Friday morning headlines

Stocks cooling down: Are the 400-point days over? Dow has been up all morning, but only in the double-digits.

Retailers holding up in July: Consumers kept spending last month, resulting in the best retail sales gain since the Spring. The gain was led by electronics stores, furniture retailers, auto dealers, and service stations. (Bloomberg)

August not looking so good: Well, what do you expect after the last few weeks of bad news? The preliminary August Reuters/University of Michigan index fell to 54.9 from 63.7 in July. That's the lowest reading since 1980. (Calculated Risk)

Gas prices tumble: Looks like a response to the big drop in oil. An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $3.755, according to the Auto Club, down 6.1 cents from last week.

Jeffrey Gundlach testifies: The star bond manager who got canned from L.A.-based TCW said he was worried that an incoming CEO would sideline him. TCW fired Gundlach in late 2009 and sued him a month later, accusing him of stealing trade secrets and plotting to form a new company. Gundlach countersued. From Reuters:

Before Gundlach took the stand, jurors were shown a taped video deposition in which Gundlach said he never told anyone on his staff to download data from TCW or copy valuable trading information -- though he did briefly consider such an action. "That stuff wouldn't do us any good anyway," the bond manager said in a video deposition played in court on Thursday. "There was never an instruction to do anything." Gundlach watched his video deposition -- in which he laughingly answered questions -- with a stone face.

Will USC block NFL?: The school wants a new master lease for the Coliseum that would provide near-total control of the publicly owned stadium. Under the current lease, USC can prevent pro football from being played in the facility. From the LAT:

Whether AEG can land a team for Los Angeles remains a big question mark. But lining up a construction-phase stadium could be an important part of the sales pitch to NFL owners, according to officials. The team's owners would have final say on selection of an interim stadium, the officials said. AEG has met with Pasadena and the city is "very interested," said Rose Bowl General Manager Darryl Dunn.

Council considers privatizing zoo: Measure would have the city solicit proposals from private operators. The zoo has already cut back, and city officials warn that without privatization more trims may be in the offing. (LAT)