Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks settling down: Big jump at the opening, but the Dow is falling back.

Oil prices back up: After yesterday's big drop, NY crude is trading at over $107 a barrel. But the market is volatile - there are concerns about slower demand, which would be bad for the economy. (AP)

Higher retail sales: Take away gasoline and you're left with pretty anemic growth. Still, numbers were revised upward from previous months, which suggests that people really are spending. (Reuters)

Profit surge at JPMorgan: Strong results from its investment banking and trading businesses helped offset losses related to bad loans. From DealBook:

JPMorgan, meanwhile, faces billions of dollars in potential legal claims stemming from the mortgage crisis. Federal regulators are expected to order the nation's biggest mortgage players to make sweeping changes to their loan servicing practices, which would drive up operating costs. "We are adding a lot of intensive manpower and talent to fix the problems of the past," Mr. Dimon said, on a conference call with journalists. JPMorgan plans to add between 2,000 and 3,000 new employees in order to comply with the regulators demands.

Obama's speech: The president will propose spending cuts in defense, Medicare and Medicaid - as well as raising taxes on the wealthy. (AP)

Villaraigosa's speech: The mayor's State of the City address will focus on education, not the current budget crisis. From the LAT:

Though the mayor's focus on schools may be more palatable to voters than how he may be forced to reduce city spending, the strategy also carries risk. There is no guarantee that he will be able to achieve the kind of education reforms he is seeking, which require negotiation with unions and even new legislation. He also could be accused of disengagement from the city's most pressing troubles. Deputy Mayor Sarah Sheahan said Villaraigosa can manage multiple priorities at once and "believes that the best way to turn our economy around for generations to come is to focus on education today."

Brown signs renewable energy bill: Far-reaching legislation would require California utilities to obtain up to a third of their electricity from wind, solar and other green sources by 2020. Opponents warn of rate hikes. (Sacramento Bee)

Jump in long-time unemployed: Better than 1 million people in California have been out of work more than six months, according to February numbers, an increase of 230,000 from a year earlier. (OC Register)

Sam Nazarian adds to nightclub empire: His SBE hospitality group, which owns the Bazaar by Jose Andres, Hyde Lounge, Gladstones and the SLS hotel, has acquired Syndicate Hospitality. That nearly doubles SBE's night-life holdings. Terms not disclosed. (LAT)

Univision to add two channels: One will be built around telenovelas and the other around Mexican league soccer. Also under serious consideration: A 24-hour news network in Spanish. From the WSJ:

An expanding field of media rivals is fighting to reach the same audience. Marketers spent $5.3 billion on Spanish-language TV advertising in the U.S. last year, up 8.7% from a year earlier, according to Kantar Media. Earlier this month, Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal unveiled a new sales push aimed at letting marketers buy bundles of ads that target U.S. Hispanics across all its TV and digital outlets, including the Telemundo broadcast network.

SpaceX considers IPO: Elon Musk, founder of the Hawthorne-based space transportation company, says he's looking toward the end of next year for an initial public offering. (Reuters)

Flip video camera makes its leave: The device quickly dominated the camcorder market some years back, but Cisco has decided to close up the division. From the NYT:

From the outset, the acquisition was an odd fit for Cisco, which is known for its enterprise networking services. To some analysts, the decision to shutter Flip was an admission by Cisco that it made a mistake. "Cisco was swayed by the sexiness of selling to the consumer," said Mo Koyfman, a principal at Spark Capital, a Boston venture capital firm. "They're not wired to do it themselves, so they do it by acquisition. Flip was one of the most visible targets out there. But it's really hard to turn an elephant into a horse. Cisco's an elephant."

Ovitz selling Live Nation offices: Tishman Speyer Properties is buying the 57,111-square-foot Bev Hills building for $20 million-$25 million. Earlier this year, Tishman bought the former Hilton Hotels headquarters next door. (THR)