Finance news. My opinion.

Crocuses sprouting in front yards are just one indicator that spring has arrived early. Another, less welcome sign is rising prices at the pump, and the political rancor that accompanies an angry electorate in an election year.

Regular gasoline averaged $3.45 a gallon in St. Louis and surrounding Missouri suburbs early Thursday. That’s up 20 cents over the past month and 40 cents from the same time last year, according to the AAA’s Daily Fuel Gauge Report. In the Metro East, where taxes are higher, the average was $3.65.

Patrick DeHaan, a Chicago-based analyst for GasBuddy.com, a website that tracks gasoline prices, said retail prices had risen another nickel a gallon during the day on Thursday and could go as much as 15 cents higher by the end of the weekend.

DeHaan said wholesale prices in the Great Lakes region have soared by 61 cents in the past week, and the increase has yet to be fully reflected in retail prices.

While local prices are still far short of the records seen here last May, gasoline is the most expensive it’s ever been at this time of year. And prices typically rise in spring as people drive more and oil refiners drain inventories and switch to producing cleaner-burning summer gasoline.

The overwhelming reason for the recent jump is higher oil prices paid by refiners.

Oil futures rose $1.55 a barrel Thursday on the New York Mercantile Exchange to $107.23 — the highest level since early May. Prices are up about $10 in just the past two weeks, mostly on fears of instability in Iran and the possibility it could affect oil shipments from the Middle East.

“The market has to discount the worst case outcome (in Iran) and the probability of that worst case outcome,” said Bill O’Grady, chief market strategist at Confluence Investment Management in Webster Groves.

By itself, a $10 increase in oil prices equates to a 25 cent a gallon jump in gasoline prices.

Refinery outages and closures on the coasts are also affecting Midwest gasoline prices, though to a lesser extent, analysts said.

The largest refinery in the state of Washington, with capacity to process 230,000 barrels of oil a day, remains idled following a fire on Friday. On the East Coast, two refineries near Philadelphia have shut down in recent months.

The loss of refining capacity on the coasts “does not affect out market directly, but it causes tighter markets in other parts of the country,” O’Grady said. And if the difference between gasoline prices in different regions of the country is great enough, it justifies the cost of transporting fuel and selling to those markets.

In past years, gasoline price increases were frequently blamed on rising fuel consumption and dwindling domestic oil production. But the opposite is true today.

The U.S. is pumping more oil than it has at anytime since 1994 and gasoline demand is at an 11-year low.

Nonetheless, motorists remain vulnerable to geopolitics and a volatile global energy markets that push up the price of crude oil.

Just a few years ago, the price of oil used to account for a little more than half of the cost of gasoline, with refining, distribution and marketing and taxes making up the rest. Today, oil represents 75 percent of the retail price, according to the Energy Information Administration.

Government forecasters predict nationwide gasoline prices will average $3.55 a gallon in 2012, or 2 cents a gallon more than last year. The current nationwide average is $3.61 a gallon.

The run-up in crude oil and gasoline prices has generated plenty of consumer angst and given rise to criticism of President Barack Obama and his administration’s energy policy — including the rejection of the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada’s tar sands.

Thursday, Obama took on those critics, including Republican presidential candidates, during a speech in Miami, where he stopped to raise cash for his re-election bid.

“Only in politics do people greet bad news so enthusiastically. You pay more, and they’re licking their chops?” Obama asked rhetorically. “And you can bet that since it’s an election year, they’re already dusting off their three-point plans for $2 gas.”

Among the most vocal critics is Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who last week introduced an amendment to give federal regulators more leeway to waive requirements for anti-pollution “boutique fuels.” The measure would also direct the government to study the effect such fuels have on gasoline markets.

Meanwhile, Sen. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., urged the president to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to provide relief for consumers. U.S. presidents have ordered releases from the strategic reserve three times since 1991 and in each case lowered fuel prices, she said.

McClatchy News contributed to this report.

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A settlement announced Tuesday between the Mosaic Co. and environmental groups may allow full capacity to resume at a Florida mine that accounts for nearly a fifth of the country’s phosphate rock production.

The Plymouth, Minn.-based company said that with court approval of the settlement, Mosaic could resume full production at its South Fort Meade Mine near Bowling Green, Fla.

“We’re hopeful this agreement provides the foundation to continue our constructive dialogue with these interested stakeholders as we look to the future,” said Richard Mack, Mosaic’s Executive Vice President and General Counsel. “It’s especially encouraging that this settlement includes a significant public benefit by conserving the Peaceful Horse Ranch property.”

The mine has been working at a reduced capacity since 2010 because of a lawsuit over the site’s federal wetlands permit.

Under the settlement, Mosaic will donate the nearly 4,200-acre Peaceful Horse Ranch for permanent conservation and must preserve about 130 acres of land eligible to be mined by the company.

Citi analyst P.J. Juvekar said in a statement Tuesday that full production could add up to $0.30 of earnings per share yearly for the company.

“Assuming court approval of the plan, this settlement should end uncertainty regarding the mine, which has been a drag on the stock over the past 18+ months, in our view,” Juvekar said in the statement.

The complaint was filed by the Sierra Club, along with Manasota-88 and People for Protecting the Peace River. An email seeking comment from the Sierra Club wasn’t immediately returned on Tuesday.

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Six centuries after the first one was minted and a decade after they went out of circulation, the last French francs are being exchanged for euros, severing France’s final link to its former national currency.

However, the franc’s end also comes as its replacement, the euro, suffers its worst crisis since its creation.

The Banque de France set a deadline of the close of business Friday for French savers to exchange whatever leftover franc notes they’ve kept socked away in drawers or under mattresses, whether held onto intentionally as souvenirs or simply forgotten about.

The euro replaced the franc in wallets and purses in January 2002, but the central bank has continued to accept francs in exchange for euros _ until late Friday.

A decade might seem to have been enough time to get to the bank, even for the worst procrastinators. But lines of last-minute holdouts still formed all week long outside Banque de France branches, the last place where francs can be swapped for the new currency at the rate of 6.55957 francs for 1 euro _ the exchange rate that was locked in when France joined the euro in 1999.

The French press has been filled with reminders about the looming deadline, after which all those blue 50-franc bills with the cartoon drawing of The Little Prince standing alone on his planet will lose all but their sentimental value.

Some people heard about the deadline just in time.

“They were in a drawer and I found them a few days ago, and when I heard this morning that today was the last day to turn them in, I came this morning to do it,” said Rene Huot, as he waited in line at a Banque de France branch on Paris’ Left Bank.

The central bank estimates that even after Friday’s deadline, around half a billion euros worth of old franc notes will remain in the wild, unexchanged and henceforth worthless.

The existence of the euro, used by more than 330 million people in 17 countries, has come into doubt recently as European governments failed to prevent the financial crisis from widening from Greece to Italy and even France. The French and German leaders’ shock admission in November that Greece might leave the euro only added to those concerns.

France is the second eurozone country to definitively phase out its old currency, after Italy stopped exchanging the lire in December. Finns have until the end of this month to turn in their last markkaa, while the Dutch get to hang onto their old guilders until 2032.

About half the eurozone countries have set no time limit at all.

Greeks have until March 1 to exchange their drachmas _ if the country hasn’t switched back to its historic currency by then.

Eurozone ministers are due to meet Monday to decide on a new euro130 billion bailout Greece needs if it hopes to avoid becoming the first eurozone member to default on its debts and be ejected from Europe’s common currency.

While few Europeans are prepared to scrap the euro _ in part because they fear a chaotic collapse more than the current muddle _ some are nostalgic for the money they counted on before it arrived.

“We are living a lot less well with the euro, especially when we have a modest salary and a small pension and by God we are really obliged to maintan a tight budget,” said Micheline Leblanc, a retiree who was also changing her last francs at the Banque de France.

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A new document from Greece’s international creditors spells out what further austerity measures they expect Athens to implement to receive fresh cash and avoid default.

The draft document obtained by the Associated Press Tuesday says, among other conditions, that the Greek government must cut spending on pharmaceutical products by another euro1 billion ($1.32 billion) and step up its privatization efforts to create more revenues.

Greece’s international creditors _ the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Union _ also are demanding that the country slash its defense budget by another euro300 million payday loans lenders.

The document comes ahead of a crucial meeting of the 17-nation eurozone’s finance ministers in Brussels Wednesday.

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A top Boeing Co. executive says that the plane maker is frustrated with the latest 787 Dreamliner production glitch, but that it shouldn’t delay output goals.

Boeing Vice President of Development Mark Jenks said at a news conference Sunday in Singapore that the company has fixed a shimming problem discovered earlier this month on some 787 fuselages.

Jenks said Boeing still plans to boost production from a current two to three 787s a month to 10 of the planes a month by the end of next year low fee pay day loans.

Jenks said the production mistake was “clearly frustrating and we’d rather it not happen.”

Boeing delivered its first Dreamliners last year to All Nippon Airways after several delays pushed back delivery by three years.

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CPI Corp. has named a new interim president and chief executive officer as it moves its stock to the over-the-counter market.

James J. Abel, 65, a director of the company since 2004, is the new leader of the St. Louis-based company, which operates portrait studios inside Sears and Walmart stores.

The company’s previous chief executive, Renato Cataldo, is “leaving the company to pursue other opportunities,” according to a news release. He had been chief executive since 2006.

“We appreciate Jim’s willingness to step into this interim role to help address our financial and operational challenges,” David M. Meyer, the company’s executive chairman, said in a statement. “He is a highly accomplished executive whose broad business background and analytical strengths will be invaluable to CPI at this critical juncture cash advance no faxing.”

Last week, the company announced it would begin trading its stock on the over-the-counter market after the New York Stock Exchange said it would suspend trading of its stock because the company’s average market capitalization fell below the exchange’s threshold.

CPI first received a notice from the New York Stock Exchange that it was out of compliance with its listing standards in October.

Its stock began trading on the over-the-counter market today under the symbol “CPIC.”

In December, CPI reported a net loss of $7.3 million, or $1.03 a share, and an 11 percent drop in net sales in the third quarter.

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The spending cuts that helped the U.K. preserve its AAA credit rating last year and bolstered the pound are now weighing on the currency as investors lose confidence that Prime Minister David Cameron will revive economic growth.

Sterling had its worst January since 2008, falling 0.6 percent, after a 3.1 percent advance in the second half of 2011, according to Bloomberg Correlation-Weighted Indexes that track 10 developed-market currencies against each other. Gilts are lagging behind lower-rated Treasuries, after world-beating gains of almost 17 percent last year.

Investors are beginning to favor policies promoting growth over austerity just as the biggest government-spending squeeze since World War II risks sending the U.K. into its second recession since 2009. U.S. President Barack Obama has used outlays to drive America

Current and former Food and Drug Administration officials say in a lawsuit that the agency secretly monitored their private email after they raised concerns that approved medical devices might risk public safety.

The doctors and scientists who researched the products approached members of Congress and the incoming Obama administration to express alarm that the devices were approved over their objections.

Their lawsuit, first reported Monday by The Washington Post, says the agency monitored email sent from their personal Gmail and Yahoo accounts from work computers over two years. It says those emails included messages to congressional staff and drafts of whistleblower complaints.

The staffers say they were legally protected whistleblowers and the monitoring violated their constitutional rights to free speech and against illegal search and seizure, even though a warning on FDA computers said they had no expectation to privacy. The defendants say they were admonished or lost their contracts to work with FDA in retaliation.

The FDA said Monday it would not comment on ongoing litigation.

The lawsuit says the plaintiffs were among those who complained in fall 2008 to members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee that senior managers at the Center for Devices and Radiological Health “ordered, intimidated, and coerced FDA experts to modify their scientific reviews, conclusions and recommendations in violation of the law.” Then in January 2009, after Barack Obama’s election but before he was sworn into office, nine FDA employees sent a letter to the Obama transition team complaining of corruption within the FDA device review process that they said was endangering public health.

For example, the FDA scientists alleged that the agency approved the use of computer-aided detection devices with breast mammograms even though they had been determined not to be safe or effective, harming women and resulting in unnecessary public health costs.

The suit says FDA officials began secretly referring to the letter’s signatories as the “FDA 9″ and began the secret monitoring. The suit says the agency used spyware on their government-owned computers that allowed them to take “screen shots,” or pictures of what was on their computer screens without their knowledge.

The scientists’ complaints were the subject of a New York Times article on March 28, 2010, that said FDA brushed aside its own experts’ warnings about the risks of radiation exposure from routinely using powerful CT scans to screen patients for colon cancer.

The lawsuit says lawyers for General Electric Co., which applied for agency approval of CT scans for colon cancer screenings, complained that confidential information may have been leaked to the Times. Agency officials used the letter to make a criminal referral to the Office of Inspector General and attempt to have the plaintiffs investigated and potentially charged with serious crimes, the suit says. But the IG’s office found no evidence of criminal conduct and noted that disclosures relating to public safety to Congress and the media were protected whistleblower activity.

The attorney who filed the suit, National Whistleblowers Center Executive Director Stephen Kohn, said spying on employees who raise health concerns stops others from coming forward in the interest of public safety.

“The FDA’s illegal spying program is not just a problem for the six victims in this case,” Kohn said in a statement Monday. “The day we allow the government to spy on employees based on their lawful whistleblower activities is the day we give up privacy for every honest public servant in America.”

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Greek debt talks are said to be progressing but officials have yet to announce a deal to scale back the nation’s overwhelming debt load.

Negotiations between the government and experts representing the private banks and investors that hold Greek debt — the Institute of International Finance — have been ongoing since last Wednesday.

But the outcome still remains uncertain ahead of a key two-day meeting of eurozone finance officials that starts Monday.

The lead negotiators from the IIF, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemierre, left Athens Saturday to attend "long-standing personal appointments" in Paris, according to a statement.

In a statement, Dallara stressed that progress has been made over the last few days and that the "elements" of a deal "are coming into place."

"Now is the time to act decisively and seize the opportunity to finalize this historic deal and contribute to the economic stability of Greece, the euro area and the world economy," said Dallara.

The IIF also said Dallara and Lemierre are available to Greek officials by phone "should this be necessary."

The lure to leave the euro may prove irresistible

At issue is an agreement to reduce Greece’s debt load by writing down the value of Greek bonds owned by the private sector by 50%.

In addition to the writedown, the deal is expected to include a debt exchange, in which investors would swap Greek bonds for new 30-year securities with an interest rate, or coupon, of about 4%.

The exchange could result in "real" losses of up to 70% for the private sector.

But it could also ease the burden on the Greek government as it struggles under a massive €350 billion pile of debt and a deepening recession.

The talks have been hindered by disagreements over the terms of the debt exchange and signs the participation rate may fall short of expectations.

The stipulation that investors voluntarily accept the writedowns has also been a stumbling block.

A non-voluntary writedown could trigger credit default swaps, a form of insurance that investors use as protection against a default.

Eurozone officials have insisted that the agreement be voluntary, arguing that credit default swaps could spread chaos in the financial system. But investors who have purchased credit protection might have an interest in holding out for a default.

The private sector owns over €200 billion worth of Greek debt, so the 50% writedown would translate to €100 billion.

That would help shrink Greek government debt to 120% of gross domestic product by 2020, according to eurozone officials. Currently, Greece’s debts are equal to about 160% of GDP.

Both sides are under pressure to reach agreement before Monday’s meeting of euro area finance ministers, known as the Eurogroup.

The restructuring of Greece’s private sector debt is a key condition for the nation to receive additional bailout funds from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Greece is facing a €14.5 billion bond payment in March that it may not make without another injection of emergency financing.

Europe: Still a huge pain in the neck for investors

Officials from the EU, IMF and European Central Bank arrived in Athens last week to begin reviewing the government’s finances.

The troika, as three institutions are known, is beginning the process of negotiating a second bailout for Greece, valued at €130 billion.

Greece has struggled in the past to implement the austerity measures and structural reforms that are a condition of its existing bailout loans.

Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, a former ECB vice president, was appointed last year to impose more budget cuts and revive Greece’s moribund economy.

The big concern is that Greece could default in a disorderly way, a development that could force the nation out of the euro currency union.

That would likely cause the Greek banking system to collapse and plunge the nation’s economy deeper into recession. It could also drive up borrowing costs for other vulnerable euro area economies, such as Italy and Spain.

The spread of a debt contagion in the eurozone is seen by most economists as the single biggest threat facing the global economy. 

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Sales (ETSLTOTL) of previously owned U.S. homes probably rose in December to the highest level in more than a year, a sign the housing market ended 2011 with momentum, economists said before a report today.

Purchases increased 5.2 percent last month to a 4.65 million annual rate, the most since May 2010, according to the median forecast of 75 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

Historically low mortgage rates and a pickup in employment may be giving Americans the confidence to purchase homes that have fallen in value. At the same time, another wave of foreclosures may inhibit a faster recovery in real estate as more distressed properties are put on the market.