJ)

e-books costing more than hardcovers: The hardcover of Ken Follett's "Fall of Giants" is being sold on Amazon for $19.39. On Kindle, it's $19.99. Customers aren't happy. From the NYT:

The skirmish over prices is possible because of deals that publishers negotiated with Amazon this year that allowed the publishers to set their own prices on e-books, while Amazon continues to choose the discount from the list price on hardcovers. That upended a previous understanding by Kindle customers, who were used to paying only $9.99 for an e-book.

Deadline on Tribune bankruptcy: Creditors have until Oct. 15 to file alternative proposals for breaking up the media company. Tribune supports a plan to divide the ownership among the lenders who helped finance the 2007 leveraged buyout. Lower ranking creditors want to sue those lenders. (Bloomberg)

Slight bump in gas prices: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area was $3.020, up less than two pennies from last week, according to the government survey.