Tuesday morning headlines

Stocks open lower:. Getting to be a broken record. Today, H-P and energy stocks are leading the decline. Dow is down about 30 points.

L.A. home prices fall: They're down 0.1 percent from August to September, according to the latest Case-Shiller numbers, but that's actually better than most of the metro areas surveyed. From the press release:

While some of the bad numbers may reflect the end of the government's tax incentive for first time homebuyers, there are other problems weighing on the housing market." says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "The national economy is certainly the number one issue for housing. Additionally, there is a large supply of houses on the market and further, hidden, supply due to delinquent mortgages, pending foreclosures or vacant homes. New construction is running at less than half the pace needed to meet normal demand, so a sustained recovery could be a ways off."

Consumer confidence hits five-month high: That helps explain why the malls were so crowded over the weekend. But the index remains well below what constitutes a healthy economy. (AP)

Strong Cyber Monday: Online sales jumped 19 percent from a year earlier, another sign that U.S. consumers are starting to spend. From Bloomberg:

It's still too early to declare the season a success, Imran Khan, an analyst at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York, said in a note to investors yesterday. "With the biggest days of the holiday season still ahead, we would view these numbers with caution," Khan said.

WikiLeaks pursues major American bank: The founder of the whistleblower site, Julian Assange, tells Forbes that tens of thousands of documents will be released early next year. No specifics.

TARP price tag keeps falling: The government's $700-billion bailout plan will wind up costing taxpayers just $25 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office. From the Washington Post:

"Clearly, it was not apparent when the TARP was created two years ago that the cost would turn out to be this low," the CBO report says. "The transactions envisioned and ultimately undertaken through the TARP engendered substantial financial risk for the federal government." However, it says, "because the financial system stabilized and then improved, the amount of funds used by the TARP was well below the $700 billion initially authorized, and the outcomes of most transactions made through TARP were favorable for the federal government."

Google nears Groupon purchase: Price could be as much as $6 billion, the NYT reports, with an agreement coming as soon as this week. Groupon specializes in providing bulk daily discounts.

Expansion plans for Americana at Brand: Developer Rick Caruso wants to add up to 140,000 square feet to his retail center in Glendale. He says the additions would mean an extra $80 million in annual sales. (Glendale News-Press)

Gas prices edge lower: But just a couple of pennies from last week, with an average gallon in the L.A. area running at $3.165, according to the government. Meanwhile oil prices have been pushing higher.

Get ready for pricier biz travel: Air fares and corporate room rates are expected to climb next year, with double-digit lodging increases in some U.S. cities. (NYT)

Dr. Laura moves to Sirius XM: The conservative talk-show host signs a multiyear deal with satellite radio, beginning in January. Last summer, Schlessinger said she was quitting her syndicated program after using the N-word on the air 11 times while talking to a black woman. (AP)

Health insurers fined: State regulators say that California's seven largest health plans failed to properly pay medical claims submitted by thousands of doctors and hospitals. (LAT)

Tribune's "four-ring circus": That's how one participant describes the company's two-year bankruptcy case. From the Chicago Tribune:

Experts say the Tribune Co. case is developing into Exhibit A for how bankruptcy law has evolved since 2005, when Congress mandated a limit for how long a court could grant debtors the exclusive right to file their own restructuring plan. The logic behind the change was that it would speed up ever-more complex cases by giving competing creditors the chance to file their own plans if the debtor failed to do so after 18 months. But since Tribune Co.'s exclusivity ran out in August, hedge funds and other investors that have bought up claims have filed three competing plans. Most participants agree the added complexity and litigiousness have bogged down an already plodding case.