Friday morning headlines

Consumer confidence soars: This doesn't quite jibe with economic reality, but the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer survey jumped to its highest level since last September and scored the biggest one-month increase since October 2006. (Reuters)

Stocks floundering: The Dow is hovering just under 8200, which should seem like hopeful news. But Clusterstock's Henry Blodget doesn't believe the bear market is necessarily over, and he has the charts to state his case.

Ken Lewis stays put: WSJ reports that the Bank of America board shows no signs of removing the embattled CEO, who lost his chairmanship earlier in the week.

Some corporate-governance experts criticized the selection of Walter Massey, president emeritus of Morehouse College in Atlanta, as Bank of America's new chairman. Mr. Massey, 71, has been on the board since 1998, has no professional banking experience and is nearing the board's mandatory retirement age. "I don't know what Mr. Massey will do," said Charles Elson, director of the University of Delaware's Center for Corporate Governance. "All I know is the track record of the board." "The board is full of people that [Mr. Lewis] put" there, added Dirk Jenter, an assistant professor of finance at Stanford University. "That makes it difficult to remove Ken Lewis."

Flights to Mexico cut back: Continental is reducing the number of U.S. departures to Mexico by 40 percent and plans to use smaller planes. The carrier had been running an average of 450 flights a week to Mexico, including flights out of LAX. (AP)

Kickback scheme widens: The SEC has charged Dallas-based Aldus with civil securities fraud for allegedly making improper payments to win business from NY State's pension fund. Aldus also does consulting work for the Los Angeles Fire and Police Pension agency. From the LAT:

George Aliano, one of nine members of the Los Angeles agency's board, said he wanted the board to fire Aldus at a meeting set for next week. "I personally think they should be gone," said Aliano, who was elected to the board by retired police officers. "If we smell something fishy, and I get information that they shouldn't be near our money, then I don't want them near our money."

Gas prices barely budge: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $2.339, a penny more than last week, according to the Auto Club's latest survey.

Hollywood home sale: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have bought movie producer Brian Grazer's Pacific Palisades home for roughly $17.5 million, about 40 percent less than the original asking price of $27.5 million. The 20,000 square-foot house has been on and off the market for the last couple of years. (WSJ)