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Drugmaker Pfizer Inc., which just bought rival Wyeth in October, said Wednesday that it would scrap testing of roughly 100 experimental drugs from their combined research operations to focus more resources on its priority areas.

New York-based Pfizer said it would continue with about 500 research projects. About 70 percent of those — and 75 percent of its late-stage research — fall within what it calls "Invest to Win" areas because of the great need for better treatments.

They are Alzheimer’s, diabetes and metabolic disorders, pain, cancer, inflammatory disorders such as rheumatoid arthritis, and mental illnesses.

Pfizer will reduce the square footage of its R&D facilities by one-third, eliminating six research sites and an unspecified number of workers.

Pfizer maintains a research facility in Chesterfield, though the company is scaling back those operations. The company announced in November that it would eliminate 600 of the 1,000 jobs at the research center and sell the property to Monsanto.

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NEW YORK, N.Y.—Shares of Walmart Stores Inc. moved ahead Monday morning in the first trading since the retail giant announced on the weekend that it’s slashing 11,200 jobs at Sam’s Club warehouse stores.

In New York, Walmart (NYSE:WMT) stock lifted 20.5 cents to US$53.14, as other U.S. retailers also moved on the news, pulling the entire sector higher.

Walmart said it will close 10 underperforming warehouse locations, at a cost 1,500 jobs, as it works to improve sales at its Sam’s Club stores.

Sam’s Club has fallen short of expectations for the Walmart chain in the U.S. and abroad.

Walmart already pulled its Sam’s Clubs stores out of Canada, laying off 1,200 people at six stores in Ontario last year.

Sam’s Club had been in Canada for only about five years. Walmart Canada president and CEO David Cheesewright said at the time that the stores didn’t perform to the company’s standards no fax payday loans.

In the U.S., Sam’s Club employees found out about the cuts during a mandatory meeting on Sunday morning. The stores are undergoing various changes as the company turns over the task of in-store product demonstrations to an outside marketing company.

The job cuts represent about 10 per cent of the warehouse club operator’s 110,000 staffers across its 600 stores. That includes 10,000 workers, mostly part-timers, who offer food samples and showcase products to customers.

Walmart also eliminated 1,200 Sam’s Club workers who recruit new members.

During Walmart Stores’ most recent quarter, revenue at the Sam’s Club division slipped nearly one per cent to US$11.55 billion while U.S. Walmart stores posted a 1.2 per cent sales increase to $61.81 billion.

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A $10 million project to build 40 town homes along a once-desolate stretch of Delmar Boulevard is headed toward foreclosure.

Consider the Delmar Place town home project a casualty of the housing slide that began in 2008, said Stephen Acree, chief executive of the Regional Housing and Community Development Alliance. The foreclosure, initiated by Truman Bank, is scheduled for next Thursday.

Acree’s organization and another nonprofit, West End Community Conference, had formed Delmar Place Land Development LLC to assist the project on what had been city-owned land in the 5300 and 5400 blocks of Delmar, just west of Union Boulevard.

Town & Country Homes Inc. began construction in late 2003, but built only 24 of the planned town homes before the project stalled in 2009. A company representative declined to discuss the project or the foreclosure.

Acree said Thursday that Truman, still owed about $180,000 on a loan guaranteed by Town & Country in 2006, will try to sell the foreclosed property, perhaps to another builder fast cash. Town & Country is going out of business, Acree said.

The foreclosure affects only the 20 Delmar Place lots that remain vacant. The 24 lots on which Town & Country built homes are unaffected. Acree had helped Town & Country structure the project’s financing.

"It was a hard one to make work because of the extra infrastructure cost involved and the unproven market for that kind of residential development on DeImar west of Union," he said.

Delmar Place was designed for two rows of town homes, one facing Delmar and the second behind the first. The project stalled after Town & Country built the row of homes closest to the street. Acree said if there is a "silver lining" to the project’s failure it’s the improvement to Delmar’s streetscape.

Previously on the site were derelict apartment buildings.

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Knight Security Systems has won a contract with the Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services to install security cameras at the San Antonio State Supported Living Center.

This is a home that cares for 300 mentally disabled people in San Antonio. The video cameras should help ensure residents are being kept safe.

The work is being done in San Antonio as part of a statewide contract between Aging and Disability Services and Houston-based Knight. In all, a total of 12 state-supported living centers will receive the company’s cameras.

The contract is worth $12 million.

Knight will install a total of 3,200 video cameras in 335 buildings.

Founded in 1983, Knight Security Systems has worked with more than 3,000 Texas customers since its inception.

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The cost of living rose less than forecast in December, indicating the economic recovery is showing few signs of stoking inflation.

The consumer-price index rose 0.1 percent following a 0.4 percent gain in November, Labor Department figures showed today in Washington. Excluding food and energy costs, the so-called core index also increased 0.1 percent from a month earlier.

Companies may have little success raising prices with unemployment projected to average 10 percent this year, the highest annual rate in seven decades. Federal Reserve policy makers have said they expect “subdued” inflation in coming months, allowing them to keep interest rates close to zero to help fuel growth.

“Consumer pricing pressures remain very subdued,” said Russell Price, a senior economist at Ameriprise Financial Inc. in Detroit, who accurately forecast the rise in the core rate. “It gives the Fed further leeway to continue keeping rates where they are well through 2010.”

Stock-index futures trimmed losses and Treasury yields fell after the report. Futures on the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index expiring in March declined 0.3 percent to 1,141.9 at 8:34 a.m. in New York after losing 0.7 percent earlier. The yield on the 10- year Treasury note dropped to 3.7 percent from 3.74 percent late yesterday.

Last Year

Americans paid 2.7 percent more for goods and services in 2009. The annual gain followed a 0.1 percent rise in 2008 that was the smallest since 1954 as energy costs plunged the most since those records began four years later.

Prices excluding food and energy rose 1.8 percent in 2009, matching the previous year as the smallest gain since 2003. Service costs, which make up 60 percent of the CPI, rose 0.9 percent last year, the smallest gain since 1945.

Economists forecast the consumer-price index would rise 0.2 percent in December from a month earlier, according to the median of 77 projections in a Bloomberg News survey. Estimates ranged from a 0.1 percent drop to a gain of 0.3 percent.

The core index was forecast to rise 0.1 percent, according to the Bloomberg survey.

Fed policy makers’ long-term forecast for their preferred measure of inflation, the Commerce Department’s index tied to consumer spending and excluding food and fuel, calls for gains in a range of 1.5 percent to 2 percent. That gauge, which is typically lower than the CPI, was up 1.4 percent in the 12 months to November.

Energy Prices

Energy costs increased 0.2 percent in December, less than the previous month as gasoline and fuel oil costs slowed.

The year-over-year gains in the consumer price index are getting bigger as crude oil prices increase from an almost five- year low in December 2008. Energy costs last year jumped 18.2 percent, the most since 1979.

Crude oil futures traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange averaged $74 need a personal loan with bad credit.60 in December, compared with $78.15 the previous month. Prices have rebounded this month, averaging $81.59 a barrel.

Gasoline prices in December averaged $2.61, compared with $2.65 a gallon the previous month, according to AAA. Prices for regular-grade gasoline at the pump have climbed to an average of $2.71 so far this month.

Food Costs

Food costs, which account for about 15 percent of the CPI, increased 0.2 percent in December, reflecting higher prices for fruits and vegetables, dairy products and cereals. The cost of food for all of last year dropped 0.5 percent, the biggest decline since 1961.

Delhaize Group SA, owner of Food Lion supermarkets in the U.S., said in a statement yesterday that revenue fell for the first time in five quarters on declining food prices. The Brussels-based company said U.S. retail food deflation accelerated to 2.1 percent in the fourth quarter and prices in its stores fell 0.92 percentage point more than the cost of goods sold.

Rents, which make up almost 40 percent of the core CPI, were unchanged. Owners-equivalent rent, one of the categories used to track rental prices, held steady last month after a 0.1 percent decline. Owner-equivalent rent hasn’t risen since August.

The CPI is the broadest of the three monthly price gauges from the Labor Department because it includes goods and services. A report yesterday showed the cost of imported goods was unchanged last month. The Labor Department is scheduled to report December wholesale prices on Jan. 20.

Prices of Services

Almost 60 percent of the CPI covers prices consumers pay for services ranging from medical visits to airline fares and movie tickets.

United Airlines, the third-largest U.S. carrier, discounted fares to as low as $55 each way in an effort to boost travel during the winter months. The carrier’s Chicago-based parent UAL Corp. made the announcement this month in a statement and followed one-way discounts offered by JetBlue Airways Corp.

Retailers offering discounts during the holiday shopping season to spur demand weighed on earnings for some companies.

GameStop Corp., the world’s largest video-game retailer, reported fourth-quarter earnings that fell short of estimates because of disappointing sales. The Grapevine, Texas-based company offered a $50 discount on Nintendo Co.’s top-selling Wii console from Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

“The macroeconomic environment put a damper on people buying as many video-games as we expected,” Chief Executive Officer Daniel DeMatteo said in a Jan. 8 interview. He said sales were impacted by “economic weakness.”

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UPS announced plans to cut 1,800 jobs as part of a restructuring plan intended to streamline the company’s domestic management structure.

The cuts will eliminate management and administrative positions across the country, UPS (UPS, Fortune 500) said in a statement Friday. Approximately 1,100 employees will be offered voluntary separation packages; other impacted workers will receive severance benefits and access to support programs.

"The decision to reduce our workforce is difficult and we appreciate the significant contributions of those who will be affected by this change," said Scott Davis, UPS chairman and chief executive. "But we believe this will allow us to sharpen our focus on profitable growth while being even more nimble in serving our customers."

UPS said the restructuring plan, which takes effect in April, will reduce the number of districts in the company’s small-package operation to three from five and the number of regions to 20 from 46. The consolidation does not involve closing operating facilities.

The announcement came the Atlanta-based company said its expects to beat its earnings estimate for the fourth quarter of 2009. The company previously projected it will earn between 58 cents and 65 cents per share during the final quarter of last year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings per share to fall to 63 cents, a 24% decline compared to same period in 2008.

UPS said it expects to incur a charge in 2010 as a result of the restructuring plan, but said it will be offset by cost savings.

Shares of UPS were up more than 5% in early trading.  

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The University of Wisconsin System Board of Regents on Friday unanimously approved three capital projects at UW-Milwaukee, including the purchase and redevelopment of Columbia St. Mary's Hospital to allow for expansion of the land-locked east side campus.

The capital projects are part of a broader initiative to support the institution’s research activities and to reinforce its impact as an economic driver in the state.

The approved projects include:

• The first phase of the Kenwood Integrated Research Complex;
• The purchase and redevelopment of Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital; and
• Replacement of the Neeskay research vessel.

Regent president Chuck Pruitt told the Board that UW-Milwaukee’s Research Growth Initiative is a central pillar to the UW System’s efforts to boost educational output and stimulate job creation, as advocated in its Growth Agenda for Wisconsin.

“These capital investments will ensure that we have the facilities needed to enhance the university’s impact as an economic driver for Milwaukee and all of Wisconsin,” Pruitt said in a press release from the UW-System.

In his presentation before the board, UW-Milwaukee Chancellor Carlos Santiago told Regents that the projects represent the future not only of the university, but of the city, region and state cash advance payday loans.

“We’re moving the pendulum to a more balanced perspective for a research university. We have not taken money from the fine arts or from the humanities to do this. We are providing opportunities with new dollars for the faculty, and new faculty in particular, to avail themselves of the opportunities that Milwaukee provides. That is really what this is all about,” Santiago said.

To use a flexible pool of funds provided by Gov. Doyle and the state Legislature in the 2009-11 Biennial Budget, the Regents were required to approve a detailed expenditure plan for the UW-Milwaukee Initiative, identifying specific projects and sources of funding. The Board had previously approved UW-Milwaukee’s plans to build a new facility for the School of Freshwater Sciences Research at its meeting in December.

Senior vice president Tom Anderes told the Board that, with the approval of the three projects on Friday, $176 million of the UW-Milwaukee Initiative’s $240 million in funding, including all of the taxpayer-supported borrowing, will have been committed. That leaves $64 million of approved funding capacity for future projects, including $25.6 million in program revenue supported borrowing and $38.4 million in gifts/grants.

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Finance Minister Hirohisa Fujii’s health deterioration threatens his four-month tenure, exposing a lack of experience in a government that’s struggling to contain Japan’s debt and sustain an economic recovery.

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said yesterday that no decision has been made on whether Fujii, 77, will remain in his job as the government awaits judgment on his medical condition. Fujii told reporters in Tokyo that health issues may prevent him from attending the next session of parliament this month. He is likely to resign, Kyodo News reported today, citing an unnamed ruling party lawmaker.

A Fujii resignation would elevate focus on the two vice- finance chiefs, Yoshihiko Noda and Naoki Minezaki, as well as Deputy Prime Minister Naoto Kan, who heads economic policy, and Yoshito Sengoku, the minister for administrative reform. Investors would examine any successor’s credentials on fiscal matters after Fujii championed avoiding an increase in new bond sales, said Susumu Kato at Calyon Securities in Tokyo

“Hatoyama needs someone who is heavyweight and has expertise, but the DPJ lacks experienced personnel,” said Kato, Calyon’s chief economist for Japan. “Fujii gave a sense of security in a relatively young Cabinet as he’s veteran politician who has already been finance minister.”

Retirement Postponed

Hatoyama asked Fujii last year to postpone retirement and run in the August election that brought his Democratic Party of Japan to power for the first time. Fujii previously headed the Finance Ministry in 1993, and is a former budget examiner at the agency, giving him a deeper background in the area than other lawmakers in the party.

Financial markets indicated little immediate concern over doubts about Fujii’s future, with Japanese government bonds little changed and the Nikkei 225 Stock Average closing at the highest level since October 2008. Yields on benchmark 10-year notes were at 1.325 percent. The yen rose 0.6 percent to 91.92 as of 6 p.m. in Tokyo yesterday.

The Diet is scheduled to convene later this month, when the finance minister would typically face lawmakers’ questions over the proposed record 92.3 trillion yen ($1 trillion) budget.

While the DPJ-led coalition’s majority in the Diet means Hatoyama’s 2010 budget is likely to be little affected by a Fujii departure, it could complicate any effort to compile an additional fiscal stimulus, said Hiroaki Muto, a senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co. in Tokyo.

Stimulus Weighed

“There’s a chance that the government may have an additional stimulus” package to submit before elections for the upper house of the Diet in July, Muto said. “If that happens, the government will be in trouble unless it chooses a person who has strong political leadership as a next finance minister.”

The latest warning on the durability of Japan’s recovery from its deepest postwar recession came yesterday from Sony Corp business card templates. Vice Chairman Ryoji Chubachi. He said “there’s a risk of a double-dip recession,” citing the damage of deflation to companies’ earnings. Chubachi spoke at a New Year’s party attended by government officials and business leaders in Tokyo.

Kato at Calyon Securities said a Fujii departure may have an impact on debt markets, depending on the dedication of any successor to avoiding an increase in government bond issuance.

Spending Restraint

In the course of compiling the 2010 budget, Fujii urged ministers to restrain outlays after their requests amounted to an unprecedented 95 trillion yen. He said the government must keep its promise of holding bond sales around 44 trillion yen to contain the world’s largest public debt burden — even after Hatoyama indicated he wouldn’t strictly adhere to the cap should more spending be necessary.

“There’s no finance-ministry type other than Fujii” within the DPJ, said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. “If Fujii steps down, fiscal discipline may loosen regardless of who takes over the post.”

Fujii, Japan’s fifth finance minister since August 2008, was admitted to hospital on Dec. 28 for high blood pressure and exhaustion, three days after the budget release. “My examination is continuing, and I’ll respect my doctor’s judgment,” he said. He canceled his regular Wednesday press briefing for today.

For Hatoyama, losing his finance chief would come as his public support tumbles. The Cabinet had an approval rating of 50 percent in a Dec. 25-27 poll by Nikkei Inc. and TV Tokyo Corp., down from 75 percent backing in mid-September.

Currency Stance

Some analysts said Fujii wouldn’t necessarily be missed by investors after he indicated he supported a stronger yen, only to later say that the government is prepared to step into the currency market to stem its gains. As finance minister, Fujii is responsible for overseeing Japan’s exchange-rate policy.

The yen climbed to a 14-year high of 84.83 per dollar on Nov. 27, hurting exporters by eroding their profits earned abroad. The currency has since retreated about 8 percent.

“Investor estimation of Fujii’s steadiness isn’t that high because of his currency gaffes,” Hirokata Kusaba, a senior economist at Mizuho Research Institute in Tokyo. “The budget has been already drafted and the government bill will pass because the ruling coalition controls both chambers,” meaning the impact of his departure “will be limited.”

Kusaba said Sengoku or Noda would be the most likely candidates to replace Fujii.

Kiuchi at Nomura said the yen may weaken no matter who succeeds Fujii because he “is labeled as tolerating a stronger yen and opposing intervention.”

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In another ominous sign for state budgets nationwide, state and local governments reported another drop in overall tax revenue on Tuesday.

General sales tax, individual income tax and corporate income tax were all down in the third quarter of 2009, resulting in an overall 6.7% drop in total tax revenue, compared to the same quarter in 2008, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

This is the fourth consecutive quarter in which tax revenue collection has fallen.

The one bright spot was property tax collection, which showed a slight increase of 3.5%, compared to the same quarter in 2008.

Total taxes collected in the third quarter were $266.5 billion compared to $285.6 billion during the same quarter in 2008.

States are wrestling with some of the worst budget deficits since the Great Depression. Rising unemployment has wreaked havoc on their vital revenue streams of personal income, corporate profits and sales taxes.

Though governors and lawmakers are reluctant to raise taxes, particularly in bad economic times, the current fiscal situation has prompted some to turn to such measures.

Some 29 states enacted revenue hikes for fiscal 2010, which began on July 1 in nearly all states. Personal income tax hikes accounted for the largest portion, some $10.7 billion. Corporate levies declined by $202.2 million. 

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Italian business confidence rose to the highest in 18 months in December on expectations by manufacturers that growing exports will boost the economy’s recovery from the worst recession since World War II.

The Isae Institute’s manufacturing sentiment index climbed to 82.6, the highest since June 2008, from a revised 79.4 in November, the Rome-based research center Isae said today. That compared with a median forecast of 79.7 in a Bloomberg News survey of 8 economists.

The survey showed “a strong recovery in production expectations and in the assessment on orders, the ones from abroad in particular,” Isae said in the report. “Inventories remain stable and below levels considered normal.”

The $2.3 trillion economy expanded 0.6 percent in the three months through September after five quarters of contraction as exports grew. The economy may grow 1.1 percent in 2010, employers’ lobby Confindustria forecast on Dec. 17. Exports to non-European Union countries rose 2.6 percent in November after falling 9.1 percent in October. Economic growth in France and Germany, which emerged from the recession in the second quarter, is also supporting Italian manufacturers.

The rise in confidence in Italy mirrored gains in optimism in Europe’s largest economy. Business confidence in Germany increased to the highest level in 17 months in December as the global recovery supported exports and manufacturing growth, the Munich-based Ifo institute said on Dec. 18.

French business confidence fell in December for the first time in nine months on concern that fading government-stimulus measures may slow the economy’s recovery from its worst slump in six decades, Paris-based statistics office Insee said last week.

Reduced Stimulus

Government incentives across Europe contributed to the recovery of auto and home appliance sales from a global decline caused by the recession. In Italy, they benefited Fiat SpA, whose Italian sales rose 28 percent in November from the previous year.

Italy’s government plans to reduce incentives to trade in old cars for newer models to 300 million euros ($432 million) next year, Il Sole 24 Ore reported on Dec. 27. Italy set aside about 400 million euros to spur sales of more fuel-efficient cars in 2009.

Manufacturers remain pessimistic about the job market on expectations that hiring will lag the economic recovery, today’s report showed. A sub-index measuring expectations on employment held at minus 18 in December.

The jobless rate climbed in the third quarter to the highest in four years, Istat said on Dec. 17. Rising unemployment and reduced stimulus may weigh on consumer spending in coming months.

Isae conducted its latest survey of 4,000 companies between Dec. 1 and Dec. 18. The research center revised its November reading from an initial 78.8.

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