Mound City Money

Chase Park Plaza hotel falls behind on its rent

David Nicklaus — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 03:31:17 +0000

The downtown Renaissance isn’t the only St. Louis hotel that’s struggling financially. The majority owner of the Chase Park Plaza disclosed today that the operator of that landmark hotel is $5 million behind on its rent.

The disclosure comes in a…

Limiting credit card fees might not help consumers, GAO says

David Nicklaus — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:34:38 +0000

Retailers have been screaming for years about the high interchange fees they pay to banks for the privilege of accepting Visa and Mastercard, and they tried unsuccessfully to get a fee limit included in this year’s credit-card legislation. Now the Government…

401k accounts have recovered, sort of

David Nicklaus — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:52:15 +0000

Fidelity Investments released some reassuring statistics about 401k plans today, noting that the average account balance is $60,700, up 13 percent in the third quarter and up 28 percent from the low point in January. Part of the increase comes from…

Chesterfield Valley sales taxes fall far short of projections

David Nicklaus — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 23:17:31 +0000

Fitch Ratings has taken a fresh look at some bonds issued in 2006 by the Chesterfield Valley Transportation Development District, and the credit-rating agency doesn’t like what it sees. Fitch downgraded the district’s bonds five notches today, from an investment-grade…

Bullard: Too-big-to-fail policy is intolerable

David Nicklaus — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:41:15 +0000

James Bullard is worried about “medium term” inflation and agitating for a subtle change in monetary policy, he said this morning at Commerce Bank’s annual economic breakfast. But Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, saved his strongest…

High finance, low results? Tell about it in a haiku

David Nicklaus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 06:14:21 +0000

Judging from some of the news coming out of Washington, civil discourse seems to be in extremely short supply. Perhaps Americans would be more civil if they used an ancient Japanese poetry form to discuss the major issues of the day.

As…

Pandit: Glass-Steagall isn’t the way to rebuild banking

David Nicklaus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:38:29 +0000

John Reed, one of Vikram Pandit’s predecessors as chief executive of Citigroup, has been saying recently that Congress made a mistake in repealing the Glass-Steagall Act, which separated the banking and investment industries. Pandit, however, doesn’t think reinstating the Depression-era law…

Citigroup reports success with foreclosure prevention

David Nicklaus — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:09:20 +0000

As the previous post mentions, Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit was in town yesterday to speak at Washington University. He also visited with employees of the CitiMortgage division in O’Fallon, Mo., and announced some updated results for the company’s foreclosure prevention efforts. In the…

Citigroup’s Pandit says regulators should focus on pay structure, not dollar amounts

David Nicklaus — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 22:46:33 +0000

Citigroup Chief Executive Vikram Pandit spent an hour today with students at Washington University’s Olin School of Business, fielding questions on everything from bankers’ pay to the MBA job market.

Regarding the recent actions of federal pay czar Kenneth Feinberg, who…

Now playing in Peoria: Third branch of Edwards brokerage

David Nicklaus — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:57:59 +0000

Benjamin F. Edwards & Co., the brokerage firm founded last year by Benjamin F. “Tad” Edwards IV, has lured eight more employees away from Edwards’ old firm, which is now known as Wells Fargo Advisors. They’re creating a Peoria, Ill.,…