Tuesday morning headlines

More help from Fed:The nation's central bank will provide financing to shore up money-market mutual funds, which until recently had been considered super-safe. Of course, that was before Lehman Brothers went bust. (NYT)

Market mixed: Who knows how long it might last, but Wall Street appears to be stabilizing. The Dow opened down more than 100 points, but it's been coming back in the last hour.

Gas update: Average L.A. area prices fell another dime a gallon, according to the government's latest survey, to $3.34 (though prices are cheaper in many parts of town). Meanwhile, oil is trading at around $72 a barrel.

Kerkorian pulls out: The Bev Hills billionaire, who just a few months back had bought into Ford and praised the automaker's turnaround efforts, is cashing out. Kerkorian initially picked up 100 million shares of Ford, a 4.7 percent stake, and announced a tender offer in late April for 20 million more at $8.50 each. The stock is trading at a little over $2 a share. (Reuters)

Icahn buys more Lions Gate: The activist shareholder has more than doubled his stake in the independent film and TV studio, to 9.2 percent. Will he meddle? A Lions Gate filing said Icahn's people held talks with CEO Jon Feltheimer and planned additional discussions. That's bound to raise rumbles about Lions Gate joining up with some other media company. (LAT)

Underwhelming offer: When stocks get this low, everybody wants to be an acquirer. Case in point is the offer to buy OC's Pacific Sunwear. It's being made Miami-based retailer Adrenalina, which operates just three stores, all in Florida. The company reported a $4.3 million loss in the first half of the year on sales of $2.3 million. Pacific Sunwear had sales of $580 million. From Money & Co.:

Ilia Lekach, Adrenalina's chief executive, wrote in a letter to PacSun CEO Sally Frame Kasaks that PacSun "would benefit greatly from the application of our proven entertainment retailing concept, which we believe will re-energize the performance of your stores." Lekach said he was disclosing the offer because PacSun had "repeatedly declined Adrenalina's prior attempts to enter into discussions." PacSun may need help re-energizing its franchise, but probably not from 58-year-old Lekach, who before getting involved with Adrenalina was head of perfume maker Parlux Fragrances.

Bleak car outlook: The number of Californians who say they intend to buy a new vehicle has dropped below the national average for the first time since 1984, according to a study. Also, auto loan delinquency rates are up 28 percent from last year and vehicle repossessions have climbed nearly 15 percent. (Sacramento Bee)

Universal considers sale: The studio is in advanced talks to sell Rogue Pictures, one of its two specialty film labels to Ryan Kavanaugh's Relativity Media. The sale would include about 25 library titles and more than 30 projects in development. From THR:

As it moves beyond the hedge fund business to raise its own profile as a producer, Relativity has begun to produce movies separate from its slate investments at such studios as Universal and Sony. It has ramped up its own development activities, aggressively acquiring projects like "The Low Dweller," with Leonardo DiCaprio and Ridley Scott attached. But until now, it has lacked a consistent way to distribute its own product. Universal would continue to market and distribute the Rogue films that Relativity is acquiring, and Relativity would also be able to turn to Uni to handle other titles. Uni would get a distribution fee.

Another close-out sale: This one is for Shoe Pavilion, the Sherman Oaks-based chain that's going out of business. The company has 64 stores in California, Washington, Oregon and New Mexico. The liquidation sale is expected to last 10-12 weeks. (Daily News)

Lacter on radio: This morning's business chat with KPCC's Steve Julian covers the prospects of an actors strike and how Hollywood is coping with the economy. Also on kppc.org and on podcast.