Financial life in a big town

The most hyped IPO of the year is here, but you won’t be able to trade Facebook’s stock right when the market opens at 9:30 on Friday.

That’s because Facebook () will trade on the Nasdaq exchange, which doesn’t open up initial public offerings until a bit later in the trading session.

"It’s not a delay or a problem, just a matter of style," said a source familiar with Nasdaq’s process. "We want to have an IPO stand alone at its own special time."

The company in question — right now, that’s Facebook — can decide when to debut and works with Nasdaq to set the time. Technically, an IPO stock could even start trading in the afternoon, as long as it’s well before the closing bell at 4 p.m. ET.

But most recent Nasdaq IPOs have typically begun trading a few minutes before 11 a.m. ET. That’s when Groupon (), Zynga () and Angie’s List () made their debuts.

Still, the opening times vary. For example, Splunk () began trading on the Nasdaq at 11:20 a.m. on April 19. The next day, Proofpoint () opened at 10:25 a.m.

A representative from Nasdaq declined to comment on what time Facebook’s stock will open on Friday.

The trading site StreetInsider.com typically posts that information as soon as it’s available. StreetInsider editor Lon Juricic says the site gets its timing information after Nasdaq releases it to traders in the morning.

How it works: On the morning that an IPO begins trading on the Nasdaq, the exchange starts a process called the "IPO cross." During that time, traders can submit buy and sell orders. The Nasdaq matches up those orders in real-time on its electronic marketplace — a process that typically takes 40 microseconds or less.

Those orders can be entered into the system, but they aren’t actually completed until the stock begins trading.

"It’s really business as usual," a source close to Nasdaq said of the plans for Friday’s trading. "Same policies, same procedures. This time there are just more questions because it’s Facebook."

By comparison, the New York Stock Exchange starts trading IPOs soon after the opening bell. Recent IPOs LinkedIn (), Pandora (), Yelp () and Annie’s () all began trading on the NYSE by 10 a.m.

– CNNMoney’s Hibah Yousuf contributed reporting. 

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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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Stock markets recovered around the world following an early stumble caused by election results in France and Greece that appeared to jeopardize Europe’s plans for fighting its debt crisis.

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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Post-Dispatch Editor Arnie Robbins announced Friday that he will step down this month. Editorial Page Editor Gilbert Bailon will take over, becoming the paper’s eighth editor in its 134-year history.

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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The parent of American Airlines, which went into bankruptcy last year, announced a quarterly net loss of $1.7 billion on Thursday, slammed by reorganization costs and rising fuel prices.

The loss was more than quadruple the carrier’s loss from a year earlier, when AMR Corp. reported a net loss of $405 million in the first quarter of 2011.

AMR said the part of the loss stemmed from $1.4 billion in reorganization costs in the latest quarter. The company said the costs were related to its bankruptcy filing from last Nov. 29.

The largest chunk of those costs — some $1 billion - is related to the rejection of eight aircraft leases and eight aircraft engine leases, and the modification of 158 aircraft leases, the airline said.

Merger hangover continues to pain United

American was also hit by rising fuel prices poor credit personal loans. The company said that it paid $3.24 per gallon of jet fuel in the first quarter of 2012, a 17% increase from $2.76 in the year-earlier quarter. The airline said this equated to an increase in costs of $325 million.

While American Airlines didn’t specifically mention job cuts in its quarterly report, the carrier said in February that it was cutting 13,000 positions from its overall staff of 88,000. Layoffs, especially when they happen en masse, typically cost a lot of money for the company that’s handing out the severance packages.

American is one of the largest U.S. carriers, competing with Delta Air Lines (, Fortune 500) and United Continental Holdings (, Fortune 500). 

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Economists have lots of ideas about what can be done to help jumpstart the still weak economy, but they don’t expect Congress to enact any of them any time soon.

A survey of economists by CNNMoney found most don’t expect Congress to pass any kind of economic assistance anytime in the foreseeable future. Only about a third of the 16 who responded to the survey expect some kind of action early in 2013, after the election. Just one expects action in a lame-duck session after the election but before the end of the year. None of them expect action before the election.

"Two weeks after a sudden freeze in hell," is when Bill Watkins, of the Center for Economic Research and Forecasting at Cal Lutheran University, expects Congress to ride to the rescue.

Watkins and his colleagues are the most concerned of those surveyed about the recent weakness in a number of economic readings, including much weaker-than-expected job growth in the March jobs report. They were the only ones who checked the very concerned box.

Another five economists said they were somewhat concerned, but six said they were only a little concerned, and four said they were not concerned at all.

Policies they would like to see passed include comprehensive tax reform, which was endorsed nearly unanimously. Those surveyed were allowed to endorse as many options as they thought would help the economy.

America’s biggest tax breaks

Tax reform would likely lower tax rates for both corporations and individuals, but eliminate many deductions and loopholes. The concept has been endorsed by everyone from President Obama to his likely Republican opponent Mitt Romney, but working out the details in a partisan atmosphere strikes economists as out of reach.

"Comprehensive tax reform would be great, but highly unlikely," said David Wyss, a fellow at Brown University.

Also getting the support of most economists is some extension of the Bush tax cuts, although they split on whether it should be for all taxpayers or if the extension should exclude high-income taxpayers.

Another third support another extension of the partial payroll tax holiday that has been in effect since the start of 2011 and runs through the end of this year.

"The pace of economic growth is too tepid to allow for the simultaneous expiration of the tax policies at the end of 2012," said Sean Snaith, economics professor at the University of Central Florida.

The survey also found 40% support repealing the health care reform and about a quarter would like to repeal the Dodd-Frank financial services reform.

"The uncertainty imparted on the economy by both Dodd-Frank and health care reforms are black clouds over the private sector and they both need to be reworked into more moderate forms," said Snaith.

Some believe that the economy will be better off if Congress does as little as possible.

How Congress is killing the recovery

"There was a time in this recent period where the economy benefited from the assistance of government actions, but now it is time for the government sector to resume its place on the sidelines," said Russell Price of Ameriprise Financial. Price would like to see an extension of the tax cuts for all but upper income households along with comprehensive tax reform.

The economists surveyed forecast only modest growth and hiring for the rest of this year. 

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Threatened last year with demolition, the historic “flying saucer” building in midtown St. Louis soon will be an emporium for $6 lattes and gourmet burritos.

Starbucks and Chipotle are near completion of leases for the former Del Taco outlet near St. Louis University. Developers plan to renovate and expand the unusually shaped building in time for the start of SLU’s fall semester.

Hany Abounader, a partner in the development, said the building, at 212 South Grand Boulevard, will serve as a southern gateway to midtown.

“It’s going to be a landmark for the SLU campus and the Grand Center area,” he said.

Preservation of the building, erected in the 1960s as a Phillips 66 gas station, represents a turnabout for the owner, Rick Yackey, who last year sought city permission to replace the structure with a conventional retail building. His effort prompted protests from preservationists and sidewalk demonstrations.

Yackey at first insisted that the saucer’s preservation made no economic sense. But after the only occupant — a Del Taco — closed last summer, Yackey said he would keep the building and hunt for new tenants. The outcry against demolition affected his decision, he said this month.

“Frankly, we got a lot of pushback from a lot of people,” he said.

Those favoring preservation said the saucer is a prized example of mid-century modern architecture. It is within a district of low-rise and high-rise residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places.

Starbucks and Chipotle had yet to sign lease agreements but Yackey and Abounader said they are confident the two national chains will occupy the building when it opens in August or September.

A Chipotle spokesman said Thursday the company does not comment on new outlets until leases are signed. A Starbucks representative was unavailable for comment. 

The developers will preserve the round concrete roof and erect a mostly glass addition on the east side of the building to house Chipotle easy pay day loans. Starbucks will use much of the original building, which will get new glass walls to reproduce the structure’s original see-through appearance. The businesses will seat about 100 people combined, plus 50 more on a patio beneath the saucer’s broad overhang. Starbucks will have a drive-thru window.

Randy Vines, a Cherokee Street businessman who helped organize the save-the-saucer effort last summer, cheered the decision to preserve the structure.

“Although most of us would have preferred local businesses, the preservation and rehabilitation of the iconic saucer has always been our primary goal,” he said. “Thanks to Rick Yackey for choosing vision over generica.”

Yackey said the $2.5 million development will produce a 4,400-square-foot building half the size of the commercial structure he had initially proposed for the site. State historic preservation tax credits will help fund the saucer project but the trick was finding suitable tenants, he said.

“We always liked the building,” Yackey said. “The problem was making it work economically.”

Fifty of the more than 17,000 Starbucks coffee shops worldwide are in the St. Louis area. The midtown Chipotle will add to the chain’s eight quick-Mexican food outlets in the region. Chipotle has more than 1,200 restaurants.

Abounader, a commercial real estate broker at Balke Brown, said he believes the reborn saucer will be a catalyst for further retail development in the immediate area. He and Yackey are marketing two nearby buildings with a total of about 9,000 square feet of space. Both are within The Flats at 374, a residential complex for 300 SLU students.

“We’ve got tons of interest from local and national retailers to take that space,” Abounader said. “We’re looking for the type of retail opportunity that can serve this community and the students.”

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President Barack Obama says his call for raising taxes on millionaires is not a redistribution of wealth, but a way to free up money for crucial investments in the U.S. economy.

Pitching the so-called Buffett rule for the second straight day, Obama dismissed the notion that the plan is a gimmick. He says it is necessary in order to tackle the country’s massive deficits.

The rule is named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who says he pays a lower tax rate than his secretary. Obama was flanked during his remarks at the White House Wednesday by several business executives and their assistants who he says agree with the principles in the Buffett rule.

The Senate will vote on the plan next week, though it has little chance of passing Congress.

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