Monday morning headlines

Stocks slide: Looks like Wall Street rally is stalling out. Dow is down 70 points.

Gas, oil update: Prices seem to be stabilizing, with an average gallon of regular in the L.A. area actually dropping two-tenths of a penny overnight, to $4.375, according to the Auto Club. Oil showed little movement, with NY crude trading at around $107 a barrel. (AP)

Yahoo preps big restructuring: Expect layoffs to number in the thousands, reports All Things Digital's Kara Swisher, as the Internet giant's new CEO, Scott Thompson, looks to significantly pare the business.

While Yahoo has been subject to numerous layoffs over the years, none has been as large as what is now being contemplated to slash costs. Yahoo's employee base numbered 14,100 employees at the end of its last quarterly report, up over four percent from the previous year. But, sources said, the company also has a large contingent of software contractors that work on product and whose cost is masked in its capital expenditures.

Newspapers struggle on print side: For every new dollar earned in digital ad revenue, newspapers, on average, lose $7 in print advertising, according to a survey of 2011 financial data by the Project for Excellence in Journalism. From the NYT:

[Project director Tom] Rosenstiel said he and the researchers came away thinking that the future of newspapers could be affected quite a bit by business culture. "The papers that are succeeding," he said in an e-mail, "are those that have pushed harder to change their sales staffs, have pushed digital even at the risk of putting less effort into the old categories that pay the bills, have taken more risks -- have fought against the deep 'inertia' that many of the executives describe."

LAT paywall begins today: Readers will have access to up to 15 stories a month. After that they will have to pay. Print subscribers have free access.

Big weekend for "The Lorax": The Dr. Seuss feature picked up nearly $71 million, the best opening ever for a non-sequel animated title. From THR:

The 3D pic -- receiving a glowing A CinemaScore -- narrowly bested the $70.5 million earned by Pixar's The Incredibles in 2004, according to Universal estimates. Final numbers will come in Monday morning. Either way, Lorax is an enormous victory for Universal and Illumination, as well as the film business in general. After last year's moviegoing slump, which dampened the family marketplace, the domestic box office is surging. Revenues were up nearly 30 percent this weekend, marking the 9th weekend in a row of growth.

Labor abuses alleged: Dozens of Inland Empire warehouse workers are accusing three companies that handle Walmart goods of fraudulent pay practices. Crew leaders were under orders at some warehouses to force workers to sign blank time sheets. From FairWarning:

Workers often were paid only for the time they spent loading and unloading trucks - not for the time they put in sweeping warehouses, labeling and restacking boxes or waiting to find out if they would be assigned work. High heat in the warehouses and constant pressure for speed created safety problems. These and other issues triggered an investigation that led the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA, in January to accuse four warehouses of more than 60 workplace safety violations and to seek $256,445 in penalties.

A few glitches in United computer switch: Passengers reported long lines at some airports, but the switchover to a new reservation system went pretty well. As part of the change, the Continental Airlines name finally disappears. (Chicago Tribune)