Monday morning headlines

Stocks open lower: Ongoing worries about Greece and JPMorgan. Dow is down about 130 points.

JP Morgan executives set to leave: The bank's chief investment officer, Ina Drew, is out in the wake of the $2-billion trading loss. Two of Drew's subordinates who were involved with the trades are also expected to resign. From Reuters:

One hedge fund manager who previously ran a proprietary (or prop) trading book at JPMorgan said the bank's public commitments to trim balance sheet risk were at odds with its network of trading silos, who were making bets independently with only a handful of the bank's most senior executives notified of their vast, complex exposures. "This (CIO) group was completely separate, completely distinct from the prop trading unit. We had no clue about their prop book and they would have no clue about ours for that matter," the manager said.

Jamie Dimon never explained losses: NBC's David Gregory didn't know what to ask the JPMorgan CEO during a "Meet the Press" appearance and LAT columnist Mike Hiltzik says it showed:

For most of the interview Dimon allowed a pained smile to play on his lips, like someone who is suffering a mild case of indigestion but is confident that the Tagamet will soon take care of the discomfort. Dimon could pose as having been taken to the woodshed by the stern questioning of David Gregory. But this more resembled being taken to the woodshed for a cool, companionable drink. Gregory didn't press Dimon to explain how the blown-up trade fits in with the ongoing debate over the Volcker Rule, a federal proposal designed to forbid banks from making risky trades for their own books.

Outgoing Yahoo CEO has cancer: Before resigning over the weekend amid a controversy over his credentials, Scott Thompson told the board that he has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, the WSJ is reporting, citing sources:

The decision to step down from Yahoo was in part influenced by Mr. Thompson's cancer diagnosis, said this person. The diagnosis had occurred in recent days, added this person, while the board was investigating why the executive's academic record had erroneously included a computer science degree. The error in Mr. Thompson's resume appeared in a Yahoo regulatory filing and on Yahoo's and other corporate websites.

Best Buy chairman steps down: Company founder Richard Schulze was aware of a relationship that the CEO was having with a female employee and did not alert the audit committee, an investigation reveals. Schulze will be replaced by Hatim Tyabji, chairman of the audit committee. (AP)

Economists see steady growth: Forecasters surveyed by the WSJ expect 185,000 jobs to be added each month over the next year and gross domestic product to expand somewhere between 2.2 percent and 3 percent.

On average, economists put just a 16% chance of another downturn. "An entrenched upturn in process in the private sector is a big plus," said Allen Sinai of Decision Economics, who sees almost no chance of a new recession. But he notes that there are risks. Damage to growth could come from a downturn in the euro zone and what is known as the "fiscal cliff"--a reference to large spending cuts and tax increases scheduled to be automatically enacted at the start of 2013 unless Congress takes action.

Big jump in gas prices: An average gallon of regular in the L.A. area is up about 15 cents from a week ago, to $4.386, according to the Auto Club. Oil prices have been falling sharply in recent days, but the region faces refinery shortages.

LegaZoom files IPO: The online provider of basic legal services is looking to add as much as $120 million in an initial public offering. The Glendale company was co-founded by attorney Robert Shapiro. (LAT)

Network upfronts get started: Time for advertisers to assess next fall's lineups. THR has a scorecard of what's in and what's out.

Big weekend for "The Avengers": The smash hit about Marvel superheroes scored $103.2 million in North American ticket sales and was close to topping $1 billion worldwide. (Reuters)

CPK's new headquarters: The L.A. based pizza chain will be moving to Playa Vista after many years in the LAX area. The deal involves a sublease with Fox Interactive Media, which had earlier planned to use the offices for MySpace (since sold off). (LAT).