Business and Finance

1901 • John F. Queeny sets up Monsanto Chemical Works in honor of his wife, Olga Monsanto, and begins making saccharin at a St. Louis plant.

1929 • Monsanto buys two companies to enter the rubber chemicals business. It also buys several other chemical companies.

1997 • Monsanto spins off its chemical group as Solutia Inc.

December 2003 • Solutia files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

May 2004 • Solutia promotes Jeffry Quinn to president and CEO after he joined the company in 2003.

May 2007 • Solutia buys the half of Brussels-based Flexsys NV, a supplier of chemicals to the rubber industry, that it didn’t own.

February 2008 • Solutia emerges from bankruptcy.

June 2009 • Solutia sells its nylon business unit.

January 2012 • Eastman Chemical announces plans to acquire Solutia.

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch research, Solutia

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Standard & Poor

The free credit score industry has been booming since the recession as a lot of people hit hard times and want to keep an eye on how the recession has affected their credit standing.

The Czech Republic should sell Eurobonds this year at better terms than other eastern European Union states because of government plans to trim the budget deficit, Deputy Finance Minister Jan Gregor said.

The Finance Ministry will be ready to sell between 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) and 2 billion euros of debt from the start of February after the ministry updates its macroeconomic forecasts, Gregor said yesterday in an interview in Prague. The ministry may sell a bond on foreign markets denominated in other currencies if terms for a Eurobond issue aren

General Motors Co. is on track to retake the title of world’s top-selling automaker, riding strong sales in the U.S. and China to beat Volkswagen and Toyota.

GM, which lost the crown to Toyota in 2008 after holding it for more than seven decades, won’t release global sales numbers until later this month, but it’s on pace to finish 2011 at around 9 million cars and trucks, at least 800,000 more than its German and Japanese rivals.

Volkswagen AG on Monday said it sold a record 8.156 million vehicles last year, a 14 percent rise over 2010. The company expects a tough 2012, though. Toyota, whose production suffered from the tsunami and Fukushima nuclear disaster, had earlier reported sales of 7.9 million vehicles in 2011.

GM, meanwhile, sold almost 7 million vehicles worldwide in the first three quarters and is expected to reach around 9 million for 2011.

GM has more appealing cars and trucks than in the past when Toyota took the crown away, says Jeff Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, an industry consulting company in Troy, Michigan.

Other manufacturers have passed Toyota partly because its car production was paralyzed by Japan’s earthquake and nuclear disaster last year. But rivals also developed stylish vehicles that are drawing more customers.

“They’re not pushing their designs as much as others in terms of new looks and feel,” Schuster says of Toyota. “The market has changed.”

Volkswagen met its aggressive sales goals in the U.S. and throughout the world, and its products also have made it a strong global competitor, Schuster says.

In the U.S., VW sales rose 26 percent last year to top 324,000 vehicles, boosted by a new Jetta compact sedan and the Passat midsize sedan. That surpassed its goal of 300,000.

Schuster expects a tighter race for the global sales crown next year with Toyota recovering from Japan’s disasters and the Nissan-Renault venture challenging the leaders.

Volkswagen, whose brands include Audi, Skoda and Seat, has a goal of producing 10 million vehicles per year and passing Toyota and GM to become the world’s biggest automaker by 2018.

Volkswagen’s top sales and marketing executive, Christian Klingler, says that “all the company’s brands have shown increases in difficult conditions on volatile markets” and called the 2011 figures “an outstanding result.”

But he added that the coming year will be demanding. “In 2012 the risks are increasing above all on European markets.”

The 17 countries that use the euro are struggling with a financial crisis over too much government debt. Fears that a country may default and damage the banking system have weighed on the wider economy and many think the eurozone economy may have shrunk in the last three months of 2011.

But the 2011 figures underlined a strong year for German automakers, who have profited from strong sales and profits in emerging markets, especially China. Volkswagen, Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche all recorded record vehicle sales for the year.

Luxury carmaker BMW AG said Monday that it sold a record 1.67 million vehicles under its BMW, Mini and Rolls-Royce brands thanks to a 14.2 percent increase over 2010.

The BMW brand, the company’s mainstay, sold 12.8 percent more cars and SUVs _ a total of 1.38 million. Rolls-Royce increased unit sales by 30.5 percent with 3,538 cars sold worldwide, breaking a sales record from 1978.

Porsche on Monday reported a 22 percent sales increase to 118,867 vehicles.

Daimler AG on Jan. 5 reported record sales of 1.362 million for its Mercedes-Benz, smart and Maybach brands.

Some analysts have said that VW is the world’s biggest because GM’s figures include vehicles made by its Wuling joint venture in China. Many don’t count Wuling because GM doesn’t have controlling interest in the company, but GM includes it in global sales figures.

Including Wuling, GM will overtake Toyota and Volkswagen, says Schuster, senior vice president of forecasting for LMC Automotive, an industry consulting company in Troy, Michigan.

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AP Auto Writer Bree Fowler in Detroit contributed to this report.

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The European Central Bank

One in eight people earning at least $1 million annually was audited by the Internal Revenue Service last year, making them far likelier to be examined than those making below $200,000, according to IRS data released Thursday.

Just 1 in 100 individuals earning less than $200,000 had their income tax returns examined, the IRS said.

The 12 percent of millionaire earners audited in 2011 was appreciably higher than the 8 percent who were audited in 2010. IRS officials said the high ratio was part of an effort to demonstrate that tax laws are applied fairly.

“That has been something we’ve concentrated on to assure that there’s equity in the system, to assure that those at the lower end of the spectrum know that those at the higher end of the spectrum are subject to the same rules and enforcement as everyone else,” Steven Miller, deputy IRS commissioner for services and enforcement, said in an interview.

In recent weeks, President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats have sought to boost taxes on the wealthy as a way to pay for jobs programs, a theme they are expected to continue in this presidential and congressional election year. IRS spokeswoman Michelle Eldridge said the growing portion of millionaire earners’ returns audited is not related to politics.

“The IRS is an agency of civil servants, and we base our audit decisions on tax issues _ nothing else. We don’t play politics here,” she said.

Between 2004 and 2009, the percentage of millionaire earners audited ranged between 5 percent and 7 percent.

The data was divided into only three categories of income: below $200,000, $200,000 and up, and $1 million and higher.

About 1 in 25 people earning $200,000 and more was audited in 2011.

The IRS also audited a greater proportion of large corporations than smaller ones, the data shows.

Last year, 1 percent of corporations with assets under $10 million were audited. Among corporations with assets of $250 million and up, 28 percent were audited.

The IRS said its enforcement efforts to collect all taxes owed _ which include audits, court cases and other activities _ netted $55 billion last year. That is nearly $3 billion less than the previous year, which Miller attributed to a falloff in estate taxes and corporations writing off their losses.

All together, the IRS audited nearly 1.6 million of the 141 million individual income tax returns that were filed. In 2010 _ the most recent year available _ more than 8 in 10 individuals audited ended up paying additional taxes.

The agency collected a total of $2.3 trillion in revenue last year from individuals and businesses, including the $55 billion from its enforcement efforts.

The IRS figures also showed that:

_In 2011, the agency garnisheed wages or seized money from bank accounts 3.7 million times, put liens on property 1 million times and seized 776 pieces of property.

_77 percent of individual returns were filed electronically last year, up from 69 percent in 2010.

_70 percent of callers to IRS taxpayer information telephone lines got through, slightly less than the 74 percent who reached someone in 2010. Miller attributed that to budget cuts to the agency.

_The information IRS officials dispensed over the phone to taxpayers was accurate 93 percent of the time, the same as the previous year.

_The IRS website, http://www.irs.gov, was visited 319 million times in 2011, a slight increase.

The data was presented by federal fiscal years, which begin on the previous Oct. 1.

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Global stock markets opened a risk-filled new year still smarting from a rough 2011, as many exchanges remained closed. German and French stocks rose in light volumes as a a reading of manufacturing activity in Europe improved.

Germany’s DAX closed up 3 percent Monday at 6,075 while the French CAC-40, which ended 2011 17 percent lower, climbed 2 percent to 3,222. Stocks fell in South Korea and closed flat in Taiwan.

Trading was light with the New York, London and most Asian stock exchanges closed.

Investors appeared to be reassured by European purchasing managers survey index numbers that improved in December from November. Activity in the manufacturing sector was up, but at levels that still show a fifth straight month of contraction.

Many of the world’s leading indexes are coming off a down year. Britain’s FTSE was off 5.6 percent by year end, Japan’s Nikkei fell 17 percent to its lowest close since 1982, and the Standard & Poor’s 500 showed zero gain.

Data releases later in the week such as eurozone inflation on Wednesday and German factory orders and U.S. non-farm payrolls on Friday will give traders more grist. The U.S. employment figure is expected to rise by some 150,000 after increasing 120,000 in November.

Markets face an uncertain first quarter as eurozone leaders try to get control of government debt woes that threaten to harm the global economy with another financial meltdown.

Much of the attention in coming weeks will center on Italy, the eurozone’s third-largest economy and the focal point of the eurozone’s struggle to deal with a crisis caused by heavy levels of government debt. Fears of default on those debts mean that bond investors demand ever-higher interest, making it a challenge for the new government of Prime Minister Mario Monti to roll over euro53 billion ($69 billion) in debt maturing in the first quarter cash advance. If a country can no longer borrow affordably to pay off bonds that are maturing, it faces eventual default or a bailout.

Debt woes may be compounded by at least a mild recession over the last quarter of 2011 and the first part of 2012.

In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi, which lost 11 percent of its value last year, closed nearly unchanged at 1,826.37. South Korea’s tech sector move higher, with Samsung Electronics up 2.1 percent and LG Electronics gaining 2.3 percent. Steel giant POSCO slid 1.1 percent and Korea Electric Power shed 1.8 percent.

Taiwan’s TAIEX, which was also open for business Monday, fell 1.7 percent to 6,952.21. Foxconn Technology, the world’s biggest contract electronics manufacturer, which makes iPads and iPhones for Apple Inc., fell 0.9 percent. Personal computer maker Acer Inc. shed 2.3 percent.

The Asian-Pacific region’s major benchmarks, including Japan’s Nikkei 225 index, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index and Australia’s S&P ASX 200, were closed.

Last year was one that traders would prefer to forget: most Asian equity indexes closed out 2011 deeply in the red. The Nikkei in Tokyo ended the year at 8,429.45 _ its lowest closing since 1982.

China’s benchmark Shanghai Composite Index, closed Monday, endured a 21 percent loss for the year as the impact of Beijing’s multibillion-dollar stimulus faded and the government tightened curbs on lending and investment to cool blistering economic growth.

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Chinese industrial companies

A top European Central Bank official has publicly discussed the reasons for his surprise resignation, saying he is not satisfied with the direction Europe’s currency union has taken.

Juergen Stark said in an interview in Monday’s edition of Germany’s Wirtschaftswoche magazine that the ECB had done its job by keeping inflation under control across the eurozone, which it does through adjusting interest rates.

But he said some governments had tolerated excessive wage costs and unsustainable real estate booms that preceded today’s debt crisis.

Stark is leaving at the end of the year, 2 1/2 years before the end of his eight-year term on the bank’s six-member executive board. The council runs the bank day-to-day at its Frankfurt heaquarters, while interest rate decisions are taken by the broader 23-member government council, on which Stark also sits.

Stark was quoted as saying that “there is a broad theme that serves as the reason for this: that I am not satisfied with the way this currency union has developed.”

Stark said the ECB had done its part by keeping inflation under control but could not be expected to clean up policy mistakes by individual governments that ran up too much debt or let their economies become uncompetitive through high labor costs.

“Don’t overburden the central bank,” he said.

He said governments should have avoided financial trouble by reining in labor costs. Stark was quoted as saying governments also failed to rein in excessive real estate booms that collapsed and contributed to the eurozone debt crisis. He didn’t mention individual countries but wage costs rose in Greece, hampering the economy and state finances, and Ireland and Spain had debt-fueled real estate booms that collapsed.

The ECB earlier said Stark was leaving at year-end for personal reasons.

Analysts have said he appears to have left because of opposition to the European Central Bank’s program to buy government bonds. But Stark was not quoted in the interview as mentioning the bond purchase program.

The purchases lower the borrowing costs faced by indebted governments such as Italy and Spain. High borrowing costs are threatening to leave them unable to be able to borrow anew to pay off bonds that are maturing, resulting in a disastrous default that would shake the eurozone and global economy.

The bank and its President Mario Draghi have said the program is limited and only aimed at steering interest rates, and that governments must reform their finances and not wait for a central bank bailout.

Stark repeated his longstanding opposition to calls for the ECB to sharply increase the bond purchases through its power to create new money. He said that would violate the prohibition in the EU treaty on the ECB using its monetary powers to finance governments, although it is a step that the U.S. Federal Reserve has been allowed to take.

Stark dismissed calls by “real or self-styled experts” to use the “big bazooka” of printing money. “It is a fundamental arrangmenet of a currency union that the monetary financing of state debts through the ECB is not permitted,” he said.

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Federal regulators are blocking Duke Energy’s planned acquisition of Progress Energy to form the country’s largest electric company, ruling the companies haven’t done enough to protect competition in their North Carolina and South Carolina home markets.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had scheduled a Thursday hearing on changes to the merger plans in Washington, but regulators surprised the utilities late Wednesday by rejecting the companies’ solution to protect competition.

The FERC action is likely to delay the merger’s year-end target for completion and could require changes that the companies find unattractive.

A Duke spokesman said the company was reviewing the order. He wouldn’t comment about how it affects Duke’s commitment to the deal.

Jefferies & Co. analyst Paul Fremont said the companies’ next move will be to take a serious look at their power plants and decide which can be sold. Any proposed sale must be reviewed by state regulators, who would need guarantees that it wouldn’t affect pre-negotiated power rates for utility customers.

The order will delay the deal by about three months, at least, he said. The companies also may walk away from the deal at this point, deciding that the government was demanding too many sacrifices. “It’s too early to say at this point” what will happen, Fremont said.

The federal agency in September questioned the deal’s impact on customers in North and South Carolina. Regulators suggested that the companies consider a number of measures that would diminish their influence, such as selling power plants, building new transmission lines or giving up control of their transmission system to a regional operator. The companies responded last month with a plan to sell excess electricity at a fixed price to wholesale buyers in their Carolinas territories.

Regulators now say the proposal by Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress doesn’t go far enough.

The “mitigation proposal does not remedy the proposed transaction’s adverse effects on competition,” the FERC ruling said.

Duke first announced it planned to buy Progress in January for $13.7 billion. If approved, the combined company will serve 7.1 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky.

Duke shares rose 12 cents to $20.97 in premarket trading Thursday while Progress shares added 6 cents to $54.49.

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