The four men agreed in a five-hour meeting to make additional budget cuts this year equal to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product, according to an e-mailed statement today from the premier

Ameren Missouri on Friday said it was seeking approval to raise electric rates by $376 million, or 15 percent, to reimburse it for infrastructure upgrades, rising fuel costs and other expenses.

If approved, the average Ameren residential bill would rise about $14 a month based on usage of 1,100 kilowatt-hours, the utility said.

Ameren officials said they have invested heavily to improve reliability of the local electric grid while cutting power plant pollution. However, a federal lawsuit filed against the utility last year by the Environmental Protection Agency claims emissions from one area power plant violate the Clean Air Act.

“We have made significant investments in our infrastructure that are producing results,” Warner Baxter, Ameren’s chief executive said.

Consumer advocates hadn’t fully reviewed Ameren’s regulatory filings on Friday. But they said there’s little doubt the increase would hit customers hard, especially lower and middle income families that pay a higher percentage of their income for utilities.

The rate request comes just more than six months after the PSC approved a 7-percent, $172 million increase for Ameren Missouri. Since 2007, the utility’s rates have risen by hundreds of millions of dollars.

“It’s quite discouraging in this economy to see such frequent double-digit requests for a utility service that’s an essential service,” said John Coffman, an attorney for the Consumers Council of Missouri.

Ameren executives said they’re aware the increase would “create a hardship” for some customers. They said the utility has taken steps to help consumers reduce energy use, funded energy assistance programs and tightened its own belt.

Since 2008, the utility has cut non-fuel operating and capital expenditures by $300 million, Baxter said. At the same time, however, the utility’s parent company has also boosted its dividend and given Ameren Corp.’s chief executive, Thomas Voss, a pair of base salary increases totaling $150,000.

Ameren Missouri said almost a third of the proposed increase, $103 million, would go toward higher fuel costs, including the cost of hauling coal hundreds of miles by rail from mines in Wyoming.

Investments in aging infrastructure to meet environmental and renewable energy requirements comprise $85 million of the rate proposal. Those costs include the utility’s Maryland Heights landfill gas project that will use methane from decaying trash to power 10,000 homes.

Costs related to recently proposed energy efficiency programs total $81 million, though they are expected to save customers far more in the long run. Also included is $30 million for costs related to several severe storms that hit the St. Louis area last year, including the April tornado.

Even with the proposed increase, Ameren said rates would be 25 percent below than the national average and cheapest among investor-owned utilities in the state.

But Lewis Mills, Missouri’s Public Counsel, said that’s little solace to customers who must scramble just to pay their monthly electric bill.

“That was a much better story five years ago,” he said.

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Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday that the rate on the 30-year loan dropped to 3.87 percent this week. That below the previous record of 3.88 hit two weeks ago.

The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.14 percent, also a record low. Records for mortgage rates date back to the 1950s.

Mortgage rates tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which fell below 1.9 percent this week.

Rates have been low for more than a year, and the average rate on the 30-year loan has hovered near 4 percent for more than three months. Yet few people can afford to buy a home or qualify for a loan. Those who can have already done so.

High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many don’t want to sink money into a home that they fear could lose value over the next few years.

Sales of previously occupied homes were dismal last year. New-home sales in 2011 were the worst on records going back half a century.

Builders are hopeful that the low rates could boost sales next year. But so far, they have had a minimal impact.

Mortgage applications have risen slightly over the past four weeks, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But they are coming off extremely low levels.

To calculate the average rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.

The average rates don’t include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.

The average fee for the 30-year loan rose to 0.8 from 0.7; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.

For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate fell to 2.80 percent from 2.85 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan rose to 2.76 percent from 2.74 percent.

The average fee on the five-year adjustable loan rose was unchanged at 0.7; the average on the one-year adjustable-rate loan was unchanged at 0.6.

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The deficit, which would be down from last year

The banks said Monday that “an accurate timeline cannot be given” to complete the deal announced last August because of the negotiations.

The closely watched talks would see private holders of Greek bonds cancel half their debt and likely accept additional losses in a swap for bonds with a longer maturity.

Greece’s finance ministry expressed surprise at the announcement, arguing that the negotiations had produced “nothing new or different” to factors already taken into account by both banks.

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Specialty chemical company Eastman Chemical Co. is buying Town and Country-based Solutia Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal valued at about $3.4 billion.

The Tennessee-based manufacturers says Solutia will broaden Eastman’s presence in the Asia Pacific region and other emerging markets while expanding its product offerings.

Solutia makes specialty films and chemicals for the automotive and architectural industries at 24 plants worldwide, employing about 450 people in the St. Louis region.

With $2.1 billion in revenue last year, Solutia is one of the larger public companies based in the St. Louis region. It also is the latest in a string of local companies acquired in the past year.

As of Friday afternoon, the local impact of the deal was not clear.

Solutia has two facilities in the region - its Town and Country headquarters, with 300 employees, and a manufacturing plant in Sauget, where 150 people work. A spokeswoman said there was no information available yet on the fate of local workers, though headquarters jobs are often a cost-cutting target in mergers.

The Sauget plant - which makes chemicals for tire manufacturing - runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and so far appears to be safe.

“I certainly would expect the combined company to have a significant presence in St. Louis for some time,” Solutia’s chairman, president and CEO Jeffry Quinn told the Post-Dispatch today. Quinn, who joined Solutia in January 2003, said he will leave the company once the sale finalizes.

Under the proposed deal, Eastman will pay a 42 percent premium over Solutia’s latest closing price and said it expects the deal will immediately boost its earnings. Solutia shareholders will receive $22 in cash and 0.12 shares of Eastman stock for each share of Solutia that they own.

Based on Thursday’s closing prices, Solutia shareholders will receive cash and stock valued at $27.65 per Solutia share. Solutia currently has about 122.1 million shares outstanding, and, including $1.3 billion in debt Eastman will assume, the transaction is valued at $4.7 billion.

Solutia’s stock was 40 percent this afternoon. At around 2:05 p.m., the stock was trading at $27.31, up $7.80 from Thursday’s close.

Eastman expects about $100 million in annual cost savings by the end of 2013, as the acquisition is expected to help lower corporate costs, improve manufacturing and supply chain processes, and help the company purchase raw materials at lower prices.

Both companies’ boards have approved the transaction, which still needs the approval of Solutia shareholders. The acquisition is expected to close in mid-2012.

One of the reasons Eastman wanted to buy Solutia, Eastman’s chairman and CEO Jim Rogers said Friday, is the company’s reach overseas, especially in Asia, where it has six production lines in development.

“With the addition of Solutia, Eastman will be adding manufacturing capacity in Asia over the next couple of years to meet growth,” Rogers told analysts on a conference call.

Since 2003, Solutia has grown its reach significantly outside of the U.S. In 2003, only 30 percent of Solutia’s revenue came from international sales, Quinn said. Today, that has jumped to 75 percent.

“We’ve really transformed the company into one of the preeminent specialty chemical companies in the world,” the Solutia CEO said. “Many of the products we make are expensive to ship, so we built around the world to serve our customers.”

Where that leaves St. Louis is, again, unclear. Solutia had been active in overseas trade trips and the region’s exporting community. It has hosted visits from Chinese trade delegations and participated in planning for efforts like the China Cargo Hub. If its corporate presence here is reduced, those efforts could fall by the wayside.

“They are a significant player on an international scale and we want to have more of those companies in this region, not fewer,” said Tim Nowak, executive director of the World Trade Center St. Louis. “I hope that there’s a positive role for Solutia within Eastman and that their presence here grows.”

In the conference call with analysts, Rogers said Eastman began exploring acquisition opportunities last summer. “Solutia was number one then, and it has stayed number one through this whole process,” he said.

In addition to growth in the Asia Pacific region, Rogers said he sees growth potential with several of Solutia’s business units, including its chemicals for the rubber and tire industry and performance films for buildings and automobiles. “We like their portfolio,” Rogers said in the conference call. “They have some very strong businesses.”

Eastman said it plans to fund the cash portion of the buyout with available cash and debt. Citi and Barclays Capital, which are serving as financial advisors, have committed debt financing.

Eastman expects 2012 earnings of about $5 per share, excluding acquisition-related costs and charges. In addition, the company boosted its 2013 forecast to more than $6 per share. Analysts polled by FactSet forecast 2012 earnings of $4.64 per share and 2013 earnings of $4.97 per share.

In addition, Solutia provided its fourth-quarter and full-year financial results on Friday. Fourth-quarter net income rose 15 percent to $54 million, or 45 cents per share, from $47 million, or 39 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue increased 8 percent to $526 million from $489 million.

Analysts expected earnings of 47 cents per share on revenue of $506.5 million.

Separately, Solutia also announced its financial results today. For the full-year, Solutia earned $262 million, or $2.16 per share. That compares with earnings of $78 million, or 65 cents per share, in the previous year. Annual revenue climbed 8 percent to $2.1 billion from $1.95 billion.

The company maintained its 2012 forecast for adjusted earnings of $2 to $2.30 per share on revenue between $2.13 billion and $2.28 billion. Analysts predict earnings of $2.20 per share on revenue of $2.23 billion.

Eastman has approximately 10,000 employees worldwide. Solutia has about 3,400 workers globally.

Associated Press contributed to this story.

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Miller manages selected regional and national projects. He also provides senior-level electrical engineering support.

He brings nearly 18 years of experience in managing projects. He previously served as office director for Henneman Engineering Inc.

Miller holds a master’s degree in business from Eastern Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from SIU Carbondale.

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As the global financial and business elite gather in Davos for their annual forum, a majority in the Bloomberg Global Poll agree that income inequality hurts the economy and that governments need to do something to address it — ideas at the heart of

The cruise liner, its hull gashed by a reef and pocked by holes blasted by divers searching for the missing, yielded two more bodies Monday, 10 days after the accident. The corpses of two women were found in the luxury liner’s Internet cafe, now 55 feet (17 meters) underwater.

Tables, desks, elegant upholstered armchairs and cabinets bobbed in the sea as divers guided the furniture out of the holes to clear space for their exploration inside.

So far, the bodies of 15 people have been found, most of them in the submerged portion of the vessel, while 17 others remain unaccounted for. Authorities said earlier reports that an unregistered Hungarian woman had called friends from the ship before it flipped over turned out to be groundless.

The Concordia rammed a reef and capsized Jan. 13 off the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio as it was carrying 4,200 passengers and crew on a Mediterranean cruise.

Salvage experts received the green light Monday to start pumping fuel soon from the double-lined tanks of the Concordia. The weekslong fuel-removal operation aims to avert a possible environmental catastrophe in the waters off Giglio, part of a protected seven-island marine park.

Officials said the pumping would be carried out as divers continue the search for the missing since instrument readings have determined the Concordia was not at risk of sliding into deeper waters and being swallowed by the sea.

“The ship is stable,” said Franco Gabrielli, head of the national civil protection agency. “There is no problem or danger that it is about to drop onto much lower seabed.”

Meanwhile, an oily film was spotted about 300 yards (meters) from the capsized vessel by officials flying in a helicopter and by residents of Giglio, Gabrielli’s office said. Samples were being analyzed, but preliminary observations indicated the slick is a light oil and not from heavy fuel inside the Concordia’s tanks.

Absorbent panels put around the area seem to have at least partially absorbed the oil, authorities said.

The ship’s Italian captain, Francesco Schettino, is under house arrest near Naples, facing possible charges of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning his vessel while some people were still aboard. He has insisted that he was coordinating rescue operations from a lifeboat and then from shore.

The ship’s operator, Costa Crociere SpA, has distanced itself from the captain, contending he made an unauthorized detour from the ship’s authorized route. Schettino, however, has reportedly told investigators that Costa officials requested that he sail close to Giglio in a publicity move.

Schettino’s lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, told reporters Monday that tests on urine and hair samples showed his client was not under the influence of alcohol or drugs before the crash payday loans online. Prosecutors are not allowed to discuss the investigation while it is under way and it was impossible to confirm the report.

Despite earlier fears, officials said the crippled cruise ship, with a 230-foot (70-meter) gash in its hull, is not expected to roll off its rocky seabed perch and be swallowed by the sea.

An Italian geologist on Giglio monitoring the ship’s movements said the Concordia was not so much moving as “responding to the tides.”

“It is moving at the rate of about one or two millimeters an hour,” Nicola Casagli told Sky TV TG24.

The sea has been calm for several days but was expected to become choppy in the next few days.

Islanders have been pressing for removal of the heavy, tar-like fuel from the ship’s 17 tanks to avert a possible catastrophic leak.

“They should start the oil drainage operations on the ship. At this point those who died will not come back to life. Even if they pull them out later, unfortunately it won’t make a difference,” Giglio resident Andrea Ginanneschi told The Associated Press.

Five miles (eight kilometers) of oil barriers have been laid to protect marine life and the pristine waters, which are prime fishing grounds and a protected area for dolphins and whales.

Recovery experts from the Dutch salvage company Smit have said they will create holes in the top and the bottom of each tank, heating the fuel so it flows more easily and pumping from the top while forcing air in from the bottom. For the underwater tanks, sea water will be used to displace the fuel, which becomes thick and gooey when cooled.

Besides some 2,200 metric tons of heavy fuel oil, there are 185 metric tons of diesel and lubricants on board, as well as chemicals including cleaning products and chlorine. Some diesel and lubricants have leaked into the water near the ship, probably from machinery on board, officials have said.

“Smit has been ready for a week to begin pumping fuel from the tanks, awaiting only the go-ahead,” said a company statement. “For this purpose, Smit has mobilized an oil tanker with emergency response equipment, including sweeping arms, booms and a skimmer.”

Seven bodies still await identification. Gabrielli said officials have DNA from the relatives of all of the missing passengers and are working to confirm their names.

On Monday, the body of a woman found in the ship a few days earlier was identified as that of a 30-year-old Italian woman, a new bride who was on the Mediterranean cruise with several family members.

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Barry reported from Milan. Andrea Foa reported from Giglio.

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If you don’t know, you have plenty of company. So many figures are bounced about that it’s often difficult for people to know what’s the right amount. Many workers end up saving what they can and hoping for the best.

That’s why some financial advisers now use a simple yardstick to help clients quickly see how they measure up. It suggests the amount of savings and investments you should have in relation to income at different ages.

For example, at 35 your assets should at least equal your annual income. The formula is by no means gospel, but it’s a useful tool to check if you’re largely on target, need to save more or should revise your retirement plans.

The idea comes from Charlie Farrell, a Denver investment adviser and author of the book “Your Money Ratios: 8 Simple Tools for Financial Security.”

Farrell says financial ratios are used to simplify complicated data for investment professionals analyzing companies. He figured workers could use a similar shortcut for personal finance.

Mari Adam, a financial planner in Boca Raton, Fla., says she uses ratios based on Farrell’s book with clients. “I like it because it is very simple,” she says. “When you do retirement planning, it’s so complicated, people just don’t get it.”

The math is easy. Add up all your bank accounts, 401(k)s, individual retirement accounts and other investments. Don’t include the equity in your house. That’s because, Adam says, “most people still need some place to live and don’t take steps to downsize and sell the house.”

Younger workers in their mid-20s aren’t likely to have a lot of assets built up. What’s key for this age group is to get started with saving and investing. Contribute at least enough in a 401(k) to get the employer match if you can’t afford to do more now, Adam says. But — and this is crucial — don’t forget to increase the contributions 1 to 2 percentage points annually to catch up.

For all other age groups, Adam uses the ratios listed below. Other advisers, she notes, use even more stringent savings targets. Still, if you’re not a good saver now, these benchmarks will appear steep:

• Assets at age 35 should equal one to two times yearly gross income.

• Assets at 45 should total three to four times income.

• Assets at 55 should be six to eight times income.

• And at 65, assets should equal 10 to 12 times income.

“These are aspiration levels,” Adam says. And if you can’t meet them, she says, it doesn’t mean you can’t retire.

You might be able to get along with having fewer assets if there are other financial factors in your favor online payday loans. For example, Adam says, you could get by on less if your mortgage is paid off or if you will receive a fat pension or ample Social Security check in retirement. Or, she adds, if you are truly frugal.

But if you’re short on savings, you still have time to make changes to improve your finances.

You can squirrel away more, work longer or take a part-time job in retirement. Or delay Social Security benefits until as late as age 70, so you’ll get a bigger check. And you can always free up home equity by selling a pricey house and moving to a more modest place.

The benchmarks Adam uses aren’t that far off from what T. Rowe Price recommends, says Stuart Ritter, a financial planner with the Baltimore-based investment company.

Price, though, offers another way. It calculates how much you should be saving at different ages based on how much you have already put away.

For example, if you’re 35 and have assets worth twice the amount of your annual income, then you need to save 12 percent a year to stay on target, Price calculates. But if you’re 55 and have saved only three times your income, you will need to squirrel away 32 percent of pay annually.

Ideally, all of us would begin our careers saving 15 percent of gross pay annually, Ritter says. If your employer provides a 401(k) match — say, 3 percent — then you can save 12 percent.

At this savings rate and with the money invested in a diversified, age-appropriate portfolio, you should be able to maintain your lifestyle in retirement, Ritter says.

But many of us don’t start out putting away 15 percent. And some workers begin contributing only the minimum to get the employer match. Sometimes workers wait until they’ve been in the labor force for a decade or more before they start saving. And the longer they delay, the more they must put aside.

Start saving at age 35, for example, and you will need to put away 20 percent of pay each year, Price calculates. But begin at 45, and you must salt away 29 percent of income annually to get on track. Start at 55, and a whopping 43 percent of pay must be set aside for retirement each year.

For some, any of these savings targets will be overwhelming, given the amount of debt they shoulder. But there’s a guideline on debt, too.

Farrell, the Denver adviser, says debt — including a mortgage — should never exceed twice your annual income.

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