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It’s still more than a day away until the Super Bowl and I’ve already seen the Volkswagen commercial that shows a pudgy dog running on a treadmill in order to lose weight.

I’ve already seen Matthew Broderick call in sick so he can ride roller coasters, chase little kids at a museum and frolic on the beach in a Ferris Bueller-like day of revelry - and driving a Honda CRV to get from place to place.

And I’ve already seen the tattoo-rific David Beckham in his undies for H&M’s new ad campaign.

So is there any reason left to tune in to the big game on Sunday night?

Oh right, I guess there is the football. But with more companies than ever uploading their Super Bowl commercials in advance on YouTube and other websites this year, there will be fewer surprises on Sunday night. So will people take a pass on the commercials and actually use that time for a bathroom break?

Seethu Seetharaman, a marketing professor at Washington University, doesn’t think so. He thinks the early releases will just whet people’s appetite and help build excitement leading up to the game. After all, some companies are only putting out teasers or trailers of their ads.

“There is the danger of newness being lost,” he acknowledged.

But one of the most memorable and buzzed-about commercials last year - the kid dressed up as Darth Vader in a Volkswagen ad - was released online in advance of the big game, he noted.

That gets closer to Seetharaman’s main point. He questions the wisdom of companies wasting - err, spending - $3.5 million on a 30-second spot at all when they could get free exposure through a viral, online campaign.

Craig Kaminer, president of the St. Louis-based marketing agency Twist, also emphasized the free part of releasing commercials early on YouTube.

“You can get millions of additional people to see it and it doesn’t cost you anything,” he said. “At the end of the day, advertisers are interested in one thing and that’s getting to the most number of people to spread their message.”

And while some people may have seen some of the commercials before Sunday night, up until then it will have mostly been an individual experience. But during the game, it will be a communal activity with your family and friends, he said.

That is something I can understand. For the first time in many years, I found myself glued to the television at a friend’s Super Bowl party last year. Actually, I alternated between the TV and my iPhone.

I gave myself whiplash as I devoured snarky tweets from my friends - and yes, from the random group of witty people I don’t know who I follow on Twitter - as they dished out their real-time commentary on the ads.

That’s something you can’t recapture the next day.

So I’ll be tuning in on Sunday - with my smartphone at my side.

SIN IS IN

This year is shaping up to be a pretty good year for sin.

At least, that’s what the research firm IBISWorld concludes in a recent report tracking industries that it has assigned to each of the seven deadly sins.

With more disposable income at our fingertips - and with the help of new technologies - IBISWorld said Americans will find more ways to indulge themselves in 2012. Apparently, this will be a bountiful year for envy, lust and sloth. Yippee! But growth will be a bit slower for those who peddle in pride and greed. Boo!

The firm does takes liberties with its labels. For example, I’m sure there are plenty of gun manufacturers out there who would object to being placed into the “wrath” category. But nonetheless, it makes for some colorful reading.

So here’s a quick snapshot:

• Envy: Jewelry store sales are projected to grow 4.5 percent this year.

• Lust: Online dating sales are expected to increase 3.5 percent.

• Sloth: The “do-it-for-me” market of maids, nannies, personal chefs, gardeners and butlers is expected to grow 3.4 percent.

• Gluttony: Fast-food restaurants are expected to grow 2.6 percent.

• Wrath: Gun and ammunition manufacturers are projected to be up 2.3 percent.

• Pride: Tanning salon sales are expected to increase 2 percent.

• Greed: Commercial banking is expected to be up 1.9 percent.

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France plans to unilaterally impose a 0.1 percent tax on financial transactions starting in August, President Nicolas Sarkozy said, brushing aside opposition from the nation

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It’s a move that Ameren Missouri’s founders couldn’t have possibly imagined more than a century ago: Utility officials on Friday proposed spending $145 million over three years to reduce electricity use.

The filing comes three months after Ameren made deep and widely criticized cuts to its existing efficiency programs, saying they penalized shareholders by not compensating the company for lost energy sales.

The program proposed on Friday would more than double what Ameren Missouri was spending on energy efficiency before the cuts, and promises to save its customers 800 million kilowatt-hours a year, an amount of equal to the energy use of 60,000 homes.

Of course, energy efficiency programs aren’t free — and Ameren wants ratepayers to finance them. From 2013 through the end of 2015, Ameren would collect the cost of implementing the plan through a surcharge on customer bills that would equal a rate increase of a little more than 3 percent, said Warren Wood, the utility’s vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs.

But all of Ameren’s 1.2 million customers will benefit from a reduction in energy use, Wood said.

“This filing aligns the business interests of the utilities and their customers,” he said.

The Public Service Commission has 120 days to review Ameren’s proposal. If approved, it would take effect in January 2013.

The plan is the first filed by St. Louis-based Ameren under the Missouri Energy Efficiency Investment Act. The law, signed by Gov. Jay Nixon in 2009, was designed to encourage reductions in energy use by allowing utilities to earn the same profit on energy efficiency investments that they do on investments in power plants, poles and wires. The PSC, utilities and other groups have spent the past two years debating rules to implement the law.

Ameren spent $70 million on efficiency from 2009 to 2011, helping customers save more than 550 million kilowatt-hours. But the those efforts led to $26.4 million in losses, according to Wood. That amount will grow to $60 million by 2014 — the reason why Ameren killed many of the rebates and other incentives at the end of September to the chagrin of energy efficiency advocates.

Wood explained the problem like this: Every time a customer pays their electric bill, some of the money is used to pay for variable costs like coal and other fuel used to run power plants. Another piece goes to cover fixed costs like poles, wires and substations — infrastructure that’s needed regardless of how many electrons flow through the grid.

When electricity demand declines, so does revenue, including that portion that goes to cover fixed costs. Friday’s proposal would compensate Ameren for that lost revenue while still producing tangible benefits for consumers, he said.

Efficiency and consumer advocates hadn’t read through all of the hundreds of pages that Ameren filed as of Friday afternoon.

While they would welcome an increase in efficiency spending in Ameren’s plan, they said they need to analyze the details before endorsing or opposing the plan.

“Are they seeking to be overcompensated (for efficiency investments)? Are they overreaching?” asked Lewis Mills Jr., Missouri’s Public Counsel. “That’s my biggest concern.”

Rebecca Stanfield of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Chicago office said it’s time for Ameren, regulators, and consumer and environmental groups to make energy efficiency work in Missouri.

“We’ve had three years of positioning and brinksmanship on this issue,” she said. “All of the parties need to recognize that there’s tremendous value in what can be created with these programs. Lets look at the big picture of what we could achieve if they are successful.”

No one disputes that energy efficiency must be a significant part of the state’s energy policy. That includes Ameren, which has identified efficiency as the cheapest way to meet energy demand in the future.

Missouri has long been dependent on relatively cheap coal to meet its electricity needs. But prices for the fuel and cost of hauling it from mines in Wyoming have been increasing. And new environmental regulations aimed at cutting back on air and water pollution from coal-fired power plants are certain to lead to further increases.

The state also continues to lag behind most others when it comes to policies to reduce energy use. The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy ranks Missouri 44th in the nation for energy efficiency.

In Illinois, meanwhile, utilities are increasing spending on energy efficiency programs. That includes Ameren’s sister utility, which sells electricity to customers across much of central and southern Illinois.

Ameren Illinois will spend $78 million this year on discounts and rebates for energy saving lighting and appliances to its 1.2 million electric customers and 800,000 gas customers.

One key difference is that Illinois has an energy efficiency standard. The law requires Ameren and the state’s other investor-owned utility, ComEd, to cut energy use by 25 percent from 2007 levels by 2025.

Without a mandate, Missouri utilities must be willing to aggressively push efficiency programs on their own. How to get them do that has been a contentious issue.

Mills, the main advocate for consumers on utility issues, realizes some Ameren customers may chafe at the idea of seeing bills go up, at least initially, to pay for energy efficiency programs.

But energy efficiency can benefit all consumers — even those who don’t take advantage of rebates and other incentives — by lowering statewide energy use, Mills said. That can help utilities defer or avoid building new power plants or running more expensive plants when electricity demand spikes.

“While it looks like rates are going to be going up,” he said, “they’re going to be going up more if we don’t do this.”

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OTTAWA

European officials said the euro region

Retail sales rose at the weakest pace in seven months in December as consumers pulled back late in the holiday shopping season, cutting purchases at department stores and spending less on electronic gadgets.

Total retail sales increased 0.1 percent after rising by an upwardly revised 0.4 percent in November, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

Economists polled by Reuters had forecast retail sales climbing 0.3 percent last month.

The upward revision for November sales suggests consumers likely frontloaded their holiday shopping. The government had initially estimated retail sales gained 0.2 percent in November.

Spending at electronics and appliance stores fell 3.9 percent in December, while shopping at department stores slipped 0.2 percent.

Fueling the overall increase in retail sales during December, receipts for motor vehicles and parts increased 1 Internet Payday loans.5 percent, adding to the prior month’s 0.9 percent gain.

Excluding autos, retail sales fell 0.2 percent, the first decline since May 2010.

Sales at food and beverage stores fell 0.2 percent in December. Also holding back the overall gain in sales, receipts at gasoline stations dropped 1.6 percent last month after rising 0.9 percent in November.

Core retail sales, which exclude autos, gasoline and building materials, dropped 0.1 percent in December after advancing 0.3 percent the prior month.

Core sales correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of the government’s gross domestic product report.

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WASHINGTON • If timing is everything, as the saying goes, then Matt Blunt might consider a job giving advice on when to make career changes.

Blunt picked 2004 as the year to run for governor of Missouri. It turned into a strong year for Republicans and, at age 33, he became America’s youngest governor.

In his new incarnation, Blunt last year became chief spokesman and a lobbyist in Washington for Detroit’s Big Three automakers just as the American automotive industry was enjoying a resurgence.

It is one of several positions Blunt holds these days that enable him to prove life after Missouri’s Governor’s Mansion can be rewarding and, he says, enjoyable.

As president of the American Automotive Policy Council, one of Blunt’s main tasks is reminding Congress of his industry’s recent success, a rare good news story about American manufacturing.

Two years after General Motors and Chrysler emerged from bankruptcy, both companies, along with Ford, reported profits and increasing sales in 2011. Their turnaround is hailed in reports such as a recent Time magazine cover story titled, “How America Started Selling Cars Again.”

Yet many Americans — some of them in Congress — see the automotive industry as bloated and inefficient, surviving on government bailouts.

“What some people believe about automobile manufacturers, the American-based companies, isn’t accurate,” Blunt said. “The companies today are fundamentally different than they were just a few years ago, in terms of what they make and how they make it.”

Blunt’s portfolio these days includes the vital matters affecting American carmakers, including global trade agreements, new fuel economy standards and a recent recommendation to ban texting and cellphone use in automobiles.

Blunt, who turned 41 in November, is leading a life different from his sometimes rocky four years as a young governor, in which he endured criticism for his cuts to Medicaid and low approval ratings at times.

After leaving office in January 2009, he moved swiftly into the world of business. Besides his Big Three job, he is a director for Copart Inc., an online auto auction company in California that claims to sell 1 million vehicles yearly. He is a senior adviser for Rubicon Global, an Atlanta-based waste management firm, and an advisory board member for private equity funds.

Rather than living in Jefferson City or Springfield, Blunt, his wife, Melanie, and sons Branch, 6, and Brooks, who turned 2 on New Year’s Day, reside now in Middleburg, Va., situated in rolling horse country that has been home to such notables as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and Elizabeth Taylor.

Blunt says he is comfortable in a part of the country where he has spent considerable time. He graduated from the Naval Academy in nearby Annapolis, Md., and he was stationed on a Virginia-based ship. His wife is a Virginia native.

In recent interviews, Blunt, whose father, Roy, just completed his first year in the U.S. Senate, said he has no regrets in deciding not to seek a second term.

“I loved being governor. It was a great experience. I was proud of what we accomplished,” he said. “But I don’t know that over another four-year term, I would have been particularly effective. I don’t know there’s much that I would have gotten done.”

He added, “I don’t necessarily miss politics.”

understanding autos

Blunt is dealing now with politics of a different order, in some cases global. He was outspoken last fall in pressing to keep Japan out of the budding Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade alliance, noting Japan’s protectionist policies that keep out all but a few thousand American cars yearly.

Trade is a key focus for Blunt but just one of many focuses for an industry that experts say needs help.

Joe Wiesenfelder, executive editor of Chicago-based Cars.com, said he sees “a gross misunderstanding in Washington about developing and building cars and how long it takes, about the inconsistency of the market and about inconsistency of regulation and the effects on companies.”

Until two years ago, Ford, Chrysler and GM were aligned in Washington with the Auto Alliance, which also includes foreign automakers. But the interests of domestic and foreign companies diverged just as legislation and government rules were becoming more consequential.

Blunt’s background as a governor likely played a role in his selection as the industry sought to navigate tricky political waters in Congress after the controversial bailouts No teletrak payday loan.

Blunt technically is not a registered federal lobbyist because he spends less than 20 percent of his time lobbying. Nevertheless, he works the halls of Congress, trumpeting the key role of the Big Three in the nation’s economy. GM, Ford and Chrysler will add 34,000 jobs in coming years, he said, which translates to 400,000 jobs in the economy supported by automotive plants.

“The American companies are competitive, they are productive and they are making great products,” Blunt said, sounding like the car salesman he has become. “Because of that, what recovery we do have in the American economy, the automobile makers are playing a big part.”

As a self-described conservative Republican, Blunt might find old allies who decry the $80 billion bailout of Chrysler and GM. Most of the money has been paid back, and the White House projected the cost to taxpayers at $14 billion.

“Decisions that President Bush made at the end of his administration and President Obama made early in his administration have had a successful outcome,” he said. “It’s always an academic debate whether a different road map would have led to the success.”

As governor, Blunt was an advocate of smaller government. Those sensibilities could come into play as government moves more aggressively to dictate vehicle design.

After an agreement with both domestic and foreign manufacturers, the administration of President Barack Obama in November proposed nearly doubling fuel economy requirements to 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. In 2010, the administration completed rules to raise the fuel standard to 35.5 mpg by 2016. The current requirement for new autos is 27.3 mpg.

Foreign-based manufacturers believe the White House has tilted the rules in favor of the domestic industry. True or not, the Big Three will need to be vigilant as regulations are implemented; their focus will be on easing the burden those regulations could cause.

“It’s the classic ‘devil’s in the details,’ and it will be very important to see the rules filed by all the agencies,” Blunt said.

Texting debated

Automakers took notice recently when the National Transportation Safety Board said states should ban texting and cellphone use in vehicles. The board made the recommendation after concluding that a driver’s texting was a factor in a deadly pileup near St. Louis.

Blunt said companies he represents are paying close attention because “they really do believe that you can integrate technology into a vehicle that’s not only safe but safer than the way most drivers use technology today.”

“As you think about what you might or might not ban in a vehicle, it’s important to do it in a way that wouldn’t inhibit safety ideas some of the companies have today, and at the same time be realistic,” he said. “Quite frankly, I don’t think (a cellphone ban is) very realistic.”

As a lobbyist, Blunt seemingly could have a ready ear from father Roy, who won election this month to a Senate GOP leadership slot. Matt Blunt said he doesn’t intend to talk business at family gatherings, perhaps because Roy Blunt has in the past been criticized for ties to lobbyists in his family and otherwise.

Matt’s brother, Andy Blunt, works at a law firm in Jefferson City with a long list of lobbying clients. His sister, Amy, maintains some lobbying clients in her business in the state capital, which largely deals with helping candidates comply with Federal Election Commission rules. Roy Blunt’s wife, Abigail, was a lobbyist for tobacco giant Philip Morris before joining Kraft’s legislative affairs team.

Andy Blunt said his brother arrived in a position that suits his talents.

“He’s a great manager and executive and has the ability to focus on details while thinking about long-term strategy,” he said.

Blunt, who acknowledged driving a German-made automobile in the past, also is walking the talk now — driving it, actually.

He gets around Washington in a Chrysler-made Jeep Grand Cherokee.

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LONDON

Asian stock markets were mixed early Thursday, following flat trading on Wall Street as renewed worries over Europe’s banking system and a strong yen weighed on investor sentiment.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index fell 0.5 percent to 8,514.03, while South Korea’s Kospi index gained 0.2 percent to 1,870.96. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 0.3 percent to 18,787.21. Australia’s S&P ASX 200 fell 1.2 percent at 4,139.70.

Benchmarks in Singapore and Taiwan were higher while those in Malaysia and New Zealand were lower.

In Tokyo, the yen’s rise against the euro elicited fears of more pain ahead for Japanese exporters. The euro sank to 98.71 yen on Monday in European trading, which Japan’s Kyodo News said was an 11-year low. The euro remained under selling pressure as it hovered around 99.72 yen Thursday.

On Wednesday, European markets declined after another increase in Italy’s borrowing costs renewed worries about the continent’s efforts to restore confidence in its debt-hobbled governments. Additionally, UniCredit _ Italy’s biggest bank _ said it would offer stock at a 69 percent discount to raise cash guaranteed unsecured personal loan. The size of the discount escalated worries about the state of Europe’s banking sector.

Stocks barely budged in the U.S. The Dow Jones industrial average edged up 0.2 percent to close at 12,418.42. The Dow opened the year Tuesday with a 180-point gain that brought it to its highest level since July.

The Standard & Poor’s 500 index inched up less than 0.1 percent to close at 1,277.30. The Nasdaq fell marginally to 2,648.36.

Benchmark oil for February delivery fell 35 cents to $102.87 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 26 cents to end at $103.22 per barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.

In currencies, the euro fell to $1.2930 from $1.2938 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar slipped to 76.72 yen from 76.75 yen.

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Manufacturing in India and China improved in December, a sign the world