Financial life in a big town

A state appeals court has ruled that Westfield Galleria at Roseville’s policy limiting shoppers’ conversations with strangers about potentially controversial topics such as religion and politics is a restriction of free speech.

The 3rd District Court of Appeal in Sacramento decided that the mall’s rules regarding such conversations and another rule that prohibits shoppers from wearing clothes with religious or political messages are unconstitutionally vague and restrictive of free speech.

The case involves a youth pastor who was arrested in 2007 at the Galleria after talking to two other shoppers about his religious beliefs. The shoppers agreed to the conversation. However, a store employee who overheard the conversation that Matthew Snatchko was having with the shoppers complained and called the mall’s security guards. Charges were later dropped, but the Pacific Justice Institute sued, challenging the Galleria’s policy.

Galleria owner Westfield LLC is disappointed by the ruling and considering legal options, a spokeswoman said.

“Westfield has spent considerable time and effort, including working with legal counsel, to adopt reasonable rules governing conduct in our shopping centers,” spokeswoman Catharine Dickey wrote in an e-mail. “These rules protect our tenants and the thousands of customers at the mall each day by ensuring a safe and secure shopping, dining and entertainment environment while recognizing the requirements of California law. In particular, the rules recognize the right of the public to engage in expressive activity in our common areas, subject to reasonable time, place and manner restrictions as required by California law. These rules and procedures are, and have been, applied on a content-neutral basis for hundreds of individuals and organizations in our shopping centers each year.”

Westfield will consider appealing to the California Supreme Court, she said.

The appeals court decided that Snatchko could collect damages and attorneys’ fees. The trial court is responsible for implementing the appeals court ruling.

“We are very pleased with this landmark ruling by the California Court of Appeal that vindicates the right to engage in casual conversations about faith without fear of being arrested,” Brad Dacus, Pacific Justice Institute president, said in a news release. “This is a great victory for free speech and common sense.”

Timothy Smith, a Pacific Justice Institute affiliate attorney who is with the Sacramento law firm of McKinley & Smith, served as lead counsel for Snatchko pro bono.

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The Wauwatosa Plan Commission on Monday deferred until next month a decision on whether to dedicate $12 million to support a new University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus.

City officials are considering paying to build roads and utilities on an undeveloped 88.9-acre site where the UWM Real Estate Foundation Inc. has proposed building Innovation Park, which includes university buildings, private housing and a research park. The city would create a tax incremental financing district to pay for the $12 million in infrastructure construction costs.

The TIF district would let Wauwatosa borrow money for the projects, and then pay off the debt using increased property taxes from new development on the land Same day payday loans.

The Wauwatosa Plan Commission held a public hearing on the proposal on Monday night, but unanimously voted to table the proposal until Sept. 13 to gather more information, said Nancy Welch, Wauwatosa community development director.

If the Plan Commission approves the proposal on Sept. 13, the Wauwatosa Common Council could vote on the plan during its Sept. 21 meeting.

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The Dow ended an up-and-down week with a 21-point decline; still, thanks to Monday’s big gain, the index picked up 187 points on the week.

In Colorado, Crocs reached a 27-month high close on upbeat earnings, and Venoco and Golden Star Resources also advanced on the session.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished the trading day at 10,653.56, down 21.42 points (0.2 percent).

The S&P 500 closed at 1,121.64, down 4.17 points (0.37 percent).

The NASDAQ Composite finished at 2,288.47, down 4.59 points (0.2 percent).

Among actively traded Colorado stocks, Crocs Inc. (CROX) led the day’s gainers percentagewise, up 10.89 percent ($1.37) to close at $13.95. The gain brought the stock to its highest close since April 2008.

The Niwot shoemaker on Thursday reported improved second-quarter profits due to further strengthening of its global wholesale and retail businesses.

Other Colorado gainers:

• Venoco Inc. (VQ) — Up 2.27 percent (38 cents) to $17.13.

• Golden Star Resources Ltd. (GSS) — Up 2.11 percent (9 cents) to $4.35.

• Royal Gold Inc. (RGLD) — Up 2.01 percent (92 cents) to $46.76.

• Forest Oil Corp. (FST) — Up 1.38 percent (43 cents) to $31.50.

• Level 3 Communications Inc. (LVLT) — Up 1.31 percent (2 cents) to $1.16.

Among actively traded Colorado stocks that declined on the day was Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp. (KOG), down 9.46 percent (33 cents) to close at $3.16.

Other Colorado decliners:

• SM Energy Co. (SM) — Down 2.89 percent ($1.20) to $40.27.

• QEP Resources Inc. (QEP) — Down 2.64 percent (92 cents) to $33.97.

• DCT Industrial Trust Inc. (DCT) — Down 2.63 percent (13 cents) to $4.81.

• Molson Coors Brewing Co. (TAP) — Down 2.29 percent ($1.07) to $45.68.

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AirTran Airways plans to expand its Caribbean service to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.

Punta Cana will mark the fifth Caribbean destination the Orlando-based low-cost airline offers service to, including Aruba and Cancun, Mexico; Montego Bay, Jamaica; and Nassau/Paradise Island, Bahamas.

Roundtrip, nonstop flights between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and Punta Cana International Airport will be conducted twice weekly beginning Feb. 16, 2011.

Connections to Punta Cana will be available from more than 40 cities throughout the AirTran Airways network via Atlanta, including Orlando, New York, Washington, Boston, Baltimore, Milwaukee and others.

“Punta Cana is a very popular vacation destination, and we are happy to offer our passengers the chance to explore such a beautiful area beginning this winter,” said Kevin Healy, AirTran Airways’ senior vice president of marketing and planning. “Our new flights to Punta Cana represent the next phase of our growth strategy in the Caribbean.”

AirTran Airways has been flying to Punta Cana since 2008 using chartered service.

AirTran Airways is a subsidiary of AirTran Holdings Inc. (NYSE: AAI) and a Fortune 1000 company.

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Less than three weeks after gold surged to record highs, the precious metal has scaled back about 5% and is hovering once again around $1,200 an ounce.

On Thursday morning, gold for August delivery — the most actively traded contract — was down $7.50, or 0.63%, at $1,191.40 an ounce.

But the two major factors behind the precious metal’s recent highs around $1,250 — Europe’s debt woes and volatile stock markets — are still major concerns. So what gives?

For the first clue, look no further than July 1 — the day gold fell nearly $40.

Good news for Europe, bad for gold

Facing the expiration of about $554 billion in debt last Thursday, the European Central Bank announced it would assist 78 banks in refinancing their loans, a move that would essentially roll over a quarter of that debt.

The euro rose after the news, and institutional investors, who just weeks earlier had been betting in favor of gold and against the euro, suddenly rushed to close out their bets and reap profits at gold’s still relatively high prices, said Phil Streible, a senior market strategist with futures broker Lind-Waldock.

Traders had previously been taking advantage of the euro’s weakness amid growing concerns about Europe’s debt crisis. Gold, as a tangible asset, was perceived to be a safer alternative to the paper currency, Streible said. But in light of the ECB’s news, that trade may have run its course.

So investors seem temporarily content to take their profits and put their fears about Europe’s debt crisis on the back burner, and that’s one factor driving gold down. But there’s another.

Deflation, not inflation, fears

Disappointing economic data on this side of the Atlantic may also be leading investors to sell gold. On Friday, readings on U.S. manufacturing, housing and jobs all came in worse-than-expected, sending stocks to fresh 2010 lows.

It’s a bit curious that gold, a so-called safe haven, has slipped despite some dismal economic reports. But gold is also considered a hedge against inflation — a trend investors now have little reason to fear.

Michael Cheah, a bond fund manager with SunAmerica, said the most recent economic reports have fed increased fears of deflation, a persistent decline in the prices of assets and consumer goods fast cash advance loan.

In a deflation scenario, Cheah said investors would be wise to put their money behind a different safe haven: U.S. Treasurys.

That’s because Treasurys pay interest regularly, and although the yield may be low, it’s still better than taking a loss in stocks or gold should double-dip recession fears come true, Cheah said.

Gold rush not over yet

But with all these factors in mind, analysts still say gold prices could climb higher. Streible forecasts gold to rebound to as high as $1,325 by the end of the year.

Jeffrey Nichols, a senior economic advisor to Rosland Capital, a precious metals firm, has even loftier expectations. He anticipates the metal to rise as high as $1,500 an ounce by year-end — a prediction he has stuck with for the last several months.

Nichols points out that gold is a very small market when compared to Treasurys or currencies, so it’s easily swayed in one direction, especially during weeks of low trading volume.

The recent dip may be entirely the work of institutional investors at big banks and hedge funds who are taking profits during light trading surrounding the July 4 holiday and summer vacations, Nichols said.

And those are quite "possibly the very same people who will come back in the next few weeks and push gold higher again," he added.

Meanwhile, Streible said he thinks concerns about Europe’s debt crisis are likely to resurface, pushing the euro down and gold up once again.

Investors will be watching for the results of the ECB’s so-called financial "stress tests" of 91 banks, which it plans to release on July 23, as a barometer of the region’s economic health.

Cheah also expects gold to rise later in the year because he thinks a double-dip is likely. If that happens, he said, investors probably would eventually lose faith in the U.S. dollar and Treasurys, sending gold once again to record highs, he said. 

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Toyota Motor Co. plans to start recalling luxury vehicles possibly affected by engine problems on Monday.

Toyota will submit documents to recall of 90,000 vehicles in Japan on Monday, company spokesman Mieko Iwasaki told CNN. Recall announcements in other regions will subsequently be handled by each country individually.

On Thursday, Toyota said it was investigating engine problems affecting 270,000 vehicles worldwide. Small valve springs that were made from low-quality metal could crack, potentially causing engines to stall, said Toyota spokesman Paul Nolasco.

In most cases, owners will experience only abnormal idling or engine noise, Toyota said in a written statement, although even that was described as a "remote possibility."

Approximately 137,000 vehicles in the U.S. are potentially affected, the automaker said. The cars sold in the U.S. that could be affected include the Lexus IS 350, GS 350, GS 460, GS 450h, LS 460, LS 600hL. All are luxury sedans and two, the GS 450h and LS 600hL, are hybrid cars.

Only cars from model years earlier than 2010 could be involved, Toyota said.

Also involved is the Toyota Crown, a large luxury car that is not sold in the United States.

Toyota has not received any reports of injuries or fatalities related to the issue, the automaker said instant payday loan.

Toyota’s Lexus luxury division will announce a remedy for the problem as soon as possible, the automaker said in its statement.

"In the meantime, we sincerely apologize to our customers for any inconvenience and request that they contact their nearest Lexus dealer if they believe there is a problem with their vehicle," said Mark Templin, general manager for Lexus in the U.S.

Toyota has been dealing with a long-running spate of quality and safety problems.

Toyota has, in recent months, recalled more than 8 million vehicles worldwide for a variety of potential safety issues including possible unintended acceleration and problems with anti-lock brake software.

Most recently, the automaker recalled some Lexus SUVs because of problems with electronic stability control software.

In a recent J.D. Power survey of initial quality, Toyota slipped to 21st place this year from 6th place last year.

CNN’s Yoko Wakatsuki and CNNMoney.com senior writer Chris Isidore contributed to this report. 

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A Quincy tool-rental company has filed to liquidate under Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy code.

Optimum Equipment LLC, which does businss as U-Rent It Tool, listed assets of less than $50,000 and liabilities in the range of $1 million to $10 million.

In its filing, Optimum ownership says creditors hold $2.78 million in unsecured claims. The filing states there are no secured claims.

Optimum is represented in the bankruptcy by attorney David B. Madoff of Madoff and Khoury in Foxborough.

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Readers — good for them — want to make sure I have my facts right.

I’m not a tax consultant, but my understanding is that the IRS does not allow the strategy you wrote about to obtain tax-free capital gains (selling a mutual fund and buying it back the next day). You’re not allowed to buy back the same investment.

Several readers said the same thing and asked that I run a correction.

But there is nothing to correct. These readers are probably thinking about the so-called "wash-sale rule" that says you cannot claim a capital loss if you sell a security and buy the same or a "substantially identical" security within 30 days, either before or after the sale.

The rule does not apply if you sell at a gain, however. This gives investors who qualify an easy way to secure tax-free gains under a zero percent long-term capital gains rate still in effect through the end of 2010 for taxpayers in the 15 percent and under tax brackets.

My mail tells me many people still don’t know this: If your taxable income for the year, including any long-term capital gains, does not exceed the top of the 15 percent bracket ($68,000 for joint filers and $34,000 for singles in 2010), then your long-term gains are tax-free.

(For a gain to be considered long-term, you must have held the security more than a year.)

Therefore, if you are sitting on long-term paper gains on an investment you want to keep, and if realizing those gains won’t push you beyond the 15 percent tax bracket, it probably makes sense to sell and buy back.

Some caveats: Make sure you have no net capital losses that would be offset by the gains, negating any tax benefit. Consider any possible price change between the time you sell and buy back, and whether any commissions or trading restrictions apply payday loans.

On another topic, several readers wondered why I’m so insistent on wanting low fees for variable annuities that guarantee minimum lifetime withdrawals regardless of how the annuity investments perform.

Why would I care about the fees if I’m getting my guaranteed payments for as long as I live, even after principal is depleted? Aren’t the actual account balance and fees immaterial? What exactly am I missing here?

This reader — and others who made similar comments — are missing a basic understanding of how these annuities work and why anyone would consider them.

Variable annuities with guaranteed lifetime withdrawals are different from so-called immediate income annuities. With the latter, you typically hand out your principal to an insurance company and in return you get an income for life, period.

The variable annuities I wrote about do guarantee that, no matter how badly your investments perform, you’ll get a minimum income for life.

But this income is typically much less than what you would get for the same premium amount in a plain-vanilla immediate annuity.

Therefore, it makes no sense to invest in these variable annuities just for the guaranteed withdrawals — you can get more income with an immediate income annuity.

The reason to consider investing in the variable annuities is that, with the peace of mind offered by the guarantee, you can invest more aggressively and potentially achieve higher returns. You definitely want to do better than the minimum guarantee, and the more fees you pay, the more difficult — if not impossible — it becomes to do so.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told a congressional panel Thursday that the economy still needs some help, but acknowledged the need to begin to tighten credit to prevent inflation at some point.

"The economy continues to require the support of accommodative monetary policies," Bernanke said Thursday. "However, we have been working to ensure that we have the tools to reverse, at the appropriate time, the currently very high degree of monetary stimulus."

In prepared testimony, Bernanke explained to the House Financial Services Committee how the Fed intends to roll back emergency liquidity programs. He repeated some points made last month in remarks the Fed released after his scheduled appearance was postponed due to a snowstorm.

Bernanke re-affirmed Thursday that the Federal Open Markets Committee expects conditions are "likely to warrant exceptionally low levels of the federal funds rate for an extended period."

He added that the Fed has tools to counter inflation "at the appropriate time," he said, although he didn’t suggest when the appropriate time might be.

For the last 18 months, the Fed has bought mortgages, long-term Treasurys and the debt of mortgage finance firms Fannie Mae (FNM, Fortune 500) and Freddie Mac. (FRE, Fortune 500)

Bernanke laid out a plan to sell some of those mortgages, Treasurys and debt, by offering what’s called reverse repurchasing agreements bad credit pay day loans. Under those agreements, the Fed sells its securities to a third party while agreeing to rebuy them at some point in the future.

The second way the Fed plans to soak up money is to sell banks and financial firms the equivalent of certificates of deposit. In this case, the Fed gets a chunk of the bank’s reserves in exchange for paying interest at a steady rate.

Concern about mortgage markets

These deposits would be auctioned off and banks couldn’t count their investment in the Fed as cash or reserves.

One such exit that the Fed has begun is unwinding certain credit programs, including the Fed’s purchase of mortgage-backed securities, one of several credit markets that froze up at the start of the crisis.

Expressing concerns that the market for mortgage-backed securities won’t return, several lawmakers asked Bernanke if ending such a program will lead to problems in the housing industry, including hikes in mortgage interest rates.

Bernanke acknowledged that "mortgage rates might pop back up," but that, so far, "there seems to be very little negative reaction."

"While that market has not completely returned to normal, we’ve seen considerable improvement," he said. 

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Firehouse Subs was the ninth-fastest growing restaurant chain in the nation last year, according to restaurant consulting firm Technomic Inc.

The Jacksonville sub chain known for its steamed sandwiches raked in $206 million in sales in 2009, 10 percent increase over sales in 2008, and increased its unit number to 5 percent.

Lorton, Va-based Five Guys Burgers ranked No. 1 on the list that ranked chains with sales over $200 million with $453 million in 2009 sales, a 50 percent increase over 2008 revenue. Oakville, Ontario-based Tim Hortons Inc. (NYSE: THI) ranked No. 2, with $446 million in 2009 revenue, a 23 percent increase. Minneapolis, MN.-based Buffalo Wild Wings Grill & Bar (Nasdaq: BWLD) ranked No. 3, with $1.5 billion in sales, up 22 percent from 2008.

The rest of the ten fastest growing restaurant chains in 2009 were Jimmy John’s Gourmet Sandwich Shop, Wingstop, Noodles & Company, BJ’s Restaurant and Brewhouse, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Potbelly Sandwich Works fast payday loan no faxing.

Founded in Jacksonville by Robin and Chris Sorensen, both former firefighters, Firehouse operates 380 locations in 19 states and has plans to open at least 50 new restaurants in 2010, including its first location in Chicago, and adding St. Louis, Mo., Oklahoma City, Okla. and Pittsburgh, Pa, among others, to its list of markets.

The company’s goal is to operate at least 3,500 restaurants nationwide.

In total, the top 10 fastest-growing chains’ sales accounted for $5.9 billion, a 19 percent increase over 2008. Unit counts grew 16 percent.

Overall, however, the 500 largest U.S. restaurant chains registered a .8 percent annual sales decline in 2009, according to Technomic’s annual report on the top U.S. restaurant chains. Systemwide sales for the top 500 declined to an estimated $230 billion in 2009, down almost $2 billion over 2008.

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