Tuesday morning headlines

Stocks down a bit: Directionless market so far. Dow is down about 15 points.

Slide in L.A. home prices: Case-Shiller index shows a 0.4 percent drop from July to August (most other metro areas saw month-to-month declines). For the year, L.A. prices were up 5.4 percent. From press release:

"A disappointing report. Home prices broadly declined in August. Seventeen of the 20 cities and both Composites saw a weakening in year-over-year figures, as compared to July, indicating that the housing market continues to bounce along the recent lows," says David M. Blitzer, Chairman of the Index Committee at Standard & Poor's. "Over the last four months both the 10- and 20-City Composites show slowing growth, after sustaining consistent gains since their April 2009 troughs. "The month-over-month growth rates tell the same story. Fifteen of the 20 MSAs and the two Composites saw a decline in the month of August as compared to July levels.

Slowdown in mortgage modifications: Only 28,000 permanent modifications were made last month, the lowest number since last fall when the government launched a program to help homeowners stay in their homes. From the NYT:

In its modification report, the government stressed the good news that only 11 percent of those who had received permanent modifications later defaulted. Most of these borrowers remain heavily in debt, however, paying more than 63 percent of their monthly gross income for their house, car, alimony and installment loans. Some analysts believe the redefault rate will increase sharply over time.

California consumers holding back: About 60 percent of those surveyed by Citibank say they're reducing credit card purchases, discretionary spending and holiday travel plans. Not so much cellphone and Internet use. (LAT)

Slight pickup in consumer confidence: The Conference Board's index is at 50.2; healthy economies are usually in the 90-range. (AP)

New polls: Rasmussen has Brown ahead 48-42 percent over Whitman, and Boxer up 48-46 percent over Fiorina.

High-speed rail gets federal help: The state will receive at least $731 million to help pay for the bullet train in the Central Valley and between SF and San Jose. In January, $2.25 billion was made available to connect Socal to the Bay Area. (LAT)

Lionsgate steps up merger efforts: The entertainment company says that joining MGM could save $100 million a year. But MGM's creditors are still believed to favor a pre-packaged bankruptcy, followed by a management restructuring. (Reuters)

Weinstein Co. plans fundraising arm: Movie finance specialist David Hutkin will concentrate on both individual films and the company's overall slate. Based in L.A., he'll also try to bolster the company's less-than-terrific banking relationships. (Variety)

Slight drop in gas prices: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is $3.146, just a shade under last week, according to the government's survey.

AutoTrader.com buys Kelley Blue Book: No specifics about price, but the WSJ pegged the sale at $500 million. Kelley is based in Irvine and will become a subsidiary of AutoTrader.

Is the Walkman dead or not?: A Sony source tells the LAT that the device will still be available everywhere but Japan. That counters yesterday's posts that said sales will be stopped all over.