Thursday morning headlines

Stocks sharply higher: Guess the Fed's latest move to prop up the economy is being well-received. Dow is up about 180 points in early trading.

Solid retail sales: October's chain-store results were helped along by heavy discounting (October is often a slow month). Costco, Limited and Macy's were among the stronger players, while J.C. Penney and Kohl's had a tougher time. (AP)

Qantas grounds A380 fleet: An engine on one of the super-jumbos exploded shortly after takeoff from Singapore. Nobody was hurt. The grounding affects the airline's A380 service out of LAX. From the NYT:

The airline's sober account of the incident came as local media broadcast images of the plane's charred No. 2 engine -- the outside engine on the left wing -- being doused by fire engines at Singapore's Changi International Airport. Television images from the island of Batam, Indonesia, showed local residents holding large chunks of metal that appeared to have come from the plane, some of them bearing red and white paint resembling the Qantas insignia. The airline dismissed initial reports that the jetliner had crashed, which appeared to have been prompted by the evidence of debris and witness accounts of smoke coming from the wing.

Watch those food prices: Inflation is storming back at supermarkets and restaurants as the prices of milk, beef, coffee, cocoa and sugar take a sharp upward turn. From the WSJ:

For food executives, how quickly to pass along higher costs presents difficult choices. Missteps could be costly when the economy remains weak. Many Americans, nervous about high unemployment, have pledged allegiance to their pennies and are willing to trade down on brands, switch supermarkets, opt for Burger King over Applebee's, or stop dining out altogether to save money.

More gridlock in Sacramento?: Even with a Democratic governor and legislature, plus the end of the two-thirds vote requirement for budgets, there could be problems getting stuff through. From the LAT:

Brown will have to navigate a Capitol in which other Democrats do not necessarily share his views on how to balance the state's books. Legislative leaders have been talking for months about trying to regain lost ground, aiming to restore spending on social services, healthcare and education programs that have been scaled back during the prolonged fiscal crisis. They are panicked that temporary tax hikes approved by voters two years ago will expire soon, meaning less revenue. They want new levies on oil companies and other businesses to fund their agenda. Brown is wary of all that.

Details on GM plan to sell shares: The $13-billion public offering later this month will be priced at $26 to $29 per share, and reduce the government's ownership stake to 43 percent. (LAT)

Shakeup at Live Nation:Concert senior executive Jason Garner is out, and the new emphasis will be on individual shows as opposed to lengthy and expensive concert tours. The Bev Hills-based concert promotion company is bracing for a tough 2011. (WSJ)

MySpace on life support?: Quarterly revenue at the social network was down $70 million and "traffic numbers are still not going in the right direction," says Chase Carey, the COO of parent News Corp. All Things Digital blogger Peter Kafka hears that News Corp. is trying to just hold on until it finds a buyer.

Steve Wynn's cautious optimism: Well, something like that. The Wynn Resorts CEO tells analysts, "This is the first time on the conference call that I'm going to say I believe that we've seen the bottom in Las Vegas and I don't know how fast it's going to get better, but I don't think it's going to get any worse." (Kid Dynamite)