Financial thoughts

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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Under pressure to take action on rising gasoline prices, President Barack Obama wants Congress to strengthen federal supervision of oil markets, increase penalties for market manipulation and empower regulators to increase the amount of money energy traders are required to put behind their transactions.

The White House plan, which Obama was to unveil Tuesday, is more likely to draw sharp election-year distinctions with Republicans than have an immediate effect on prices at the pump. The measures seek to boost spending for Wall Street enforcement at a time when congressional Republicans are seeking to limit the reach of federal financial regulations.

Obama plans to spell out his $52 million proposal Tuesday at the White House, where he will be joined by Attorney General Eric Holder.

Republicans have been hammering Obama on his energy policies, recognizing the political cost of high gas prices on the president. Obama’s plan would turn the tables on Republicans by taking aim at Wall Street’s role in the oil price chain.

Senior administration officials who put together the proposal said it aims to detect and deter illegal manipulation by energy speculators, the type of practices that many Democrats blame for the high cost of gasoline. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the plan ahead of Obama’s announcement.

They would not go as far as to say that market manipulation is responsible for rising gas prices, but the officials said they wanted to curtail the ability of speculators to take unlawful advantage of oil price volatility.

At issue is the increasing role of investment in oil futures contracts by pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, exchange traded funds and other investors. Much of that money is betting that oil prices will rise. Analysts say it is possible that such speculation has somewhat inflated the price of oil.

At the same time, investors can also bet that prices will go down _ indeed, speculators have been credited for low natural gas prices. Studies of the effects of speculation on oil markets indicate that it probably increases volatility, but doesn’t have a major effect on average prices.

Still, seeing a potential problem with speculators is not limited to Obama or Democrats or this election season. When gasoline hit $3 a gallon in 2006, George W business cards. Bush launched an investigation, declaring Americans “don’t want and will not accept … manipulation of the market. And neither will I.” Last year, as prices rose, Obama and Holder announced the creation of a task force to look into fraud in the energy markets.

Obama’s plan this time calls on Congress to:

_ Increase six-fold the surveillance and enforcement staff of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to better deter oil market manipulation.

_ Increase spending on technology to provide better oversight and surveillance of energy markets.

_ Increase civil and criminal penalties against firms that engage in market manipulation from $1 million to $10 million.

_ Give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission authority to increase the amount of money that a trader must put up to back a trading position. The administration officials said such authority could help limit disruptions in energy markets.

In addition, the Obama administration, on its own, will increase access to the commission’s data so the White House Council of Economic Advisers can examine and analyze trading information.

The White House effort comes at the same time that Republicans have been pushing Obama with their own energy proposals. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, wants to seek votes on more domestic oil and natural gas exploration, a freeze on regulations on refineries and approval of construction of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada to Texas, a project Obama has blocked.

Republicans are also trying to place limits on the financial regulation legislation Congress passed in 2010 over Republican objections. Though the House Republican budget, which calls for sharp reductions in government programs, does not specify reduction in spending by the trading commission, the administration officials said that if the cuts were applied the commission would lose more than five times what it spends on regulating energy markets.

The debate will pit Republicans who blame Obama for high gasoline prices against a White House that blames Republicans for coddling Wall Street.

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Shares of Apple reached $600 for the first time on Thursday, setting yet another milestone for the stock market’s most valuable company.

The stock hit $600.01 moments after the market’s open before quickly falling back below that level. Shares closed down 1% at $585.56.

Apple’s (, Fortune 500) stock price growth has risen for the past three years, boosted in particular by record sales of the iPhone and iPad. The much-hyped third-generation iPad is set to go on sale Friday.

It was almost exactly one month ago that Apple cracked the $500 level for the first time. Apple passed the $400 level for the first time seven months earlier, and it’s been just 17 months since it passed $300. Shares traded above $200 for the first time in October 2009.

At $600, the combined value of Apple’s outstanding shares is more than $559 billion, the third-highest valuation ever for a public company. It now only trails General Electric (, Fortune 500) and Microsoft (, Fortune 500), which both soared to around $600 billion during the dot-com bubble at the turn of the century.

Apple’s valuation is huge, but analysts say that the fundamentals back it up.

Despite its monumental rise, Apple’s stock is still trading at just 14 times its expected earnings per share for 2012. That’s relatively cheap, considering that the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 trades at about 18 times future earnings.

Apple had $127.8 billion in sales during the 2011 calendar year, putting it neck-and-neck with Hewlett-Packard (, Fortune 500), the nation’s largest tech company by revenue. This year, Apple is on pace to become the biggest technology company in the world, measured by revenue, outpacing current global No. 1 Samsung.

Last quarter, Apple posted $13 billion in profit. It was one of the most profitable quarters ever for any U.S. company, trailing only ExxonMobil’s (, Fortune 500) record-setting $14.8 billion quarter from the fall of 2008, when oil prices were at an all-time high.

Analysts attribute the stock’s recent rise primarily to Apple’s outstanding iPhone sales. Apple sold 37 million of the devices last quarter, and early indications are that the phones are continuing to sell well this quarter across the globe.

Investors are also investors buying into the belief that Apple will soon have a dividend. The company has nearly $100 billion in cash sitting around, and CEO Tim Cook has hinted that he’s willing to part with some of it.

"Some of money that got put to work starting late last year was from investors that want dividend," said Alex Gauna, tech analyst at JMP Securities. "That’s how this whole thing got started. But lately it’s been all about the iPhone." 

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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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The biggest inflows into India

Cass Informations Systems reported fourth-quarter net income of $5.5 million, or 53 cents per share, compared with $5.1 milllion, or 48 cents per share, in the corresponding period of 2010.

For the year, Cass–a Bridgeton-based provider of invoice payment and information services–reported record net income of $23 million, or $2.21 per share, compared with $20.3 million, or $1.95 per share, in 2010.

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China will take measure to stabilize its exports and imports as slowing global growth creates a

The stock market is ending a tumultuous year right where it started.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index closed 2011 a fraction of a point below where it started the year. The S&P closed at 1,257.60, up 5.42 points or 0.4 percent. It ended 2010 at nearly the exact same level, at 1,257.64. Its loss for the year is 0.04 point.

The Dow Jones industrial average lost 69 points, or 0.6 percent, at 12,218. The Dow is up 5.5 percent for the year. The Nasdaq composite index fell 9 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,605. It lost 1.8 percent for the year.

McDonald’s Corp. was the biggest winner in the Dow this year with a gain of 31 percent. Bank of America Corp. was the worst, down 58 percent.

The conventional wisdom is the more risk, the greater the potential rewards. But the opposite is proving true this year: Investors playing it safe have gained the most.

The most dull and conservative of stocks _ utilities _ gained 15 percent, the largest gain of the ten industry sectors in the S&P 500 index. Other winning groups are consumer staples and health care companies, up 11 percent and 10 percent in 2011 respectively.

In Europe, many of the biggest markets ended down for the year. Britain’s FTSE 100 lost 5.6 percent, Germany’s DAX 14.7 percent.

Trading has been quiet this week with many investors away on vacation. Volume on the New York Stock Exchange has been about half of its daily average pay day loans. Markets will be closed Monday in observance of New Year’s Day.

Better news on the job market and home sales lifted stocks Thursday, pushing the Dow up 135 points. On Friday Ford reported that its sales topped 2 million this year for the first time since 2007. Ford fell 0.1 percent.

Rising and falling stocks were about even on the New York Stock Exchange. Volume was just 2.2 billion shares, about half of the recent daily average.

In other corporate news:

_ Sears Holdings Corp. fell 3 percent to $31.78 after Fitch Ratings downgraded the company’s credit rating to “junk.” Sears has plunged 30 percent this week after disclosing that it would close more than 100 Sears and Kmart stores because of weak holiday sales.

_ Diamond Foods Inc. jumped 2.4 percent to $32.27. Rumors have been circulating that the hedge fund manager David Einhorn has acquired a stake in the food company that makes Emerald Nuts.

_ AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines, fell 17 cents to 35 cents. The company filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Late Thursday the company said its stock would be delisted from the New York Stock Exchange next week.

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner got little down time during his three-day dash through Europe. But what sleep he did get was in some of Europe’s finest hotels.

U.S. officials justify the luxurious bookings by explaining that where Geithner stays is often dictated by security concerns. The U.S. embassy in each country recommends hotels considered acceptable for overnight stays by high-level government officials like Geithner who get Secret Service protection.

In Milan, the hotel of choice for Geithner’s stay was the Hotel Principe di Savoia. It’s a five-star hotel graced by a grand foyer.

The top-of-the line Presidential Suite was featured in the 2010 movie “Somewhere” by director Sofia Coppola. The movie, set in Milan, also displayed the hotel’s opulent swimming pool.

Geithner’s digs were far less plush than the “Somewhere” suite _ just a standard room with a sitting area for meetings. And instead of a swim, he began his day in the hotel exercise room, walking on the treadmill while reading the morning newspapers.

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To meet with national leaders and financial officials in five cities in three countries in three days, you need a little help getting around. That’s where a police-escorted motorcade comes in handy.

Geithner’s caravan of limousines and vans for staff and reporters drew police escorts in each city he visited.

It all worked well until Geithner’s entourage hit Marseilles right at rush hour. The road from the airport to a downtown hotel where Geithner was meeting Spanish Prime Minister-elect Mariano Rajoy Brey was jammed.

Still, not to worry. The motorcycle escorts simply squeezed between the two lanes of cars headed into town. The cars were forced to both sides of the road, clearing a path in the middle for the motorcade.

Geithner’s meeting Wednesday night lasted about 40 minutes. Then it was back to the motorcade for the return to the airport. At least by then, the roads had cleared considerably, and the motorcycle escort had less work to do guaranteed payday loans.

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So much for legendary German efficiency. On Geithner’s three-country trip, it was the Italians who shined most in arranging a glitch-free meeting with reporters. The Germans and French ran into more difficulty.

Of course, the Italians had arguably more at stake. Geithner’s appearance with reporters in Milan on Thursday followed a meeting with new Prime Minister Mario Monti. By contrast, the sessions in Germany and France involved only finance ministers.

The Italians managed to position a crush of journalists and 15 television cameras well before the session began.

In France, Geithner and Finance Minister Francois Baroin made statements to the press in Baroin’s office. The French supplied no translator. After the session, non-French-speaking journalists found a kindly official who translated Baroin’s remarks by listening to a tape recording of it.

In Germany, reporters, TV crews and photographers crammed near a stage in the German Finance Ministry. Reporters had no chairs and instead crouched on the floor with laptops. When officials decided to move the crowd back and supply chairs, shouting and jostling erupted as photographers struggled to keep the prime positions they’d staked out.

Still, from reporters’ vantage point, the Germans fared best in one key respect: Alone among officials in the three countries, they allowed at least a couple of questions from journalists.

The French and Italian events were designed to have Geithner, Baroin and Monti give statements but take no questions. Given the sensitivity of the markets to Europe’s debt crisis, officials in France and Italy probably didn’t want to risk having an answer (or non-answer) to a question panic investors.

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For more than two months, they were open-air communes where people came to rebuild society and start a nationwide discussion on how to close the wide gap between the rich and the poor. But as Occupy Wall Street tent cities fade away, a growing number of protesters are pushing to put a clear message ahead of the movement.

Alan Collinge has his list ready _ return bankruptcy protection to student loans. Bring back regulations that were removed from the Glass-Steagall Act. End corporate personhood.

“They should come up with a short term list of no brainer agenda items,” said Collinge, wearing a huge sign in the rain at New York’s Zuccotti Park calling for student loan reforms.

More than a dozen other protesters interviewed by The Associated Press also came up with a wish list of specifics to address what they say is corporate greed and economic inequality. The list of demands ranged from the simple _ get corporate money out of politics _ to the ethereal (make sure Washington politicians act with a moral conscience).

Asking Occupy protesters what, exactly, they would do to reform government and the financial system is a loaded question and a source of internal conflict. Collinge, 41, of Tacoma, Wash., said he has unsuccessfully lobbied Occupy’s general assembly meetings in New York to develop a strong platform, but has been rebuffed.

“A lot of people, they think that this should be sort of a catchall” for every issue, he said, the goal being to expose the economic problems in the country, not solve them.

Other cities’ movements have held meetings of committees with titles like “cohesive messaging” to discuss strategy, but haven’t agreed on listing specifics as a movement. The greater purpose isn’t to influence the government or the financial system through classic demands, but to foster broad cultural changes that will gradually empower people to stop depending on big corporations and Wall Street money.

“All the energy has gone into an outcry over economic conditions, with the hope that others will join us and pick up issues they care about,” says Bill Dobbs, press liaison for Occupy Wall Street in New York. “Our best hope is inspiring other people to take action to bring economic justice.”

Some observers and experts predict that Occupy groups may spend the next few months focusing on smaller actions while waiting for the summer when the Republican and Democratic conventions would give Occupiers a world-wide audience.

But ask around, and protesters who spent weeks living in encampments and talking about the country’s woes have a clear idea of what they want.

A number have called for limiting campaign donations and getting big money out of politics. Some Occupy members want to limit the amount of money a person is allowed to give a politician. Others want to ban corporate donations specifically, or the number of campaign ads.

“How did Abraham Lincoln ever become president without a television set?” asked Ryan Peterson, an entertainment company worker from Chicago who lived for weeks in Zuccotti Park. Paul Lemaire, a 20-year-old visual arts student from Brooklyn, wants the two-party system eliminated.

The influence of money in politics is one of the greatest factors behind the gap between the superrich and the poor, said James Parrott, chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute in New York, which published a report last year on economic disparity. It shows “that they’re very focused in understanding the root causes” of the country’s economic issues, he said.

The call for tighter regulation of campaign contributions won’t gain traction anytime soon. The Supreme Court, in its landmark Citizens United decision in January 2010, cleared the way for corporations to spend unlimited funds to influence elections, often using money from anonymous donors paperless payday loans. The court struck down most of the so-called McCain-Feingold law that had set tight restrictions on such donations, arguing that government did not have the right to regulate political speech.

Campaign regulation, stopping wars that strain resources, halting corporate personhood _ the spending power given to corporations in the 2010 Supreme Court ruling _ and addressing higher education costs have emerged as key goals of the Occupy movement in Los Angeles. Organizers say they are now focusing on sharpening their objectives, as police moved in to shut down the two-month-old encampment this week.

“We’ve been collecting ideas, seeing what the priorities are, vetting and researching them,” said activist Suzanne O’Keeffe, a member of Occupy LA’s Demands & Objectives Committee.

Los Angeles member Mario Brito said the movement plans to pressure elected and bank officials for a moratorium on foreclosures, and said members would “occupy” bank lobbies, boardrooms and executives’ homes to force the action.

In Minneapolis, five members of the Occupy MN “Cohesive Messaging Committee” gathered to talk strategy this week at a downtown coffee shop, asking that people attending recent General Assembly meetings fill out cards expressing broad themes that were important to them. The group entered the cards into a spreadsheet and found economic justice, democracy, education and campaign finance reform as the common themes.

Collinge, an aerospace engineer who later founded a website about problems with student loans, lists the congressional bill he wants passed to return bankruptcy protections to student loans. The Depression-Era Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial banking from investment banking, is another named law cited at the top of protesters’ demands in cities across the country. Most of the restrictions that regulated the two forms of banking were repealed in 1999, and are blamed by many economists for contributing to the financial crisis in 2007.

Kalle Lasn, the co-founder of Adbusters, the Canadian magazine that helped ignite the Occupy movement, supports a 1 percent global “Robin Hood” tax on big financial transactions. Similar taxes and increases have been proposed for years, including the Obama administration’s “financial crisis responsibility fee” tax proposal of last year, intended to raise $90 billion over the next decade.

As individual protesters and movements fashion a platform, experts and organizers warned that defining the movement more broadly keeps everyone in and keeps responsibility in the hands of the power brokers.

“They’ve achieved a lot by having the open ended process that they’ve had so far,” said Parrott, the Fiscal Policy Institute’s chief economist. “They should be selective in that there are some people who are trying to glom onto the stage that they’ve created” with ideas that aren’t part of the main movement.

Will Birney, who left his job as a waiter in Westport, Ct., to join Occupy’s New York movement, has one wish, although it can’t be passed into law or regulated by the Treasury Department.

“I would instill a fair conscience, if people could look to morality,” said Birney, 26.

He knows he’s reaching, but says that’s the point of the movement.

“I’m not even thinking we’re going to get concrete solutions out of this,” he said. “All I want is a change.”

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