Financial thoughts

One of the last vestiges of hope for Jamestown Mall has been its JCPenney outlet store.

While other retailers have deserted the mall in droves, the 124,000 square-foot anchor store’s presence – and success — has been something that the mall’s proponents have hung onto as proof of the area’s potential. (A Macy’s is also still open at the mall.)

In January of last year, J.C. Penney Co. announced it was exiting the outlet business. At the time, it sounded like a possible death knell for Jamestown Mall.

“For ten months we were in limbo,” said Steven Bingham, the outlet store’s manager.

But then SB Capital Group came to the rescue, buying most of those outlet stores in October and converting them to a new name: JC’s Five Star Outlet. Glen Gammons, who ran J.C. Penney’s outlet division for years, came on board to run the rebranded chain under the new owner.

In a recent phone interview, Gammons said the company’s plan for the Jamestown Mall store is the following: to keep it open. J.C. Penney still owns the building, he noted.

And what’s more, he said, the store is still profitable. In fact, its sales performance put it within the middle tier among the other 14 stores in the chain, he said.

Gammons thinks the mall could see better days down the road. The city needs to team up with a developer to bring in a retailer such as a Sam’s Club or Burlington Coat Factory to the site, he said.

“There’s potential for the mall to be revived,” he said. “I’m not naïve that there are challenges. … But it’s a good piece of real estate.”

In the meantime, the outlet store is in the midst of a 21-month transition to separate the systems and name between JCPenney and JC’s Five Star Outlet.

The slow changeover has led to some confusion. The sign outside the store still says “JCPenney outlet store.” So does the store’s glossy advertisements. The store no longer accepts JCPenney gift cards, but you can use that retailer’s credit card in the outlet.

While a lot of the systems behind the scenes are in flux, what hasn’t changed as much is what customers see on the sales floor. The store still gets about 20 to 25 percent of its merchandise from overstock and end-of-season inventory from J quick payday loan.C. Penney – the same level as before, Gammons said. But he said the chain is also expanding its other vendors to bring in different products into the store.

Not surprisingly, many customers haven’t realized the store has changed names. At the same, the store is also facing the opposite problem.

“A lot of our customers think we are closed,” Bingham said, referring to the previous publicity about J.C. Penney exiting its outlet stores.

So the store has seen a dip in traffic, he said. But it’s gradually building back up as word spreads that it’s still open.

Another thing the store has going for it is a loyal following. Some customers have been shopping at the outlet since it first opened in East Alton in 1980. It moved a couple times before ending up at Jamestown Mall in 1999.

“We are definitely a destination,” Bingham said. “We have some customers who are here everyday, scoping out the new merchandise.”

KELLWOOD

Kellwood Co.’s newly-minted chief executive didn’t get too settled in during her pit stop to the apparel company’s Town and Country headquarters. Jill Granoff popped into the local office earlier this week in between visits to the company’s New York and California offices.

A Connecticut resident, she will be working out of the company’s New York office.

It makes sense in some ways since New York is the center of the fashion world. But it also makes you wonder a bit about the future of the local headquarters where about 150 people work.

Her predecessor, Michael Kramer, once told me that he would keep the headquarters in this region as long as he was in charge. Then he took a job as chief operating officer for J.C. Penney.

However, Erin Haggerty, a company spokeswoman, noted in an email that the previous CEO before Kramer lived in New York.

“So it’s not uncommon for Kellwood to base its CEO there,” she wrote.

Still, I asked if there were any plans to move the company headquarters. Haggerty said there wasn’t — at least not “at this time.”

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Instant online cash advance with next-day cash direct deposit.

On the road to this week’s launch of their new running apparel line, Michael Burnstein and Dave Spandorfer have learned a lot of valuable lessons, including this one: use a brand name that a) people can easily pronounce and b) doesn’t create confusion with a wildly popular British singer and songwriter.

Last year, they changed the name of their company from Edele — or “opportunity” in Amharic — to Janji — or “promise” in Malay.

“We’re pretty sold on Janji now,” said Spandorfer, smiling, as he met for coffee earlier this week. “Janji has a nice springy feel to it. And people remember it — unlike Edele, Adele, whatever you want to call it.”

They held a launch party for Janji this week at Big River Running in west St. Louis County. In the coming weeks and months, they will be hitting the road for Boston, Chicago, and Anchorage to attend similar events at stores that will soon begin carrying their products.

In total, about 70 specialty running stores have already placed orders for their shirts and running shorts — a number that at times astounds even them.

“They could easily wait and see how the launch goes and then decide to carry us,” Burnstein said. “These are small business owners and it’s a pretty big risk for them to take on a new product.”

The two first hatched the idea for the clothing line on a bus trip on the way to a track tournament in 2010. They were both then members of the Washington University cross country team. (Spandorfer graduated last year and Burnstein is just finals away from finishing his senior year.)

They knew that runners like to participate in races for just about every cause under the sun. So, they thought, why not imbue that same sense of social conscious into a clothing line?

For every pair of shorts ($38) or shirt ($30) a customer buys, the company donates $4 to a nonprofit organization. For example, some of the proceeds from the shirt modeled after the Haitian flag goes to Meds and Food for Kids, which works with undernourished children in Haiti. And a line of Kenyan-themed products helps fund KickStart, which sells subsidized water pumps to people in Kenya.

In addition to changing the brand name, another challenge along the way has been finding a factory to make the clothes. They initially worked with a factory in Vietnam, but were not satisfied by the samples they received back.

Even though it delayed their launch, they decided to find a different factory. After receiving some 400 samples, they settled on a factory in China that they found through a sourcing agent in St payday loans. Louis.

“One of our biggest concerns is having ethical labor standards,” Spandorfer said. “We know if we don’t do that right, no matter how great our mission is, it won’t matter.”

So they had a third party agent check out the factory. Then more recently, one of their team members flew out there to oversee production and to check out the working conditions firsthand.

They’ve received a lot of help along the way, too. They won $15,000 through Washington University’s Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. And they raked in another $20,000 from a contest through the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. On top of that, their families and friends have chipped in some start-up funds.

They eventually have plans to expand the product line and to partner with more nonprofits.

But for the time being, they are focused on the initial launch. And for Burnstein, he’s got finals, track tournaments and graduation to juggle, too.

CITY FOR CHEAPSKATES

At first blush, it may not seem like an honor to be called the best city for cheapskates.

But upon further reflection, St. Louis’ clinching of the top spot in Kiplinger.com’s list of top 10 cities for cheapskates may just be something to brag about.

St. Louisans earn roughly the same income as other Americans, our cost of living is 9 percent below the norm).

It listed free — or nearly free — stuff to do as judged by number of libraries and museums in region (St. Louis Zoo, Science Center, Citygarden, etc.), and the number of Dollar General stores in the region (59 in a 30-mile radius for the Lou!).

“St. Louis isn’t a huge city, but if we’re counting per capita, it boasts more museums and libraries than any city on our list (and it beats New York and Washington, D.C., by a factor of 25),” the website writes.

That’s definitely nothing to be ashamed about.

So the next time your mother (or friend or whoever) asks you why you live in the one of the “most dangerous” cities in the U.S. — one of the city’s other rankings over the years — just tell them it’s because you’re a cheapskate.

 

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WASHINGTON • Negotiations aimed at regulating repair of rental vehicles with defects have bogged down, dimming hopes of passing legislation that has become the focus of a nationwide Internet campaign.

Clayton-based Enterprise Holdings Inc., a key player in the talks, is being accused by consumer advocates of seeking loopholes that would let companies rent and sell cars under recall for safety reasons without getting them fixed.

The advocacy group Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety contended in a letter to Enterprise last week that provisions the companies want “would radically weaken consumer protections.”

Enterprise paints a different picture. The company says it has joined with all major rental firms — except Hertz Corp. — in supporting legislation that would, for the first time, give the government authority over rental company policies for recalled autos.

Hertz has embraced a compromise with consumer advocates that is stricter than what corporate rivals, such as Enterprise, will accept.

Enterprise contends that the legislation it wants is “pretty similar” to a version drafted by consumer groups and — with limited exceptions — would prohibit renting or selling recalled vehicles.

In a statement, the company said it is seeking “a responsible and practical approach that reinforces the policies and practices that rental car companies already use to ensure that our customers rent cars that are safe to drive.”

Until earlier this year, privately held Enterprise, which owns the National and Alamo rental companies, had insisted that any legislation was unnecessary.

But in February, Enterprise relented after becoming the target of an Internet protest pressing the company to support a regulatory bill in Congress. As of this week, more than 160,000 people had signed the Enterprise Rent-a-Car petition at Change.org.

The online protest was organized by Carol Houck, the mother of two California sisters who died in a fiery crash eight years ago while driving a vehicle rented from Enterprise. A jury awarded the Houck family $15 million two years ago after testimony that the vehicle, a PT Cruiser, had a power steering fluid leak that had gone unrepaired.

Last year, manufacturers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration together recalled 15.5 million vehicles for various reasons.

Typically, manufacturers cover the cost of repairs to recalled cars. The measures currently under consideration wouldn’t change that. But while the government has authority over how auto manufacturers and dealers handle recalls, the safety agency lacks power to dictate what rental companies must do with recalled vehicles.

Often, recalled vehicles can be found in rental fleets. Hertz, for instance, has grounded more than 100,000 of its vehicles over the past three years after recalls that ranged from serious safety concerns to minor problems.

Richard Broome, the company’s senior vice president for corporate affairs, said Hertz was reluctant at first to endorse national legislation but decided that it would be in the best interest of his company and the industry in general to join consumer advocates in a compromise.

“We were very happy to be on board,” he said. “We think consumers should know they aren’t driving a car that has been recalled or, if it has, that it has been repaired.”

Pamela Gilbert, chief negotiator for the consumer groups, said that the likely next step is fighting out the issue in Congress. She expects a Senate hearing to be held soon. But given limited successes this election year in the polarized Congress, the lack of compromise diminishes the prospect of rental companies getting regulated any time soon.

Gilbert, a former executive director of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, said she is most disturbed at a proposal from Enterprise and its allies that would allow unrepaired, recalled vehicles to be rented if consumers were notified of the defect. She described that provision as a significant change from recall systems for any products.

“The point is to get a remedy, a replacement or a repair,” she said.

Gilbert said consumer groups also object to a rental companies’ proposal that would allow unrepaired vehicles to be sold by rental companies on a wholesale basis. “If recalled cars don’t get fixed by the rental companies, they probably don’t get fixed,” she said.

Enterprise defends those provisions. The company says that it would rent a recalled vehicle “to avoid turning away customers who show up at their locations when their desired vehicle is subject to a recall which the manufacturer deems appropriate for disclosure rather than grounding.” A company spokeswoman used the example of a defective seat belt chime, in which the seat belts themselves and warning lights still worked. In such cases, she wrote, “a disclosure served the same purpose as the chime itself.”

With regard to automobile sales, Enterprise says that unlike all other dealers in used cars, rental companies would be unfairly singled out if forced to repair recalled vehicles sold on a wholesale basis.

Meanwhile, Houck said she had hoped to see the legislation named after her daughters, Raechel, 24, and Jacqueline, 20, who died in the 2004 accident, but thinks that is unlikely given the flagging negotiations. She said she has not heard from Enterprise even though the company said in its February statement that “we hope for the opportunity to work with” her.

“All we want is for them to fix recalled cars and not rent them. It’s so simple,” she said.

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When Don Davis first heard about the 25,000 cases of organic Italian wheat vodka sitting in a Lincoln County warehouse, he wasn’t planning to launch a liquor company.

“I like vodka, so I was interested,” said the banker and businessman. “But I was just going to flip it. Make a few bucks.”

Less than a year and a half later, Davis is selling Purus Vodka in eight states, rolling out a new pomegranate-based drink this month, and developing a pipeline of boutique spirits, all from a few offices in Clayton.

The quick rise of Davis’ new spirits company, Pure Holdings LLC, reflects the hot market for high-end vodka these days, and the opportunities that can exist in the corporate spillage of an industry giant. Purus – the contents of those 25,000 cases – was actually created by a much bigger St. Louis-based alcoholic beverage company.

Anheuser-Busch, through its now-shuttered high-end subsidiary Long Tail Libations, developed Purus in a bid to tap soaring demand for top-shelf liquor. It even sold the stuff in a few Northeastern markets in 2007 and 2008.

But when InBev bought the brewery in late 2008, it closed Long Tail down and sold off its products. Purus was bought by Fire Tail Brands, a small spirits company in Lake Saint Louis, where it sat for nearly two years.

Fire Tail owner Jon Herbik liked Purus – this week he called it “probably the best vodka ever made” – but saw the brand more as a short-term investment. He put it up for sale. Davis, whose holdings range from a homebuilder to a car dealership to a craft brewery, caught wind and checked it out. At first, he was thinking short-term, too. But when Davis started looking a little closer, he saw a business ready to pull out of the box.

“It had been up and running. It had a proven product,” he said. “It was just sitting there gathering dust.”

But Davis needed someone to run it. Then he met John Giarrante and Mark Braeckel, who’d been executives in the innovations division at A-B. In other words, they’d already spent two years creating Purus – Giarrante in brand development, Braeckel in packaging and procurement – only to see it scrapped.

Davis hired them away and revived the brand.

Purus has been back on shelves now for a bit less than a year, mostly in Missouri, but also in Arizona, Florida and Ohio. Sales, about 3,000 cases in Missouri last year, have been well ahead of projections, Giarrante said. Event sponsorships and a few industry awards have helped to build buzz.

Now Pure is expanding into four more states - Illinois, Texas, North Carolina and New Mexico. And it’s launching a second Long Tail-developed spirit: PomAcai, a vodka flavored with pomegranate and acai berries. They’ve ordered 50,000 cases.

Pure had good timing. U.S. sales of so-called “super premium” vodkas - which typically retail around $30 a bottle - have climbed 32 percent in the last two years, to $1.2 billion, according to data from industry trade group the Distilled Spirits Council. Flavored vodkas like PomAcai have grown even faster.

Pure has been riding that wave. But it also had a built-in advantage: A-B spent two years – and millions of dollars – developing Purus. It found a distillery in northern Italy, won organic certification in three countries, ran consumer tests and made a boatload of vodka.

“We developed the brand. We built the strategy. We had the resources of A-B to go out and find the best products in the world,” said Giarrante.

To keep growing beyond that seed, Pure will have to launch new brands. They plan to both grow their own and partner with existing products that are trying to find a market. They’ve started selling a third drink, Aguila Tequila, and a have desk full of prospects in the office that they’re not ready to talk about just yet.

When it comes to what’s next, Pure is being choosy. But it definitely plans to keep growing. A broader portfolio will build Pure’s name and give it more to offer wholesalers and liquor stores.

But even for now, at two brands, eight states and nine employees, Pure Holdings has come a long way from a pile of boxes, gathering dust.

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The Federal Reserve has the tools to keep inflation under wraps despite the huge increase in its balance sheet in recent years, a top Fed official said on Tuesday.

“The Fed can rein in inflation by raising interest rates at the appropriate time,” Minneapolis Fed President Narayana Kocherlakota said in answer to an audience question after a speech at Washington University in St. Louis.

Rather than simply raising its target policy rate, he said, the Fed will do so by raising the interest it pays on excess reserves held by banks same day payday loans.

Kocherlakota also said he sees the unemployment rate, now at 8.3 percent, falling slightly below 8 percent this year and to the “low sevens” by the end of next year.

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Falkland Islanders are so accustomed to making do with what they’ve got that many still heat their homes with peat stoves, grow their own vegetables, repair their Land Rovers themselves and raise chickens for their soft-boiled eggs.

But now they’ve struck oil offshore _ potentially vast stores of it. Billions of dollars in taxes and royalties could soon flow their way, creating an entirely unfamiliar challenge: the prospect of sudden and tremendous wealth.

If the first strike alone can attract the major investment needed to start producing crude, this closely knit community of 3,000 people mostly descended from sheep farmers, soldiers and sailors could find themselves richer than sheiks.

They’ll rival the bankers of Liechtenstein and Lamborghini drivers of Qatar as the wealthiest people in the world.

Far from celebrating the millions of dollars that oil exploration is already pumping into their treasury, however, most islanders seem far more concerned about the troubles that rapid change might bring.

They like their way of life just like it is: tranquil, surrounded by nature and nearly crime-free.

“The important word here is ‘potential’ _ bolded and underlined several times. I’m potentially a lottery winner,” said Stephen Luxton, the government’s mineral resources director. “Don’t get me wrong: everybody’s excited about it, but we’re not going to spend money we don’t have.”

The reluctance comes from experience. Daunting political, technical, financial and environmental questions have kept the oil from flowing for years.

For one thing, Argentina still claims the “Islas Malvinas” despite nearly 180 years of British control and a failed occupation 30 years ago. President Cristina Fernandez is trying to use diplomatic and economic power to force Britain into sovereignty talks ahead of the April 2 anniversary of the 1982 invasion. Her Foreign Minister Hector Timerman said Thursday that Argentina will pursue “administrative, civil and criminal” penalties against the islands’ “illegal” oil industry.

With neighbors like these, islanders hope Big Oil money will enable them to fund their own defense and gain leverage in global trade.

“Oil means security for us. If we go back to being sheep farmers again, would the U.K.government stick up for us as much? I’d like to think so, but maybe not,” said Dan Fowler, a biologist born during the 1982 Argentine occupation.

Most islanders were tenant farmers who struggled to make a living on wool during their first 150 years as Britain’s colonial subjects.

But now they are a self-governing British Overseas Territory, deciding for themselves how to tax and spend. And they will surpass Arab oil barons in per-capita wealth if they get even a fraction of the $10.5 billion in taxes and royalties some industry analysts predict will flow from the Sea Lion field, discovered north of the islands last year by Rockhopper Exploration PLC.

While Rockhopper seeks a $2 billion partner to move toward producing the crude, Borders & Southern Petroleum and Falkland Oil and Gas Ltd. are drilling two exploratory wells each this year in much deeper water south of the islands.

It’s high-risk, high-reward, costing them $1.3 million a day with less than a 25 percent chance of success. But a big strike could prompt a rush to join what might be one of the world’s last new sources of fossil fuels in an era of peak oil.

The southern basin could hold ten times more than the Sea Lion field’s estimated 450 million barrels, with a potential payoff soaring above $100 billion, according to Edison Investment Research, a London-based financial analysis firm that published an optimistic “Falkland oils” report last month.

“It’s a game-changer for the Falklands,” said John Foster, a British board member of the Falkland Islands Company, the islands’ largest private employer and a minority shareholder in Falkland Oil and Gas.

The money could go a long way in the rocky, wind-swept islands, where just a few gravel roads connect remote settlements to Stanley, the only town.

They need a permanent port for bigger oil, fisheries and cruise ships, and hotels and paved roads so visitors can stay long enough to see historic sites and wildlife. Expanded drilling will require a dedicated fresh water system, and economic growth will require more windmills for the wind energy that already provides a third of the islands’ electricity.

Creature comforts might attract ambitious newcomers, creating a more sustainable and diverse economy. A bigger hospital could mean less travel to Chile or London for advanced care. More restaurants and a movie theater in Stanley would be welcome, and people naturally would like more money in their pockets.

But any windfalls will go straight into a sovereign wealth fund, islanders say. They don’t plan to pay themselves dividends, and joke that no one should expect their ubiquitous Land Rovers to become gold-plated.

“It’s not ‘way-hay, party-time!’ We’re certainly thinking about the future,” said Gavin Short, one of eight legislators. “We’re not going to turn into a society where we all sit at home with our seven maids and gardener and watch the telly. We’re all brought up to work.”

Veterinarian Zoe Luxton, a distant cousin of Stephen’s, has more fundamental concerns.

“Can this place survive it?” she asked. “Everything we’re saying we’re here for _ not locking your doors, the freedom, the tranquility _ can it survive so much money?”

The islanders are hiring experts to negotiate with major oil companies and plan for change, and examining how other small islands handled sudden wealth. Looking north of Scotland, they believe the Shetlands used oil royalties wisely to fund a vibrant economy, but that the Faroe Islands allowed oil to take over.

No one wants another Nauru, the Pacific “phosphate island” whose sudden mining wealth tripled the population, briefly making them the world’s richest per-capita, but destroyed their way of life. Nauru’s money disappeared through swindles and bad investments as the ground beneath them was shipped away. In less than a generation, the phosphate was gone, they had forgotten how to fish, and had to take in Australian inmates for income.

“They’re broke, they’ve had it,” Short said. “We’ve got only one shot at this and we’ve got to get it right. So we’ll go out and hire the best expertise money can buy.”

To attract investors, the Falklands promise some of the world’s lowest royalties _ 9 percent of the oil’s value sold as crude, combining with taxes for a one-third take. Taxes and royalties top 40 percent in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico, 50 percent in Brazil, 70 percent in Norway and 80 percent in Malaysia, according to the Edison report.

Any royalties would still add up to far more than the current revenues of $40 million, mostly from fishing and oil industry fees.

Engineering and environmental challenges still abound in the frigid and stormy southern seas. The petroleum found so far is waxy when cold, so must be heated while shipped. Any major spill where penguins, whales, seals and other birds and marine mammals are drawn to unspoiled coasts could make Falklands oil a bad bet.

“The political fallout from any environmental damage would be toxic,” Edison’s otherwise bullish report noted.

Falkland Islands Company chairman David Huff, another British investor, said “you can’t eliminate risk, it’s a part of life.”

But islanders have mixed feelings.

“You’ve got to be worried about it, haven’t you? A couple of missing safety checks and human errors and you’ve got a major blowout for days,” said Fowler, who hopes to make a career of studying wildlife in the islands. “On the other hand, where there is oil, there is more money to invest in environmental conservation.”

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China’s premier suggested Wednesday the rise of the yuan against the dollar has ended, possibly fueling tensions with the U.S. amid complaints the tightly controlled currency is undervalued and distorts trade.

Frictions over China’s currency are acute at a time when governments are trying to boost exports and avert a new global slowdown. Washington and other nations complain an undervalued yuan gives China’s exporters an unfair price advantage and wipes out jobs abroad.

Premier Wen Jiabao, speaking at a wide-ranging, three-hour news conference at the end of China’s legislative session, said the yuan has gained 30 percent in real terms since 2005 and has moved up and down since September in Hong Kong trading of nondeliverable forward contracts. Such contracts track the movement of currencies that are not freely traded, and are settled in dollars or other hard currencies.

“That shows that the renminbi exchange rate may possibly have reached an equilibrium exchange rate,” said Wen, the country’s top economic official.

Wen pledged to create a more flexible, market-based exchange rate system.

“We welcome greater elasticity of the renminbi exchange rate,” he said.

Wen’s comments are likely to frustrate critics including American lawmakers who are pressing for higher tariffs on Chinese goods.

China’s normally huge trade surplus plunged to a rare $31.5 billion deficit in February. Some commentators took it as a sign the yuan has reached a fair exchange rate. But others said it was a one-time event, noting China often has a trade deficit early each year as factories restock after the Lunar New Year holiday.

On Tuesday, the United States, the European Union and Japan opened a new front in trade disputes with Beijing when they filed complaints with the World Trade Organization challenging its controls on rare earths mining and exports. U.S. President Barack Obama accused Beijing, a WTO member, of going against free-trade rules it promised to follow.

Wen did not mention that case at Wednesday’s news conference but appealed for closer cooperation with Washington to resolve “difficulties and frictions.” He gave no indication of possible concessions on complaints about market barriers and other disputes.

Wen called for U.S.-Chinese collaboration in clean energy, environmental protection, aviation and other technology fields.

The premier also said China plans to invest in U.S. infrastructure _ a possibility first raised in November by the chairman of Beijing’s sovereign wealth fund cash advance today. Wen gave no timetable or possible targets for investment.

“China will make investment in infrastructure construction in the United States, and that will help contribute to the generation of local jobs,” Wen said.

Turning to the domestic economy, Wen announced no new reforms but promised more steps to achieve previously announced goals of making China’s economy cleaner and more efficient after three decades of rapid growth driven by low-cost labor.

Growth slowed to a still-robust 8.9 percent in the final quarter of 2011 after Beijing clamped down on credit and investment to steer the expansion to a more sustainable level from 2010’s double-digit rate. The government lowered its growth target this year to 7.5 percent from the 8 percent level in place since 2005.

“We hope China’s growth will no longer come at the cost of resource consumption and environmental pollution,” the premier said in nationally televised comments.

The World Bank and Beijing’s own researchers say the economy requires sweeping change to curtail the dominance of state companies and promote consumer spending to reduce reliance on exports. They say that if leaders fail to act, they might see growth stall, trapping China’s people at middle income levels.

Leaders appear to be postponing basic changes until a once-a-decade leadership succession is completed this year _ a delay some analysts say might increase the cost and difficulty of rebalancing the economy.

Wen said lending and construction curbs that have started to cool surging housing prices will remain in place despite complaints they might worsen an economic slowdown. Construction and real estate sales are key drivers of China’s growth.

The housing price surge was driven in part by the flood of stimulus spending and bank lending after the 2008 global crisis. Prices eased slightly in the second half of 2011 but are well above levels of recent years.

“Home prices in China are far from coming back to a reasonable level, so we must not slacken our efforts in regulation of the housing sector,” Wen said. “Otherwise, past gains will be lost and there will be chaos in the housing sector.”

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U.S. stocks bounced back Wednesday, a day after the biggest one-day sell-off of 2012, as investors were heartened by the latest economic reports.

A labor market report signaling that private sector hiring is picking up steam helped bolster sentiment.

Gas prices also declined for the second day in a row, after a long streak of continuing increases. The pullback is helping to ease some concerns over what higher gas prices could mean for the American consumer.

The Dow Jones industrial average () added 80 points, or 0.7%. The S&P 500 () jumped 8 points, or 0.7%. The Nasdaq () jumped 26 points, or 0.8%, signaling a rebound from U.S. markets’ worst day of the year.

Still, the gains were modest as investors are largely waiting to see what the deal between Greece and its private-sector bondholders will look like. Greece and its private bondholders must officially agree to a crucial restructuring of the nation’s debt this week, in order for Greece to avoid defaulting on its debt.

"If something goes wrong with Greece’s deal, I can say with total certainty that the market will react negatively," said Dan Greenhaus, chief global strategist at BTIG. "Today investors are saying what’s the harm in waiting a day to see what’s going to happen."

Meanwhile, investors are also waiting for Friday’s release of the February jobs report to get a more detailed reading on the health of the U.S. economy.

Apple iPad event: Live blog

Separately, Apple unveiled details of the third version of its iPad at a presentation in San Francisco. Shares of Apple (, Fortune 500) are up 47% over the past year.

Stocks fell Tuesday as markets were under pressure from weak economic data out of Europe, and rising yields on euro-area government bonds — all three indexes suffered their worst day in 2012.

Economy: Hiring in the private sector picked up in February, according to a report released Wednesday by payroll processor ADP. The private sector added 216,000 jobs in the month, which was roughly in line with forecasts.

A report on consumer credit for January was released. It show that credit grew by $17.8 billion for the month, beating expectations of a $12 billion increase.

Commodities: Oil for April delivery added $1.46 to $106.16 a barrel.

Gas prices: If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

Gas prices declined for the second day in a row, falling three-tenths of a cent to $3.76 a gallon, according to motorist group AAA. Gas prices are up 14.7% so far in 2012.

Gold futures for April delivery rose $14.00 to $1,686.10 an ounce.

The dollar was little changed against the euro and Japanese yen, but rose slightly versus the British pound.

Companies: Shares of online radio service Pandora () slumped more than 20%, after the company narrowly missed analyst expectations on quarterly earnings and revenue.

Netflix () shares dropped in late afternoon, after an earlier run up on reports that CEO Reed Hastings is seeking a partnership with a cable company, and has held meetings with several providers in recent days.

Sears CEO: Faring better than Sears

Children’s Place Retail Stores () shares dropped, after the company reported a miss on quarterly revenue. The company attributed the results to warmer-than-expected weather that forced sharp markdowns on winter apparel.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury slipped, pushing the yield up to 1.97% from 1.94% late Tuesday.

World markets: European stocks closed higher. Britain’s FTSE 100 () ticked up 0.6%, the DAX () in Germany added 0.7% and France’s CAC 40 () rose 0.6%.

Asian markets ended lower. The Shanghai Composite () dropped 0.7%, while the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong slipped 0.9% and Japan’s Nikkei () was off 0.7%. 

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Protesters and police fought running battles in central Athens Sunday, as Greek lawmakers debated legislation that would introduce severe austerity measures to stave off bankruptcy.

The clashes broke out around 6 p.m. local time (1600 GMT) as tens of thousands of people, responding to calls from unions to protest the measures, streamed into Syntagma Square facing Parliament.

Peaceful protesters fled to adjacent streets as a group of around 100 anarchists threw bottles, rocks, pieces of marble and firebombs at police, who responded with tear gas and stun grenades.

Police say an officer was injured by a flare shot at him from a gun. He was taken to hospital.

Among those affected by the tear gas were well-known composer Mikis Theodorakis, 86, and veteran leftist politician Manolis Glezos, 89. The two have been actively campaigning against Greece accepting a euro130 billion ($171.46 billion) bailout from the European Union and the International Monetary Fund that would help Greece avoid bankruptcy as early as next month, when a euro14.5 billion bond matures.

The legislation will also approve a bond-swapping deal with private creditors that will allow Greece to shave off at least euro100 billion ($131 billion) of its euro360 billion debt.

An ambulance picked up two injured people from the square. At least two more injuries have been reported, including a photographer who was hit by both a firebomb and a flare.

By 7 p.m. local time, clashes had spread beyond the square to other streets. A Starbucks near the Athens University main building was on fire.

The debate started shortly after 3:30 p.m. local time (1330 GMT), and will take about ten hours, finishing around midnight. At the start of the meeting, opponents of the legislation adopted a tactic of frequent and loud interruptions and objections but had calmed down by mid-evening.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in the square outside Parliament as the debate began, with more arriving constantly.

Communist-affiliated unions held a separate meeting at the same time and started marching to Parliament before halting their march as the clashes broke out.

Police fear if the communists and anarchists meet, further violence would erupt and are trying to keep the two apart. Authorities have deployed some 6,000 policemen in the city center.

Pro-Communist unionists had earlier driven through Athens’ neighborhoods, calling for people to participate in the demonstration. Protesters are expected to remain outside the building throughout the vote.

The two parties backing the coalition government have 236 deputies in the 300-member Parliament, but at least 13 conservative and seven Socialist lawmakers have declared they will vote against the legislation, defying their leaders’ threats of sanctions. Early Sunday, a conservative lawmaker resigned, repeating the actions of three Socialists earlier this week.

Debt-stricken Greece does not have the money to cover a euro14.5 billion ($19.12 billion) bond repayment on March 20, and must reach a vital debt-relief deal with private bond investors before then. Greece’s woes have threatened its future in the 17-country zone that uses the euro currency.

The Europeans are waiting to see Greece finally act on their commitments.

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble was quoted as telling the Welt am Sonntag newspaper Sunday that Greece “cannot be a bottomless pit.”

“That’s why the Greeks must finally put a bottom in,” he added. “Then we can put something in too.”

Highlighting previous promises he said weren’t kept, Schaeuble said “that is why Greece’s promises aren’t enough for us any more,” according to the report.

Asked whether Greece has a long-term future in the eurozone, Germany’s vice chancellor told ARD television “that is now in the hands of the Greeks alone.”

Philipp Roesler said in the interview which was broadcast Sunday that what matters is not just Greece making pledges _ “we want … the Greek parliament also to approve laws and, as far as possible, take the first steps to implement what has been agreed,” .

“Only when that happens, only then can there be new aid _ and Greece urgently needs that,” said Roesler, who is also Germany’s economy minister.

Roesler acknowledged that Greece faces “difficult decisions” but stressed that Germany wants it to be able to get out of trouble.

“It is not enough just to give financial aid _ they must tackle the second cause of the crisis, the lack of economic competitiveness,” he said. “For that, they need … massive structural reforms. Otherwise Greece will not get out of the crisis.”

Germany is ready to help, Roesler said, but “we only can and want to help if there is something in return from the Greek side.”

Introducing the legislation Sunday _ amid much interruption _ Socialist lawmaker Sofia Yiannaka said Parliament is called to approve painful measures with its back to the wall, adding that the intense pressure from Greece’s EU partners to pass the measures was the result of delays in implementing already agreed reforms.

“The delays have our imprint. We should not blame foreigners for them,” she said.

“We have finally found out that you have to pay back what you have borrowed … We used to say ‘poor state, but rich citizens’ because we tolerated tax evasion for populist reasons. Is this the country we want?” Yiannaka added.

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Divers have resumed the search for 21 people still missing after a cruise ship capsized off the Tuscan coast.

Divers were scouring the submerged area of the ship Thursday once officials determined it had stablized after shifting on the rocks a day earlier.

Rough seas were forecast for later in the day, adding an element of uncertainty to the search and plans to begin pumping a half-million gallons of fuel from the vessel.

The missing include a 5-year-old Italian girl and her father. The girl’s mother issued a fresh appeal to speed the search and for passengers who saw the pair to come forward to help determine where they were last seen.

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