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Signs were erected this week welcoming bicycles to K Street Mall following a 23-year ban on bikes.

Bicycles were banned from the K Street Mall in 1987 when light-rail tracks wer einstalled.

The signs encourage cyclists to yield to pedestrians and designate the speed limit for bicyclists, among other warnings.

The City Council in November unanimously amended a city ordinance to lift the bike ban. It took effect Dec. 24, 2009.

“Creating greater connectivity for all modes of tranportation continues to be a top priority in maintaining a safe and reliable multi-modal transportation system for the city and the region,” Department of Transportation director Jerry Way said in a news release on line pay day loans. “This is another important accomplishment toward that priority.”

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Monsanto shares rallied to a record in November 2007 when executives declared the company would double gross profit in five years.

As recently as January, CEO Hugh Grant and other senior managers insisted they were on track to meet the goal. After all, Monsanto’s queue was stocked with promising new seed technologies to help meet a growing demand for food.

But on Wednesday, Grant retreated, saying the company won’t meet its 2012 target of gross profit, which is a company’s sales less the cost of the goods and services sold.

“Moving away from our original set of goals is difficult for us to accept, but it’s the right thing to acknowledge now,” he said in a conference call with analysts and investors.

The announcement caps a turbulent past year for Monsanto. The Creve Coeur-based company is the subject of a federal antitrust investigation. It was forced to shed hundreds of jobs and slash prices for its best-selling weed killer because of a glut of generic product from China. And it isn’t selling as much of its new biotech corn and soybean seed as expected because some growers have balked at the higher price.

However painful to do, backing off its 2012 profit pledge was the right choice in the long run, analysts said.

“We don’t like it when we see companies do unwise things to meet a near-term goal at the expense of long-term growth,” said Dan Ortwerth, an analyst at Edward Jones.

Monsanto’s lower outlook came as the company reported on Wednesday a 19-percent drop in fiscal second-quarter earnings.
Monsanto’s net income — gross profit less all other costs — fell to $887 million, or $1.60, for the quarter ended Feb. 28, versus $1.09 billion, or $1.97, in the same three months a year ago. Sales fell 3.6 percent to $3.89 billion.

Excluding costs related to a corporate restructuring last year, Monsanto’s earnings matched the $1.70-a-share average estimate of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.

Monsanto said full-year profit would be at the low end of the previously announced range of $3.10 to $3.30 a share. The company forecast earnings growth of 13 percent to 17 percent a year beginning in 2011 — a much slower rate than investors had been accustomed to.

The company’s stock slid 2 percent on Wednesday to $68.09 on the New York Stock Exchange. That’s less than half its all-time high of $142.69 set in June 2008. So far this year, the stock has fallen 17 percent.

The biggest drag on Monsanto’s profitability since then has been the decline in its Roundup business.

On Wednesday, Monsanto further cut gross profit projections for its Roundup business to $600 million, from $650 million to $750 million. Only a year ago, the same segment generated $1.8 billion in gross profit.

The reason for the steep drop in Roundup profit: a flood of Chinese-made generic weed killer saturating the U.S. market that forced Monsanto to slash prices.

Just a week ago, the nation’s only other glyphosate manufacturer, Ankeny, Iowa-based Albaugh Inc., filed an anti-dumping petition with the U.S. government.

Monsanto faces competitive pressure in the seed business too.

As a result, the company indicated that it would retool its product strategy, a move that will include some price cuts, to drive higher adoption rates for new products.

Monsanto said earlier this year that its new SmartStax corn and Roundup Ready 2 Yield soybeans would be planted on fewer acres than previously forecast.

Ortwerth said the higher-priced offerings met with some resistance among growers at a time of declining crop prices.

“The recession made farmers a bit hesitant to adopt new products,” he said.

That became evident to Monsanto executives after “listening sessions” with some 1,200 farmers, Grant said.

“The feedback that I have personally from growers is that if our price points were different, their adoption curves would be different,” he said. “When you get told the same thing often enough, it’s pretty compelling.”

The CEO said he was still as confident as ever in Monsanto’s long-term growth prospects, its $1 billion-a-year R&D efforts and the fundamentals of the global agriculture business. But don’t expect any more bold, long-term profit forecasting.

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President Obama’s plan, announced Wednesday, to expand oil drilling off the nation’s coasts has the potential to lead to a slight easing in gas prices, more jobs and more money for cash-strapped government coffers.

It could also damage shorelines, according to environmentalists and some states that depend on tourism.

All experts agree any real impact is a long way off. While the first new Atlantic offshore oil and gas lease sale in some 20 years is slated to take place, putting drilling some 50 miles off the Virginia coast next year, it’ll take 4 to 12 years to see any impact in domestic fuel production, according to government analysts.

Pocketbook: Despite the momentum that built for offshore drilling back in 2008, when gas prices rose above $4 a gallon, increasing domestic production isn’t expected to impact gas prices all that much.

In fact, before he joined the Obama administration, assistant secretary of energy David Sandalow told some publications that "Drilling offshore to lower oil prices is like walking an extra 20 feet per day to lose weight."

Nobody really knows how much oil is beneath the nation’s outer continental shelf or the rest of the Gulf of Mexico.

"I’m ready to drill on the offshore, I have no problem with that," energy magnate T. Boone Pickens told CNN chief business correspondent Ali Velshi on "CNN Newsroom." "But don’t look for big reserves off the East Coast of the United States."

The Interior Department’s Minerals Management Service suggests that 39 to 63 billion barrels of oil could be "recoverable" from the new areas that would be made available for drilling. At 2008 consumption levels, that would be enough to exclusively meet the U.S. thirst for oil for 5 to 8 years, according to the Department of Energy.

In the broader scheme of global production and consumption, future U.S. production is considered on the small side.

President Obama acknowledges that drilling, alone, is not a panacea for all the nation’s energy problems.

"I want to emphasize is that this announcement is part of a broader strategy that will move us from an economy that runs on fossil fuels and foreign oil to one that relies more on homegrown fuels and clean energy," Obama said. "The only way this transition will succeed is if it strengthens our economy in the short term and long term."

Jobs: But in the area of job creation, experts agree it could have a big impact, especially in terms of creating higher-paying jobs.

Again, estimates depend on the number of new rigs created. But it could lead to 25,000 people at work offshore, with salaries as high as $90,000, according to Michael Kearns, spokesman for the industry group National Ocean Industries Association.

"This will create jobs in the future, and this is good for business and good for people," said Anas F. Alhaji, chief economist at NGP Energy Capital Management, which supports drilling.

Although that industry already has room to grow. The oil and gas industry was hit particularly hard by a worldwide weakening in demand for oil that accompanied the recession. Oil and gas firms laid off hundreds of workers throughout the Gulf Coast."

Royalties: Another place that consumers can see an impact is through royalties. The federal government - and possibly some states if Congress agrees - could collect a portion of the revenue that comes from newly found, oil Kearns said.

That could be good news for cash-strapped states with gaping holes in the budgets. For consumers, that could mean fewer municipal programs slashed and fewer layoffs and furloughs due to budget cuts. However, such royalties aren’t likely to start rolling in until after U.S. has recover from this economic recession.

Environment: Another big impact will be on the nation’s shorelines. Already some lawmakers, including Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., say they oppose the expansion plans, because it threatens their beach and coastal industries.

Environmental groups say that the economic gain from drilling isn’t worth damaging coast lines. They say more rigs, especially those close to the coast such as the one in Virginia, mean more spills and leaks from oil platforms and storage systems.

"There’s sort of a right way and a wrong way of providing our nation’s future energy needs," said Wesley Warren, program director at Natural Resource Defense Council, which opposes the expansion. "The right path is one that provides economic growth while providing environmental protections. The wrong path trades those two off."

–CNN senior correspondent Allan Chernoff and chief business correspondent Ali Velshi contributed to this report 

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The U.S. House of Representatives passed a contentious health reform plan Sunday that includes mandates for expansions of Medicaid and coverage for young adults and other without medical insurance.

Arizona's congressional delegation split along party lines with the state's five Democrats voting in favor of the bill and three Republicans opposing it.

The bill does not include creating a public option, government system to operate along side private insurers, but it does restrict private companies from limiting coverage because of pre-existing conditions.

The health care vote and the economy are expected to be key issues in GOP efforts to unseat U.S. Reps. Ann Kirkpatrick of Flagstaff, Gabrielle Giffords of Tucson and Harry Mitchell of Tempe.

“I am putting my district first again by voting for this reform package. Health insurance reform is critical to ending denials of coverage based on pre-existing conditions, making sure our children can get the care they need and protecting our seniors from unaffordable prescription drug costs, Kirkpatrick said in a statement instant payday loan.

"I was able to make important improvements to this bill, including addressing the potential costs for AHCCCS," she said. AHCCCS is Arizona's Medicaid program and previous plans created concerns that some states, such as Arizona, would lose out on federal matching funds.

Mitchell said in a statement released Sunday that rising health care costs are burdening the economy and stifling recovery.

"We cannot sustain the path we are on because health care costs are burdening Arizona families, hurting the economy and slowing the recovery,” Mitchell said.

Joanna Burgos, spokeswoman for the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the passage of the legislation will hurt the economy because of mandates and spending, and that Giffords and Mitchell bowed to pressure from the White House and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

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The risk posed by asset bubbles in Asia is overstated because surging prices in markets don’t threaten regional economies, said Stephen Roach, chairman of Morgan Stanley Asia Ltd.

“The difference between the asset bubbles in this region and asset bubbles also around the world is that they have not affected the real side of the Asian economy,” Roach told Bloomberg Television in an interview in Hong Kong today.

Concerns about inflation in Asia are “overblown” as excess capacity in the global economy is likely to keep a “lid” on prices for the next few years, said Roach, author of “The Next Asia.” “Beyond that, it’s a big challenge.”

Standard & Poor’s warned yesterday that Asian policy makers may fuel asset bubbles by leaving interest rates “too low for too long” as the region leads a global recovery from the worst slowdown since World War II. Stock and property markets are looking “frothy” in Asia, said David Wyss, an economist at S&P.

The U.S. had “monster bubbles in property credit that ended up stalling home-building activities and personal consumption” and when they burst the “economy went into the tank,” said Roach. In contrast, in Asia “you have bubbles that come and go, but they don’t impact on the real economy free credit reports.”

China’s Economy

Roach also said that Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao’s past warnings that his nation’s growth path is “unbalanced and unsustainable” have become a “serious concern now.”

“Two of the main engines of the Chinese economy, exports and investments, really have reached their point of maximum dynamism,” Roach said. “The Chinese need to change the model and move much more into consumer-led” growth, he said.

China’s central bank last month ordered banks to set aside more deposits as reserves for the second time in a month to cool the economic expansion after loan growth accelerated and property prices surged 9.5 percent in January, the most in 21 months. The China Banking Regulatory Commission told banks the same month to “strictly” follow property lending policies.

China’s consumer prices increased 1.5 percent in January from a year earlier, mainly due to gains in food costs resulting from the cold winter weather, the National Bureau of Statistics said. The gauge rose 0.6 percent from December.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, the Chinese economy grew 10.7 percent from a year earlier, the fastest pace since 2007.

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European Union finance ministers are uniting to oppose President Barack Obama’s proposal to limit banks’ size and risk-taking, saying his plan may run counter to EU policy, according to a draft document.

Their position, which they will ratify at a two-day meeting starting today, comes after Obama last month urged the adoption of the so-called “Volcker rule,” named for former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker. The plan would bar commercial banks from owning hedge funds and limit how much they can trade for their own account.

The finance officials gathering in Brussels will express “their concern that the application of the ‘Volcker’ rule in the EU may not be consistent with the current principles of the internal market and universal banking,” the document obtained by Bloomberg News said. “Any policy choice should avoid pushing risks to other parts of the financial system.”

The resistance underscores political divisions over how to overhaul banking regulations to prevent a repeat of the crisis that forced taxpayers to prop up the financial system. While leaders have called for a Group of 20 initiative, the U.S., Britain, and France are forging their own policies to limit compensation and risks.

At a meeting this month in Canada, Group of Seven finance ministers signaled they are rallying around a plan to introduce a levy on banks if it can be applied worldwide business cards design.

The Feb. 10 draft, entitled “Issues note on the most recent proposals of the U.S. administration in respect of Systemically Important Financial Institutions and the introduction of a financial crisis responsibility fee,” was prepared by a committee of officials from finance ministries, the European Central Bank and the European Commission.

EU Proposals

The three-page memo also considered proposals including levying a stability fee on banks and creating national or pan- European funds for future bailouts.

Swedish Finance Minister Anders Borg last month presented a plan to create a fund for future banking crises. In contrast, the Netherlands’ Wouter Bos last month wrote a letter to his counterparts welcoming Obama’s proposals and calling for a “serious debate” on the U.S. plan at the meeting in Brussels.

Jean-Claude Juncker, who heads the group of euro-area finance ministers, last month voiced concern about a common approach on bank levies given that taxes are a matter dealt with at the national level of the 27-member bloc.

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Japan’s economy probably grew at the fastest pace since the first quarter of 2008 as a global trade revival fueled demand for the nation’s exports.

Gross domestic product rose an annualized 3.6 percent in the three months ended Dec. 31, following a 1.3 percent expansion in the third quarter, according to the median forecast of 23 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. The Cabinet Office report is due on Feb. 15 at 8:50 a.m. in Tokyo.

Nissan Motor Co. and Canon Inc. are among companies benefitting from stronger global demand as countries poured more than $2 trillion into their economies to spur growth. Those gains have failed to reach consumers at home, where wages are tumbling and household outlays have been propped up by government incentives that are starting to wear off.

“Japan may be able to stave off a double-dip recession given exports have done better than expected,” said Takahide Kiuchi, chief economist at Nomura Securities Co. in Tokyo. “Still, it’s questionable whether a recovery in domestic demand without the stimulus is possible and the economy is still highly dependent on overseas demand, underscoring the fragility of the recovery.”

Gains in the Nikkei 225 Stock Average stalled this year after a 19 percent advance in 2009, a reflection of concerns about the strength of the global recovery. The yen is the only currency that has gained against the dollar since Dec. 31 among 10 major currencies tracked by Bloomberg, threatening exporters’ profits.

Asia spearheaded Japan’s revival at the end of 2009. Shipments to the region surged 31 percent in December, the fastest pace in almost a decade, helping China overtake the U.S. as Japan’s largest foreign customer on an annual basis. Demand from the U.S. is also improving after the nation’s GDP expanded the most in six years last quarter.

‘More Resilient’

“The Asian economy is growing at a fast pace while the U.S. economy is picking up, a sign the global recovery is becoming more resilient,” said Yoshiki Shinke, senior economist at Dai- Ichi Life Research Institute in Tokyo.

Nissan, Japan’s third-largest carmaker, this week forecast a return to profit for the year ending March 31, citing government incentives that boosted sales in China and Japan. Canon, the world’s largest camera maker, is predicting its biggest annual profit increase in a decade amid revived global demand.

Japan’s economy expanded 0.9 percent from the previous quarter, the survey showed. Overseas shipments increased 5.3 percent in the fourth quarter from the previous three months, analysts surveyed said ay day loans. Net exports, or shipments minus imports, added 0.5 percentage point to growth.

Calculation Change

The Cabinet Office said last week that it will change the way it calculates exports and imports on a seasonally adjusted basis to account for the anomaly created by the financial crisis in 2008. The announcement prompted economists to cut their annualized GDP forecasts by about 1 percentage point.

The faster growth may not be enough to convince Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama that the recovery is sustainable. The premier, facing upper house elections in July, is implementing a 7.2 trillion yen ($80 billion) stimulus package that his administration estimates can boost growth by about 0.7 percentage point next fiscal year.

Even if GDP is strong, “Hatoyama may compile an additional stimulus as he wants to lure voters ahead of the election, especially when his popularity is sliding,” said Susumu Kato, chief economist for Japan at Calyon Securities in Tokyo.

‘Long Way’

Central bankers aren’t confident that growth is durable. Kazuo Momma, the Bank of Japan’s top economist, this month said “there is still a long way to go” before the expansion becomes sustainable. Governor Masaaki Shirakawa and his policy board will hold a rate-setting meeting two days after the GDP report is released.

Japan’s wages slumped at a near-record pace in December, when household sentiment fell to a six-month low. In a sign that stimulus measures are fading, retail sales fell 1.2 percent in December on a seasonally adjusted basis, the largest drop a year, as customers purchased fewer cars and appliances.

Nevertheless, consumer spending probably contributed to the growth in the fourth quarter. The 0.3 percent increase predicted by economists would be a third of the pace of the previous quarter. Capital investment may rise 1.5 percent, the first positive reading in seven quarters.

Economists including Calyon’s Kato said the business investment figure may be revised down when the government updates the GDP report next month to reflect additional data.

“The domestic economy remains fundamentally weak as the positive cyclical loop between income and expenditure has yet to kick in,” said Ryutaro Kono, chief economist at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. “Although we believe the worst is over for corporate earnings, the return on capital remains so low that companies will continue to restrain labor costs for some time.”

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Sterling Kozlowski, the region's top KeyBank N.A. executive since mid-2006, is leaving Western New York to become president of KeyBank's Maine district.

Kozlowski begins his new job Feb. 16, according to a release issued Monday by the bank. He will replaced retiring Maine district president Dick Lucas.

A search for the district's next president has begun, the bank said.

Kozlowski, a Syracuse native who grew up in Rochester, joined KeyBank in July 2006 after working 23 years at HSBC Bank USA N.A. In his current job, he has been responsible for 1,000 employees, 41 branches and 50 ATMs.

In Maine, he will focus on revenue, expense management, profitability and credit quality, the bank said. He will also work with sales managers to provide banking accessibility to low- to moderate-income individuals and communities.

Kozlowski earned an undergraduate degree in marketing management from Syracuse University. He also graduated from the advanced commercial lending program at the University at Buffalo and the Graduate School of Retail Bank Management at the University of Virginia.

Cleveland-based KeyBank, a subsidiary of KeyCorp, is the third largest bank in Western New York. Four new or renovated branches are expected to open locally within the next couple of years.

Nationwide, KeyBank has about $93 billion in assets and more than 1,000 branches.

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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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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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