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When Alan and Pat Richardson moved their upscale European furniture store to downtown St. Louis from Ballwin in June 2007, they expected a temporary slowdown because of the relocation.

But what the owners of English Living didn’t count on was the recession, and within months of the move tough times came calling.

"We saw what was happening in the housing market," said Alan Richardson. "We knew we were facing something, and we had to make some significant changes.

"We trimmed 40 percent of our payroll in preparation for what we thought was a storm coming. The storm came, and we thought by now, we’d be out of it."

Such hasn’t been the case.

Sales in October and November, typically the strongest months, were down 5 percent for the store at 1520 Washington Avenue. And that was on top of a 10 percent decline a year ago, after the store moved.

While the economy is hurting a range of retailers, merchants in the furniture and home furnishing business are particularly being slammed because of plunging house sales and cutbacks in big-ticket discretionary purchases.

Nationally, sales by furniture and home furnishing stores totaled $8.7 billion in November, down nearly 11 percent from sales of $9.8 billion in November of last year, according to advance figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. In comparison, sales at clothing and clothing accessory stores fell 5.8 percent. "For (furniture) retailers, it’s pretty bleak right now," said Jackie Hirschhaut, vice president of marketing for the American Home Furnishings Alliance, the nation’s largest trade association for furniture manufacturers.

Factors that can compound the problems range from bad locations to run-of-the-mill merchandise.

"It’s been rough this past year," said Susan Block, owner of The Designing Block, at 7735 Clayton Road near Hanley Road. "First we got hurt by Highway 40. Then we got hit with the economy. We really got a double dose.

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"We’re not dying, I’m not going belly up, but I’m off a whole lot from the previous year."

For example, gifts being shipped from the store are about 80 percent fewer than last year, and the store was struggling to sell a piece of furniture this holiday season.

In contrast, Mueller Furniture, at 1004 East Main Street in Belleville, says its location is a huge plus.

"When the big financial crisis hit in October, we had three unusually slow days," said owner Lynwood Mueller. But that was it.

October sales figures were slightly more than the previous year, and November brought a double-digit increase. Mueller also is expecting an increase in December figures, even though the month is usually slow for furniture sales.

Mueller says the Metro East area, which is home to major employers such as Scott Air Force Base and hospitals, has helped insulate his business from the recession.

"We’re not so dependent on manufacturing," he said.

Being able to offer more promotional goods has helped Carol House Furniture at 2332 Millpark Drive in Maryland Heights, said co-owner Brook Dubman.

"There are many more opportunities for us to buy closeouts and specials. We have the warehouse space to stock up," he said.

While business is down for the year, it’s only by a little, he said.

"That’s pretty good considering the stories you hear out there," Dubman said.

Discount prices also are helping Good Works at 6323 Delmar Boulevard, which opened an outlet store in August. Both stores are in the Delmar Loop area.

Owners Chris Dougher and Rita Navarro made the move after closing the Good Works location in downtown St. Louis because of a lack of customers. The store, which was shuttered in June, was open about eight months.

"There’s no question it’s a tough time. Fortunately we opened the outlet and it helped us maintain levels," Dougher said.

The outlet, at 6707 Vernon Avenue, is open Fridays and Saturdays and offers furniture at about 40 percent off the regular price.

Although Good Works didn’t succeed downtown, Alan Richardson says he believes the locale is the right spot for English Living and he plans to stay.

Located in the historic Ely Walker building, the store offers hard-to-find imported wooden furniture, antiques and custom-made pieces.

A big plus is the store’s bustling tea room that sells about 50 loose teas.

"The tea room has scored for us. It makes the store a destination," Richardson said.

gappleson@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8331

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Shares in China Construction Bank (0939.HK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz)(601939.SS: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the country’s most valuable lender, slid more than 4 percent on Monday even after Bank of America (BAC.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) poured cold water on a local newspaper report it planned to unload its stake in the Chinese bank at a discount.

The No. 3 U.S. bank, which owns 19.13 percent of Construction Bank, aims to sell 3-6 billion of the Chinese lender’s Hong Kong shares at a discount of 13-17 percent to its Friday close, raising up to $3 billion, the Apple Daily cited unidentified market sources as saying.

Both the U.S. firm — which is slashing up to 35,000 jobs over three years to save $7 billion and offset an erosion of business from a global economic downturn — and a source close to Construction Bank, denied the report.

The source, who declined to be identified due to the sensitive nature of the issue, told Reuters the report was simply untrue but gave no other details.

Several local fund managers contacted by Reuters also said they had not received any information relating to the possible sale of Construction bank shares.

“It is not true,” Bank of America spokesman Robert Stickler said in an emailed reply to Reuters questions.

Still, the Chinese lender’s stock fell as much as 4.4 percent in the morning. Analysts said investors believed Bank of America, which is set to fold in Merrill Lynch (MER.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) via a merger valued at $20.5 billion, would eventually reduce its ownership in the state-run bank in future.

“There is a possibility that Bank of America might sell its shares in CCB before the end of the year to capture the rise in CCB shares since the end of October,” said Y advance payday loans.K. Lee, analyst at Core-Pacific Yamaichi. “That’s the main reason why CCB is down.”

“Bank of America needs more money because it is facing difficulties in its home market. Its delinquency ratio is rising,” he added.

MATTER OF TIME

Speculation that Bank of America would unload part of its stake in China’s largest property lender, has surfaced sporadically and many analysts say it’s just a matter of time.

The report comes about a month after Bank of America actually nearly doubled its stake in the Chinese firm, which investors — shell-shocked by a year-long market slide — feared signaled the U.S. lender was preparing to sell some of its pre-existing holdings in the bank to bolster its capital base.

Bank of America, which is facing increasing troubles at home, was barred from selling those newly acquired shares until August 29, 2011, but holdings it had bought previously were released in November from a three-year lock-up period, allowing them to be sold at any time.

Bank of America paid $3 billion for a 9 percent stake in CCB in June 2005, and invested another $1.9 billion this July. Despite a sharp slide in Chinese share prices this year, that $4.9 billion total investment was worth $14.5 billion as of September 30, almost tripling in value, Bank of America has said.

But just last week, Construction Bank president Zhang Jianguo told reporters he believed Bank of America would not sell shares of China’s top property lender in the near term, citing his own communications with the U.S. firm. 

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The Conference Board of Canada says its consumer confidence index fell again this month, losing 2.9 points to 71.

The think-tank’s latest poll, conducted between Nov. 6 and Nov. 13, found the largest one-month decline on record for consumer sentiment in the Prairie region. Confidence also sagged in British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec, but edged up slightly in Atlantic Canada.

Conference Board economist Paul Darby says consumer sentiment "has fallen to depths previously reached only in 1982 and 1990, which were both periods of recession in Canada."

Darby notes that "ongoing troubles in equity markets undoubtedly had a negative effect on consumers’ view of their family financial situations and future job prospects in their communities businesscards."

He did find one area of optimism: 25.9 per cent of those polled said now is a good time to make a major purchase, up slightly from October, which Darby said "may indicate that the slide in the index is bottoming out."

The Conference Board poll claims a 95 per cent likelihood of being accurate within 2.2 percentage points.

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Welder Robert England has been out of work since his former employer Dana Canada shut its plant in St. Mary’s last summer.

"Everyone says: `Go West.’ These days anything is worth a try," said the 34-year-old father of two, who welded Ford-150 frames at the plant near London for the past seven years.

Armed with a stack of resumés and high hopes, he and wife Melanie visited the Workwest career caravan in Mississauga yesterday with their 4-year-old son and daughter, 2, in tow, looking for work in Alberta’s oil patch.

Ontario’s manufacturing sector has been getting hammered lately thanks to the ailing auto industry, the weakening economy and a stronger loonie that’s only recently slid back – just not in time for those like England.

A dozen Western Canadian employers at the job fair are chomping at the bit to recruit Ontarians struggling in a tighter job market and eager to sign on as civic planners, labourers, firefighters, transit drivers, electricians, sandblasters, health-care professionals – you name it.

"One of the oil field companies told us the jobs pay $50 an hour. It’s hard work, but that makes it worth moving a family of four out there," said England.

Hundreds of others of various ages and training toured the booths yesterday to see what the West and its storied economic boom have to offer them.

Workwest, the Calgary-based company running career fairs for the past two years in Ontario, said despite the recent doom and gloom on world markets, most of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba continue to thrive, and have yet to feel the fallout Ontario has same day cash advances.

"We burned out our labour pool a long time ago. Even with oil at $64 a barrel instead of $150, these companies are still doing well and projects need to be built," said Workwest president Ray Edwardson.

Gary Griffin and his father Brad drove in from their Haliburton home and found it was worth the three-hour trip. They were thrilled to hear a recruiter for the City of Calgary Fire Department say they’re looking for 200 new firefighters next year and another 200 the year after.

"It’s difficult to get a job here. They had 800 applicants for the Barrie fire department when I applied," said Gary, 19, who recently graduated from Georgian College’s firefighter program and would love to move to Calgary.

"A young guy like me, I’ve got nothing to lose moving out west," agreed Brandon Chaston, 24, who has struggled to find work in Hamilton after getting a degree in environmental sciences.

Windsor resident Ranjan Subramaniam told exhibitors he’s looking for a job in information technology, noting his area has been hard-hit by job losses.

"I lost a job in January because of the U.S. housing crisis," said the 26-year-old, who worked in the banking industry in IT. "I don’t mind going where the jobs are."

The job fair continues today from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the International Centre at 6900 Airport Rd. For information about employment opportunities go to Workwest.ca.

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PHILADELPHIA — The Federal Communications Commission has opened an investigation into the pricing policies of major cable operators, including Charter Communications Inc.

The agency wants to ensure the companies’ customers are getting treated fairly, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin said in an interview.

"I’m certainly concerned with the increasing cable prices that consumers are facing," Martin said. "They are getting less and being charged the same or more."

The FCC wrote Thursday to cable operators including Town and Country-based Charter, Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable Inc., Cox Communications Inc., Cablevision Systems Corp., Bright House Networks, Suddenlink Communications, Bend Cable Communications, GCI Company, Harron Entertainment and RCN Corp.

Phone-service provider Verizon Communications Inc., which offers pay-TV services with FiOS, also was included in the inquiry.

The agency’s letter questioned the companies’ practice of moving analog channels into digital tiers to free bandwidth for other uses, such as high-definition channels. Analog customers will have to get a digital set-top box from the operator or buy the digital TV tier to watch those channels.

Most cable customers are analog customers, and those who do not wish to upgrade to digital cannot watch the channels that are moved to the digital tier.

The agency also will look into whether cable operators and Verizon are confusing customers by linking the shift of the analog channel to the digital tier to the nation’s transition to digital broadcasts, Martin said no fax pay day loans.

The two moves are unrelated.

Linking the two in customers’ minds could prompt more people to opt for digital video and cable services because the digital TV transition in February is mandated by the federal government. The FCC has asked companies being investigated to submit information about their pricing practices within two weeks.

Martin said it appears consumers weren’t given "appropriate notice" about the channel changes.

He said the FCC has received a "significant" number of consumer complaints about the practice of moving analog channels to digital, which has accelerated this year.

The FCC’s letter was sent out a day after Consumers Union sent a letter to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation asking for an investigation into the practice of moving analog channels to the digital tier.

"Consumers are left paying the same monthly rate for significantly less service, or must rent more expensive set-top boxes for each television set they own," said Consumers Union, a nonprofit advocacy group.

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General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC may be forced into bankruptcy by slowing economies and dwindling U.S. auto sales, Standard & Poor’s analyst Robert Schulz said yesterday.

The companies said they have no plans to seek bankruptcy protection.

But the assessment underscored the pressure on the industry as the worsening credit crisis makes it harder for buyers to get loans and dealers to finance their operations. U.S. industry-wide sales tumbled 27 per cent in September, the most in 17 years.

S&P said yesterday that it may further trim credit ratings for GM and Ford on forecasts for 2009 auto demand to fall to its lowest level since 1992.

"Macro factors could overwhelm them at some point" even with the three biggest U.S. automakers committed to turnarounds, said Schulz, S&P’s lead automotive credit analyst.

GM, which has said it will idle assembly factories in Oshawa, Janesville, Wis., and Toluca, Mexico, by 2010, is likely to announce further production cuts and possible plant closures as early as next week as it deals with the sales slump and a collapse in its stock price, sources told Associated Press.

A source said the cuts likely will hit engine, transmission and stamping operations.

With all three companies working to boost cash, any bankruptcy filing would be a last resort, not a "strategic" decision, said Schulz.

He said the "trigger" for a forced restructuring under bankruptcy protection would be based on the automakers’ ability to preserve liquidity as sales decline.

GM shares will fall further, Barclays Capital analyst Brian Johnson said in a report yesterday, reducing his stock price for the Detroit-based automaker to $4 (U.S.)

"With auto sales stalled in the U.S. and beginning to contract in the rest of the world, we believe GM’s cash needs are increasing," wrote Johnson.

GM and Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford lost a combined $24.1 billion last quarter. GM last posted an annual profit in 2004, while Ford hasn’t had a full-year profit since 2005.

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After two weeks of contentious and often emotional debate, the federal government’s far-reaching and historic plan to bail out the nation’s financial system was signed into law by President Bush on Friday afternoon.

"By coming together on this legislation, we have acted boldly to prevent the crisis on Wall Street from becoming a crisis in communities across our country," Bush said less than an hour after the House voted 263 to 171 to pass the bill.

The House vote followed a strong lobbying push by the White House and other supporters of the bill. The House rejected a similar measure on Monday - a defeat that shocked the markets and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle.

The law, which allows the Treasury Secretary to purchase as much as $700 billion in troubled assets in a bid to kick-start lending, ushers in one of the most far-reaching interventions in the economy since the Great Depression.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said he welcomed the news. "The legislation is a critical step toward stabilizing our financial markets and ensuring an uninterrupted flow of credit to households and businesses," he said.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he would act swiftly but "methodically" to carry out the plan.

"The broad authorities in this legislation, when combined with existing regulatory authorities and resources, gives us the ability to protect and recapitalize our financial system as we work through the stresses in our credit markets," Paulson said.

Republicans picked up 26 votes in favor of the bill among caucus members who’d originally voted against it on Monday, while Democrats picked up an additional 32 votes.

According to voting results, 172 Democrats voted in favor of the bill while 62 opposed it; and 91 Republicans voted for it and 108 voted against it.

"We did today what we had to do because past mistakes made it necessary," said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., one of the lead negotiators on the bill.

Republicans who switched their votes from "no" to "yes" included Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C., and Rep. Sue Myrick, R-N.C. In a statement before the vote, Myrick said, "We’re on the cusp of a complete catastrophic credit meltdown. There is no liquidity in the market. We are out of time. Either you believe that fact, or you don’t. I do."

Democrats who switched to "yes" votes include Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., and Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.

Cummings noted before the vote that this was the most difficult vote for him in his 12 years in Congress. "But today we must step up and lead," he said.

Earlier this week, Cummings and Edwards were part of a group that had been working on an alternate proposal. The lawmakers had lobbied strongly but unsuccessfully to include, among other things, a change to the bankruptcy law that would let judges modify mortgages on primary residences, a move the lending industry has strongly opposed.

Cummings and Edwards said they had received calls from Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, encouraging them to change their minds. They said they received assurances that he was committed to the bankruptcy provision.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., told reporters before the vote on Friday morning that three things have happened to change some Republican members’ opposition to the bill since the House defeated the measure on Monday: more calls to their district offices in support of the bill; a clarification of SEC accounting rules; and the Senate additions, passed on Wednesday, including a number of tax break extenders and an increase in FDIC deposit insurance coverage. (What’s in the law.)

The House debate began on the heels of two market-moving events early Friday morning: a worse-than-expected monthly jobs number; and a surprise merger announcement between Wachovia and Wells Fargo (500 fast cash).

For the past two weeks, lending between banks and between banks and businesses has gotten considerably more expensive. Small businesses are having trouble getting loans. As of midday Friday, one key measure showed that banks were hoarding cash rather than loaning it. Meanwhile, a risk indicator showing banks’ willingness to lend to each other was at an all-time high.

Advocates say the plan is crucial to government efforts to attack a credit crisis that threatens the economy and would free up banks to lend more. Opponents say it rewards bad decisions by Wall Street, puts taxpayers at risk and fails to address the real economic problems facing Americans.

Lawmakers who voted against the bill warned that "being stampeded" into voting the bill through would be a serious mistake.

"Wall Street is so hungry for the $700 billion they can taste it. To get it they need to … create panic, block alternatives and herd the cattle. We ask Congress not to rush. Defeating this bill today isn’t the last step. It’s the first step in passing a good bill," said Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., before the vote.

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, who has called for the FDIC and SEC to use their powers to ease the credit crisis, said, "Pray for our Republic. She’s being placed in … very greedy hands."

Lawmakers who stood in support of the plan noted that it will help Main Street, not Wall Street. "We [would] rescue the jobs, the savings and the ability to get a loan for each hard-working American," said Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-N.Y.

Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., noted in the floor debate that the plan as amended by lawmakers also supports homeowners at risk of foreclosure by giving the government more say in how loans for troubled borrowers are modified so people can stay in their homes.

"When we buy up this toxic paper, we’re in charge. We can do the kind of loan modifications we’ve been urging [the industry coalition] Hope Now to get done. … We’ll be able to set some standards," Waters said during the floor debate. "For anybody who says there’s nothing in this bill for homeowners, they’re incorrect."

Even though the financial rescue plan has been signed into law, there are still a lot of unanswered questions regarding how some key provisions will work.

For instance, just how will Treasury structure the pricing and purchase of the troubled assets, which are troubled precisely because they’re difficult-to-value? For one thing, Treasury will be buying a variety of asset types backed by mortgages and loans of hard-to-verify credit quality. And financial institutions are not all in the same pickle - they each have their own combination of problems.

"The challenges our institutions face are just as varied - from holding illiquid mortgage backed securities, to illiquid whole loans, to raising needed capital, to simply facing a crisis of confidence," Paulson said after the House vote.

How much will the investment managers that Paulson will hire to run the asset purchase program be paid? What will the hiring guidelines be to prevent conflicts of interest?

One thing seems certain: Treasury staff are likely to be working more nights and weekends in the next month trying to figure it all out.

CNN congressional producers Deirdre Walsh and Lesa Jansen contributed to this report. 

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Michael Sroka dreamed up a day-trading website for sports fans while still in high school, and the concept will finally come to fruition with the launch of OneSeason.com.

The website, scheduled to debut on Wednesday, offers U.S. fans the chance to buy shares in such athletes as basketball star LeBron James and golfer Tiger Woods. The aim is to make a profit from trades, much like investors do when betting on the stocks of General Electric Co or Cisco Systems Inc.

At OneSeason, users can trade real money based on the performance of athletes, teams, leagues and other sports personalities. The idea came to Sroka, 27, at his Winnetka, Illinois, high school.

“Daydreaming in my economics classroom, I mashed together my two favorite things, which were sports and trading,” he told Reuters in a telephone interview.

Designed to appeal to sports fans, investors and gamblers, OneSeason allows users to build a portfolio — the company prefers “sportfolio” — of shares in athletes.

The shares, called “synthetic ownership interests,” are delineated with ticker symbols, just like real stocks cash advance loans. So Los Angeles Lakers all-star guard Kobe Bryant will have shares with the ticker “KOBE” when issued.

The value of those shares is determined by market demand influenced by onfield play, off-field behavior, fan opinion and future prospects, Sroka said. While OneSeason represents a first, it comes as Internet users grow comfortable with dealing in intangible assets.

“People have become much more comfortable with virtual goods and digital assets,” Sroka added. “In the past five years, people have also become much more comfortable with financial transactions online.” 

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The dollar opened the week up on the euro amid bailout plans for two key European lending institutions, as the effects of the financial crisis on Wall Street were keenly felt across the Atlantic.

The 15-nation euro slid to $1.4406 in early European trading Monday, down from the $1.4618 it bought in late New York trading Friday.

Germany’s financial regulators and several banks stepped in Monday to throw a line of credit to Hypo Real Estate Holding AG in a multibillion euro move aimed at shielding Germany’s No. 2 commercial property lender from going under.

That came a day after Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance company Fortis NV was given a $16.4 billion lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

"The dollar (is) finding upside off the back of the progress from the Fed’s bail out plan whilst the euro and pound are both under pressure as the credit crisis once again casts a shadow on this side of the Atlantic," said Gary Thomson, a currency trader with CMC Markets.

"With (U.K payday loans. bank) Bradford & Bingley being nationalized and Fortis being multi-nationalized, it’s a clear reminder that the problem continues to roll on and most certainly isn’t ring fenced across the Atlantic."

In other currencies, the British pound bought $1.8188, down from the $1.8426 on Friday. The dollar held largely steady against the Japanese yen to ¥106.30 from ¥106.06 Friday. 

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Alitalia (AZPIa.MI: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) remained airborne on Saturday but Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi ruled out any last-minute rescue by a foreign airline and said Italy’s flag carrier could be headed for bankruptcy.

“There is no possibility of another rescue bid so it could be that our Alitalia is heading towards bankruptcy procedures,” said Berlusconi, whose attempt to rally an Italian consortium to salvage the airline tripped this week on trade union opposition.

Alitalia flights were operating normally but may be grounded in a matter of days, and the airline liquidated, if there is no last-minute reprieve for talks between trade unions and the CAI consortium, which withdrew its offer on Thursday after pilots and flight attendants refused to accept its conditions.

Suffering from high fuel prices and an economic downturn that has hit airlines globally, Alitalia has been on the brink of collapse for years as political interference and labor unrest bled it of cash and caused it to pile up debt.

The government rules out further state aid or, as some leftists propose, the denationalization of Alitalia paydayloans. Italy is already in trouble with the European Commission over a 300 million euro ($435.2 million) loan to keep the airline flying.

Berlusconi returned to power in May promising to rescue the airline, in which the state owns a 49.9 percent stake, and keep it in Italian hands. He had opposed an offer for Alitalia by Air France-KLM (AIRF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) under the previous centre-left government.

Union chief Guglielmo Epifani suggesting Alitalia should now be “sold to a big international airline”.

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