Friday morning headlines

Stocks inch lower: Could be time for a breather, despite the better-than-expected jobs report. Dow is down a few points in early trading.

Krugman's diminished expectations: The NYT columnist isn't very excited about this morning's employment news: "So, we have a 'strong' jobs report -- with total employment still 7 1/2 million less than it was three years ago, we had job gains slightly higher than the number needed to keep up with population growth. At this rate we'll return to full employment around 2030 or so."

Brown cracks open budget: He described a meeting with the state budget director as "very sobering," noting that the problems "are as bad as anyone could imagine." From the LAT:

The former two-term governor has little time. He must present a spending plan within days of taking office in January, when the state will probably be grappling with a new deficit as well as with the new restrictions that voters placed on how revenue can be raised and used. Throughout his campaign, Brown offered few specifics on how he would balance the state's books, focusing instead on an "exhaustive" collaborative process that he says will include all stakeholders, including labor unions and business.

Universal City $3-billion facelift: The long-awaited draft environmental impact report focuses on traffic problems that would result from the addition of 3,000 residences. From the LAT:

The release of the draft EIR by Los Angeles city planners kicks off a 60-day period for public comment before the report becomes final. Public hearings on the proposed project would begin next year. NBC Universal hopes the hearings lead to approval of the project by 2012, when construction would begin on production and office space. It would take 15 to 20 years to build out the entire project, said Thomas Smith, senior vice president in charge of real estate on the West Coast for NBC Universal.

Qantas inquiry: The airline's CEO says the design of the A380's Rolls-Royce engines could have caused yesterday's mid-air failure over Singapore. (AP)

Oil near two-year high: Crude prices are running just shy of $87 a barrel, a bump that's largely due to a falling dollar. Meanwhile, the average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $3.110, about a penny lower than last week, according to the Auto Club.

PG&E's $1-billion bill: That could be the price-tag for Pacific Gas & Electric after September's natural gas pipeline explosion in San Bruno. Cost covers repairing the neighborhood, compensating victims, and replacing valves. (AP)

More on downtown football stadium: Construction of the complex could begin in January 2012 and take 30 months, says AEG's Tim Leiweke. He'd like to have an NFL team for the 2015 season. (Downtown News)

Allegations against Mannkind: A former executive accuses the Valencia-based company of withholding from regulators information about potential "scientific misconduct" during clinical trials of a diabetes treatment. Stock is way down. (Bloomberg)