Monday morning headlines

Stocks open higher: The improving prospects of Ben Bernanke being confirmed for a second term on the Fed could be calming nerves on Wall Street. Dow is up about 50 points in early trading.

Bernanke gains support: White House prodding (pleading?) over the weekend appears to be paying off, according to the WSJ. Supporters are coming from both sides of the aisle.

The debate over a second term for the 56-year-old Mr. Bernanke is eclipsing party affiliations in the Senate, drawing liberals and conservatives into unusual alliances. It has also reinforced the Fed's weakened standing with the public and Congress, and the threat to its long-cherished posture as independent from elected politicians. All the dissonance has rattled Wall Street. "Financial markets usually react poorly when politicians start to bash the Fed," said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson-ICAP, a research firm.

More hiring in 2010: New survey has 29 percent of employers expecting to add staff over the next six months, up from just 17 percent a year ago. (OC Register)

L.A. billionaire leaves company: Steven Udvar-Hazy, founder and CEO of aircraft-leasing giant International Lease Finance, had been trying to extricate the operation from parent company AIG. From the WSJ:

Mr. Udvar-Hazy was recently in talks to purchase about $4 billion in planes from the leasing firm, which had total assets of $46 billion as of September 2009. That plan, which had backing from private-equity firms Greenbriar Equity Group LLC and Onex Partners, was recently rejected, according to people familiar with the situation.

GM job now permanent: Ed Whitacre, the former CEO of AT&T, becomes CEO of the carmaker. (AP)

What Leno cost KNBC: The L.A. station's late-night news saw a 43 percent ratings decline during the course of the 10 p.m. experiment - and a weekly $112,000 drop in ad revenue. NY station WNBC was the big loser. (WSJ)

Speaking of ad rates: They've taken a noticeable dip in the late-night hours. The same $35,000 spot on "The Tonight Show" would have run $50,000 just a few years back. From the LAT:

In 2007, the shows featuring Leno, O'Brien, David Letterman and the rest of the late-night network TV brigade commanded about $720 million in advertising, TNS estimates. Through the first nine months of 2009 they pulled in only $500 million, on pace to fall significantly short of two years earlier. Although some of the decline in ad revenue can be blamed on the economy, much of it is due to fundamental changes in the media landscape.

Commercial real estate bottoming out: But not before a tough 2009. Overall office vacancy in the fourth quarter for LA, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties was 18.5 percent, up from 14.4 percent. Average monthly rents fell to $2.41 a square foot in the fourth quarter from $2.68 a year earlier. (LAT)

iPhone gets Verizon service? Apple is also expected to name Verizon as one of the carriers for its new tablet device, coming out this week. The computer giant has been "extremely frustrated" with AT&T's iPhone service, according to the NY Post.