Business and Finance

SATURDAY

Email marketing — SCORE St. Louis is holding a workshop on using email and search engines effectively to reach your customers.

— 9 a.m. at the St. Charles Economic Development Center, 5988 Mid Rivers Mall Drive, St. Peters.

— $30. Register: www.stlscore.org or 314-539-6600

MONDAY

Workplace wellness — Regional and national experts will discuss wellness trends and practical ideas for area employers in a “workplace wellness” summit.

— 7:30 a.m. at the Spencer Road Branch Library, 427 Spencer Road, St. Peters.

— Free. Register: 636-441-6880

TUESDAY

Corporate networking — The Jewish Federation of St. Louis will host a “meet and greet” corporate and professional networking session paperless payday loans.

— 9 a.m. at the Hard Rock Café, St. Louis Union Station.

— Free. Register: 314-442-3731 or kweintraub@jfedstl.org

THURSDAY

Business leadership — The Walker Speaker Series presents a panel discussion on “Leadership Lessons from the Corner Office.”

— 5:30 p.m. at the East Academic Building, Webster University, 545 Garden Avenue, Webster Groves.

— Free. Register: www.webster.edu/speakers or 314-246-5973

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Sean Chua expected the hunt for his first job after college to be tough. After all, he watched his brother struggle to find a position when he graduated back in 2008. But his fears were unwarranted. The 21-year-old justice major at American University sent out only seven resumes before getting an offer earlier this month from IBM for an IT consulting job, making him a beneficiary of a turnaround in the labor market for U.S. graduates. “My mom’s first position was with IBM so she is particularly proud,” says Chua. Hiring is back in a big way on many college campuses, one of several signs a recovery in the U.S. jobs market is gaining traction. After four years during which many students graduated to find no job and had only their loans to show for their studies, most college campuses are teeming with companies eager to hire. A survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) found 2012 hiring is expected to climb 10.2 percent, above a previous estimate of 9.5 percent.

Companies such as General Electric, Amazon, Apple and Barclays Global are looking for new staff, even if some firms remain below the pre-recession levels of new hiring. In another sign of the recovery, some first-time job seekers are receiving multiple offers.

At University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the career service office has seen up to now a 7.4 percent increase in the number of interviews of students by potential employers from last year and the number of companies seeking to recruit for full-time jobs is up 9.2 percent. Undergraduate business majors reporting full-time job offers is up about 10 percent.

Career experts at a dozen of U.S. schools said they have seen an increase of 15 to 30 percent in the number of companies attending campus career fairs. At University of Florida, the fall career fair garnered 15 percent more companies in attendance than in 2010. And 150 companies asked to conduct interviews versus about 100 in recent years, said Ja’Net Glover, associate director of employer relations at the school. The increase in demand was so significant that it was the first time in years the school had to use both the first and second floors of the school’s basketball facility for interviews.

“It’s kind of like a no-brainer,” says Kathy Sims. Director of Career Services at UCLA. “The economy is better and the college recruitment market is improving.”

While the U.S. jobless rate fell to 8.3 percent in February, unemployment among college graduates over the age of 25 stood at 4.2 percent. Historically, their jobless rate is half that of Americans with only a high school education. Over the recession, unemployment among graduates climbed as high as 5 percent, sparking protests over the rising tuition cost of some U.S. colleges. U.S. unemployment data for March, due for release on April 6, is expected to show a total of just over 200,000 jobs were created in the month, keeping the overall unemployment rate at 8.3 percent.

BACKLOG FROM PAST YEARS, INTERNS SOAR

College graduates’ earnings are also on the rebound payday loans with no fax. NACE says the median wage for first-time job seekers after college for 2012 is up 4.5 percent higher than a year ago to $42,569.

That initial pay level can resonate over the span of a career. Several studies show that the life-time earnings for workers who enter the labor force at time of economic recession are lower than lifetime earnings of those who are hired amid an economic recovery. Given the tepid recovery of the economy, some caution is required. In 2008, many college graduates who had already accepted job offers were later away. After the run of lean years, many graduates are stuck in low-paying jobs and professions that never intended to follow, meaning there could be a backlog of well-educated workers who need to get their careers on track as well as new graduates. However, with a wide range of employers — from automakers to investment banks — back on campus offering internships and full-time jobs, and not just to engineering, computer science and math majors, the outlook for the Class of 2012 looks rosy.

General Electric wants to hire 5,000 interns this year, up from its usual 3,000 to 4,000. Since 70 percent of its full-time hires come from the interns pool, Steve Canale, head of global recruiting, said that uptick will also translate into more full-time jobs after graduation. “(Companies) are saying, ‘we have an aging workforce, and we have to replenish the pipeline.’ GE has always done it, but this year a lot of other companies are also reloading their talent pool,” Canale said.

Chrysler said it plans to hire 400 interns this year compared to 256 in 2011. The automaker has also hired almost 4,000 salaried employees since June 2009, about a quarter of which are new college graduates. The pick-up in hiring extends to industries that were among the hardest hit during the financial crisis. Schools report that banking and financial services companies have returned to campus for the Class of 2012.

It’s a stark contrast from just a few years ago when smaller firms appeared on campuses to replace the corporations no longer showing up.

“Even students with lower grades are finding opportunities,” says Notre Dame’s Svete, who believes job placement at the school is up about 7 percent. In 2009, only 75 percent of students had jobs or plans for graduate school at graduation. This year, the school expects that to climb to 85 to 88 percent, closer to the 90 percent level of 2007.

Nathan Pace, a senior at American University, hasn’t yet found a job, but is confident for his future job. He started the college four years ago and he has since seen each class of graduating seniors have better luck finding jobs.

Many of his friends recently secured job offers. “The vibe on campus is that people are excited,” says Pace.

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The U.S. Treasury Department said on Friday that it is selling the remaining 2,770,117 common shares it holds in Central Pacific Financial Corp (CPF.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) at $13.15 a share for expected proceeds of $36 million.

Treasury put $135 million into the company as part of the Troubled Asset Relief Program during the financial crisis and, after the latest sale, will have received proceeds back of $71 payday loan lenders.9 million.

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U.S. stocks were poised to open higher Monday as Fed chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments on the job market gave investors reason to believe interest rates will stay low.

The Dow Jones industrial average (), S&P 500 () and Nasdaq () futures were higher. Stock futures indicate the possible direction of the markets when they open at 9:30 a.m. ET.

In an address Monday to the National Association for Business Economics, the Federal Reserve chairman said that while recent jobs data have been positive, "the better jobs numbers seem somewhat out of sync with the overall pace of economic expansion."

Futures edged higher during Bernanke’s speech, as his comments suggest the central bank is prepared to keep interest rates low for an extended period of time.

A report on pending home sales is due later Monday, following a number of reports on the housing market last week, which provided a mixed picture of the sector. The housing market remains a source of worry despite other indicators suggesting the broader economy is improving.

U.S. stocks closed slightly higher Friday after moving unevenly throughout the day, but the Dow and S&P 500 both closed the week down. Only the Nasdaq was able to claw out a weekly gain.

Investors’ enthusiasm was dampened by a series of dour economic reports out of China that underscored concerns about slower growth in the world’s second largest economy.

Despite the off week, the S&P 500 is up 11% for the year while the Dow is 7% higher. The Nasdaq is up nearly 18% in 2012.

World markets: European stocks were mixed in afternoon trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 () shed 0.2%, the DAX () in Germany gained 0.6% and France’s CAC 40 () was flat.

Asian markets ended little changed. The Shanghai Composite () and Japan’s Nikkei () added 0.1%, while the Hang Seng () in Hong Kong was flat.

Economy: Pending home sales for February are expected to have increased by 0.5%, after ticking up by 2% in January, according to a survey of analysts by Briefing.com.

Companies: Shares of Lions Gate Entertainment () were up more than 9% in premarket trading after a gangbusters opening weekend for the studio’s post-apocalyptic teen death match film "The Hunger Games."

BATS Global Markets, an equities and options exchange operator, started trading Friday at $15.25, after pricing its initial public offering at $16, the low end of its estimated range.

BATS: Well, this is awkward

Trading was halted in late morning, however, as the exchange said it was investigating system issues, and by day’s end, BATS announced it had withdrawn its IPO.

A BATS spokeswoman said Friday that the company had no further plans to go public at present.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar strengthened against the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

Oil for May delivery slipped 11 cents to $106.76 a barrel.

Gold futures for April delivery fell $2.30 to $1,660.10 an ounce.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury dropped, pushing the yield up to 2.28% from 2.24% late Friday.  

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Chinese state television has accused McDonald’s and French retrailer Carrefour of selling expired chicken products in separate incidents amid public anxiety in China over food safety.

McDonald’s Corp. and Carrefour Inc. issued public apologies Friday and said they were investigating the report by China Central Television.

The report Thursday said a McDonald’s restaurant in Beijing sold chicken wings 90 minutes after they were cooked while the company’s rules set a 30-minute limit. It said employees at a Carrefour store in the central city of Zhengzhou changed expiration dates on some chicken and sold regular chickens as more expensive free-range birds.

Food safety is a sensitive issue in China, which has been rocked by scandals ranging from deadly infant formula to chemical-laced pork and recycled restaurant oil.

“McDonald’s China attaches great importance to this. We will immediately investigate this isolated incident, resolutely deal with it earnestly and take concrete actions to apologize to consumers,” said a statement by the U low fee payday advance.S.-based restaurant chain on its website.

Employees who answered the phone at McDonald’s China headquarters in Shanghai said a spokeswoman was not available and declined to give any other details.

Carrefour, based in Paris, said it was setting up a team to investigate and would cooperate with Chinese authorities.

“We will further enhance the training and take measures to ensure to earnestly implement the relevant provisions to safeguard the interests of consumers,” said a statement on the website of Carrefour’s China unit.

Last year, U.S. retailer Walmart Stores Inc. was fined by authorities in the southwestern city and 13 stores were ordered to close for two weeks on charges of passing off regular pork as higher-priced organic meat.

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Rates to ship iron ore, the second- biggest cargo after oil, are poised to drop to the lowest level in a decade after China cut its growth target, signaling weaker demand from the world

First-time claims for unemployment benefits ticked higher last week, slightly dimming prospects for Friday’s employment report.

The Labor Department reported Thursday that 362,000 people filed for initial unemployment benefits in the week ended March 3, up from the previous week’s revised 354,000 claims.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had predicted 355,000 new claims would be filed.

About 3.4 million people filed for their second week of unemployment benefits or more in the week ended Feb. 25, the most recent data available.

Jobless claims are considered a key indicator of the job market’s strength. The number can be volatile from week to week, so economists often look to the four-week moving average as a broader gauge.

Lately, that figure has been on a gradual decline. But last week it rose slightly to 355,000, up from the previous week’s average of 354,750.

The worse-than-expected report on initial claims comes one day before the government’s monthly employment report is scheduled to be released.

A CNNMoney survey of 19 economists predicts that the economy added 210,000 jobs in February, down from January, when 243,000 jobs were added to payrolls.

Most of the gain will likely come from the private sector, where the prediction is for an addition of 225,000 jobs.

The unemployment rate is expected to remain unchanged at 8.3%  

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke spent six years pushing for an inflation goal. Now that he has it, some investors are betting he

Even as lawmakers spent the fall debating its fate, the use of Missouri’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit surged at the end of 2011.

State officials authorized $90.8 million worth of the credits – which pay back a developer one-fourth of the cost to rehab a historic building – in the six months from July 1 to Dec. 31, 2011. That’s $18 million more than the entire 12 months prior and a pace similar to the program’s pre-recession heyday in the mid-2000s, when it funded the rehab of countless lofts, office buildings and single-family homes across St. Louis.

The quick clip of authorizations – which happen before a building is rehabbed (credits are cashed in after the project is done) – suggest that, after a few slow years, a new wave of redevelopment may be kicking off in St. Louis and Kansas City. But it also comes amid unrelenting pressure from Jefferson City lawmakers who say the historic tax credit, which is awarded to any rehab that qualifies, is gobbling up too much of the state budget.

The $91 million already approved this fiscal year is a bit higher than the full-year cap proposed in tax credit bills last fall — and well above the $75 million limit that a state tax credit panel endorsed in 2010. At this pace, authorizations would hit even the $140 million cap set on the program in 2009, before demand dried up in the recession.

A big reason for the surge is simple economics. Commercial real estate is starting to pick up. Building projects – including tax-credit funded rehabs – are moving again.

The activity also has Fred Lafser’s phone ringing. Lafser, a redevelopment consultant in Creve Coeur, does a lot of front-end tax-credit work, such as getting a building listed on the National Register of Historic Places and filing the historic credit application with the state.

“During the recession, people just weren’t calling with new projects. We went from the phone ringing all the time to the phone not ringing at all,” he said. “In the last six to nine months we’re getting a lot more phone calls.”

A company like Lafser’s will often start working nine months or a year before the state actually OKs a tax credit award, making him an early indicator, of sorts, for historic redevelopment. If Lafser is busy, the pipeline of tax credit projects likely will grow.

Still, it’s not clear that the state will hit its $140 million cap by July. Of the $90.8 million in authorizations through December, $3.9 million went to small projects that are exempt from the cap. And nearly two-thirds went to just two buildings: $31.3 million to turn the old Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City into a hotel; and $27.5 million over four phases to renovate the Railway Exchange Building in downtown St. Louis. If no more large rehabs win authorization, there should be funds to spare.

Urban appeal

Of the 66 projects authorized for credits, just two – one each in Columbia and Boonville – were located outside the St. Louis or Kansas City metropolitan areas. In the 12 months ending last June 30, 15 of 125 recipients were outside the state’s two largest metropolitan areas, with much of the money going to two big projects in Springfield.

That urban-rural split helps to explain divisions in the General Assembly about the future of the historic tax credit. While The credits enjoy strong support from urban lawmakers – and House Speaker Steven Tilley, R-Perryville – Senate budget hawks, particularly from outstate districts, have long targeted them for cuts.

After last fall’s failed special session, few in Jefferson City expect anything to happen on the topic in this election year spring. Still, some are trying. Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, has filed a bill that would halt historic tax credit authorizations entirely for a year, and another that would place a one-year stop on redemptions of them.

In a recent hearing on the bills, Crowell blasted the credits, and the developers who use them, noting they consume more than $100 million a year from the state budget while funding for education gets cut.

“Our priorities are all screwed up,” he said. “If the No. 1 priority is rehabbing old buildings, and the hell with the children, it’s shameful.”

The historic program’s many supporters see it differently. They point to studies saying the credit drives enough investment to recoup its cost, and – coupled with schools and businesses – it has rebuilt both downtowns and neighborhoods across the state.

That’s what Brent Crittenden is trying to do.

An architect and developer, he was approved last year for about $1.6 million worth of historic tax credits to rehab 11 buildings in McRee Town, a long-battered neighborhood just north of the Missouri Botanical Garden. The biggest building is a new home for the City Garden Montessori school, and the rest will be rehabbed townhouses, with some infill new construction mixed in.

The townhouses are priced between $165,000 and the mid-$200,000s, which is comparable to similar-sized rehabs in many parts of south St. Louis. Absent the credits, Crittenden said, they would cost much more, too much to sell in this market. The project wouldn’t happen.

“It just wouldn’t make sense,” he said.

Where the money goes

Historic tax credit authorizations, July 1 - Dec. 31, 2012

County           Number         Value

STL City          50                $49.2 million

Jackson            9                $35.5 million

Clay                 3                $4.7 million

Boone              1                $1.2 million

STL County       1                $250,000

Cooper             1                $25,475

St. Charles       1                $17,500

Source: Mo. Dept. of Economic Development

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Higher oil prices are affecting U.S. growth but are currently not a reason to think the economy will stall, a top Federal Reserve official said on Thursday.

“It pushes people not to spend. This is one of the factors affecting consumer confidence and consumer spending,” John Williams, president of the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank, said in a question-and-answer session after a speech in Honolulu.

“Given where oil prices have gone, it’s part of the story for (expectations of) modest growth.”

However, a severe supply shock in the Middle East would have a more negative impact if it sent prices sharply higher, he said.

Williams, a voting member this year on the Fed’s policy-setting panel, has supported recent moves by the U.S. central bank to bolster what he has termed as a “lackluster” economic recovery.

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