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Retailers are poised for a major victory in the Wall Street reform bill currently pending in Congress. The Senate adopted an amendment late Thursday that will slap sharp restrictions on the fees issuers levy every time a buyer pays with a debit card.

Called "interchange" fees, the charges typically consume 1% to 3% of every transaction run through a debit or credit card. Network operators like Visa (V, Fortune 500) skim off a fraction of the fee, while the rest goes to the financial institution that issued the card.

Those tiny slivers add up fast: Industry kingpins Visa and MasterCard collected interchange fees of at least $35 billion in 2007, according to government estimates.

The new Senate amendment adds two major restrictions to the rules on interchange fees.

First, it requires that the fee be "reasonable and proportional to the actual cost incurred" by the payment network or issuer for processing the transaction.

The Federal Reserve will have leeway to determine what counts as a "reasonable" fee, but it’s likely to be a lot lower than the current rates. In response to an antitrust probe, Visa Europe recently announced plans to cut its interchange rate to 0.2% on some debit-card purchases, echoing an earlier move by MasterCard. Rates in Australia are capped by regulators at 0.5%.

Second, it allows sellers to offer a discount to customers who pay with cards that carry lower transaction fees.

That’s a change merchants have sought for years. They’re currently contractually obligated to accept all cards on the same terms. If American Express (AXP, Fortune 500) — which has some of the industry’s highest interchange rates — costs a merchant more to accept than a Visa card does, the merchant can’t offer buyers a discount for using Visa.

Backed by Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., the amendment passed the Senate 64-33. It’s now part of the broader financial reform bill the Senate hopes to finalize next week.

That the proposal has made it this far is a major victory for retailers, especially small ones, who have fought for years for regulatory curbs on what they view as the monopolistic practices of Visa, MasterCard (MA, Fortune 500) and other payment network operators. For businesses with slim margins, like gas stations and convenience stories, interchange fees can devour or even eliminate their profit on sales.

"It’s a wonderful thing," 7-Eleven shop owner Dennis Lane said Thursday on hearing of the amendment’s adoption. "This is a really personal thing for me. Life is one big negotiation, but not with credit card companies."

Lane, the former head of the National Coalition of 7-Eleven Franchise Owners Association, has been an outspoken foe of interchange fees. For 36 years, he has owned a 7-Eleven outlet in Quincy, Mass., which has a staff of 12 and annual sales of $2.5 million. Next to labor, credit-card fees are his biggest operating cost — and they’re the only cost he has no control over.

"In 10 years, the fees have doubled," he said. "If I sell a Boston newspaper, I make approximately 6 cents. If someone whips out plastic, I might as well hand them the paper for nothing, because it costs me 12 to 14 cents to sell them the paper."

Durbin’s amendment isn’t a compete fix. Its most prominent limitation is that it only applies to debit cards. Credit cards, like those issued by American Express and Discover (DFS, Fortune 500), are exempt from the fee caps.

But debit cards are becoming America’s plastic of choice: Consumers will charge an estimated $1.6 trillion on them this year, eclipsing their spending on credit cards, according to industry trade publication The Nilson Report.

The amendment also excludes cards issued by community banks and credit unions with less than $10 billion in assets — those can continue to carry the same interchange rates they currently do.

But in practice, that exemption will have little impact. The vast majority of all credit and debit transactions go through major issuers like Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500), and analysts suspect Visa and MasterCard will simply choose to levy the lower interchange rates across the board, on all debit purchases.

Critics vowed to continue fighting the proposal. Bankers are lined up in opposition, and the National Association of Federal Credit Unions fired off a response saying it will keep lobbying to have the amendment stricken from the final bill.

"The adoption of this amendment makes a bill that was already problematic for credit unions even more problematic," the association said.

The Independent Community Bankers of America called the amendment "lose-lose" and said it will "force many community banks to reevaluate their ability to offer debit and credit cards."

Congressional representatives trying to court Main Street votes rarely take up arms against community banks and credit unions, but in this case, another set of iconic Main Street stalwarts — America’s millions of independent retailers — put on a full-court press.

More than 130 trade associations, which together claim to tally $1.5 trillion in annual sales, banded together to back Durbin’s amendment. Senators were stuck choosing which puppy to kick.

For 7-Eleven owner Lane, the proposal offers the tantalizing possibility of a sea change for the retail industry.

"We’re not looking for a free ride," he said. "I believe interchange fees are a legitimate cost of doing business. What I’m looking for are the companies to partner with us and decide what’s fair. This is the first step." 

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Fiat-Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne must have gotten tired of all those questions about Chrysler’s empty product pipeline.

Because in a conference call with analysts and the media this week, he laid out Chrysler’s launch schedule for the rest of 2010 and dropped some hints about 2011.

If the pipeline isn’t exactly gushing, it is pumping a lot harder than most people expected.

Reported Deutsche Bank: "Within the first quarter, Chrysler admittedly progressed better than our expectations."

Ten months ago, the authoritative "Car Wars" report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s John Murphy forecast that Chrysler would be replacing only 9% of its sales volume in model year 2011 with just two redesigned models: The Jeep Grand Cherokee and Chrysler 300.

His conclusion: "Chrysler’s product pipeline is dubious and likely to drive market share losses."

In fact, Marchionne is promising 14 all-new or refreshed products the rest of this year, and says 75% of Chrysler’s product line will be "touched" in 2010.

To be sure, some of the changes will be mostly cosmetic. "Think grille texture, tail lamps, minor trim changes," advises AutoPacific marketing consultant George Peterson.

Other alterations, though, will be more substantial. Marchionne grumped that to merely call the changes "refreshes" is "an insult."

Here’s the rundown:

Dodge gets a new crossover SUV based on the Grand Cherokee and a redone Charger off the 300.

The much-maligned (for its styling and its bargain-basement fittings) Dodge Charger and Chrysler Sebring gets an improved suspension and a fresh interior.

Other vehicles getting makeovers include the Chrysler and Dodge minivans and three Jeeps: Wrangler, Patriot, and Compass.

The petite Fiat 500 will be arriving on schedule at the end of the year.

And Marchionne disclosed some details about a new Fiat-engineered compact car coming in 2011. He said the engineering work has been done and "we are 98% there on styling."

Marchionne doesn’t give many one-on-one interviews, but in each of his conference calls and presentations, he reveals a little more of himself.

He clearly has a passion for the automotive business but he is remarkably clear-eyed when it comes to the hard realities. And he has a way of expressing himself, devoid of platitudes and generalities, that quickly cuts to the heart of an issue.

He described competition in the market as "vicious" and said he approached his job with "discipline and humility."

When was the last time you heard a CEO use the word "humility?"

For those who had any lingering doubts about the cost of more efficient engines, he pointed out that the tiny 1.4 liter four-cylinder manufactured by Fiat with so-called Multiair technology costs more to make than Chrysler’s massive 6.2 liter V-8.

And he publicly talks about the number of cars that Chrysler sells to fleets with a guaranteed repurchase price — a widely abused industry practice. He says it is only a fraction of its total fleet business, which he says is in line with industry practice of roughly 25% of total sales.

Marchionne appears to have Chrysler aligned toward the right goals and focused on results. Having been through bankruptcy, its balance sheet is clean and its costs are under control. It can operate profitably at just 74% capacity.

Marchionne figures Chrysler needs to sell 1.65 million cars this year in order to make money — a figure that should be well within reach, barring economic cataclysm.

And despite his manic work schedule — running two troubled automakers on two continents — he keeps his sense of humor.

Asked by one analyst how he get Chrysler to 10% U.S. market share (it is currently at 9.1%), he replied: "Work really hard." 

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The 2010 Guide to Western Pennsylvania Schools features high school students from local schools throughout the region. Click on any of the photos to bring up a slideshow.

A complete list of 11th grade rankings of southwestern Pennsylvania schools is also available on the School Guide homepage.

For more, see:

Upper St bad credit pay day loans. Clair High School tops high school list

Exchange programs prepare Upper St. Clair High School students for world beyond SWPA

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D.C.-based DuPont Fabros Technology Inc., the fastest-growing company in the Washington area last year, grew its top and bottom lines last quarter.

DuPont Fabros, a real estate investment trust that develops and manages data centers, reported net income for the first quarter ended March 31 of $5.2 million, or 8 cents per share, compared with $3.3 million, or 5 cents per share, in the first quarter of 2009.

Revenue in the first quarter rose 21 percent to $56.9 million from $46.8 million in the year-ago period.

Funds from operations, a common yardstick for REITs that excludes real estate-related depreciation and amortization, rose 20 percent in the first quarter to $20.2 million. DuPont Fabros said the gain in FFO stemmed from increased leasing activity during the quarter when it signed leases worth approximately $33 million.

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Stronger sales and tighter expense controls helped footwear maker Rocky Brands Inc. halve its loss in the first quarter, the company told investors late Thursday.

The Nelsonville-based boot maker said it lost $560,744, or 10 cents a share, for the first three months of the year, compared with a loss of $1.1 million, or 20 cents a share, a year earlier.

Revenue grew 12 percent to $56.1 million from $50.1 million a year earlier on a spike in military sales. Otherwise, Rocky Brands (NASDAQ:RCKY) saw its wholesale division increase revenue 5 percent while retail sales dropped marginally.

Profit margins tightened in the quarter but Rocky Brands chopped overhead expenses by nearly 10 percent in part through pay and benefit cuts and reduced bad-debt expenses.

CEO Mike Brooks said the company’s results surpassed internal and external projections despite the red ink, typical in a slow season of the year.

“However, we are confident that the steps we have taken to rightsize both our wholesale and retail platforms, combined with our initiatives aimed at expanding revenues will result in improved profitability year-over-year during the remainder of this year,” Brooks said in a release.

Rocky produces and markets footwear under the Rocky Outdoor Gear, Georgia Boot, Durango and Lehigh names along with licensed brands Dickies, Zumfoot and Michelin.

The company last year earned $1.17 million on $229.5 million in revenue.

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What a week for Twitter.

The mircroblogging firm made nearly a dozen announcements this week, marking a huge shift in Twitter’s business strategy, starting with the fact that it now actually has a business strategy.

At its developer conference, codenamed Chirp, the company unveiled promoted tweets, new official mobile apps, an enhanced geo-tagging feature, a proprietary link-shortening function, live search on Bing and the sale of its archives.

"Twitter’s been under a lot of pressure to be a more transparent business," said Augie Ray, senior social-networking analyst at Forrester Research. "Now the company has come to a point in its maturity where it’s starting to operate much more as a business and less as a startup."

The new moves aren’t without critics. Some customers have found the promoted tweets to be intrusive. Third-party app developers are worried that Twitter is trying to put them out of business. And location-based apps like Foursquare and Gowalla can’t be too pleased that Twitter is planning to launch a similar service.

But Twitter has also been scrutinized for taking too long to unveil a roadmap. Developers weren’t sure where to invest their efforts, and analysts grew frustrated wondering when the company was going to grow up.

It appears that time has come.

Promoted tweets: By far the most significant announcement. When users search with select keywords, a tweet from a company that bought those keywords will appear at the top of the feed. Companies that currently feature ads on the site include Best Buy (BBY, Fortune 500), Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) and Sony Pictures.

Though some Twitter users predictably reacted negatively to the announcement, Ray said most of the early buzz from consumers was fairly supportive.

Though the current model is still in the experimental phase, the company is hoping to succeed by making the promotional advertising more closely reflect individual users’ interests.

Ensuring Twitter remains consumer-driven and not overly corporate is key to its survival, said Bob Pearson, president of the Social Media Business Council.

"The reason Twitter is successful is because it has allowed customers to find what’s relevant to them," said Pearson. "If Twitter starts deciding for people what’s important, that’s not going to work."

Mobile apps: Twitter recently unveiled an official BlackBerry app, and bought the most popular Twitter app for Apple’s (AAPL, Fortune 500) iPhone, called Tweetie. The company also plans to soon release an official Android app.

Twitter had previously relied on third-party developers to allow mobile users to access their Twitter accounts on their phones. Apps like Twidroid, Tweetie and UberTwitter were some of the most popular, but there were dozens of others.

It comes as little surprise that having no official mobile app was a barrier to new customers. When people searched for a Twitter app, many were confused about which one to use.

While an official Twitter app hasn’t made third-party developers too happy, Twitter made it clear that those developers are still hugely important.

"It’s not a coup against developers," said Ray. "It’s absolutely clear that Twitter is very committed to improving its platform for the development community."

Geo-tagging: Another big announcement was the unveiling of a "Places" function that would better allow users to see where tweets were coming from.

Twitter will keep a database of restaurants, bars, parks, stations and other public arenas. Developers use that data to create tools like check-in, similar to other location-based services like Foursquare and Gowalla.

Though some believe this poses a direct challenge to some of the more entrenched location-based services, Twitter argues that the new functionality is more of a complementary service.

It’s more likely that Twitter would use the information to provide more relevant tweets about a specific area or place than hand out virtual points, badges or rewards like Foursquare’s check-in.

Link-shortening: Since Twitter only allows users to post 140-character messages, URLs can take up a large chunk of the space for tweets.

Services like bit.ly have become popular ways to shorten links to post in tweets. But using those services is cumbersome because users have to go outside Twitter’s world to create those links.

Like with geo-tagging and mobile apps, the announcement made some developers nervous about the viability of their link-shortening services. But the barriers to creating link-shortening were so small (just register a two-character ending) that the business model of those services was questionable anyhow.

Archives: Twitter sold the rights to its archives to the Library of Congress, making them searchable on Google (GOOG, Fortune 500).

All public tweets, dating back to the very first one on March 21, 2006, are now hosted in the government’s Library of Congress.

Users can access the archive by selecting the "Updates" option on Google’s search page. The new feature adds a timeline at the top of the results page that shows the relative volume of tweets about that topic.

Live search: Lastly, live Twitter feeds began appearing in Bing search results pages this week. Twitter feeds have already been showing up in Google’s search results for awhile, which served as the first source of revenue for the young company. 

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Evidence continues to mount that the mortgage crisis may be easing.

The number of houses facing foreclosure in the St. Louis region dropped to its lowest level in at least two years in the first quarter, according to numbers out today from RealtyTrac.

While still high by historic standards, the number of St. Louis-area houses in the later stages of the foreclosure process was down 15.7 percent compared with the first three months of 2009.

It’s another sign that the local housing market is beginning to stabilize, and that banks are more willing and able to work out loan modifications.

Nationally, the figures are still grim.

The number of houses set for auction or repossessed surged 26.4 percent compared with the same period last year. Much of that is driven by a handful of states — Florida, California, Arizona and Nevada — where vast numbers of high-priced mortgages are underwater, giving homeowners little room to maneuver if they lose a job or need to sell their house fast cheap pay day loans.

Seventy percent of foreclosures in the first quarter were in 10 states, RealtyTrac reports, most of which had either a housing bubble or particularly high unemployment or both.

In a separate report out Wednesday, the Treasury Department said about one million households were making lower mortgage payments in March under its $50 billion Home Affordable Modification Program. That number is basically unchanged from the month before.

The government says about 1.8 million borrowers are eligible for HAMP; at the end of last year, roughly 8 million borrowers were behind on payments.

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Top five and bottom five factors influencing corporate decisions on relocation — and where union-related factors fall on the list:

1. Labor costs

2. Highway access

3. Tax exemptions

4. Energy availability and costs

5. Corporate tax rate

11. Low union profile

14. Right to work state

22. Availability of unskilled labor

23. Accessibility to major airport

24. Proximity to technical university

25. Railroad service

26. Waterway or oceanport accessibility

— 75.8 percent of companies listed "low union profile" as a priority.

— 74 percent said they preferred a right-to-work state.

— The No. 1 factor, labor costs, was ranked by 96.7 percent of companies.

— The No. 26 factor was ranked by 17.7 percent.

Source: Area Development, 2009 "site selection" survey of corporations.

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Goldman Sachs defended its controversial employee bonuses and multi-billion dollar relationship with AIG in its annual report released Wednesday, while downplaying its short-selling in the mortgage market.

Much of the letter was devoted to describing Goldman’s (GS, Fortune 500) role in the financial crisis and the recession, praising its own "strong performance" in 2009, which it referred to as a "year of resiliency."

The letter, co-signed by CEO Lloyd Blankfein and President Gary Cohn, also mentioned that Goldman repaid its $10 billion debt to the government in June 2009, as a U.S. Treasury recipient of the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

The letter came after Blankfein and other Wall Street chief executives were subjected to intense scrutiny in a hearing before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission in January, when they were blamed for contributing to the economic crisis.

Goldman’s (GS, Fortune 500) letter is peppered with the word "client," as the Wall Street firm continuously reiterated its role in serving its investors amid troubling economic times.

"Our first priority is and always has been to serve our clients’ interests," read the letter, in one of its opening lines.

Referring to its staff as its "most important asset," Goldman also acknowledged the negative attention that’s been given to its annual bonuses.

"We have not been blind to the attention on our industry and, in particular, on Goldman Sachs, with respect to compensation," the letter read.

The firm defended these bonuses, in part because they were lower in 2009 compared to prior years, which "reflected the extraordinary events of 2009."

Goldman on AIG, short selling

Goldman also defended its business relationship with the insurer AIG (AIG, Fortune 500), in one of the most extreme cases of government bailouts. Goldman said its total AIG exposure on the securities on which it brought protection was $10 billion, bolstered by $7.5 billion in collateral and hedges.

The firm emphasized that if AIG had collapsed in the fall of 2008 without a bail-out from the government, Goldman "would have not have incurred any material economic loss."

Goldman also downplayed its reliance on short selling in the mortgage market in 2007, ahead of that market’s collapse.

"The firm did not generate enormous net revenues or profits by betting against residential mortgage-related products, as some have speculated," the letter read. "Rather, our relatively early risk reduction resulted in our losing less money than we otherwise would have when the residential housing market began to deteriorate rapidly."

The firm said it "offset" its short selling with long positions, and said that its short selling was not a "bet against its clients." 

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The number of Americans filing for unemployment insurance for the first time fell last week, matching the lowest level since August 2008, according to government data released Thursday.

There were 439,000 initial jobless claims filed in the week ended March 27, down 6,000 from an upwardly revised 445,000 the previous week, according to the Labor Department’s weekly report.

Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expected new claims to dip to 440,000 in the week. The number of new claims matches the level reached in the Feb. 6 week, which was the lowest point since the week ended Aug. 23, 2008.

The Labor Department also tracks the 4-week moving average of initial claims, which smoothes out volatility in the measure. That number was 447,250 for the week, down 6,750 from the previous week’s downwardly revised average of 454,000.

"We saw a nice little drop of 6,000, which is consistent with our expectations of slow improvement [in the jobs market]," said Robert Dye, senior economist for PNC Financial Services Group.

The report also said that 4,662,000 people filed continuing claims in the week ended March 20, the most recent data available. That figure, the lowest level since Dec. 20, 2008, was down 6,000 from the preceding week’s 4,668,000 claims, but higher than the 4.62 million economists expected, according to Briefing.com.

The 4-week moving average for continuing claims was 4,679,500, a decrease of 12,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 4,692,000.

Continuing claims data excludes people whose benefits expired or those who have moved to state or federal extensions. It reflects those filing each week after their initial claim until the end of their standard benefits, which usually last 26 weeks.

Continuing claims will be "the ongoing hangover effect of the recession," said Dye. "It’s going to take a long time to absorb that slack in the labor market, even if we see moderate job creation."

Jobs outlook still unclear

President Obama and lawmakers in the House and Senate continue to push for more relief. In March, the deadline to file for unemployment insurance was extended and the president signed into law a number of tax breaks for businesses.

The measures are part of the effort by Congress to spark job growth and bring down the national unemployment rate, which stands at 9.7%.

Dye says job growth measures could be stifled by continuing claims, which will come down "grudgingly slow" and keep unemployment within the 9% to 9.5% range.

Jobless claims fell the most in California, with a decline of 5,180, primarily due to fewer layoffs in the construction industry. Pennsylvania and North Carolina also were among the top 3 states that had the largest declines in new claims.

Illinois, Oklahoma, and Missouri topped the list of increases in initial claims.

The report came ahead of Friday’s much anticipated non-farm payrolls figures for March. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com expect an increase of 190,000 jobs, many of them temporary Census-related positions instead of full-time growth in the private sector.

"The proof in the pudding is going to be what kinds of gains we’re going to see in the private sector," said Dye. "What we need to see is the economy making a transition from a government-aided recovery to a self-sustaining economy."  

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