Tuesday morning headlines

Santa Claus rally?: More signs of progress in fiscal cliff talks and fewer investors trying to unload their stocks. Dow is up about 90 points.

U.S. sells rest of AIG holdings: The $182 billion bailout that was supposed to wreak havoc on the economy wound up resulting in a $23-billion profit for the government. From AP:

Treasury conducted six public offerings of AIG stock over the last 19 months selling a total of 1.66 billion shares of the company. At the start of the sales, Treasury had owned 92 percent of AIG's outstanding common stock. Since the financial crisis, AIG has undergone a significant restructuring which has cut the size of the company nearly in half aimed at focusing on its core insurance operations.

Fed Ex's busiest day in history: The delivery service estimates that it shipped 19 million packages on Monday, a 10 percent increase from its busiest day last year. (LAT)

More 787 snags: Failure of an electric generator on a recent flight and concerns by the FAA about the plane's fuel line connector has manufacturer Boeing in search of answers. From the NYT:

The company has so far delivered 38 of the jets to eight airlines, including United Airlines, All Nippon Airways of Japan and Poland's LOT. It has outlined ambitious plans to double its production rate to 10 planes a month by the end of 2013. It is also starting to build a stretched-out version and mulling an even larger one after that, to make the venture more profitable. But with the combination of the problem on the United flight and the F.A.A. directive, "This was too much news about the 787 in one day," said Addison Schonland, an aviation analyst and a partner at Airinsight.com. "But remember, it's a brand-new airplane. When you start flying it around, you start discovering things. Over all, the number of hiccups has been fantastic."

DirecTV adds sports surcharge: L.A. subscribers who want regional sports networks like Fox Sports West and SportsNet are being asked to pay an additional $3. That's on top of the costs that DirecTV passes on to all its customers. From the LAT:

The move is significant because even though it is only for new DirecTV subscribers and only used in areas where there are multiple local sports channels, it could be seen as a first step toward selling sports channels separately. Sports channels account for a large chunk of cable bills as the rights to games continue to skyrocket. DirecTV has also tested this approach with some current subscribers as well, the spokesman said.

Venice's Rose Avenue turning corner: As happened with nearby Abbott Kinney Boulevard, the down-and-out bohemian days are numbered. From the LAT:

Last February, police began enforcing a curfew at Venice Beach, forcing people who slept there to move to an encampment on 3rd Avenue near Rose. In May, they cleared the encampment too, although they allowed a few dozen people to return and sleep late at night, without leaving belongings. Today, shoppers and restaurant patrons far outnumber homeless people on Rose Avenue. Moon Juice opened last January, and a few months later a new development opened on the Pioneer Bakery site. Rents there for one of the 70 units range from $3,140 for a one-bedroom to $4,369 for a two-bedroom, said a spokesman with Archstone, the Englewood, Colo.-based owner.