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General Motors announced it will invest $380 million and will add a second shift to its assembly plant in Wentzville as part of a new contract under negotiation with the United Auto Workers.

If union members vote to approve the four-year contract next week, it will mean 1,850 new jobs for the Wentzville assembly plant, said UAW Local 2250 chairman Mike Bullock, who is in Detroit for GM’s announcement today. Local 2250 represents hourly workers at the Wentzville plant.

The expansion will be for production of a 2014 mid-size pickup truck and and a full-size van, although GM did not release which models.

Bullock said if the contract is approved, the second shift will be added at the first part of 2012. Local 2250 will vote on the contract Monday and all votes are expected to be completed by next Tuesday.

“This will be a real shot in the arm for Wentzville and the St. Louis area,” Bullock said. “This really is a tribute to the men and women who work at the Wentzville assembly center and produce the best quality product at the best cost payday loan.”

Last week, Wentzville’s board of aldermen approved tax abatement for expansion of the Wentzville plant, which currently has a single shift and 1,300 employees.

GM makes Chevrolet Express and GMC Savana full-size vans at the plant, about 40 miles west of St. Louis.

At GM’s press conference today, the Detroit-based automaker outlined investments at several other plants nationwide, including plans to invest $925 million at three Michigan factories that will create 900 jobs during the life of the contract. 

Including the Wentzville jobs, GM also outlined plans for investing in plants in Spring Hill, Tenn., and Fort Wayne, Ind., that will create or preserve a combined 3,700 jobs.

Check back on stltoday.com for updates to this story.  

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Stocks traded in narrow ranges on Thursday as investors awaited signals from the heads of the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve as well as President Barack Obama that they will help shore up economic growth.

While both the Bank of England and the European Central Bank kept their interest rates unchanged, President Barack Obama is expected to announce measures to boost jobs creation in the U.S.

“Global equity markets are attempting to rebound on building hopes for fresh stimulus from the global authorities to support growth,” said Lee Hardman, an analyst at the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ.

In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was flat at 5,318 while Germany’s DAX was steady at 5,407. The CAC-40 in France was 0.1 percent higher at 3,076.

Wall Street was poised for modest losses following Wednesday’s big gains _ Dow futures were down 0.2 percent at 11,394 while the broader Standard & Poor’s 500 futures fell a similar rate to 1,195.

Concerns over the state of the global economy have combined with fears over Europe’s debt crisis during the past month to send financial markets spinning. The repercussions of the recent turmoil are being felt in the actions of policymakers, most notably in the European Central Bank.

Instead of continuing on its policy of steadily raising borrowing costs, the ECB is expected to indicate later today that there won’t be any more interest rate rises in the months to come as it grapples with a worsening economic outlook as well as the debt crisis, which has already seen three countries bailed out.

Investors will be closely monitoring the press conference from bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet later for indications that rate hikes are off the agenda for now. The bank has twice raised its benchmark rate by a quarter point since April, taking it up to 1.5 percent.

His comments could have a major impact on the euro, which was trading 0.3 percent lower at $1.4038.

Later Thursday, Obama is set to make a speech to Congress about increasing the amount of jobs the U.S. economy is generating. Measures totaling $300 billion are expected to be announced as the president tries to get the unemployment rate down from 9.1 percent.

Meanwhile, there are hopes that the Federal Reserve will soon decide to provide the U fast cash without a hassle.S. economy with another monetary stimulus. The previous $600 billion program, which ended in June, was widely credited for the stock market gains recorded in the first over the year and its ending has been blamed for the ensuing reverse.

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is also speaking later and investors will be monitoring his speech to the Economic Club of Minnesota for any signs that monetary easing remains an option.

“Will he keep his monetary cards close to the vest….or, will he be more forthcoming with respect to the need for, and type of, stimulus,” said Sal Guatieri, an analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

The hopes that policymakers will do more to shore up growth, including at a weekend meeting of finance ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized countries, has helped stocks recover over the past couple of days. A German court decision backing the government’s involvement in Europe’s bailouts has also helped calm concerns over the debt crisis ahead of a meeting of eurozone finance ministers next week.

Earlier in the day, Asian shares posted modest gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.3 percent to close at 8,793.12 as a softening yen helped Japan’s exporters. By late morning London time, the dollar was flat at 77.33 yen.

South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.7 percent to 1,846.64, benefiting from a decision by the country’s central bank to leave its benchmark interest rate unchanged for a third month. Higher interest rates generally drag on stocks by making them a potentially less attractive investment.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng fell 0.7 percent to 19,912.82 as did shares in mainland China _ the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index fell 0.7 percent to 2,498.94 while the Shenzhen Composite Index lost 1 percent to 1,100.53.

The more buoyant tone in stock markets over the past couple of days has helped oil prices rally. Benchmark crude for October delivery was up 3 cents at $89.37 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

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Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

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Foreign investors cut their holdings of U.S. Treasury debt in June for the first time in more than two years. The decline came at a time of anxiety about whether the United States would raise its borrowing limit.

China, the biggest buyer of U.S. Treasury debt, increased its investment for a third straight month. But Japan, the second-largest buyer, along with Brazil, Russia, Hong Kong, and a group that includes the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Netherlands and the Cayman Islands cut their investments.

Overall foreign holdings dropped 0.4 percent to $4.5 trillion. It was the first decline since April 2009.

Much of the decline was driven by private investors. Their net purchases of long-term U.S. Treasurys fell a record $18.3 billion in June. Net purchases are the difference between what investors buy and sell in one month.

The decline lowered private investors’ overall foreign holdings by $15.1 billion.

Overall foreign holdings of governments, which include central banks, dropped only $1.7 billion. Governments account for roughly 72 percent of total foreign holdings of U.S. Treasury debt.

Congress and the Obama administration reached a deal on Aug. 2 that would allow the U.S. government to increase its $14.3 trillion borrowing limit by more than $2 trillion. It was approved hours before the U.S. faced a potential default on its debt.

The full increase is dependent on lawmakers reaching agreement on an equal amount of cuts to the deficit over the next decade cash advance flexible payments. Up to $1.5 trillion of those cuts must be negotiated by a special committee of lawmakers over the next three months.

The total deficit cuts fell short of the $4 trillion in cuts that Standard & Poor’s said was needed to achieve a credible deficit-reduction plan. As a result, S&P downgraded the U.S. government’s credit rating from AAA to AA+.

Economists said investors likely worried about how the debate in Washington would be resolved, and those worries contributed to the overall decline. Many economists expect foreign holdings will drop further in July because the borrowing limit was not raised until August.

However, they predict foreign holdings will increase in August. Congress approved an increase in the borrowing limit, and Europe’s debt crisis has made U.S. Treasurys more seem like a safer bet, they said.

“Now people are saying they want to hold U.S. Treasuries. They don’t care what S&P said,” said Chris G. Christopher Jr., senior principal economist at IHS Global Insight. “They are saying they have nowhere else to put their money.”

In June, China increased its holdings 0.5 percent to $1.166 trillion.

Japan trimmed its holdings 0.2 percent to $911 billion. Britain, the third-largest foreign holder of Treasury securities, boosted its investment 0.8 percent to $349.5 billion.

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WASHINGTON

Express Scripts will pay Medco shareholders $28.80 in cash and 0.81 of an Express Scripts share for every Medco share held. The deal makes Express Scripts the country’s largest pharmacy benefit manager, with annual revenue exceeding $100 billion.

What is a pharmacy benefit manager? These firms administer prescription drugs for private employers, unions and governments through chain pharmacies and independent drugstores. They also operate mail-order businesses that ship drugs directly to patients, a practice that is becoming popular among employers as a cost-savings measure.

Why does Express Scripts want to buy? The company says it can squeeze out $1 billion in savings from the merger, making Express Scripts more competitive when negotiating purchases from drugmakers and vying for PBM contracts cash advance no faxing. It also says the move will benefit consumers and businesses by lowering costs and improving efficiencies.

Why does Medco want to sell? Though already the largest PBM in the country, Medco recently suffered stumbles that eroded its competitiveness, such as losing a major federal employee contract and business with key customer United HealthCare.

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Campbell Soup Co. is raising its fiscal 2011 adjusted earnings outlook, but the world’s largest soup maker provided a somewhat disappointing forecast for next year.

The guidance was offered as Campbell was preparing to hold an important meeting with a group of analysts on Tuesday, during which incoming president and CEO Denise Morrison plans to lay out her vision for the food company.

Morrison will take the helm at Campbell on Aug. 1, when Douglas Conant is stepping down from the job after more than a decade.

Campbell, known for its iconic red and white soup cans, said that it anticipates fiscal 2011 adjusted earnings will rise about 1 percent from 2010 adjusted results of $2.47 per share. Its prior guidance was for adjusted earnings to fall 1 percent to 3 percent. Revenue is still expected to be essentially flat.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet predict 2011 earnings of $2.45 per share on revenue of $7.69 billion.

Shares of the Camden, N.J. company added 9 cents to $34.23 in morning trading.

For 2012, Campbell foresees adjusted earnings will decline 4 percent to 6 percent, with revenue flat to up 2 percent.

Analysts expect full-year earnings of $2.49 per share on revenue of $7.89 billion.

The soup maker gave a long-term outlook for annual adjusted earnings growth between 5 percent and 7 percent and a revenue increase in the range of 3 percent to 4 percent.

In a statement, Campbell said its new business strategy will include concentrating on expanding its simple meals, baked snacks and healthy beverage segments as well as boosting its presence in emerging markets.

Morrison, 57, will be the first woman to lead Campbell and has been an executive with the company for eight years. She became heir apparent to the CEO position in September 2010.

Since then, as chief operating officer, she has been examining the company’s operations and already has announced some major changes business cards design.

Two weeks ago, she announced a restructuring plan. It includes eliminating 770 jobs from the company’s worldwide workforce of 18,400, many of them through layoffs; shutting down its operations in Russia; beefing up investment in Australia and closing a manufacturing plant in Marshall, Mich.

She said the company would keep in place its fledgling effort to sell soup in China, which launched along with the Russian effort four years ago.

After Conant took over in 2001, he reversed the long-term erosion of sales of the company’s iconic condensed soups. One factor was an effort led by Morrison to reduce sodium levels. He also sold its Godiva Chocolatier operation and focused more on foods that can be marketed as healthy.

Conant, who took pride in regularly writing thank-you notes to employees and others, agreed to keep the company’s headquarters in beleaguered Camden, N.J., and expanded its corporate campus there.

In addition to soup, Campbell sells V8 juices, a line expanded under Conant; Pepperidge Farm cookies, crackers and bread; Prego pasta sauces and Spaghettio’s canned pasta.

But soup, which has high profit margins, remains its key business, and it has been struggling, with sales falling each of the last two years.

Already in the first three quarters of Campbell’s fiscal year 2011, its U.S. soup sales fell 5 percent.

Myriad problems have been at play, including cost increases for everything from soup ingredients to packaging material. Then, after a raft of promotions, the company was selling lots of soup, but for less money.

General Mills Inc., which owns rival soup brand Progresso, plans to announce its plans Wednesday.

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Rupert Murdoch’s decision to close the 168-year-old weekly British tabloid at the center of a phone-hacking scandal is an example of what the controlling shareholder of News Corp. does best _ seize the news agenda, and when necessary, cut his losses.

He’s also got his eye on a much bigger prize.

Analysts say the surprisingly bold move to shutter News of the World, a financial pipsqueak, is the best possible way to stem the flow of damaging headlines at rival newspapers and clear regulatory hurdles that stand in the way of New Corp.s’ pending multi-billion-dollar acquisition of British Sky Broadcasting, a cash cow that will boost earnings of the media giant.

News of the World, accused of hacking into the phones of regular citizens, is “a drop in the bucket” compared to News Corp.’s overall $46 billion market capitalization, said Collins Stewart analyst Thomas Eagan.

He pegged the tabloid’s value at an optimistic $650 million, or 25 cents per share. That’s far less than the 70 cents that News Corp. shares have fallen since Wednesday when it was revealed the tabloid hacked into the voicemail of a murdered girl, potentially harming a police investigation, and jeopardizing the company’s proposed takeover of BSkyB.

“I think it assuages some of the concern over ongoing problems at `News of the World,’” Eagan said. “It’s unclear what it means for the actual (BSkyB) deal approval. But I would think that it would tend to assuage some of the concern.”

Shutting a newspaper amid an industry-wide decline in print advertising revenue and increasing its stake in a profitable and expanding pay TV company will actually improve News Corp.’s profitability.

Most have a “buy” rating on the shares, thanks in part to an improving TV ad market, the recent decision to sell off money-losing social network Myspace, and its thriving cable channels such as Fox News.

Its TV and movie businesses accounted for practically all of the company’s $1.06 billion in operating profits in the third quarter through March. The publishing division containing newspapers contributed $36 million, or less than 3 percent of the total, while Myspace and related Internet businesses lost $165 million.

News Corp. shares closed down just 4 cents at $17.43 on Thursday after being up most of the day following the announcement of the paper’s closure.

“At some point when the smoke clears, we’re optimistic that investors will ultimately return to analyzing News Corp. on the merits of its high quality media business, which first and foremost include its TV businesses,” said Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente.

The British government on June 30 already gave its qualified approval, allowing News Corp. to purchase the 61 percent of BSkyB that it doesn’t already own, on the condition it spins off Sky News as a separate company.

News Corp. made an initial offer of 700 pence per share to buy the 61 percent of the shares it doesn’t already hold, valuing BSkyB at 12.3 billion pounds ($19.8 billion).

Analysts believe News Corp. may have to go as high as 900 pence per share to persuade shareholders to sell out.

At the time of the qualified approval, the tabloid’s headline-grabbing hacks appeared to be limited to celebrities and politicians, to whom it was prepared to pay compensation.

But public sentiment was inflamed anew after it was revealed this week that the paper’s targets included missing children, the relatives of soldiers slain in Afghanistan and the families of victims of London’s 2005 terror attacks.

The outrage prompted the U.K. media regulatory body, The Office of Communications, to release an unusual statement on Thursday, confirming that “it has a duty to be satisfied on an ongoing basis that the holder of a broadcasting license is `fit and proper.’”

An investigation into whether News Corp. would pass this subjective standard of propriety was seen as potentially derailing Murdoch’s BSkyB bid.

“You don’t even want that question being posed if you’re a media business do you?” said Louise Cooper, a markets analyst at London-based BGC Partners. “This is, to me, Murdoch taking back control.”

Analysts see the BSkyB deal approval being delayed until at least September, as Culture Minister Jeremy Hunt is not expected to give his final go-ahead before the U.K. Parliament goes into recess on July 18.

Despite the public outcry, many analysts think Britain will still sanction the takeover, since officials have already said that threats to competition will be resolved with Sky News’ spin-off.

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President Barack Obama prodded Congress Tuesday to reach a sweeping long-term deal within two weeks to raise the nation’s borrowing limit rather than “kick the can down the road” with a makeshift, short-term solution to stave off default. And he declared the agreement must include the tax hikes Republicans strongly oppose.

Obama said he was summoning leaders of both parties to the White House on Thursday to try to get it done and beat an Aug. 2 deadline to avert a financial crisis that could shake economic markets worldwide.

Republicans sounded entirely unimpressed with Obama’s insistence that an attack on federal deficits include tax increases for the wealthy and narrowed loopholes for oil companies as well as big cuts in government spending.

“We’re not dealing just with talking points about corporate jets or other `loopholes,’” said House Speaker John Boehner. “The legislation the president has asked for _ which would increase taxes on small businesses and destroy more American jobs _ cannot pass the House, as I have stated repeatedly.”

Boehner said he’d be happy to join discussions at the White House but predicted they “will be fruitless until the president recognizes economic and legislative reality.”

Obama said he opposed a stopgap, short-term increase, as suggested by some lawmakers. But he stopped short of ruling out a limited extension, and his spokesman Jay Carney later declined to say whether the president would veto such a measure.

Obama renewed his stand that any deal must include not only spending cuts but also new revenue _ tax increases vehemently ruled out by many Republicans in Congress.

“We need to come together over the next two weeks to reach a deal that reduces the deficit and upholds the full faith and credit of the United States government and the credit of the American people,” Obama said at the White House.

“We’ve made progress, and I believe that greater progress is within sight, but I don’t what to fool anybody _ we still have to work through some real differences,” the president said.

He said congressional leaders from the House and Senate, both Republicans and Democrats, were being invited to meet on the issue Thursday at the White House. That would bring the top eight lawmakers together with Obama and top administration financial officials.

Obama spoke as the Aug. 2 deadline for raising the nation’s borrowing limit came closer. Experts say lawmakers must waste no time in making a deal if they are to have any chance of getting it finalized and passed through both chambers of Congress in time.

Despite the president’s optimism, it remained unclear where compromise could be found. Republicans are insisting they will note vote to raise the debt limit without major spending cuts; Democrats are refusing to sign off on cuts of such magnitude without at least some tax increases as well. Republicans say they won’t sign off on any tax hikes at all, including those Obama wants targeting the wealthiest Americans or closing loopholes to corporations.

Underscoring the differences, aides to Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., even disputed Obama’s claim that progress had been made over the weekend after, as Obama put it, “my team and I had a series of discussions with congressional leaders in both parties.”

McConnell spokesman Don Stewart said there were no such discussions over the weekend that McConnell or any of his staff members were involved in, while a Boehner aide said there were no meetings, though he couldn’t rule out phone calls. Carney declined to provide any details.

Obama, meanwhile, called on lawmakers to “leave their ultimatums at the door,” but he stuck to his _ that any deal must include new tax revenue. “We need to take on spending in the tax code, spending on certain tax breaks and deductions for the wealthiest of Americans,” Obama said. The White House is proposing about $400 billion in increased tax revenues.

All told, lawmakers and the administration are seeking deficit cuts in the range of $2.4 trillion over the coming decade to balance a similar increase in the debt limit _ enough to keep the government afloat past the November 2012 election. Currently the debt limit is $14.3 trillion.

The administration says that if the government’s borrowing limit is not increased by Aug. 2, the U.S. will face its first default ever, potentially throwing financial markets into turmoil.

Many congressional Republicans indicate they’re unconvinced that such scenarios would occur, and some administration officials worry that it could take a financial calamity before Congress acts.

With the deadline nearing, the Senate canceled its July Fourth recess planned for this week.

In discussions led by Vice President Joe Biden that broke off late last month, Republican and Democratic negotiators found more than $1 trillion in potential spending cuts over the coming decade, including reductions favored by both sides.

A Democratic official said last week that of those cuts, roughly $200 billion would come mainly from savings from Medicaid and Medicare, the government health insurance programs for the poor and elderly. Another $200 billion would come from cuts in other automatically paid benefit programs, including farm subsidies. Another large chunk would come from cuts in discretionary spending that Congress approves every year.

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Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Ben Feller contributed to this report.

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Mazda’s president believes gasoline engines will still power 80 to 90 percent of the world’s autos even in 20 years time, and remains confident it can grow without electric vehicles.

The comments Thursday from Mazda Motor Corp. President Takashi Yamanouchi contrast with the strategy at Japanese rival Nissan Motor Co., which is banking heavily on its Leaf electric car, one of the first mass-produced EVs on the market.

Yamanouchi said Mazda’s efficient gas engine called “Skyactiv” will be a pillar of its growth strategy as the Hiroshima-based manufacturer seeks to boost sales in emerging markets, where electric vehicles and hybrids aren’t expected to be as popular as in developed nations.

“Skyactiv will be one of the drivers of our growth,” Yamanouchi told reporters at a Tokyo hotel, where Mazda showed a new subcompact.

Mazda currently has no hybrid vehicle in its lineup. It plans to start selling a hybrid by 2013.

Hybrids still require gas engines, and Yamanouchi said they can be counted as part of what will be the 80 or 90 percent of cars that aren’t electric.

Nissan has sold about 8,000 of its Leaf electric vehicles around the world, more than half in Japan, since its gradual global rollout started in December.

That’s a tiny fraction of the world auto market. But Yokohama-based Nissan is targeting production of 250,000 electric vehicles a year globally by 2015, stressing that concerns about global warming and pollution are growing.

Mazda began selling the Demio, known as Mazda2 overseas, in Japan on Thursday, offering a version packed with Skyactiv technology. It is targeting 6,000 overall Demio sales a month.

The automaker said it was not planning to sell the Skyactiv Demio overseas, but was planning the green technology for bigger models Faxless payday loans.

The Skyactiv Demio gets as much as 30 kilometers a liter (71 miles per gallon), according to Mazda. Other features, such as “idling stop,” in which the engine turns off automatically while at a traffic light and other temporary stops, helps boost mileage.

Mazda is building engine and vehicle assembly plants in Mexico for small cars, such as Mazda2 and Mazda3, for markets in Central America and South America.

It has said it will stop building the midsize Mazda6 sedan at its 50-50 joint venture with Ford Motor Co. in Flat Rock, Michigan, but did not specify exactly when that would be, leaving the fate of the plant unclear. Mazda’s output there has been at about 40,000 vehicles a year.

Mazda, which has lost money for the last three fiscal years, is struggling to assert its brand without counting on its longtime partnership with Ford.

No replacement partnership has been announced, and Mazda has repeatedly said Ford remains a key partner.

Dearborn-based Ford bought 25 percent of the Japanese carmaker in 1979, raising it to 33.4 percent in 1996. But Ford began cutting ties in 2008, and last year lowered its ownership to 3.5 percent.

Like other Japanese automakers, Mazda has been hurt by supplier disruptions from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami in northeastern Japan. It is also hurt more than others by the surging yen because it sells vehicles made at overseas plants in Japan.

Yamanouchi reiterated the company’s target for annual global sales of 1.7 million vehicles by the fiscal year ending March 2016. Mazda sold 1.1 million vehicles for the fiscal year ended March 2011.

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Russia’s top sanitary official says the country is ending its blanket ban on vegetable imports from the European Union, starting with the Netherlands and Belgium.

Gennady Onishchenko was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying that he allowed the shipments to begin Tuesday, ending a blanket ban on imports to ensure an E. coli outbreak did not spread east.

He didn’t say when imports of vegetables from other EU nations will resume, but added that Poland, Lithuania, Spain, Denmark and the Czech Republic were to follow free credit report and score.

The EU called the ban disproportionate and the dispute has clouded Russia’s WTO accession talks.

Russia and the EU have reached agreement safety certification, and Onishchenko said EU producers must strictly comply.

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