Business and Finance news

Paul McKee got his tax credits.
In the final hours of 2009, Missouri officials awarded the developer $19.6 million, a key piece of financing for McKee’s ambitious plan to rebuild a big chunk of north St. Louis.
The funds come in the form of tax credits that pay McKee back for buying hundreds of […]

Owners of a new Folsom combo bike shop-coffee shop that already stretches the norm is expanding some more.
Folsom Bike, which opened in October along with the adjoining Folsom Grind, is adding a studio for spin-cycle classes and a studio for athlete coaching sessions with coach Bruce Hendler of AthletiCamps.
Folsom Bike’s additional departments, set to open […]

Estonia is set to adopt the euro on its target date in 2011 because of the Baltic country’s work on fulfilling economic requirements, European Union Economic Affairs Commissioner Joaquin Almunia said yesterday.
“It is quite possible that Estonia will be in the euro by 2011,” Almunia told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. The data […]

Honolulu’s lengthy and contentious battle over regulating bed and breakfast lodgings could be nearing an end.
Bill 7, introduced in the Honolulu City Council nearly two years ago, faces a final vote Dec. 16.
The measure would permit up to 1,275 new bed and breakfast homes in residential neighborhoods, ending a 20-year ban on their permitting.
Bill 7 […]

To Val Sklarov, giving tax breaks and millions of dollars in city loans to move a law firm a few blocks across downtown is basically un-American.
But is it legal?
That’s now a question for the courts to decide, after Sklarov filed a lawsuit last week challenging St. Louis city incentives for the redevelopment […]

The Hawaii Medical Service Association lost $32 million in the third quarter — a result of continued hits from rising health-care costs and declining investment income.
It lost approximately $19 million during the same period last year.
The state’s largest health plan collected $411.1 million in premiums in the third quarter and paid out $403.9 million in […]

Japan’s government could agree as much as $30 billion in new stimulus measures on Monday as economic growth is likely to slow next year due to sluggish personal spending and rising inventories.
Economists doubt whether that amount will be enough to push up growth significantly as the Democratic Party-led government will fund the stimulus with […]

Wall Street cash bonuses are set to increase by about 40 percent this year, the Wall Street Journal said citing a report by compensation consulting firm Johnson Associates.
In a report to be released later on Thursday, Johnson Associates projects that the biggest increases in year-end cash bonuses and equity awards will go to employees […]

Pulte Homes Inc raised its forecast for efficiencies and savings from its acquisition of rival Centex Corp, overshadowing a quarterly loss and sending its shares up 7.5 percent.
The biggest U.S. homebuilder also reported higher gross margins in the third quarter.
Pulte, which has operations in 29 states, said its new target for efficiencies and savings […]

Norges Bank raised its key interest rate a quarter point from a record low and signaled steeper increases than it previously forecast over the next three years as inflation accelerates and unemployment remains low.
The Oslo-based bank raised the overnight deposit rate to 1.5 percent, becoming the first European central bank to reverse its […]