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Shopping Web site Groupon, which offers a daily deal on the local goods, services and cultural events, launched in Memphis today.

Using the principles of collective buying, Groupon negotiates deals with local businesses and sends free daily e-mails to subscribers notifying them of the deals.

“With its vibrant Mid-South culture, Memphis offers food, music and activities you won't find anywhere else,” Groupon’s founder Andrew Mason said in a statement. “We look forward to introducing local residents to the best businesses in Memphis and saving them money on their favorite things to do.”

The deals are only activated if a minimum number of people agree to buy, encouraging subscribers to share the promotion with family and friends via social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter. Guaranteeing a large number of customers provides an incentive for companies to offer good deals, the company says, and has helped more than 2 million subscribers save nearly $80 million.

Memphis is the 35th city entered by Groupon, which was launched in November 2008 in Chicago. The company plans to be in 80 cities by the end of 2010.

“Groupon brings buyers and sellers together in a fun and collaborative way,” Mason said. “We offer the consumer a great deal they can’t get anywhere else and deliver the sales directly to the merchant.”

Groupon is a project of The Point, an online community launched in 2007 for organizing group action.

Consumers interested in its service can visit www.groupon.com. Businesses wanting their goods or services featured can visit www.grouponworks.com.

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New Zealand interest rates needn’t rise as much if the government cuts spending and reforms the tax system to curb property investment, Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard said.

“Achieving both low inflation and balanced growth is considerably easier in an environment of fiscal discipline and where the tax system is neutral with respect to investment decisions,” Bollard said in a speech in Christchurch today. Notes of a background paper on which his speech was based were e-mailed to Bloomberg News.

Bollard, who has kept the official cash rate unchanged at a record-low 2.5 percent since April, said yesterday he didn’t expect to start raising borrowing costs until mid-2010 as the economy emerges from a recession. Government spending programs put in place last year to buoy confidence and create jobs will help the economy expand 3.1 percent this year after shrinking 1.4 percent in 2009, he forecast last month.

“A failure to gradually remove the recent fiscal stimulus would put added pressure on monetary policy over the coming period,” Bollard said today. He made no other comment on the outlook for interest rates.

Prime Minister John Key’s government last year brought forward spending on roads and schools to generate jobs, and provided companies with funds so they could keep factories open on reduced hours rather than fire workers.

The government is also considering recommendations from a review of the taxation policy that includes introducing a levy on rental properties.

“We are hopeful that the report of the Tax Working Group will lead to a more efficient and even-handed tax system,” said Bollard. “Our concerns are to minimize tax-fueled property investment and consumption that might detract from more balanced savings and growth.”

Bollard has previously called for taxes to curb property investment, which he says can create a housing bubble.

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Antitrust enforcers have intensified their probe of Monsanto Co.’s dominance in genetically modified seeds, ordering the company to turn over information related to its Roundup Ready genetic trait in soybeans.

Monsanto disclosed Thursday that the Department of Justice issued a civil investigative demand, a formal request for information, which follows an informal probe begun by government lawyers last year. Company spokeswoman Kelli Powers declined to specify what information is being sought.

Creve Coeur-based Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, said it has provided access to millions of pages of documents and will continue to cooperate with the government.

"We believe our business practices are fair, pro-competitive and in compliance with the law," Monsanto Chief Deputy Counsel Scott Partridge said in a statement.

The Justice Department’s probe of Monsanto coincides with claims by the company’s chief rival, Pioneer Hi-Bred International Inc., and other critics who say Monsanto’s leading position in the multibillion-dollar biotech seed market and business practices are stifling innovation that could benefit farmers.

The Justice Department has shown an increasing interest in the genetically modified seed business, leading to this week’s demand to Monsanto for additional information.

Thomas L. Greaney, a law professor at St. Louis University, said civil investigative demands like those received by Monsanto represent the second step in an antitrust investigation and are used by government lawyers to obtain specific documents, depositions and internal memoranda that the company wouldn’t voluntarily hand over and that could be useful in preparing an antitrust case.

"They don’t do it lightly," said Greaney, who spent 10 years at the Justice Department, including a stint as assistant chief in charge of antitrust matters in health care.

It does not suggest, however, that such a lawsuit is imminent, he said.

Thursday marked the first time the Justice Department has confirmed an investigation of possible anti-competitive practices in the seed industry. Department spokeswoman Gina Talamona declined to be more specific about the scope of the investigation or to name the companies involved.

However, Pioneer’s parent, DuPont, acknowledged that it received a civil investigative demand from the Justice Department, spokesman Dan Turner said.

And two other big seed companies, Dow AgroSciences and Syngenta, have also spoken with the department regarding the probe, spokesmen said.

Peter Carstensen, a University of Wisconsin law professor who previously worked as a staff attorney at the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division, said the government’s demand for information is a sign that it has "ratcheted up its investigation" of Monsanto.

Carstensen is an expert witness for a farmer being sued by Monsanto and believes there’s a valid antitrust argument to be made against the seed giant need a personal loan with bad credit.

Still, the intersection of intellectual property rights and antitrust law makes any case a complex one that could be difficult for the government to prove in court.

"There are going to be some very hard legal questions with respect to how much right does Monsanto have to use its patent rights in a way that is exempt from antitrust review," he said.

Allegations by Monsanto’s critics focus mainly on the company’s biotech soybeans, which are genetically modified to resist Roundup and other glyphosate-based weed killers. The technology allows farmers to spray entire fields with herbicide without killing crops.

Today, the Roundup Ready genetic trait is found in more than 90 percent of the U.S. soybean crop, including seeds sold by DuPont’s Pioneer unit and other competitors. Monsanto collects a technology fee for licensing the trait.

DuPont has complained to the government that its agricultural subsidiary Pioneer is not being allowed to develop seeds that combine Monsanto’s patented Roundup Ready genetic trait with a separate Pioneer-developed trait for herbicide resistance.

"The ag biotech trait market is firmly in the grip of a single supplier, acting as a bottleneck to competition and choice," DuPont said in formal comments submitted Friday to the Justice Department.

The companies have waged a legal battle since last spring when Monsanto sued DuPont for patent infringement related to their licensing agreement. DuPont countersued weeks later, claiming that Monsanto is using anti-competitive tactics to preserve its market share. The case is pending in U.S. District Court in St. Louis.

Monsanto is currently trying to persuade seed companies to switch to its new, higher priced biotech soybean called Roundup Ready 2 Yield.

DuPont has alleged that Monsanto is trying to force independent seed companies and farmers to make the switch to eliminate the potential for competition from a generic alternative.

To diffuse criticism, Monsanto sent farm groups and seed companies a letter on Dec. 15 stating that farmers would be allowed to continue growing first-generation Roundup Ready soybeans after the herbicide resistance trait patent expires in 2014.

Monsanto said the Justice Department’s demand for information seeks confirmation that it will follow through on that promise.

The Monsanto investigation is part of a broad look at the state of competition in agriculture by President Barack Obama’s administration.

The Justice Department and Department of Agriculture last year announced a nationwide series of workshops in 2010 to hear farmers concerns.

The first session will be held in Iowa on March 12 and focus on issues related to row crops, including biotech seed.

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Brown Shoe Co. saw strong sales in most of its operations during the holiday season, the Clayton-based shoe retailer reported Monday.

Same-stores sales at its Famous Footwear division increased 7 percent in the nine weeks ended January 2.

Comparable sales rose 7.3 percent in the third quarter ended Oct. 31. Same-store sales for its speciality retail division also increased 4.9 percent in that same time period, versus 1.4 percent growth in the third quarter.

Both figures exceeded expectations, the company said. However, Brown didn’t release figures for wholesale operations.

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When officials at the St. Patrick Center hatched the idea of shifting some of the center’s resources from the homeless to a support group for the recently unemployed, they estimated an effort serving perhaps 600 people for maybe a few months.

That was a year ago.

Today, the result of the center’s brainstorm — the Go! Network — boasts a membership database of 2,400 names (and counting). It has an open-ended commitment to continue serving the unemployed until the so-called jobless recession runs its course. And its organizers hope to expand it to other cities.

"To me, it’s been life-changing," said Caren Libby of Wildwood, who started attending Go! Network meetings after leaving her part-time job more than a year ago.

"Go! Network has given me the opportunity to utilize social media and make contacts."

Libby had been doing promotions for UniGroup Inc. in Fenton when she started seeing hints that her job was about to be eliminated or its hours sharply cut. Now, she has almost enough freelance marketing work to qualify as a full-time businesswoman, she says. Her business grew substantially after she volunteered to do marketing work for Go! Network.

"That helped me tremendously to grow my skills," she said, and helped her meet business contacts she wouldn’t otherwise have encountered.

In fact, Go! Network’s concept has proven so successful that St. Patrick and the internal subsidiary overseeing it, Celtic Creative, are actively pursuing public and private funding that would expand the program to six other U.S. cities: Cincinnati, Louisville, Indianapolis, Kansas City, Columbus and Memphis.

Dan Buck, the executive director of the center, said the model — giving employees displaced from professional positions a place to meet and address the myriad problems associated with joblessness — will work elsewhere.

"Outside of professional organizations, there (are few) community-driven comprehensive networks for out-of-work professionals," he said.

Buck and Chuck Aranda, the head of Celtic Creative, acknowledge they were unsure what lay ahead as they set the groundwork for the Go! Network on a budget of $200,000 in late 2008.

What they did know is that the recession, then reaching full speed, demanded some sort of response.

"Personally, we all knew somebody who was hurting," Buck said.

And he figured St. Patrick Center, with its track record of creating employment opportunities for the homeless, was in a good position to do something about it.

"We were finding a lot of people in this position who didn’t know where to go or what to do," Aranda said.

"They needed a professional environment."

Buck and Aranda figured on 100 or so showing up at the group’s first meeting, in early February 2009 — barely a month after the idea for the support group was first broached.

The 200-plus who spilled into the St. Patrick auditorium were the first clue of what lay ahead.

Aranda and Buck are quick to deflect credit for the Go! Network’s popularity and successes.

Much of the funding, they note, has come from corporate sources (including Anheuser-Busch) with a big boost from the United Way.

In the same manner, it is the members themselves who determine the focus of each Tuesday’s meetings and the topics addressed — many dealing with the financial and emotional toll of unemployment — in small group settings.

"St. Patrick Center didn’t drive the train," Buck said. "We just created the track."

Since last February, that line has brought 118 human resources executives from 46 area companies to Go! Network functions. Academics, mental health professionals and others have also paid visits.

So far, what Buck calls a "connector system for multi-skilled professionals" has played a part in helping 26 percent of the group’s members land jobs.

"What’s unique about this is the community response," Aranda said. "It shows what can happen when a combination of stakeholders in a community come together to help this population."

It’s time, he and Buck say, that other communities hard-hit by the economy have the same opportunity.

Buck flew last month to Washington where he met with Rep. William Lacy Clay, D-St. Louis, and U.S. Department of Labor officials about establishing Go! Networks — or variations there-of — in Kansas City and the five other cities.

Aranda and Buck said the St. Patrick Center would provide the wherewithal, the infrastructure and the existing Go! Network website (GoNetworkSTL.com) as a template.

The government would provide funding, perhaps from the Federal Recovery Act. The United Way, Buck said, has already expressed a willingness to join forces with St. Patrick in setting up programs in the six other urban areas.

Aranda stressed the networks in all cities will follow the lead of St. Louis by emphasizing the creation of new jobs by promoting start-up entrepreneurial efforts.

Whether the Go! Network lands one other city or all six on the wish list, Aranda said the objective will remain as clear as it is simple: "It’s responding to the needs and helping the people themselves respond to those needs in a difficult time."

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Russia’s central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the 10th time since April to discourage speculative ruble trades and ease credit flows.

Bank Rossii cut the refinancing rate by a quarter-point to a record low 8.75 percent and lowered the repurchase rate charged on one- and seven-day central bank loans to 7.75 percent from 8 percent effective Dec. 28, it said in a statement today. The bank last lowered the rates by half a percentage point on Nov. 24.

The decision to cut rates may “soften the impact of factors constraining the economic rebound and will make the tendency toward GDP growth more sustainable,” Bank Rossii said. With bank liquidity rising, the cuts may limit the inflow of short-term foreign capital that could lead to volatility on the ruble market, according to the statement.

The central bank has cut the refinancing rate from 13 percent in April after the world’s biggest energy exporter lurched into its deepest economic decline since the government began regularly updating economic data in 1995, contracting 10.9 percent in the second quarter and 8.9 percent in the third. The bank has eased policy to aid the recovery and stem speculative inflows that have fueled ruble volatility.

Equity Funds

There’s some evidence the Moscow-based bank’s currency policy is working. The ruble has lost 2.7 percent against the dollar since Nov. 11, when it reached the strongest level of the year, after gaining 13 percent in the previous three months. Bank Rossii’s efforts to deter speculation are “appropriate,” International Monetary Fund senior Russia representative Odd Per Brekk said last month.

Russian authorities are trying to discourage the use of the ruble in so-called carry trades, in which investors borrow in low-yielding currencies to buy high-yielding currencies that can generate a quick profit.

Russian equity funds drew $59.5 million in the seven days ended Dec. 16 after posting an inflow of $181.7 million a week earlier, according to EPFR Global. The country may post a net capital outflow in the fourth quarter after oil prices retreated in December and investors fled emerging-market assets on concerns about Dubai’s debt restructuring, central bank Chairman Sergey Ignatiev said on Dec. 22.

Russia may see a net outflow of $40 billion for the year, according to the central bank.

‘Zero Growth’

Policy makers are also trying to revive lending after previous rate cuts failed to ease credit flows.

The financial industry will show “zero growth” next year as provisions for mounting bad loans tie up cash that might have gone to companies and households, Alexander Turbanov, head of the Deposit Insurance Agency, said last week.

“We could not drastically change the situation with lending in industry,” Deputy Economy Minister Andrei Klepach said last month. “There is stagnation in lending and borrowing.”

Policy makers will be looking for signs that today’s cut feeds through to bank loans. Lending to companies by Russian banks rose 0.8 percent last month, Bank Rossii First Deputy Chairman Gennady Melikyan said last week sam day payday loan. Lending to households fell 0.2 percent in the month, while bank assets grew 2.8 percent, Melikyan said, adding that the data don’t include OAO Sberbank, the country’s biggest lender, or take exchange-rate shifts into account.

‘Frozen’ Loan Books

“Banks are not lending at present, and have effectively frozen their corporate loan books,” said Clemens Grafe, chief economist at UBS AG in Moscow. “Instead, they are concentrating on building up buffers to absorb expected loan losses, and this is clearly restricting the economy.”

Russian banks’ corporate loan books fell 0.5 percent in October, following a 0.7 percent decline the previous month, the central bank said on Dec. 3.

Corporate borrowing costs from domestic banks fell in November to the lowest level this year, sliding to an average of 13.6 percent compared with 13.9 percent a month earlier and 17.4 percent in January, the central bank said on Dec. 23.

The country will post “steady economic growth” next year because the negative factors that led to the worst slump since the 1998 default, including lower prices for commodities and a lack of external financing, are “no longer in effect,” Ignatiev said this week.

Further Cuts

The economy may grow 5 percent or more in 2010, faster than the government is estimating, and output will return to its pre- crisis level in less than three years, Ignatiev said Dec. 22.

The refinancing rate may be lowered as much as 1 percentage point in 2010, Arkady Dvorkovich, President Dmitry Medvedev’s chief economic adviser, said Dec. 8, adding that the inflation rate next year may slow to 8 percent or more.

“Average lending rates may drop more,” Dvorkovich said. “Lending rates for large and medium companies are at 14 percent to 16 percent. I think they may drop by 3 percentage points.”

Russia has continued easing its policy rates even as the IMF has urged Bank Rossii to halt the reductions, warning they may be inflationary.

“Further cuts in policy interest rates should be put on hold until the monetary implications of the very large end-year liquidity injection associated with the fiscal deficit become clear,” the IMF said in a report this month.

The IMF warned Bank Rossii to step up efforts to contain inflation and embrace a more “ambitious” policy to reduce consumer-price growth to below 5 percent in 2010.

Consumer prices rose 9.1 percent on an annual basis in November, the slowest pace in more than two years, according to the Federal Statistics Service.

The ruble gained for a third day against the dollar, adding 0.4 percent to 29.4683 at 11:57 a.m. in Moscow, heading for its strongest close since Dec. 4. Against the euro the Russian currency was little changed at 42.5934.

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Gold prices plunged Thursday as the dollar surged against the euro amid concerns about the economic health of certain European nations.

February gold fell $28, or 2.5%, to settle at $1,107.40 an ounce after falling to a low of $1,098 an ounce earlier in the session. The retreat came two weeks after gold settled at an all-time high of $1,218.30 an ounce.

Carlos Sanchez, a precious metals analyst at CPM Group in New York, said the selloff was "definitely attributable to the stronger dollar, and some stop-loss selling."

The dollar jumped 1.3% against the euro to $1.4346, its highest level since early September. The euro came under pressure after Standard & Poors downgraded Greece’s credit rating, raising concerns about the health of other strained euro zone economies like Ireland.

A stronger dollar tends to weigh on the price of gold, since the precious metal is traded in U.S. dollars around the world.

The buck was also supported by a Wednesday statement from the Federal Reserve that said U personal loan for poor credit.S. economic conditions continue to improve, even as the central bank held interest rates near historic lows.

Sanchez said a firm move below $1,100 an ounce could pave the way for a brief retreat toward a range near $1,050 an ounce. However, he expects the weakness to be short lived.

Gold, which has gained about 24% this year, has been on a tear over the last few months as the dollar has weakened substantially.

While the dollar has regained ground in recent days, many traders expect gold prices to push higher into next year amid strong investor interest and the outlook for low U.S. interest rates.

In a research report out Thursday, analysts at Morgan Stanley raised their forecast for gold prices next year by 20% to $1,200 an ounce. The investment bank also raised the outlook for 2011, but reduced forecasts from 2013 onwards.  

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New Zealand house prices increased at a slower pace in November and property sales fell for a second month as home-loan interest rates increase.

Prices rose 0.2 percent from October when they gained 1.3 percent, the Auckland-based Real Estate Institute of New Zealand Inc. said today in an e-mailed statement, citing an index. Property sales fell to 6,056.

Reserve Bank Governor Alan Bollard last week said house- price inflation would moderate in 2010, reducing the need for him to raise the benchmark interest rate before the middle of the year. Lenders have increased home-loan interest rates for fixed terms of one year or longer as global funding costs have increased, curbing demand for property.

“No longer do borrowers get the benefit of certainty and low rates that had been a feature of previous cycles,” said Khoon Goh, senior economist at ANZ National Bank Ltd. in Wellington. “The prospect of higher interest rates and a still weak labor market will continue to be major headwinds facing the housing market.”

The interest rate on a two-year home loan was 7.15 percent in October from 6.31 percent in June, according to central bank figures Online payday loans. Bollard on Dec. 10 said he may increase the official cash rate around the middle of 2010.

The jobless rate rose to a nine-year high of 6.5 percent in the third quarter and may reach 6.7 percent next year, the central bank forecast last week.

House Sales

House sales slumped last year amid a deepening recession, and only began rising on an annual basis in March. Sales in November surged 41.5 percent from a year earlier to 6,056, the institute said today.

Still, sales fell for a second month in November from 6,091 in October and 6,464 in September.

The level of sales is consistent with troughs in previous housing downturns, Goh said.

The dip “could hint at the start of an easing in housing market activity at a time when we are getting a supply response with a rise in the number of houses for sale,” he said.

The median time to sell a house rose to 33 days from 31 in October, and fell from 44 days in November last year, the institute said today.

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With the potential of a grocery-workers strike looming, one of the largest chains in the Denver area is looking for replacement workers and the other is discounting its prices.

About 15,000 members of United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 7 are expected to finish voting in about a week on whether to accept contracts offered to them by King Soopers and Safeway or whether to go on strike. The two sides have been in negotiations on a new five-year contract since April but remain apart on issues such as pay increases, health care and pension funding.

King Soopers said it will begin advertising Saturday for replacement workers in the event of a work stoppage. The chain undertook a worker search back in May and identified some 4,000 workers to hire in the event of a strike, but it feels it needs to update that list, expecting at least some of those who were identified to have other jobs by now, spokeswoman Diane Mulligan said.

“There’s a lot of time that’s passed here,” Mulligan said. “In order that we’re where we need to be, we’re looking to identify another 1,500.”

Safeway officials have not announced any plans to advertise for new workers and said they continue to hope to avoid a work stoppage same day payday loans.

But in news that they said was unrelated to the potential strike, the chain announced this week that it has cut prices permanently by as much as 30 percent on items across the store. The “Everyday Low Price” campaign is a national effort, but the Rocky Mountain area is the last of Safeway’s nine regions to implement it.

Scott Grimmett, Denver division president for the grocer, said the effort is meant to attract more customers at a time when they are becoming more discriminating with their buying dollars. While the timing coincides with the contract negotiations, the company has been working on this promotion for more than a year, he said.

“All of us have seen kind of a new consumer emerge out of this recession,” Grimmett said. “I hear a lot of talk about the new consumer that is similar to those that emerged after the Great Depression — very savvy and sensitive to price.”

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The yen fell broadly on Tuesday after the Bank of Japan announced more measures to ease monetary policy to help the ailing economy following an emergency meeting, while holding interest rates at 0.1%.

Despite its gains against the yen, the dollar fell against other major currencies as risk appetite improved after more clarity about the debt situation in Dubai eased some concerns about the region’s stability.

The yen struggled, but pared losses as the BOJ’s move to provide three-month funds at rock-bottom rates surprised some in the market who had been expecting bolder policy steps, such as expanding purchases of government bonds to push yields down.

Addressing strength in the yen, which shot to a 14-year high against the dollar last week, BOJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa said the central bank’s commitment to keeping rates low would have an effect on currencies in the long run.

"The message is that the BOJ isn’t completely indifferent to currency rates, and this should at least be marginally yen-negative," said Adam Cole, global head of currency strategy at RBC in London, while acknowledging the yen’s initial reaction to the comments had been limited.

Shirakawa spoke to reporters after the BOJ introduced a new operation to provide 10 trillion yen in three-month funds at a fixed rate of 0.1% in a bid to enhance monetary easing by trying to bring down longer-term rates.

The dollar traded 0.5% higher on the day at ¥86.80, having hit ¥87.54 earlier in the day.

The dollar has suffered against the yen, hitting ¥84.82 late last week for the first time since mid-1995, as dollar interbank borrowing costs have fallen below yen ones this year.

The euro rose 1% to ¥130.90, while higher-yielding currencies including the Australian and New Zealand dollar rallied as much as 2% versus the yen.

The euro rose 0.4% to $1.5065 as risk demand rose after restructuring plans by Dubai World, which has been the center of concerns about the region’s debt position, eased some woes about the area’s financial health.

The dollar index fell 0.5% to 74.550, while European share prices rallied roughly 2%.

"The market is keeping an eye on Dubai, but it realizes that it’s likely this won’t lead to a systematic decline in Dubai’s financial sector, so traders are willing to take on risk," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com in London.

More dollar/yen weakness?

The Australian dollar rose nearly 1% on the day to $0.9230, boosted after the Reserve Bank of Australia raised interest rates by 25 basis points to 3.75 as expected on Tuesday in its third consecutive hike.

Many in the market expect the dollar to stay weak against the yen, which may seriously hamper Japan’s ability to recovery from recession.

Analysts said there was little standing in the way of more yen strength against the dollar so long as U.S. interest rates also remain essentially at zero, and that the prospects of yen-weakening intervention by Japan will remain low given the dollar’s overall weakness.

"(The new BOJ operation) is unlikely to either have a material impact on economic recovery or alter the downward momentum in USD/JPY," analysts at BTM said in a note.

"In fact it may even exacerbate USD weakness by further encouraging the establishment of liquidity fueled USD-funded risk trades."

Political pressure on the BOJ to avert recession has grown, but Tuesday’s decision is seen as a way to avoid a return to a narrow form of quantitative easing, under which the BOJ slashed rates to zero and flooded markets with cash in 2001-2006. 

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