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To rapturous applause from employees, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg rang the bell to kick off trading on the Nasdaq market at the company’s Silicon Valley headquarters at 6:30 a paydayloans.m. Pacific time.

Shares in Facebook begin publicly trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange for the first time Friday at 11:00 a.m., at an opening price of $38 US. Follow our live blog as The Star covers the social networking giant’s historic first trading day, including analysis and reaction.

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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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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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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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His reasons for optimism: the world’s strongest military, best businesses, most entrepreneurial workforce and deepest capital markets. "We have the royal straight flush," Dimon told Fortune.

So what’s the problem? Dimon cited three examples of where the government went wrong: The debt ceiling crisis, the failure to adopt Simpson-Bowles and what he calls the "constant attack on business."

When asked why, at a time of record profits, Corporate America isn’t hiring more, Dimon said American businesses had added 4 million jobs in the past two years no fax needed payday loans. "I don’t think government policy had anything to do with it," Dimon said. "It should have been 8 million.

More video on Jamie Dimon and the economy:

Dimon on lending, taxes and Romney

Buffett: Obama beats Romney on economy

Obama: Trickle down doesn’t work

Munger on Occupy: ‘I hate that’ 

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Greek voters over the weekend punished mainstream politicians who had backed cost-cutting plans demanded by the country’s international lenders, leaving the country without clear leadership. In France President Nicolas Sarkozy was thrown out in favor of Socialist Francois Hollande, who pledged “to finish with austerity.”

Investors on Monday worried that the shifting political landscape in Europe could undermine the region’s long battle to keep its shared currency intact and restore the faith of global investors. European markets slumped early on, but closed higher after worries about the political changes dissipated and investors focused on Hollande’s pledges to encourage economic growth.

Investors were also relieved after Spain announced a plan to present measures this week to support the country’s ailing banks. Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy said he would not rule out lending or injecting public money into the country’s financial system.

Stocks rose sharply in Spain, ending up 2.7 percent. France’s main index gained 1.7 percent. The euro also recovered ground it lost against the dollar.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones industrial average fell as much as 68 points in early trading, but recouped its losses and even gained 10 points by the afternoon. The Dow finished the day down 29.74 points, or 0.2 percent, at 13,008.53.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 also started the day lower but ended up 0.48 points at 1,369.58. The Nasdaq composite index rose 1.4 points to 2,957.76.

The election results in Europe showed that voters were rejecting the extreme belt-tightening required by international bailouts and favored by Germany’s leadership.

Investors are waiting hear the newly-elected leaders articulate their visions for how to deal with the euro zone’s debt crisis, which is why there is a muted reaction from stock markets, according Kim Caughey-Forrest, equity research analyst at investment firm Fox Pitt Capital Group.

“There is no reason to cry until you get hurt,” said Caughey-Forrest.

The verdict from European voters will likely force leaders there to go back to the table and come up with more acceptable solutions to the debt crisis that has plagued many nations. The deep cuts in government spending have already worsened the situation in many countries, leading them into deeper economic distress and increasing already high unemployment.

Many believe the austerity programs are necessary to keep bond investors from panicking about the possibility that more European nations will default or require bailouts Faxless payday loans.

However, a growing number of politicians, like France’s Hollande, say the cuts have been too much, too fast. They say the region’s economy can’t return to growth unless governments stop tightening the fiscal noose and start spending again to create demand. Some economists also now believe that the cuts have to be accompanied by some government economic stimulus to promote growth.

“We are going to hear a more balanced prescription coming out of the European leadership,” said Quincy Krosby, a market strategist at insurer Prudential Financial. “The elections were a strong message for pro-austerity leaders from the people.”

Initially, traders also bought up ultra-safe Treasurys overnight when stock markets in Europe were falling. That pushed the yield on the 10-year note as low as 1.83 percent early Monday morning, a level it hadn’t reached since early February. However, the yield rebounded to 1.88 percent in late trading, the same level it was at late Friday.

Earlier in Asia, Japan’s Nikkei index plunged 2.8 percent to its lowest finish in three months. In addition to Europe’s elections, it was also the first time for investors in Asia to react to a weak jobs report Friday in the U.S. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index slid 2.6 percent.

Among U.S. stocks that made big moves:

_ Disney rose 2 percent after its movie “The Avengers” pulled in $80.5 million in its domestic debut Friday, the second-best haul ever on opening day. The movie was made by Disney’s Marvel Studios unit and is based on Marvel Comics heroes.

_ Cognizant Technology Solutions plunged 19 percent after the information technology services provider lowered its forecast for the full year on low demand, echoing the bleak outlook from other rivals due to uncertainty in the global economy.

_ Meat products maker Tyson Foods rose over 3 percent after reporting an increase in its second-quarter profit on higher beef and chicken prices.

_ Frontier Communications fell 7 percent after the regional telecommunications provider said it was losing residential and business customers. The company had bought rural landlines from Verizon Communications two years ago, which led to several quarters of growth last year.

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Robbins, 59, has led the Post-Dispatch since 2005, after seven years as managing editor.

The last seven years have been a tumultuous time for the newspaper industry, including the Post-Dispatch. The paper has endured falling print circulation and several rounds of newsroom layoffs and buyouts. But it also has seen website visitors nearly double since 2007 and has been named a finalist for the industry’s top honor, the Pulitzer Prize, three times in the last four years.

Despite the economic challenges, Robbins made his mark on the paper and the St. Louis region, said publisher Kevin Mowbray.

“Arnie has done a fabulous job managing this newsroom through change, with honor and grace,” Mowbray said. “I’m really sad to see him go.”

In a speech to the newsroom Friday afternoon, Robbins stressed that he alone decided to step down, wanting “balance in my life.” He started considering it seriously on a hiking trip earlier this year.

That decision, Robbins said, comes with mixed emotions.

“I’ll miss walking around the newsroom. I won’t miss waking up at 3 a.m. and worrying about the newsroom,” he said. “We’ve been through a lot together. I’m happy, but I’m sad.”

Robbins said he has no immediate plans, that he might explore university or foundation work, and that he and his wife hope to stay in St. Louis.

Stepping into his shoes will be Bailon, 53, who has been the newspaper’s editorial page editor since late 2007. He previously spent 21 years at the Dallas Morning News, where he rose through the ranks from nightside general assignment reporter to the post of executive editor and then editor and publisher of Al Día, the paper’s Spanish-language subsidiary.

Bailon said he understands the challenges facing big metro newspapers but called their mission as vital as ever.

“We’re not going anywhere,” he said. “People want information. They want to pick up something and know they can trust it. We can provide that.”

If anything, Bailon said, the proliferation of news platforms — from print to smartphones to tablets — provides more opportunity for an organization such as the Post-Dispatch.

“I see a good future for us,” he said.

Having a top editor who thinks creatively about technology and the economics of journalism has never been more important, said Jill Geisler, who teaches newsroom leadership at the Poynter Institute, a journalism think tank in Florida.

“Being a superb journalist, that’s the starting point now,” she said. “There has to be a much deeper understanding of audience, a deeper understanding of the business side.”

Bailon brings that understanding, Mowbray said.

“I’m confident that Gilbert will continue the outstanding and exceptional work that is produced by our newsroom each and every day,” he said.

In an unrelated move, Sports Editor Reid Laymance left the Post-Dispatch on Friday. Steve Parker, deputy managing editor for news, will replace him on an interim basis while retaining oversight of Page 1. No replacement has been named for Bailon on the editorial page.

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