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Employees and their families who enter Centene Corp’s new health clinic in downtown Clayton encounter a decorative rock fountain in the waiting area and a medical assistant behind the reception desk.
The muted d?cor, in soft hues of green, brown and orange, provides patients a spa-like setting. Three client “care suites” - extra-large, well-appointed rooms with […]

German business confidence probably stayed at a record high in January as booming exports to Asia and stronger household spending bolstered growth in Europe’s largest economy.
The Ifo institute’s business climate index, based on a survey of 7,000 executives, probably held at 109.9 in January, the median of 41 forecasts in Bloomberg News survey shows. […]

Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Charles Plosser said that while unemployment will probably stay too high for the foreseeable future, he hasn’t ruled out favoring a rate increase this year should economic growth warrant such a move.
“If economic growth in the United States continues to gain traction and the prospects begin to look […]

Britain’s business minister says he will guarantee that the monarch’s head will appear on British postage stamps even if Royal Mail is sold to a foreign buyer.
Sculptor Arnold Machin’s depiction of a youthful Queen Elizabeth II has appeared on billions of stamps since it was first commissioned in 1967 and has become a classic of […]

Ireland’s finance minister said Sunday that he would back a move to ask the international community for tens of billions of euros in loans and guarantees to keep his country’s crisis-hit finances afloat.
Brian Lenihan said that the country was running a deficit of 19 billion euros which it could not afford to finance at current […]

Home prices in Manhattan, the most expensive large housing market in the nation, appear to be stabalizing — and maybe even growing.
Condo and coop prices rose between 7.5% and 14% in the last quarter, compared to the same period a year ago, according to a host of markets reports released Friday by big New […]

Nokia’s stock rallied Friday after the Finnish mobile phone maker said it was replacing its chief executive with an executive from Microsoft Corp.
Nokia’s board of directors said it hired Stephen Elop for the position of president and CEO. Currently the head of Microsoft’s (MSFT, Fortune 500) business division, Elop is scheduled to begin his […]

In the latest sign of renewed turbulence in the housing market, an industry group said Thursday that sales of existing homes fell 5.1% in June.
The National Association of Realtors reported that existing home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.37 million units, down from 5.66 million in May. Sales […]

Austin game developer Heatwave Interactive Inc. unveiled Tuesday a Myspace version of its popular hip-hop social media game.
The "Platinum Life: Web Edition," which was also revamped for Facebook, allows players to create a music persona and maneuver through a career on a quest to reach the top of the industry. Likenesses include recognized artists such […]

An alliance of St. Louis-area trade organizations has scheduled a late afternoon rally in Forest Park today to launch what organizers are calling a "national public campaign" aimed at stopping a splinter electrical workers union in its tracks.
The rally serves as formal notice that a "summit" in early May failed to clear the […]