Thursday morning headlines

Stocks continue advance: Final session of the quarter opens strong - Dow is up 140 points.

Slight drop in jobless claims: But filings still totaled 428,000, way higher than what's needed for significant job growth. (Bloomberg)

Brown signs "Amazon tax": Starting tomorrow, large online retailers will have to collect sales taxes on purchases, a requirement that could raise more than $300 million a year in new state and local tax revenue. But Amazon is likely to sue. From the LAT:

California is the seventh and largest state in the country to pass a law to collect taxes on out-of-state Internet sales. Illinois, Arkansas and Connecticut acted earlier this year, North Carolina and Rhode Island in 2009 and New York in 2008. Amazon sued to overturn the New York law and lost in the lower courts. The company is paying sales taxes into an escrow account pending an appeal. Other states currently are considering similar sales tax collection bills.

McCourt move has league scrambling: Sounds like baseball executives were not that prepared for this week's bankruptcy filing - and their options appear to be limited because it's now the judge who calls the shots. From the LAT:

They could attempt a quick strike -- arguing to a judge that McCourt, as a franchisee, should be removed because he has irreparably damaged the league's brand by violating terms of ownership. Or they could choose a longer path that involves taking control of the team through the bankruptcy process itself. "Once you file for bankruptcy, the judge pretty much makes the rules," said Dan Grigsby, the head of a national sports law group in Los Angeles. "They're going to have to work through the judge."

American considers big order: As many as 280 narrow-body jets might be purchased by the airline, split among Airbus and Boeing aircraft. From Bloomberg:

American's main jet fleet of 613 planes now consists only of Boeings, after its last Airbus aircraft, the twin-aisle A300, went out of active service in 2009. The airline said its most-common plane type is the Boeing MD-80, with 216. A workhorse on American's domestic routes, the MD-80 went out of production in 1999 and is being phased out of the carrier's fleet in favor of 737-800s, which are 25 percent more fuel efficient. American began receiving deliveries in 2009 on an order of 130 737-800s that will be completed by 2013.

CFOs cleaning up: Median pay for chief financial officers jumped 19 percent last year, to nearly $3 million, according to a WSJ survey, although some, including Occidental Petroleum's Stephen Chazen, received far more (Chazen, who has become the company's CEO, had other responsibilities).

Californians pay more for car repairs: Factoring parts and labor, costs were 11 percent higher than the national average, according to a study - and fourth highest among the 50 states and the District of Columbia, according to CarMD.com. (LAT)

Still striving to own a home: Nearly nine in 10 Americans say it's still an important part of the American dream, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. But only 49 percent call it a safe investment, while 45 percent feel it's risky.

New CEO of Univision: Long-time NBC executive Randy Falco becomes chief executive of the media giant. Falco had been recently brought on as COO. (NYT)