Financial life in a big town

European markets bounced back from early losses on news that the 17-country eurozone has narrowly dodged recession, thanks mainly to strong growth in Germany, though concerns persisted that Greece’s political impasse could eventually force it to leave the currency bloc.

Official EU statistics showed the eurozone economy was flat in the first quarter compared with the previous three-month period, better than the 0.2 percent drop that analysts had been expecting. A drop would have put the eurozone technically back into recession, which is defined as two consecutive quarters of economic contraction.

“In the current context, zero growth in the eurozone in the first quarter is relatively good news,” said Marie Diron, senior economic adviser at Ernst & Young. “It suggests that the economy is not falling off a cliff under the burden of fiscal austerity.”

Growth of 0.5 percent in Germany helped offset recessions in seven countries, including large economies like Spain and Italy. But such imbalances remain a worrying weakness in the eurozone. The most fragile economies are also those that are enacting the most punishing austerity measures to lower debt. The result is a currency union in which countries’ economic paths are diverging.

After earlier losses, Britain’s FTSE 100 was up 0.2 percent to 5,474 while Germany’s DAX was up 0.3 percent at 6,472 and France’s CAC-40 added 0.7 percent to 3,080. The euro was up 0.2 percent at $1.2852.

Wall Street was headed for a higher opening, with Dow Jones industrial futures rising 0.6 percent to 12,731 while S&P 500 futures adding 0.6 percent to 1,341.50.

The outlook for the eurozone remains darkened by the political crisis in Greece, where party leaders were struggling for a ninth day to form a coalition government.

No party won an outright majority in the May 6 election, causing an impasse that has raised questions about Greece’s ability to stay in the eurozone. Power-sharing efforts have failed so far after the left-wing Syriza party, which came second in the vote, insisted that the draconian terms of Greece’s financial rescue agreements be scrapped or rewritten short term personal loans.

More talks will be held Tuesday, but hopes for a deal are low and expectations are increasing that the country will have to hold new elections. With polls showing increasing support for Syriza, analysts expect a showdown between whatever new government comes to power in Greece and the country’s bailout rescuers.

“The exit of Greece from the single currency has become probable. Not so long ago it was impossible,” analysts at DBS Bank said.

Looking ahead, investors will keep an eye on U.S. economic indicators for inflation, retail sales and surveys on manufacturing due later in the day. The recovery in the world’s largest economy has been tentative, with employment gains uneven, though corporate earnings have been mostly upbeat. Investors will be searching for signs of strength that might offset the turmoil in Europe and weakening growth in Asia, particularly China.

Asian markets fell earlier on Tuesday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 down 0.8 percent to 8,900.74, its lowest close since Feb. 3. South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.8 percent to 1,898.96. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 lost 0.7 percent to 4,266.30.

Mainland Chinese shares extended their losses, with the Shanghai Composite Index hitting another three-month low, losing 0.2 percent to 2,374.90. But Hong Kong’s Hang Seng, which some analysts said was oversold after more than a week of losses, rebounded 0.8 percent to 19,894.31.

Benchmark oil for June delivery was up 2 cents to $94.80 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.35 to settle at $94.78 in New York on Friday.

In currencies, the dollar rose to 79.92 yen from 79.86 yen late Monday in New York.

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They lacked a business plan, site review or financial feasibility study.

What Ron and Ruth Carter did have, however, was a wealth of kitsch accumulated at flea market and garage sales, along with an ideal locale to peddle the stuff.

Gifts and Decorations requires no introduction to anyone who has driven along North Kingshighway near Delmar Boulevard.

It’s tough to miss the queen-sized Notorious B.I.G. bedspread or the array of themed rugs and wall motifs adorning the storefront where Kingshighway meets Vernon Avenue. 

A sidewalk inventory sheltered only by an awning did not occur by happenstance.

“We pretty much have to put everything outside,” Ron Carter explains. “Nobody will know if we’re here if we sit inside eating jelly donuts. There’s not a lot of windows here.”

Statistics tracking the longevity of small businesses can be confusing.

A 2010 United Capital Funding study that drew on several sources, including data from the U.S. Census, Commerce Department and Small Business Administration is probably closest to the mark. It calculates that the small business survival rate is 49 percent for five years, 34 percent for ten years and only 26 percent for ten years or more.

How, then, to explain the staying power of Gifts and Decorations? This year, the Carters will commemorate a quarter century of selling DVDs, CDs, scarves, ponytail bungees, socks, dirty magazines, mass-produced art and  rugs, including one with the indelible image of the late reggae icon Bob Marley toking a joint.

Carter, 61, gives a simple answer: “It’s not just caring about what you sell. It’s how you treat people, too.”

Gifts and Decorations traces its roots to a spot a few blocks east and south, along Lindell Boulevard. There, Carter — then an elementary school arts teacher — sold handcrafted ashtrays, statuary and figurines molded from plaster of Paris in the early 1980s.

The figurine and ashtray market proved to be fairly successful.

But as the collection of knick-knacks picked up at the flea markets, and other sales approached critical mass, the Carters decided to broaden their inventory.

When the couple – married 35 years – set up shop on Kingshighway in November 1987, the stretch included a beauty shop, a barber shop, a repair shop, a Chop Suey joint and a bar. 

The Carters gradually took over the neighboring real estate as each of the businesses dropped away. Eventually, Gifts and Decorations occupied the entire building.

But only for the purpose of storage. For rare is the customer that makes it past the entrance of 1158 North Kingshighway.

Peddler such impulse buys on the sidewalk is “a lot easier than trying to get them through the door,” Carter says.

Outdoor merchandising captures the peripheral vision of the driving public payday loan no faxing. That’s key to attracting passerby shoppers like Helen King, who pulled curbside after spotting a framed Last Supper triptych, in which artist Wolfgang Otto cast people of color as Christ and his disciples.

“Ten dollars,” King said, loading the print into her car. “You can’t beat it.”

Rotating or rearranging the inventory on a daily basis is another marketing trick. Close observers of Carter’s downmarket bazaar will notice the Betty Boop bedspread, for example, rarely hangs in the same spot.

“That’s another secret,” said Carter. “Don’t put (stuff) in the same place everyday.”

Of course, there’s a downside to conducting business in the great out-of-doors.

Winter isn’t the problem.

“Snow is not so bad, it comes down slow and you can get the stuff inside,” said Carter.

It’s the other seasons, with the storms that tend to descend on St. Louis out of nowhere, that pose the biggest threat.

It takes the Carters about an hour each morning to wheel out the smaller inventory and clamp the rugs and bedspreads to the clothesline running the length of the building.

Carter has never put it to a stopwatch. But he assures it takes a lot less time to get the merchandise inside when high winds and thunderbolts erupt without warning.

Carter says business has dropped off since a city health inspector two years ago ordered Gifts and Decorations to halt the sale of frozen ice – which the Carters call “snow balls.”

“Everybody liked our snowballs, because we gave them a lot of juice,” he said. “And when people stopped for a snowball, there was no telling what else they’d buy.”

Carter is keenly aware that sidewalk transactions, even after 25 years, doesn’t fit the traditional business model.

But he points out that Gifts and Decorations is as vulnerable to the market and economic forces as the grocer across the street or the auto parts supplier on the next block.

Besides taking a hit in the recession, Gifts and Decorations is engaged in constant give and take with wholesalers over the cost of the Chinese goods that dominate the inventory. And the Carters grind their teeth over the bane of businesses of every shape and size – taxes.

Ron Carter may complain that “I don’t know if I’ll be in business that much longer if they keep raising my taxes.”

Still, the couple allows that a healthy supply of merchandise is stockpiled beyond those doors that his customers never enter.

And nearly 25 years after they first arrived at the corner of North Kingshighway and Vernon, they have no plans to clear the sidewalk anytime soon.

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As with fast payday loans, this recently used to be the case, but competitive lenders and higher demand has taken this loan type to mainstay levels.

Energy developer Tenaska Inc. has worked since 2007 to win legislative backing for a next-generation coal-fueled power plant southeast of Springfield. A key selling point was that the project would give a lift to the downstate coal-mining industry.

But Tenaska has failed to get a bill pushed through the General Assembly in the face of opposition from a coalition of business and environmental interests.

Now, with the clock ticking on another legislative session, the company is taking a new tack: It’s proposing to proposing to ditch coal for natural gas.

The new strategy, which has yet to be formalized, is part concession to political reality and part acknowledgement of the U.S. shale gas revolution that’s upended energy markets.

“We thought about it a long time and made a proposal that meets all of the objections that have been raised,” said Bart Ford, a Tenaska vice president.

As originally envisioned, the project would have transformed Illinois coal into a synthetic gas and burned that gas to produce electricity. The technology would allow much of the carbon dioxide and other pollutants from coal to be stripped out before combustion.

Under the new proposal, hatched during a meeting in Springfield earlier this week, Tenaska would move ahead only with the part of the plant that would burn natural gas for electricity. It could seek to add the coal-gasification unit later if market conditions warrant, Ford said.

Whatever the outcome in Springfield, Tenaska’s strategy shift is the latest evidence of the seismic shift taking place in energy markets.

Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technologies that opened up more of the country to natural gas drilling and vastly expanded domestic natural gas production has had a huge impact on the price of the fuel, which remains at around $2.50 per thousand cubic feet — the lowest level since 2002.

The drop in gas prices has led utilities to increasingly embrace natural gas at the expense of coal and made projects to convert coal into gas, which were already a tough sell to policy makers and lenders, practically impossible.

With natural gas at $2.50, “coal gasification doesn’t make sense,” said Ed Rubin, a professor in engineering and public policy department at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. For the foreseeable future, “gas is going to the fuel of choice”

Tenaska’s proposed modification would shave off about two thirds of the project’s original $3.5 billion price tag. That would limit the impact on average residential utility customers to about 60 cents a month.

The proposal being floated in Springfield would also cap rate increases for commercial utility customers at one-tenth cent per kilowatt-hour. Previously filed legislation to advance Tenaska’s coal-gasification plant offered no such guarantees.

Tenaska says the project would not only create thousands of jobs, it would help offset what are projected to be significant electricity price increases in coming years.

There’s already evidence that electricity prices in northern Illinois will jump considerably beginning in 2014 as older, less efficient coal plants are mothballed because they can’t compete economically in an era of cheap natural gas and tougher environmental regulations.

But despite an outlook for higher power prices, Tenaska says it still needs legislation that would require utilities to buy the plant’s output for the next 30 years. That’s because Wall Street otherwise won’t finance a large new power plant in a deregulated state like Illinois unless it has a long-term agreement to sell the output. And such agreements aren’t possible with Illinois’ power procurement rules.

The Citizens Utility Board, a Chicago-based consumer group, supported previous legislation to advance the coal gasification plant because it capped maximum rate increases for residential customers and small businesses.

Jim Chilsen, a CUB spokesman, said the group is still reviewing Tenaska’s modified proposal, and that its support generally hinges on a cap on any rate increases.

The STOP Coalition — a group that includes power generator Exelon Corp., business and environmental interests that galvanized to fight the Taylorville project legislation — issued a statement indicating it hasn’t yet formed a position on Tenaska’s new proposal.

“When details of the proposal emerge, we will look at it with the goal of ensuring customers aren’t subject to unnecessary rate increases,” the group said.

Ford doesn’t necessarily believe opponents will change their stance. But he said it’s important to show legislators that the company responded to all of the objections in an effort to form consensus.

He also said it’s important for Tenaska to get the legislation approved before the legislative session ends on May 31. The company is close to an agreement needed to interconnect with the power grid and already has an air permit needed to move forward.

“The clock is ticking,” he said.

Only a few years ago, Illinois was positioned for the first wave of coal gasification plants, including Tenaska’s Taylorville Energy Center.

Peabody Energy Corp., the world’s largest private-sector coal producer, announced efforts in 2005 to pursue a coal-gasification project in Illinois with ArcLight Capital Partners in response to what it deemed “scarce U.S. natural gas” supplies.

The Department of Energy-sponsored FutureGen project was proposed by President George W. Bush.

But “none of them have come to fruition,” said Phil Gonet, head of the Illinois Coal Association.

Gonet said Tenaska’s plan to move ahead with only part of the Taylorville project “reflects the reality” that cheap natural gas is hurting the coal industry. But he’d rather see part of the Taylorville plant built — and perhaps converted later to run on Illinois coal — than for the plant to not get built at all.

“Is it a setback for coal? yeah. But I wouldn’t call it a major setback,” Gonet said.

St. Louis-based Peabody said it still sees coal-to-gas technology as viable longer term in the U.S., but wouldn’t move any such projects to the “front burner” until natural gas move higher. The company is also optimistic about the potential to convert its coal reserves into transportation fuels, spokesman Vic Svec said.

Rubin said it remains to be seen whether the energy industry’s bet on cheap natural gas is a smart one. The country leaned heavily on natural gas a decade ago, and the plan backfired.

Meanwhile, development of technology to convert coal to gas is still advancing in other parts of the world. 

“China is where the action is,” he said.

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Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. is buying another generic drugmaker, Switzerland’s Actavis Group, for about $5.6 billion in a move that will make Watson in the world’s third-biggest generic drugmaker.

Watson, which has seen its profits surge since it started selling an authorized generic version of cholesterol blockbuster Lipitor in December, is now No. 4 globally. It had expected around $5.4 billion in revenue this year. It plans to pay for Actavis with term loan borrowings and the sale of new debt.

Privately held Actavis operates in more than 40 countries and sells more than 1,000 products. The companies said its revenue totaled $2.5 billion in 2011. Watson said the purchase should close during the fourth quarter of 2012, pending approval from regulators. If Actavis meets performance goals in 2012, its shareholders could get up to 5.5 million shares of Watson.

Watson CEO Paul Bisaro said in a statement that the deal will boost its position in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, and complement its products in the U.S. After the deal is complete, more than 40 percent of Watson’s generic drug revenue will come from outside the U.S., and Watson said it believes it will be able to reduce its annual costs by $300 million the three years after the deal closes.

Watson reported $4.58 billion in revenue in 2011, up 29 percent from the previous year, on sales of generic versions of drugs like Lipitor, the pain drug Kadian and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder treatment Concerta. It also expanded its business by buying generics maker Specifar Pharmaceuticals of Greece in May guaranteed unsecured personal loan. That deal was valued at $563.1 million.

Watson also makes brand-name products like the enlarged-prostate drug Rapaflo. In December, Watson announced it is partnering with Amgen Inc., the world’s biggest biotechnology company, to create “biosimilar” versions of several biologic medicines for cancer. Those drugs would be sold under a joint Amgen/Watson brand.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. of Israel is the world’s largest generic drugmaker, with $13 billion in generic drug revenue in 2011. Sandoz, a unit of Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG, was No. 2 with $10.7 billion. Mylan Inc. of Pittsburgh had around $8 billion in sales for the year.

Actavis is headquartered in Zug, Switzerland. It has around 10,000 employees to Watson’s 6,700. Watson is based in Parsippany, N.J.

Watson shares climbed $4.01, or 5.8 percent, to $73.70 in aftermarket trading. The stock is up 19.1 percent since March 21, when it was first reported that Watson was in talks to buy Actavis.

After the deal was announced, Moody’s Investors Service backed its credit ratings on Watson but lowered its outlook to stable from positive. Fitch Ratings said it will downgrade Watson if the deal proceeds as planned because the deal would increase Watson’s debt to $6.8 billion from $1.1 billion.

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European officials praised Spain

Markets were buoyant on Thursday on hopes Greece will get enough support from private investors in a crucial bond swap plan that aims to slash euro107 billion ($140 billion) off its national debt.

Athens is asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a 53.5 percent lower face value, lower interest rates and longer maturity dates. The hope is that by lowering the amount of debt it has to repay, the country can gradually return to growth.

If not enough investors agree and the bond deal fails, the country could default on its debt in less than two weeks, prompting renewed turmoil in financial markets and knocking confidence in the global economic recovery.

Investors have until 10 p.m. local time (2000 GMT) to sign up, though official results aren’t expected until Friday morning. Only bonds held by private investors are part of the deal, meaning that amounts held by the European Central Bank and other central banks are exempt.

“The markets are in a better mood this morning supported by growing confidence that Greece will be successful this evening in its private sector debt swap,” said Jane Foley, an analyst at Rabobank International.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 1.3 percent at 5,866 while Germany’s DAX rose 2.1 percent to 6,810. The CAC-40 in France was 2 percent higher at 3,460. The euro was also buoyant, trading 0.6 percent higher at $1.3220.

Wall Street is poised for a solid open, too, with both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures up 0.8 percent.

As well as keeping a close watch on Greece’s bond swap results, investors will monitor interest rate decisions from both the European Central Bank and the Bank of England to digest.

Both are expected to keep interest rates unchanged at 1 percent and 0 payday loans no faxing.5 percent, respectively.

Most interest will center on what ECB chief Mario Draghi says at his news conference about warnings from Germany’s Bundesbank about the risk the ECB has taken on by loosening rules for collateral on emergency loans to banks.

The ECB is credited with pulling Europe back from the debt crisis brink by offering a total of euro1 trillion ($1.32 trillion) to banks on Dec. 21 and Feb. 29. That eased a looming credit crunch, supported investor confidence, and caused borrowing rates to ease for financially weak countries like Italy and Spain.

Investors will also monitor another round of U.S. economic figures later. Most interest will center on the weekly jobless claims figures in the run-up to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls data for February. The payrolls figures often set the market tone for a week or two after their release _ a marked improvement in the U.S. jobs picture in recent months has buoyed hopes over the economic recovery in the U.S. and that’s fed through into the performance of stock markets all round the world.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 index climbed 2 percent to 9,768.96. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng jumped 1.3 percent to 20,900.73 and South Korea’s Kospi edged up 0.9 percent to 2,000.76

In mainland China, the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.1 percent to 2,420.28.

Oil markets tracked equities higher _ the benchmark New York rate was up 79 cents at $106.95 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

____

Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong contributed to this report.

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China set a 2012 target for inflation that

A drop in the paper value of the financial instruments known as derivatives hurt profits at Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate run by billionaire investor Warren Buffett.

Some of its subsidiaries performed well enough to offset some of the losses. Buffett detailed the company’s 2011 performance Saturday in his annual letter to shareholders.

Berkshire reported fourth-quarter net income of $3.05 billion, or $1,846 per Class A share. That was down from $4.4 billion net income, or $2,656 per share, a year ago.

Berkshire’s profit fell short of the $1,875 per share expected by the four analysts surveyed by FactSet, a provider of financial data. Quarterly revenue grew 5 percent to $37.96 billion from last year’s $36.17 billion.

The biggest difference in the quarter was the change in estimated value of Berkshire’s investments and derivative contracts. That fell to $382 million this year from last year’s $1.4 billion.

Derivatives are complex investments that have been blamed in part for the 2008 financial crisis and the recession. Berkshire’s derivatives are designed to operate like insurance policies, with some covering the risk of bond defaults by certain companies and some covering whether certain stock market indexes will be lower 15 or 20 years in the future.

Buffett reiterated Saturday that he believes Berkshire’s derivative contracts will ultimately prove profitable, but he said the company doesn’t plan to write any more major derivative contracts. Buffett said he does not want Berkshire to deal with new requirements for how much collateral companies must post when they hold derivatives payday lenders.

For 2011, Berkshire generated $10.3 billion in net income, or $6,215 per Class A share, down from nearly $13 billion, or $7,928 per share, in 2010.

Strength in the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad, MidAmerican Energy, and the Marmon Group helped offset insurance underwriting losses related to catastrophes like the Japan tsunami. Newly acquired chemical maker Lubrizol added $1.7 billion in revenues to Berkshire since September.

Stockbroker Andy Kilpatrick, who wrote “Of Permanent Value: The Story of Warren Buffett,” said Buffett managed to outperform the overall market in a tough year for Berkshire’s insurance and housing-related subsidiaries.

“It was not a great year, but he still beat the S&P. It’s still an incredible moneymaking machine,” Kilpatrick said.

Buffett’s preferred measure of Berkshire’s performance is the growth in its book value, which is a calculation of the company’s assets minus its liabilities. Buffett said Berkshire’s book value grew 4.6 percent to $99,860 per share in 2011. The S&P 500, which Berkshire is part of, gained 2.1 percent last year when dividends were factored in.

Berkshire owns roughly 80 subsidiaries, including clothing, furniture and jewelry companies, but its insurance and utility businesses typically account for more than half the company’s net income. It also has major investments in such companies as Coca-Cola, IBM and Wells Fargo.

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Turkey stands by its forecast of 4 percent growth this year, Deputy Prime Minister Ali Babacan said, dismissing International Monetary Fund projections that the economy may barely expand.

The global environment is uncertain and there are major decisions to be taken in developed nations in the next four or five weeks that could change the outlook completely, Babacan said in a televised interview from Davos today. The IMF is

Listen up, beer lovers — you may soon be able to get your suds in grande form. At Starbucks.

Starbucks said Monday that it would begin offering beer and wine at select locations in Atlanta and Southern California by the end of this year, to go along with several locations in the Chicago area that have previously been announced.

Starbucks (, Fortune 500) began the initiative in the Pacific Northwest in late 2010.

"As our customers transition from work to home, many are looking for a warm and inviting place to unwind and connect with the people they care about," Clarice Turner, Starbucks’ senior vice president for U.S. operations, said in a statement payday loan lenders.

"We’re pleased with the response of our customers to the introduction of wine, beer and premium food at several of our stores in the Pacific Northwest, and we’re excited to see how the idea translates to other markets."

The "enhanced menu" at these locations will also include savory snacks, small plates, and hot flatbreads, Starbucks said. The wines and beers on offer "will be hand-selected to reflect local customer tastes and preferences," the company added. 

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