Finance Blog number 1

Pharmacy benefit manager Express Scripts said it expects to keep more than 95 percent of its prescription volume in 2012 even though it plans to stop doing business with Walgreen Co., the largest drugstore chain in the U.S.

St. Louis County-based Express Scripts and Walgreen have been unable to come to terms on a new contract to replace a deal that expires Dec. 31. Express Scripts pays Walgreen to fill prescriptions, but after the contract ends, Walgreen won’t fill prescriptions for most Express Scripts members.

The dispute became public in June, after Walgreen said it would stop handling Express Scripts claims because Express Scripts would not pay it enough money and wanted too much control over their relationship.

Walgreen runs close to 7,800 stores, and it fills about 20 percent of all prescriptions in the U.S. Walgreen has said it would lose $5.3 billion in annual revenue by parting with Express Scripts.

Express Scripts said Tuesday its profit rose 8 percent in the third quarter as revenue increased and selling, general and administrative costs fell. The St. Louis company’s net income grew to $324.7 million, or 66 cents per share, from $301.5 million, or 56 cents per share. It earned 79 cents per share excluding one-time costs, most of which were connected to its planned acquisition of competitor Medco Health Solutions Inc. Revenue grew 3 percent $11.57 billion from $11.25 billion.

Analysts expected Express Scripts Inc. to report a profit of 76 cents per share and $11.28 billion in revenue, according to FactSet.

The company handled 184.8 million adjusted prescription claims during the quarter, down 1 percent from a year ago. Medication use has declined because of high unemployment and because some consumers are skipping trips to the doctor to save money. The company handled 556.6 million adjusted prescriptions in the first three quarters of 2011, also down 1 percent from the same period last year. Adjusted prescriptions count 90-day mail order prescriptions as three one-month prescriptions.

Earlier this month the company cut its annual profit guidance because of those trends and said it was not filling as many prescriptions as it had expected. Express Scripts said Tuesday it still expects to earn between $2.95 to $3.05 per share in 2011. Analysts expect $3.01 per share, on average.

The company currently expects to fill less than 750 million adjusted prescriptions in 2011, down from 753.9 million in 2010. Express Scripts expects medication use in 2012 to be about equal to current levels. It said total adjusted prescriptions could be unchanged from 2011, or they could grow as much as 2 percent. It did not provide a profit forecast, citing its planned $29.1 billion acquisition of Medco.

The companies announced the deal in July, and Express Scripts hopes to complete the purchase in the first half of 2011. Antitrust regulators and Congress are scrutinizing the transaction. The companies have said the larger Express Scripts would be able to use its size to save money for consumers and health plans, but critics have said the deal will reduce health care choices and may not deliver the savings.

If the cash-and-stock deal goes through, the new Express Scripts Holding will be the biggest pharmacy benefits manager in the U.S. by far, with about a 30-percent share of the market. Combined, Express Scripts and Medco handled about 1.7 billion prescriptions in 2010.

Express Scripts said its results in the third quarter included 8 cents per share in professional fees and financing costs related to the Medco deal. The remaining charges including 4 cents per share in expenses related to its purchase of NextRx in April 2009, and a penny per share in other amortization costs.

Shares of Express Scripts fell $1.98, or 4.9 percent, to $38.47 on Tuesday. In aftermarket trading, the stock picked up $1.23, or 3.2 percent, to $39.70.

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World stock markets jumped Monday, buoyed by resilient economic indicators from Asia’s two biggest economies and hopes of progress in resolving Europe’s debt crisis.

Oil prices rose above $88 a barrel. The dollar fell against the euro but rose against the yen.

European shares advanced in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.4 percent to 5,512.34 and Germany’s DAX added 0.9 percent to 6,021.92. France’s CAC-40 rose 0.5 percent to 3,188.44. Wall Street was headed for another day of gains, with the Dow Jones industrial average 0.3 percent higher at 11,795 and S&P 500 futures gaining 0.3 percent to 1,238.30

Asian shares posted solid gains earlier in the day as economic data from Japan and China showed a measure of strength.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index added 1.9 percent to close at 8,843.98 after the government said exports grew for a second straight month in September. The country’s trade suffered a five-month decline in the wake of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that devastated northeast Japan.

Mainland Chinese shares rose after HSBC said its preliminary China Manufacturing Purchasing Managers Index, which measures industrial production, rose to 51.1 in October from 49.9 in September. A result above 50 indicates expansion but the preliminary indicator is often subject to substantial revision.

The Shanghai Composite Index was 2.3 percent higher at 2,370.33 and the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index climbed 1.9 percent to 977.03.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng soared 4.1 percent to 18,771.82 and South Korea’s Kospi shot up 3.3 percent to 1,898.32. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan, Australia, India, Indonesia and the Philippines were also higher.

In Europe, leaders are to meet Wednesday to hammer out a concrete resolution to the region’s debt problems, including ways to fortify the euro 440 billion ($600 billion) bailout fund to help prevent larger economies that use the euro common currency, such as Italy, from being dragged into the crisis.

Weeks of intensive discussions by European leaders have so far failed to produce a decisive outcome.

“Markets will remain nervous ahead of Wednesday’s EU summit, hoping that officials can settle their differences and emerge with a concrete solution credit report. In this respect, the risk of disappointment is high,” Credit Agricole CIB said in a research note.

South Korean constructions shares rose on expectations that the death of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi would lead to the resumption of construction projects in the North African country, Yonhap News Agency reported. Daewoo surged 5.5 percent. Hyundai Heavy Industries jumped 7.3 percent.

Chinese banking shares soared ahead of earnings reports to be released this week, analysts said. Hong Kong-listed Agricultural Bank of China jumped 8.5 percent, and Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, the world’s largest bank by market value, gained 5.5 percent.

Linus Yip, strategist at First Shanghai Securities in Hong Kong, said speculative investors appeared to be scooping up what were thought to be bargain-priced Hong Kong stocks.

“Today, there is some bargain-hunting for sectors like the Chinese insurance sector and Hong Kong property,” he said. Hong Kong-listed Ping An Insurance gained 6.9 percent. China Overseas Land & Investment Ltd. was up 9.3 percent.

In the U.S. on Friday, enthusiasm for stocks was on the upswing amid some positive third-quarter earnings reports from U.S. companies, which come despite a weak economy. Among S&P 500 companies reporting so far, seven out of ten have posted higher profits than expected.

The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 267.01 points, or 2.3 percent, to 11,808.79. The Dow is now up 2 percent from where it started 2011. Before Friday’s surge, it was down for the year. The Dow has risen for four weeks straight, the first time that has happened since January.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3889 from $1.3864 Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 76.22 yen from 76.12 yen.

Benchmark crude for December delivery was up 96 cents at $88.35 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.33 to settle at $87.40 in New York on Friday.

Brent crude was up 74 cents at $110.30 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.

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Fifth Third Bank has opened a new branch downtown and has tapped former Cardinals player Lou Brock to make an appearance at a grand opening event Friday.

The Baseball Hall of Famer is slated to sign autographs and be available for photos free of charge for customers at the branch at 921 Olive Street from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. immediately following a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m.

Fresh off the Cardinals’ win against the Houston Astros Wednesday night, giving the team a playoff berth, Fifth Third Bank’s Senior Vice President and Retail Executive Tony Manisco said Brock’s appearance is good timing. “We could not have planned this any better,” he said.

The downtown location, which opened in the Syndicate Trust building on Aug. 29, is the Cincinnati-based bank’s 14th local branch since entering the St. Louis market in 2005.

In the last two weeks, Fifth Third Bank has started banking relationships with more than 100 households from the downtown branch, Manisco said. “The density of people downtown during the daytime was very compelling,” he said.   

The new branch won’t be Fifth Third Bank’s last in the area. “We do have bigger plans for the St. Louis area,” Manisco said.

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As the prospect of a disastrous debt default hung over Greece, the government faced more strikes and protests against its new austerity measures needed to appease the country’s rescue creditors.

Athens commuters faced more misery as metro, tram and suburban rail workers were on a 24-hour strike, while buses and trolleys were to stop operating for several hours in the middle of the day. Airline passengers also faced delays as air traffic controllers implemented work-to-rule action, refusing to work overtime. A 48-hour strike by all transport workers is expected later this week.

Greek police held their own protest, with the force’s Special Guards unit hanging a giant black banner from the top of Lycabettus Hill in the capital reading “Pay day, day of mourning.”

Faced with mounting anger from the country’s international creditors, the government recently announced a raft of new austerity measures in an effort to secure the next euro8 billion ($10.7 billion) installment of bailout loans from the euro110 billion rescue package it has been dependent on since last year. Without the funds, Greece only has enough funds to see it through mid-October, when it faces the prospect of a messy default.

In July, when it became clear that Athens needed more help, eurozone leaders agreed on a second, euro109 billion bailout, although several aspects of that deal still need to be finalized guaranteed fast personal loans.

The government’s new measures include a new property tax to be paid through electricity bills to make it easier for the state to collect, as well as pension cuts and more tax hikes. Greeks have been outraged by the new steps, as they come on top of previous austerity measures which failed to sufficiently reduce the country’s budget deficit.

Hundreds of protesters gathered in the capital’s central Syntagma Square on Sunday night, scuffling briefly with police who pushed them back with truncheons and small amounts of tear gas.

Debt inspectors from the International Monetary Fund, European Commission and European Central Bank, known collectively as the troika, are expected to return to Athens this week to resume a review suspended earlier this month amid talk of delayed implementation of reforms. No specific date has been set for their return, however.

Prime Minister George Papandreou heads to Berlin on Tuesday, where he will meet with German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of a parliamentary vote there on approving plans to beef up the eurozone rescue fund. German lawmakers vote on Thursday on expanding the powers of the euro440 billion ($595 billion) the European Financial Stability Facility.

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The stock market went back into a lull Friday as investors waited for the next signals on the economy _ and whether it’s headed for another recession.

The major indexes were fluctuating in a narrow range after Thursday’s 419-point plunge in the Dow Jones industrial average. But that doesn’t mean investors are finished selling. There was little economic news Friday to influence trading. Thursday’s plunge followed a stream of disappointing economic news that added to the belief in the market that the economy is falling into a recession.

The most notable news Friday came from JPMorgan Chase & Co. The bank joined other financial firms and cut its forecast for economic growth during the fourth quarter. It’s now predicting growth of 1 percent, down from an earlier forecast of 2.5 percent.

The Dow fell 42 points or 0.4 percent, to 10,947 at 12:20 p.m. in New York. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index fell 1, or 0.1 percent, to 1,139. The Nasdaq composite index rose 5, or 0.2 percent, to 2,386.

The Dow’s drop was largely due to Hewlett-Packard Co., which fell 21 percent. The company said Thursday that it will close its mobile business, sell or spin off its PC business and pay $10 billion for a business software company.

Investors weren’t, for the moment, seeking the safety of U.S. Treasurys. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 2.08 percent from late Thursday’s 2.06 percent. It fell below 2 percent Thursday for the first time as heavy demand sent its price sharply higher.

Overseas stock markets had larger drops than in the U.S. European banking stocks fell near two-and-a-half-year lows, dragged down by rumors about banks’ potential losses on bonds issued by heavily-indebted governments. The selling in the U.S. has come in part because of fears that U.S. banks would be hurt if European countries default on their debt. Another concern: weakening European economies will hurt growth in the U fast cash advance.S.

Earlier Friday, Asian shares fell sharply, with major indexes in China and Japan losing more than 2.5 percent. However, some of those losses reflected selling in response to the drop in the U.S. Thursday.

As the selling continued overseas, gold rose as high as $1,881 an ounce. Oil prices fell as traders feared a global slowdown that would cut demand for crude.

The word “recession” remains the focus of the markets.

JPMorgan analyst Michael Feroli said Friday that business sentiment, household wealth and global growth all look worse than just a few weeks earlier. That will keep economic growth nearly flat in the first quarter of 2012, he said.

On Thursday, economists with Morgan Stanley said that the U.S. and Europe are “dangerously close to recession,” adding, “it won’t take much in the form of additional shocks to tip the balance.”

Stocks also fell Thursday on news of another drop in home sales, weaker manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic states and a jump in inflation at the consumer level to its highest level since March. There also was bad news on the job market: an increase in the number of people who applied for unemployment benefits.

Thursday’s numbers joined a series of reports pointing to a slowing economy. The government reported on July 29 that growth in the first half was much weaker than expected _ and that the economy barely grew in the first quarter. Since then, the combination of disappointing numbers in the U.S. and worries about Europe’s debt problems have set off waves of selling.

The Dow is down 13.6 percent since stocks began falling on July 21. That has drained billions from American’s retirement savings and other investment accounts. And the stock market’s drop can itself help move the country toward recession.

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It doesn’t matter how many weeks of vacation you have, it never seems like enough. By the time you book off a summer week, March break, plus time for your childrens’ soccer tournament and parent-teacher interviews, you’ve run out of paid time off. But employees of the Toronto-based Social Media Group don’t have that problem. In October, 2010, CEO Maggie Fox did away with tracking vacation days and introduced an unlimited paid vacation policy for her 20 employees.

The company helps organizations develop strategies around the effective use of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and Linked in. Clients include Fortune 500 organizations like 3M, Ford, CNN, Thomson Reuters and a top global bank. Fox says, “We’re playing with the “big boys” and our incredible team has to deliver their A+ game – Every. Single. Day. What shouldn’t an employee be able to taking an afternoon off to play with her kids?”

The “golden rule” is that each employee is responsible for his own mental health, his colleagues and his clients. Time off has to be cleared with supervisors, but it’s an informal process. “Obviously if you said I want to take six weeks off starting tomorrow, it would not be feasible. But if you gave us a couple of months notice and a plan for structuring your work, it is not impossible.” The company doesn’t keep formal statistics, but Fox believes people are taking more time off overall, and she says that’s a good thing. “It’s not so much that people are saying let me take a week or a month four times a year. But they are taking more long weekends in addition to scheduled family vacations.” The only negative she can think of is that often when offers are extended to new employees, they don’t believe her. She explains that the starting point is the minimum vacation required by law, and that’s what staff are paid  if they leave the company with unused time off. But while they are working for the company, the unlimited paid vacation policy applies. Fox agrees that unlimited vacation would be impossible in a manufacturing company or where essential services are provided, but she says the size of her organization isn’t really a factor. Netflix in the U.S. introduced open-ended vacations for over 500 salaried employees in 2004 and IBM Canada has eliminated tracking of vacation days (except in their Quebec manufacturing plant). IBM Guidelines say employees get a three week vacation to start but there is no policing and employees are empowered to take vacation whenever they want. While unlimited vacation appears to be the ultimate perk, a 2010 Expedia Survey reveals that almost half of Canadian employees do not fully take advantage of the number of vacation days they have now. Top reasons cited are they do not schedule a vacation long enough in advance, they are too busy to get away, or their significant other can’t get away. Do people at the Social Media Group abuse the program? Not at all, says Fox. “We work hard and play hard. I hire people who do great work. If I hire someone who takes advantage of the program, it’s my problem, because I’ve made a bad decision.” Also see: Top civil servants lose their perks  and 13 things to know about your benefits plan .

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The number of people seeking first-time unemployment benefits dropped last week to the lowest level since early April, a sign the job market may be healing after a recent slump.

The Labor Department said Thursday that weekly applications fell 24,000 to a seasonally adjusted 398,000. That’s the first time applications have fallen below 400,000 in 16 weeks. The four-week average, a less volatile measure, dropped to 413,750, the lowest since the week of April 23.

Applications had fallen in February to 375,000, a level that signals healthy job growth. But they then surged to an eight-month high of 478,000 in April and have declined only slowly since then.

Some of the drop likely reflects seasonal volatility. Applications were elevated earlier this month partly because of temporary layoffs in the auto and other manufacturing industries, which are ending. Many auto companies close their factories in early July to prepare for new models.

The drop “is clearly good news,” said Joshua Shapiro, an economist at MFR Inc. Still, “we would prefer to see further data before concluding that the earlier downtrend in claims is being re-established.”

The total number of people receiving benefits, meanwhile, dipped to 3.7 million. That doesn’t include millions of people receiving extended benefits under emergency programs. All told, 7.65 million people received benefits in the week ended July 9.

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Asian stock markets fell Monday after U.S. political leaders failed to reach a deal to raise Washington’s debt limit that is crucial to avoiding an impending default.

Oil prices fell below $99 a barrel amid investor concern that the lack of a debt agreement could damage the world’s biggest economy and reduce demand for crude.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 was off 0.8 percent at 10,053.2 points and China’s Shanghai Composite Index slid 2.1 percent to 2,711.37. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index lost 0.8 percent to 22,268.28.

Elsewhere, South Korea’s Kospi lost 0.8 percent to 2,152.74 and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 1.4 percent to 4,538.50.

“The only thing you can be assured of over the coming hours and days is volatility as the political posturing continues in the U.S.,” said Ben Potter, market strategist for IG Markets, in a report.

U.S. leaders had hoped to strike a deal Sunday to reassure investors. President Barack Obama has insisted on raising revenues, mainly through letting tax cuts for wealthier Americans expire, but Republicans want more spending cuts and have rejected higher taxes.

A default would mean the U.S. government could not pay all its bills starting next month, including interest and principal on Treasury bonds. That would cause shockwaves through the global economy and financial markets.

Many analysts expect U.S. leaders to reach a last-minute deal to raise the government’s $14.3 trillion borrowing limit before an Aug. 2 deadline. But markets are watching anxiously for what tax or spending changes might be part of the settlement.

In China, market heavyweight PetroChina Ltd., Asia’s biggest oil and gas producer, and the country’s biggest commercial lender, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Ltd., both were off 0.8 percent.

Chinese railway shares fell after this weekend’s deadly bullet train crash in southeastern China. China South Locomotive and Rolling Stock Corp. declined 8.6 percent and China Railway Group was off 7 percent.

The dollar was little changed at 78.45 yen, up slightly from Friday’s 78.43. The euro also was largely unchanged at $1.4366.

Benchmark oil for September delivery was down $1 to $98.87 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude rose 74 cents to settle at $99.87 on Friday.

In London, Brent crude slid 97 cents to $117.70 per barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

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Rupert Murdoch said he was the best person to clean up News Corp. Investors agreed.

The company’s stock had its best day since the phone-hacking scandal broke, rising more than 5 percent Tuesday while Murdoch and his son and deputy, James, testified before a committee of the British Parliament in London.

The gains restored about $2.2 billion of the $8.3 billion in market value the company had lost during the furor.

Murdoch, 80, said he was ashamed at revelations that the News of the World, a News Corp. tabloid, had broken into the voicemail of a murdered schoolgirl, potentially interfering with investigators and giving false hope to her family that she was alive.

But Murdoch declined to take personal blame in a crisis that has extended to the top levels of the British police and to the prime minister. Asked whether he was considering resigning as head of News Corp., he said: “No.”

“I feel that people I trusted, I’m not saying who, I don’t know at what level, have let me down,” Murdoch said. “And I think they behaved disgracefully, betrayed the company and me, and it’s for them to pay. I think that frankly, I’m the best person to clean this up.”

News Corp. stock was up all day, with some cable channels in the United States showing its price changing, cent by cent, while Murdoch spoke in London. The stock rose steadily throughout his testimony and closed at $15.79, up 82 cents.

“It became more certain from comments from Rupert that he intends to stay in place. That certainty is something that markets like,” said Laura Martin, an analyst for Needham & Co., an investment banking and asset-management firm.

She gave Murdoch “an A” and James Murdoch, 38, his son and heir apparent, an “an A-plus” for showing a good grasp of facts, appearing contrite and describing how they reacted appropriately when they learned of wrongdoing.

Martin said the succession plan that markets believed was in place, with James assuming the top job in a few years and Chief Operating Officer Chase Carey staying in his role, was now believed to be unchanged.

Late Monday, Thomas Perkins, a News Corp. board member, said top management had the board’s full support. He denied a report that it was considering an immediate change.

News Corp. owns media properties around the world, including Fox television, the 20th Century Fox movie studio, The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post. It closed the News of the World earlier this month.

The company employs 52,000 people around the world. Its stock is still down about 13 percent since the scandal broke, a loss of about $6.1 billion in market value.

At the hearing, British lawmakers pushed for details about the Murdochs’ ties to Prime Minister David Cameron and other members of the British political establishment payday loan lenders in states. They questioned London police about reports that officers took bribes from Murdoch’s journalists.

David Joyce, an analyst with trading firm Miller Tabak & Co., said the father-son pair did a good job distancing themselves from wrongdoing by saying they run a decentralized company and trust their employees.

“I think the stock is up as their apologies point to a desire to salvage the company as-is, and that significant asset sales are not likely,” Joyce said.

Rupert Murdoch also said he had seen no evidence that victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks had been victims of hacking by his journalists.

“Rupert came across very direct, very clear that this doesn’t touch U.S. soil,” said Jeffrey Logsdon, an analyst for BMO Capital Markets. “So if the scorched earth is going to remain unfortunately somewhere else, that’s a relief.”

Some investors may have bought News Corp. stock because it seems cheap, said Morningstar analyst Michael Corty.

“In the long run, the fundamentals in the business aren’t changed by all these headlines and the scandal,” Corty said. “We think it’s undervalued, but it’s not a screaming buy.”

News Corp. made $2.5 billion on $32.8 billion in revenue in its last fiscal year, putting it in the same league as Time Warner and Disney among the world’s largest media companies. Analysts have valued the company primarily on its money-making TV and movie businesses and have considered newspapers a drag on profits despite Murdoch’s attachment to them.

More than two hours into the hearing, a spectator wearing a plaid shirt walked up to the table where the two Murdochs sat and appeared to hit the elder Murdoch squarely in the face with a paper plate full of shaving cream.

Murdoch’s wife, Wendi Deng, who was sitting behind Murdoch and had touched his elbow occasionally to stop him thumping the desk, lashed out, slapping the man in the face before falling down.

Police quickly took the man away. As he left the room, Deng picked up the plate and hurled it at the man. The panel took a 10-minute recess. When it resumed, the elder Murdoch was without his suit jacket but apparently cleaned up. That’s when he was asked if he was considering resigning over the affair.

News Corp. stock edged up about a percentage point after the incident. Thomas Eagan, an analyst at Collins Stewart, said the attack may have caused investor sentiment to shift “from animosity toward sympathy.”

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When I went to college (which wasn’t THAT long ago), it was slim pickings when it came to dorm furnishings, especially trying to locate those elusive twin extra-long sheets.

Not so anymore. From bean bag chairs to funky lamps, many big box stores are now full of merchandise at this time of year aimed at the college-going crowd as retailers have realized that this is a huge untapped market. Or at least it was.

Now one more store to add to some St. Louisans’ college shopping list will be Pottery Barn’s new tween and teen store that will open on Saturday next to Plaza Frontenac. The adjoining 1,300 square-foot PBteen and 6,100 square-foot Pottery Barn Kids stores will be housed in the building formerly occupied by the standalone Williams-Sonoma home store in the parking lot. (Williams-Sonoma is the part of the same company as Pottery Barn.)

PBteen, which sells bedding, lighting, and other home furnishing accessories, has been around as an online store since 2003 — and just went international with its online sales earlier this year. But it only has a handful of bricks-and-mortar stores around the country. The Plaza Frontenac store will be the company’s fourth store in addition to ones in New York, Atlanta, and Chicago. So why did St. Louis get the honor?

“With all of the colleges in the St. Louis area, we think it will be a great place to showcase our PBdorm brand,” Janey Hayes, president of Pottery Barn Kids and PBteen said in an email.

And, of course, it had an existing piece of real estate to fill.

So will PBteen be opening other stores across the country? It looks like St. Louis is it for now. Hayes said the company has no other confirmed plans for expansion.

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