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.

Source

The World Bank plans to select its next president by the time of its spring meetings in late April, it announced Friday.

The bank’s 25-member executive board said it will accept nominations until March 23.

The board said it will choose up to three candidates to interview. It wants to finalize its selection by the time of the April 20-22 meetings of the World Bank and its sister lending organization, the International Monetary Fund.

Robert Zoellick, the current World Bank president, announced Wednesday that he will step down when his five-year term ends June 30.

Since the IMF and the World Bank were created, the top IMF job has always gone to a European, and the World Bank post has gone to an American.

But China, now the world’s second-largest economy, and other emerging economic powers such as Brazil and India have argued that they, too, deserve consideration for the leadership of the two organizations.

The IMF and World Bank have adopted new selection guidelines aimed at ensuring a more open process. But in June, when the IMF chose a new leader, it selected another European, Christine Lagarde.

Lagarde, then the French finance minister, was chosen after Dominique Strauss-Kahn abruptly stepped down from the IMF after being charged with attempted rape. The charges were later dropped.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Wednesday that the Obama administration would put forward a candidate for the World Bank post. But he didn’t say whether the administration would consider promoting a non-American. Geithner said the United States wanted the World Bank’s board to engage in an “open and expeditious” process.

Two Americans who have been mentioned for the post are Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers. Clinton’s spokeswoman said Wednesday that Clinton isn’t interested in the job.

The United States has the largest voting share on the World Bank board. That gives it a dominant voice in deciding who will lead the institution, a major provider of development loans to poor nations.

Source

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.

Source

Costs related to Ralcorp Holdings’ spin-off of its branded cereal business and an October acquisition drove down first quarter profit by 8 percent.

St. Louis-based Ralcorp posted a net income of $65.3 million, or $1.16 a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 31,  down from $71.3 million, or $1.28 a share, a year ago. Net sales rose 18 percent to $1.38 billion.

Ralcorp, which makes private label cereals, pastas and bakery goods, spun-off its branded cereal business, Post Holdings, as a separate company on Feb. 3.  In its first fiscal quarter of 2012, Ralcorp spent $2.7 million primarily in professional service fees related to the Post spin-off.

Ralcorp also spent $5.6 million in the quarter on acquisition costs, primarily related to its $545 million acquisition  of the North American refrigerated dough business from Sara Lee in October.

Source

Fiat Group SpA, which controls Chrysler LLC, has reported that full-year earnings more than doubled as Chrysler posted its first profit since 1997.

The company says it made euro1.3 billion ($1.71 billion) in net profit last year, compared with euro520 million a year earlier, as revenue rose 66 percent to euro59.5 billion.

The results exceeded the company’s guidance. Fiat’s trading profit _ or earnings before interest, taxes and one-time items _ was euro2.3 billion, exceeding the target of more than euro2.1 billion.

Fiat said Wednesday that the results reflected higher Chrysler sales, resilient Fiat Group Auto revenues and double-digit growth at the Ferrari luxury brand.

Source

The Crowne Plaza hotel near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport is facing foreclosure next month.

An analyst said Thursday the hotel is among about 17 hotels, all owned by Columbia Sussex Corp., pushed toward default by Wachovia. Foreclosure of the Crowne Plaza is scheduled for Feb. 14.

A hotel representative referred questions to Crescent Hotels and Resorts, of Fairfax, Va., the Crowne Plaza’s operator. Crescent’s corporate counsel and a spokesman for Columbia Sussex, based in Crestview Hills, Ky., did not return calls seeking comment.

Owner Gary Andreas of H&H Financial Group Inc., a hotel consultant, said the Crowne Plaza, just west of Lambert on Interstate 70 at Lindbergh Boulevard, has struggled recently in the all-important category of revenue per available room, or REVPAR.

“Suffice it to say the REVPAR had been declining for the last three years,” he said. “This year it had essentially bottomed out quick cash. It was at a level that it would be difficult for a full-service hotel to survive.”

Wachovia, now Wells Fargo, was the lender on the package of Columbia Sussex hotels put on a “default schedule” in 2010, Andreas said. That move indicated that the hotels’ debt exceeded the amount the lender was willing to refinance, he said.

“It’s almost like a preforeclosure,” Andreas added.

Efforts to reach a Wells Fargo representative were unsuccessful.

The 351-room Crowne Plaza, built in 1990, opened as a Radisson hotel. The eight-story hotel is notable for the sharp-angled design similar to others that Andreas said were completed in the early 1990s in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.

Source

The Federal Reserve said Wednesday that it is unlikely to raise interest rates before late 2014, extending a period of record-low rates by more than a year.

The Fed says it is keeping rates low to help lift a weak but modestly growing economy.

The new timeframe hints at details in the Fed’s quarterly economic forecast, which will be released later. That will show in what year policy members expect the first increase in the Fed’s benchmark interest rate. The Fed has kept its key interest rate at a record low near zero for three years.

In a statement released after its two-day meeting, the Fed said the economy is growing moderately, despite some slowing in global growth. It held off on any other new steps to boost the economy.

The statement was approved on a 9-1 vote. Jeffrey Lacker, president of the Richmond regional Fed bank, dissented, saying he objected to the new time period.

The extended timeframe is a shift from the Fed’s previous plan to keep the rate low at least until mid-2013. The change is intended to reassure consumers and investors that they will be able to borrow cheaply well into the future. And some economists said it could lead to further Fed action to try to invigorate the economy.

The forecast on interest rates will be released along with the Fed’s updated projections for economic growth, unemployment and inflation. Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will discuss the forecasts and Fed policy at a news conference later Wednesday.

Beyond the adjusted outlook for interest rates, the January statement tracked closely to the Fed’s previous comments about economic conditions personal business card.

The central bank used the same language in describing Europe’s debt problems and the impact on the world economy.

The economy is looking a little better, according to recent private and government data. Companies are hiring more, the stock market is rising, factories are busy and more people are buying cars. Even the home market is showing slight gains after three dismal years

Still, the threat of a recession in Europe is likely to drag on the global economy. And another year of weak wage gains in the United States could force consumers to pull back on spending, which would slow growth.

The Fed has taken previous steps to strengthen the economy, including purchases of $2 trillion in government bonds and mortgage-backed securities to try to cut long-term rates and ease borrowing costs.

The idea behind the Fed’s two rounds of bond buying was to drive down rates to embolden consumers and businesses to borrow and spend more. Lower yields on bonds also encourage investors to shift money into stocks, which can boost wealth and spur more spending.

Some Fed officials have resisted further bond buying for fear it would raise the risk of high inflation later. And many doubt it would help much since Treasury yields are already near historic lows. But Bernanke and other members have left the door open to further action if they think the economy needs it.

Source

Turkey’s foreign minister has called for the immediate resumption of talks between Iran and major world powers to end the standoff over Tehran’s disputed nuclear program.

Ahmet Davutoglu also said at a joint news conference with Iran’s Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi that Turkey was ready to host and “make any other kind of contribution” to talks between Iran and six countries leading negotiations _ the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

Salehi said the six powers should enter talks without conditions, otherwise “it is a sign that they do not approve of the negotiations.”

The U.S. and its Western allies suspect Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons. Iran insists its efforts are designed for civilian power generation and research.

Source

Shares in Research In Motion are sharply higher amid a new report that the BlackBerry maker is considering selling all or parts of the company.

The report, from The Boy Genius Report blog, which closely follows RIM, says South Korean electronics giant Samsung is the frontrunner among possible bidders for assets of the Waterloo, Ont.,-based maker of smartphones and other products.

The Boy Genius Report also says RIM is currently in talks to license its software to other vendors.

It says one of RIM’s biggest assets is its BlackBerry Messenger instant texting service, which would allow Samsung to differentiate itself from the Android operating system that it uses in its smartphones.

Shares in RIM, which has been the subject of takeover or sale rumours for months, were up 61 cents at $17.47 in afternoon trading after been up more than 75 cents in earlier trading.

Source

The cost of living in the U.S. was probably little changed in December as stores discounted merchandise during the holidays, supporting the Federal Reserve