Former St. Louis banker Bill Donius is worried about the quality of loans being insured these days by the Federal Housing Administration. He says the nation may have “a major problem” because the government agency is accepting a lot of…
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Former St. Louis banker Bill Donius is worried about the quality of loans being insured these days by the Federal Housing Administration. He says the nation may have “a major problem” because the government agency is accepting a lot of…
[...]Business bankruptcies in the St. Louis area continued to rise in the third quarter, accounting firm Hoffman Clark reports. The 102 bankruptcy filings were up 16 percent from 88 cases in the third quarter of 2008. For the first three…
[...]Most of us accept the maxim that there’s no free lunch, but a few savvy consumers are always trying to prove otherwise. The U.S. Mint, by offering free shipping on boxes of $1 coins, unwittingly offered the latest opportunity. The [...]
Monsanto Chief Executive Hugh Grant earned $9.1 million in fiscal 2009, according to a proxy statement filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission. That’s a 41 percent drop from his 2008 compensation of $15.6 million.
The biggest drop was in…
[...]The New York Stock Exchange’s bell-ringing ceremonies aren’t really news, but today’s closing bell provides an occasion to bring up a little-known piece of St. Louis business history. Douglas Yaeger, chief executive of Laclede Group, will ring the bell to mark…
[...]James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, is adding his voice to those saying that the Fed needs to pay attention to future asset bubbles. In a speech titled, “Three lessons for monetary policy from the…
[...]Two months ago, we blogged about a study on the financial illiteracy of young Americans. Now, the same economists have published a paper proving that older folks are equally clueless.
Annamaria Lusardi, Olivia S. Mitchell and Vilsa Curto looked at answers to…
[...]The Federal Reserve’s September Beige Book said that the St. Louis region’s economic “pace of decline seemed to be moderating.” In October, our business conditions “declined.” Finally, in [...]
Congress’ landmark health-care legislation could both help and hurt Centene, Executive Vice President Edmund Kroll said today. On the positive side, the Medicaid managed-care company could gain clients, Kroll said at a Bank of America Merrill Lynch Credit Conference:
They want to…
[...]I’ve tried and tried, but I can’t understand why some investors speculate in shares that are obviously headed for the scrap heap. Today’s example is Smurfit Stone Container, which filed its Chapter 11 reorganization plan today. The plan makes clear that…
[...]Update: The arithmetic error mentioned below has been fixed in an updated filing.
Ralcorp’s co-chief executives, Kevin Hunt and David Skarie, got 15 percent salary increases in fiscal 2009 along with increased bonuses. Both earned $575,000 salaries and bonuses of $632,500.…
[...]IHS Global Insight just released a state-by-state employment forecast for 2009-2015 and it shows a familiar pattern: The fastest growth is in the south and west, while the Midwest and New England will be sluggish.
The forecast says Missouri will add…
[...]When you’re giving thanks over the turkey and stuffing this week, the shaky economy probably isn’t on your grateful-for list. It has, however, pushed down the cost of that dinner by $1.93, or 4.3 percent, according to the Missouri Farm…
[...]Illinois is one of nine states in fiscal peril, according to a recent report by the Pew Center on the States. And an major tax increase is the only way out of that peril, says Daniel McMillen, an economist at…
[...]We Baby Boomers have all heard this refrain, and perhaps uttered it ourselves: If the stock market doesn’t recover, I may never be able to retire.
The downtown Renaissance isn’t the only St. Louis hotel that’s struggling financially. The majority owner of the Chase Park Plaza disclosed today that the operator of that landmark hotel is $5 million behind on its rent.
The disclosure comes in a…
[...]Retailers have been screaming for years about the high interchange fees they pay to banks for the privilege of accepting Visa and Mastercard, and they tried unsuccessfully to get a fee limit included in this year’s credit-card legislation. Now the Government…
[...]Fidelity Investments released some reassuring statistics about 401k plans today, noting that the average account balance is $60,700, up 13 percent in the third quarter and up 28 percent from the low point in January. Part of the increase comes from…
[...]Fitch Ratings has taken a fresh look at some bonds issued in 2006 by the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District, and the credit-rating agency doesn’t like what it sees. Fitch downgraded the district’s bonds five notches today, from an investment-grade…
[...]James Bullard is worried about “medium term” inflation and agitating for a subtle change in monetary policy, he said this morning at Commerce Bank’s annual economic breakfast. But Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, saved his strongest…
[...]Judging from some of the news coming out of Washington, civil discourse seems to be in extremely short supply. Perhaps Americans would be more civil if they used an ancient Japanese poetry form to discuss the major issues of the day.
As…
[...]John Reed, one of Vikram Pandit’s predecessors as chief executive of Citigroup, has been saying recently that Congress made a mistake in repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated the banking and investment industries. Pandit, however, doesn’t think reinstating the Depression-era law…
[...]As the previous post mentions, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit was in town yesterday to speak at Washington University. He also visited with employees of the CitiMortgage division in O’Fallon, Mo., and announced some updated results for the [...]
Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit spent an hour today with students at Washington University’s Olin School of Business, fielding questions on everything from bankers’ pay to the MBA job market.
Regarding the recent actions of federal pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who…
[...]Benjamin F. Edwards & Co., the brokerage firm founded last year by Benjamin F. “Tad” Edwards IV, has lured eight more employees away from Edwards’ old firm, which is now known as Wells Fargo Advisors. They’re creating a Peoria, Ill.,…
[...]Gateway Bank of St. Louis, which was closed by regulators on Friday, was tiny in banking terms, with only $27 million of assets. Its historical significance, however, was much larger. Gateway was founded in 1965 as an black-owned bank, at…
[...]Caterpillar has agreed to pay $16.5 million to settle a lawsuit alleging that its 401k plans charged excessive fees to employees. Cat’s news release says the money, minus attorneys’ fees and costs, will go into the accounts of employees and former…
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