Wednesday morning headlines

Stocks fall sharply: Investors are still worried about Italy. Dow is down more than 200 points.

Vote of no confidence: Investors are jumping ship on Italian bonds, with yields topping 7 percent - the highest level in more than 10 years. From the NYT:

In Europe's months of crisis, yields in excess of 7 percent have triggered calls for bailouts and the subsequent demise of governments in Ireland, Greece and Portugal, but Italy's debt is much higher than in those countries. The 7 percent barrier is seen partly as a symbolic threshold, but it also reflects hard financial facts: borrowing costs at that level make it difficult for Italy to raise new funds to pay off what it owes. The figure is widely seen by bond market analysts as unsustainable.

Mixed earnings: Macy's posted strong third-quarter numbers and raised its full-year outlook (AP), but GM's third-quarter profits fell 15 percent from a year earlier. The automaker was dragged down by losses in Europe. (AP)

Questioning city business tax: The idea that phasing out the gross receipts tax in the hopes that new economic activity will offset revenue losses is "improbable at best," says economist Chris Thornton. His economic firm provided a second analysis on the business tax plan. (LAT)

Runoff in City Council race: Assemblyman Warren Furutani will face police officer Joe Buscaino for the 15th district council seat that was vacated by Janice Hahn. The runoff is in January. (Daily Breeze)

Higher airfares for the holidays: If you haven't yet made reservations, expect ticket prices to be 6 percent to 12 percent higher than a year ago - and the planes will be packed. From the LAT:

"Passengers still should expect full flights during the Thanksgiving holiday travel season as airlines have begun to reduce capacity and limit the number of seats available for sale due in part to rising cost pressures," said John Heimlich, chief economist for the [Air Transport Association]. The higher fares and cuts in airline capacity mean people traveling for Thanksgiving, as well as for Christmas, will be forced to depart much earlier and return much later after the holidays if they want bargain fares.

L.A. hotels staying full: The county-wide occupancy rate in September was 76 percent, up almost 6 percent from a year earlier, while the average room rate of $151.31 was 6.4 percent higher than in 2010. Numbers are from PKF via the OC Register.

Yelp plans to go public: Goldman Sachs and Citigroup to lead an IPO that could value the online review company at up to $2 billion, the WSJ is reporting. Offering could happen early next year

Several Internet companies launched offerings earlier this year, but in mid-August, market volatility essentially closed the market for new IPOs. Excitement over Groupon's deal last week now "indicates there's investor demand for leading Internet companies, which is motivating others to consider accessing the market," said Matt Sperling, head of the equity advisory practice at Rothschild Inc.

Time Warner Cable considers bidding for Dodger games: It would be similar to the deal that the cable service cut with the Lakers - what would be part of TWC's regional sports network, Bloomberg is reporting. The Dodgers' TV rights are owned by Fox through 2013.

NBA deal deadline this afternoon: Not much of a deadline anymore since the players have rejected the league's take-it-or-leave-it revenue offer. Hard to know what comes next - other than the likelihood of more canceled games. (USA Today)