Tuesday morning headlines

Market coming back: After opening down more than 400 points, the Dow is recovering somewhat, with the index down only 160 points at last check. The turnaround – if you want to call it that - is no doubt being helped along by the Federal Reserve's emergency decision to slash interest rates another three-quarters of a point. It was the first time since 9/11 that the Fed made an unanticipated move on interest rates, and the decision already is being second-guessed in some economic circles. Was such a drastic cut really necessary? Here's how the Fed put it in a statement (from the NYT):

“The committee took this action in view of a weakening of the economic outlook and increasing downside risks to growth. While strains in short-term funding markets have eased somewhat, broader financial market conditions have continued to deteriorate and credit has tightened further for some businesses and households.” “Moreover,” the statement continued, “incoming information indicates a deepening of the housing contraction as well as some softening in labor markets.”

Terrible numbers at Bank of America: Its fourth-quarter earnings fell 95 percent, the result of mounting credit losses (as well as weak investment banking results). This is bound to raise questions about whether the company might try to kill its deal to buy Countrywide Financial. The arbitragers were betting on that possibility late last week, though there's no suggestion of any second thoughts by BofA. (Bloomberg)

The worst flight delays: Delta's Flight 133 from JFK to LAX sat for more than three hours waiting to take off after pushing back from a gate on seven different days last year. That was more than any other flight, according to a WSJ analysis of flight records. Delta's Flight 31 on the same route had "taxi-out" times longer than three hours on six occasions.

Airlines say some flights simply end up at the end of long lines more often than others because they try to depart at the airport's busiest time. But it can be more than just unfortunate timing. Airline operations managers can juggle departures because of factors like which crews may run out of duty time first, which planes are more urgently needed for their next scheduled flight, which flights have the most high-dollar business travelers who they least want to be canceled, and which flights are headed to destinations with late-night curfews -- where airlines can be fined for flights arriving after a certain hour.

Delta says its flights sat in the JFK "penalty box" -- a remote parking area for jets -- on days when thunderstorms west of New York caused air-traffic controllers to suspend westbound departures for long periods of time. The carrier will cancel flights headed to airports with weather trouble to thin out arrivals, but is more reluctant to cancel departures in bad weather cities because those flights can wait on the ground, said Neil Stronach, vice president of operations. The result is occasional long waits.

Bill Clinton's payday: The former president could pick up $20 million by ending his business relationship with the Bev Hills billionaire Ron Burkle. Clinton is cutting ties in order to protect Hillary from potential conflicts of interest. As reported by the WSJ's John Emshwiller, the former president has had links to Burkle Yucaipa Cos. since early 2002.

Mr. Burkle agreed to give Mr. Clinton a share of the profits from two Yucaipa domestic investment funds if their returns reached a certain threshold. Mr. Clinton's adviser arrangement ended in early 2007, five years after it began. But Mr. Clinton still hasn't settled the issue of his payout. The sales in recent months of Wild Oats Markets Inc. and Pathmark Stores Inc. produced several hundred million dollars in profits for the two Clinton-related Yucaipa domestic funds, which had big shareholdings in the two supermarket chains. Profits from the sales helped to push the funds above the earnings threshold needed to generate a multimillion-dollar payday for the former president, according to public documents related to the sales and other information.

Oscars, writers, strike: Academy Award nominations are out, and the Writers Guild leadership is supposed to meet today with the media honchos. You're starting to hear more grousing on the writers blogs about the DGA contract, though the LAT's Patrick Goldstein suggests that it's time to cut a deal - or at the very least, to not picket the Grammys. (LAT, Goldstein)

O'Shea coverage: The departing LAT editor had a lot to say in his farewell address yesterday, but the paper chose to bury his comments in the middle of C3 under the vague headline "Zell backs decision at Times," while the NYT had the story on the top of the business section.

Lacter on radio: Busy morning for my Tuesday chat-fest with KPCC's Steve Julian. We talk about the stock market, the economy and the writers strike.