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President Obama was stumping once again Tuesday for his plan to reimburse homeowners who invest in energy efficiency and create jobs.

But the president’s plan offered less money than had been previously hoped.

‘It’s going to be politically difficult to get this done," Obama said at a speech at Savannah Technical College in Georgia. "But it’s the right thing to do."

The plan, officially known as Home Star, would give rebates of 50% up to $3,000 for energy saving purchases like new appliances, furnaces, or insulation.

Consumers would get the rebate from a store, contractor, or utility.

It would also offer a larger rebate for homeowners who performed a more comprehensive energy audit of their home. Under that plan, homeowners could be reimbursed for up to half the cost of hiring contractors to do things like add insulation, swap out old appliances, and caulk leaky windows and doors.

Rebates depend on a home’s energy savings. Cut energy use by 20% and homeowners could get back half the money they shell out, up to $3,000. Homeowners who cut more than that might get up to $8,000, depending on how much they cut, according to people familiar with the plan.

A typical home energy audit and retrofit costs $5,000 to $8,000, and generally shaves 20%-40% off the monthly energy bills.

Unlike the Energy Department’s Weatherization program, which is targeted to low-income people and has been criticized for taking too long to get going, this plan would be available to everyone.

The $8,000 rebate is less than the $12,000 proponents originally wanted, and the $6 billion proposed for the program is less than the $10 billion originally hoped for creditreport.

Nonetheless, environmentalists praised the idea.

"Even the most basic upgrade puts money in our pockets, puts Americans back to work and puts energy waste on the run," Lane Burt, manager of Building Energy Policy at the Natural Resources Defense Council, said in a statement. "It’s a triple play on a more efficient future."

The program, dubbed "cash for caulkers" by some, has been touted by the president for months. It even won a mention in his State of the Union Address.

But whether it becomes reality is far from certain.

Congressional Democrats are also behind the idea and have said it is a part of their larger job creation strategy. But it was not included in a recent jobs bill, which focused more on extending current tax breaks rather than enacting new programs.

And it faces likely opposition from lawmakers concerned about rising government spending.

"Democratic leaders in Congress will still need to test the level of support for ‘cash for caulker’ programs relative to other jobs priorities," Whitney Stanco, an energy policy analyst at the brokerage firm Concept Capital, said in an e-mail.

The plan could appear in another jobs bill, or in separate energy legislation expected later this year.  

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke sought to defuse congressional efforts to audit monetary policy by backing the release of more information on emergency aid to investment banks and corporations.

The Fed will support legislation to let government auditors probe six temporary programs created to combat the financial crisis such as the Primary Dealer Credit Facility, Bernanke said yesterday in House testimony. While he would support the delayed release of names of firms getting aid from those programs, he said banks borrowing through the longstanding discount window must be allowed to remain anonymous.

Bernanke’s move toward greater openness may not dissuade lawmakers who want the Fed to disclose more information about the Fed’s lending and policy decisions. Lawmakers are responding to public anger over the Fed’s role in the $182.3 billion bailout of American International Group Inc.

“You’ve certainly seen changes for more transparency in the past 18 months,” said Representative Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican. “But I still support the legislation and I think the majority of the House still does as well.”

Representative Ron Paul won House passage in December of broader audits than Bernanke advocates. House members “signed on to the bill because there has been a public outcry, and this has given them a chance to express themselves and identify with that position,” Paul said in an interview yesterday.

Bernanke yesterday offered “full transparency” on the emergency programs, including revealing the names of borrowers.

Lehman Collapse

Most of the programs were created in response to the Bear Stearns Cos. near-collapse and the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and were closed by the Fed as of Feb. 1 because of improvements in financial markets. They include facilities backing investment banks, companies issuing commercial paper and money-market mutual funds. Loans outstanding under the programs peaked at a combined $930.1 billion and stood at $50.1 billion as of last week.

The Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, designed to spur consumer and business lending, closes June 30.

“He is definitely trying to defuse the Ron Paul issue,” said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Chicago-based Mesirow Financial Inc., which oversees $37.4 billion in assets. “The best he can do at the moment is to play more offense than defense.”

The openness can’t apply to the Fed’s discount window, used by banks facing temporary shortages of cash, Bernanke said.

Role in Panics

Borrowers would be reluctant to use the window if they knew their names would become known, and that would “intensify the crisis or panic, and therefore the whole purpose of the discount window to try to eliminate financial panics would be severely damaged,” Bernanke said during the hearing under questioning from Representative Michele Bachmann, a Minnesota Republican.

The proposed law to allow audits of interest-rate decisions could have “bad effects on markets” because it could create the perception that the central bank is subject to political pressure, Bernanke said make quick cash.

Telling the public more about the operations of the central bank was one of the goals Bernanke listed for his second term when he was sworn in on Feb. 3. He pledged to “ensure maximum transparency” without compromising the “ability to conduct policy in the public interest.”

The Senate confirmed Bernanke for a second four-year term by a 70-30 vote last month, the most opposition in history for a Fed chief. Today Bernanke, 56, appears before the Senate Banking Committee to deliver his monetary policy report.

Senate Opposition

Opposition in the Senate to Paul’s audit measure was likely to doom the populist cause after it passed in the House Dec. 11, Gregory R. Valliere, a chief strategist at Potomac Research Group in Washington, said earlier this month.

“I still think the large majority will stick with me,” Paul said yesterday.

Vermont Independent Bernard Sanders, the measure’s main backer in the Senate, has 32 co-sponsors for a version of Paul’s audit provision, short of the 60 votes it will probably need to overcome procedural hurdles.

Bernanke “indicated the need for more transparency than before and a willingness to work with Congress,” Alabama Representative Spencer Bachus, the senior Republican on the House panel, said in an interview. “I really want to sit down with him.”

Bernanke’s comments were part of testimony in which the Fed chief said the U.S. economy is in a “nascent” recovery that still requires low interest rates to encourage demand by consumers and businesses once federal stimulus expires.

Low Inflation

Bernanke said slack labor markets and low inflation will allow the Federal Open Market Committee to keep the benchmark lending rate, which has been in a range of zero to 0.25 percent for more than a year, low “for an extended period.” He said the Fed will need to start tightening policy “at some point.”

The central bank hasn’t dropped its opposition to revealing data on borrowers through the Freedom of Information Act, which requires federal agencies to respond to public requests for government documents within 20 days. Fed spokeswoman Barbara Hagenbaugh declined to comment.

The Fed is appealing a U.S. district judge’s August 2009 order compelling it to release names of banks that took emergency loans during the 2007-2008 financial crisis. The suit was brought under the FOIA by New York-based Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.

“Chairman Bernanke’s testimony is consistent with our position in the litigation,” said Paul Saltzman, general counsel for The Clearing House Association LLP, a trade group for the largest U.S. banks that joined the Fed in fighting Bloomberg’s lawsuit.

Banks have counted on confidentiality when borrowing from the Fed — and if those rules are to change, “we believe that Congress, working with the Fed, is best situated to address disclosure issues,” Saltzman said.

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The high-profile squabble that captivated late-night television for weeks comes to a close Friday, when Conan O’Brien makes his final appearance as host of "The Tonight Show."

O’Brien walks away from "Tonight" after just seven months with a severance package said to be worth $45 million, including $12 million for his staff, according to people familiar with the terms.

The payout is roughly equivalent to what NBC would have paid O’Brien for the remaining two years on his contract. Industry analysts say cutting ties with O’Brien was the best option for the struggling network.

"Even though it was hurtful for the business and individuals, it is the right business move," said Steve Farella, chief executive of media and marketing firm TargetCast tcm.

NBC, currently the lowest rated network, has suffered financially amid dwindling ad sales and stiff competition from cable networks. General Electric (GE, Fortune 500), the network’s parent, said Friday that NBC’s profit tumbled 30% in its latest quarter compared to last year.

O’Brien’s departure stems from a dispute over scheduling changes NBC sought to implement after it abruptly decided to cancel "The Jay Leno Show."

NBC launched "Leno" in an effort to save money on prime-time costs by airing content that was cheaper to produce during peak viewing hours.

"NBC did a Hail Mary in prime time," said Bill Caroll, director of programming at Katz Television Group. "They believed that they could change the economics of prime time payday loans guaranteed no fax."

But the show received lackluster ratings during its three month run, and NBC came under intense pressure from local affiliates to replace "Leno" with more popular programming.

"The volume of objections from affiliates drove them to take this step," said Steven Winoker, an analyst who covers NBC’s parent GE for Sanford Bernstein. "The best thing they can do now is put this behind them and move on."

Still, some industry analysts say the "Leno" experiment could have been a success if it had been given more time.

"It may have been a plan that was too far ahead of its time," said Brad Adgate, an analyst at branding firm Horizon Media. "NBC wanted to take a step forward and wound up taking a step back."

NBC is expected to fill the 10 p.m. ET slot vacated by "Leno" by programming perennial favorites such as the "Law and Order" franchise and the newsmagazine "Dateline." The network is also launching a new show starring Jerry Seinfeld called "The Marriage Ref."

"Clearly, they’re hoping to lead from strength in the 10 o’clock time period," Caroll said.

Looking ahead, Katz said Leno should do "reasonably well" when he returns to "Tonight" in March: "He has a core audience and more than a decade of success." 

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A U.K. house-price gauge showed the property market unexpectedly lost momentum in December as inquiries from new buyers to browse homes slipped.

The number of real-estate agents saying prices rose exceeded those reporting declines by 30 percentage points, down from 35 points in November, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors said in its monthly survey today. Economists predicted 37 points, according to the median of 14 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey.

The report suggests the U.K. property market’s pickup from the slump that shaved as much as 20 percent off values is starting to fade. House prices will be flat this year, Lloyds Banking Group Plc’s Halifax unit said Jan. 7. Prime Minister Gordon Brown is counting on stronger economic growth to help revive his popularity before a general election which must be held by June.

“What all this is suggesting is the sugar rush or pent up demand that helped housing to rebound is running out of steam,” Alan Clarke, an economist at BNP Paribas in London, said in a note today. “This series was the best early warning signal that the housing market was going to bounce back. Unfortunately, our charts suggest there is further downside for enquiries.”

Housing-Market Slack

The sales-to-stock ratio, a measure of slack in the housing market, was little changed at 30.5, close to the highest since Dec. 2007, the report showed. Average sales per surveyor over the last three months rose to 19.1 from 19.

Seven of 12 regions tracked by RICS showed price increases in the past three months, and the rest had declines. The biggest gain was in London and the southeast of England, where the net balance of surveyors saying prices increased was at 41 points.

U.K. house prices rose 0.6 percent in November from a year earlier, the Department for Communities and Local Government said separately today. On the month, prices increased 1.7 percent, the DCLG said in a statement on its Web site.

“New inquiries are continuing to outpace new instructions which is helping to push house prices higher,” Jeremy Leaf, spokesman for RICS, said in a statement. “The recent loss of momentum in prices and the moderation in new buyer interest can be in part attributed to the housing market pulling down its shutters for Christmas.”

Bank of England policy maker Kate Barker said on Dec. 16 that she is “surprised” by the pickup in house prices and predicted the recovery may stall in 2010. London-based research group Hometrack said last month that prices will decline this year as rising unemployment and concern about government spending cuts limit demand.

Retail Sales

A separate British Retail Consortium survey released today showed total sales rose 6 percent in December from a year earlier, the most for the month since 2005. Same-store sales increased 4.2 percent on the year, compared with a 3.3 percent drop in December last year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. deepened the recession.

“These are stronger figures than we dared hope for,” Stephen Robertson, director general of the London-based BRC, said in a statement. “Customers clearly felt more confident about spending than they have for some time.”

British lenders reduced the cost of mortgages for a third month in December as the Bank of England kept the benchmark interest rate at a record low and maintained its 200-billion pound ($322 billion) bond-purchase program to try and cement the economic recovery. The U.K. economy contracted 0.2 percent in the third quarter, extending the slump to a sixth quarter.

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The Bank of Nova Scotia said Tuesday it has been approved to set up independent operations in Dubai's financial district, making it the first Canadian bank to do so.

The licensing clearance from the Dubai International Financial Center allows the bank's ScotiaMocatta division to open an independent branch in one of the Middle East's hubs for international finance.

ScotiaMocatta has operated in Dubai since 1998 through an alliance with the National Bank of Dubai to provide financial services to gold traders, jewellers and others.

"This is a strategic initiative that reflects our confidence not only in the precious metals market, but also in the region," said Barry Wainstein, vice-chairman and deputy head, of Scotiabank Global Capital Markets.

The move comes as debt-burdened Dubai struggles to retain its prominence as a centre for Middle East investors and traders.

"We are very happy to welcome Scotiabank, the first Canadian bank to join the DIFC," said DIFC governor Ahmed Humaid Al Tayer in a statement Tuesday morning.

"As the DIFC begins to play a more prominent role in the global economy, we are keen to expand the industry cluster within the financial district with new companies from across the global financial industry," he said.

Pramod Mohan, a senior executive at Scotiabank's Dubai branch, said the bank recognized the importance of establishing a stand-alone presence in the region as the previous metals market in the Middle East continues to grow.

"Dubai is ideally located in a large wholesale and consumer market and is uniquely positioned to channel gold from the international markets to the ultimate destination," he said.

ScotiaMocatta is the precious metals division of the Scotiabank Group. Scotiabank Group currently employs close to 68,000 people in about 50 countries.

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In a reversal of earlier gains, more states lost jobs than added them in November, signaling that hiring is occurring only sporadically around the country.

Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia suffered a net loss of jobs, the Labor Department reported Friday quick guaranteed personal loans. Nineteen states added jobs in November, down from 28 in October.

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Swiss food giant Nestle may consider a bid for Britain’s Cadbury to challenge a hostile 9.9 billion pound ($16.3 dollars) bid by Kraft Foods Inc and a potential move by Hershey, Bloomberg reported on Sunday.

Nestle is still weighing its options and may decide against a bid, Bloomberg said, citing two unnamed people with knowledge of the matter.

Nestle declined to comment.

Italian chocolate maker Ferrero and U instant payday loan.S.-based Hershey have teamed up and said on Wednesday they were reviewing a possible offer for Cadbury.

Analysts view Nestle as a potential suitor for Cadbury.

(Writing by Lisa Jucca; Editing by Jon Loades-Carter)

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Growing up in an Air Force family, Maggie Campbell moved all over the world. After earning her undergraduate degree, Campbell got a job with the Main Street revitalization program in Taylor, Texas.

Subsequent Main Street jobs in Oklahoma and Mississippi led to downtown development jobs in Pasadena, Calif., Dallas and Fort Worth. Before beginning work in St. Louis on Nov. 2, Campbell spent three years as president of the Arlington (Texas) Downtown Management Corp. In St. Louis, she succeeded Jim Cloar, who retired.

Campbell’s first visit to St. Louis was last year when she attended a meeting of the International Downtown Association.

What was your first impression of downtown St. Louis?

I loved the old buildings. There’s a very rich architectural history here. I had the impression a lot had been accomplished but that there was a lot left to be done. There were more gaps in the teeth than what I expected to find.

Why do few national retailers have stores downtown?

Maybe downtown isn’t ready for them. But if you create attractions and add jobs and residents, the retailing will follow. For retailers, it’s all about numbers. What I found in Pasadena is perhaps closest to what I’m seeing in St. Louis. I’m feeling a very similar kind of promise of activity from people who have a stake in downtown. Old Pasadena is very urban, very cool. Thousands of people are on the sidewalks at night. We’ve got to sustain this coolness factor.

Which of your previous jobs prepared you most for your new position?

It’s been a cumulative process. To go to Arlington was quite a contrast from Pasadena but it was a tremendous opportunity to learn economic development, the piece I was missing in my career. Until then, I didn’t have the responsibility for making deals happen.

Arlington was a small town between Dallas and Fort Worth, but in the 1950s it had this tremendous suburban growth. My work in Pasadena was all about managing success because it was such a proven district.

It’s a combination of those most recent jobs that prepared me best for this new position.

What are you learning so far?

The No. 1 concern I hear from people when they talk about downtown St. Louis is the empty, dilapidated buildings. They want them returned to active use. I’ve not heard from a single resident who wants to tear down historic buildings.

I’d love to have more Class A buildings downtown and getting more corporate citizens to realize that downtown is important. But we already have a lot of underused buildings. In this current economic climate and without some very creative financing, we’re not going to get new construction right away.

What’s your main job goal here?

My job is to connect the vision for downtown with developers and investors. A lot of thoughtful listening goes a long way.

We still need to attract more residents. That will happen. We need to fill in the gaps and connect the dots. If you see vacant buildings, the impression is that nobody cares. But not every delay or setback indicates the absence of progress. A degree of dissatisfaction drives the desire to show that downtown can be better.

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The euro zone economy jumped out of recession in the third quarter, data showed on Friday, but with slightly less spring than expected after growth in the area’s top three economies fell short of market forecasts.

Gross domestic product in the 16 countries using the euro rose 0.4 percent quarter-on-quarter after five consecutive quarters of shrinking output, but was 4.1 percent lower year-on-year, the European Union’s statistics office said.

Economists polled by Reuters had on average forecast quarterly growth of 0.5 percent and a 3.9 percent annual decline.

“The euro zone exited recession at a trot rather than a canter in the third quarter,” said Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight.

For graphics on growth see:

here

Germany, France and Italy all reported a third-quarter increase in economic output, but the German 0.7 percent quarterly growth was below expectations of 0.8 percent, the French 0.3 percent increase only half of what was expected and the Italian 0.6 percent fell short of the 0.7 percent consensus.

Italy and the Netherlands returned to growth, but Spain continued to contract albeit at a significantly reduced pace.

A more detailed breakdown of the data will only be available on December 3 but economists said net exports and inventory build-up added to growth, while household consumption was weak and investment remained in recession payday loan companies.

“In other words, domestic demand remains the big weak spot,” said Aurelio Maccario, economist at UniCredit Group.

END OF EUROZONE RECESSION

The growth ends the deepest economic downturn in Europe since World War Two, brought on by a global financial crisis, but economists say recovery is likely to remain fragile.

The European Commission expects that fourth-quarter growth would slow to 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter and then to 0.1 percent in the first two quarters of 2010.

“This loss of momentum is expected to be the consequence of the withdrawal of some stimulus measures, including car scrappage schemes and employment support measures,” said Archer.

Economists said restocking at companies, which could be helping growth now, would also be less of a factor toward the middle of 2010. A strong euro, rising unemployment and still tight credit conditions will also dampen growth prospects. 

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U.S. merchants suffered one of the biggest jumps in shoplifting and other retail crimes over the past year, a trend that cost the average American family about $435, according to a new report Tuesday.

Retail crimes such as shoplifting, employee theft and supply chain fraud rose 8.8% in the United States, to $42.2 billion, in the year ended in June, according to the 2009 Global Retail Theft Barometer report from the U.K.-based Center for Retail Research. In the prior year, retail crimes rose 1.5%.

"It is a shocking increase and something that retailers need to get to grips with quickly," said Joshua Bamfield, author of the report, which identified top trends in retail crimes in 41 countries, including the United States, China, India, Europe, Japan and Australia.

The report was based on a confidential survey of 1,069 large global retail companies

Bamfield said the 8.8% rise in retail crimes in the United States — the biggest retail market in the world — was largely spurred by the recession and affected about 1.6% of the nation’s total retail sales in the 12-month period.

Reflecting the global scope of the downturn, he said retail crime rose 5.9% to $115 billion.

He said employee theft cost merchants about $18.7 billion in the period, shoplifting cost sellers $15 billion, and processing and other supply chain errors or fraud cost retailers about $6.8 billion.

What’s worse is the cost of store crimes to consumers, which the report estimated at being about $435.17 per family over the past year.

"Prices on products would be lower on average if merchants did not have to incur lost revenue from store crimes," Bamfield said.

Most-stolen products

The report said thieves bagged a wide range of items, but tended to focus on expensive popular branded items payday cash advance. These included perfume, cosmetics, razor blades, small leather products and electronics such as the Wii gaming system, iPods and cellphones.

Satellite navigation equipment and laptops were also vulnerable categories, the report said. In supermarkets, thieves were targeting fresh meat and cheese.

Bamfield said the biggest driver of store theft is for resale. "It’s primary to feed the habit for extra money," he said. "A lot of it funds criminal activity. So there’s a societal cost on top on an economic cost of these trends."

And while merchants are at the frontline of these crime sprees, Bamfield said the repercussions are felt from manufacturer to store shelf.

"Retailers don’t accurately know how much merchandise they have in stock if deliberate errors are made in processing that information," he said. "This can affect suppliers managing their production. Manufacturers and distributors are are impacted."

What’s more worrying is that Bamfield said this uptick in retail crimes could last for a while. ‘I think this trend is more than just a temporary response to the recession," he said.

For its part, the National Retail Federation (NRF) maintains that merchants cannot be solely responsible for trying to prevent organized retail crime. The group said tougher federal legislation is needed to contain the problem

"New federal laws will make organized retail crime part of our federal criminal statutes, giving law enforcement officers and prosecutors the tools they need to put these criminals behind bars," Joe LaRocca, an NRFofficial, said in a report earlier this month. 

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