Markets

The woman who says she represents North American Power is not telling the truth about the benefits of buying electricity from her company. "You can save up to 10, 15, 20 percent of your bill, depending on your usage," she says in a telemarketing call to my house. But the rate she eventually quotes is only about 7 percent less than the standard price offered by Baltimore Gas & Electric — something the average customer would have no way of knowing. And of course the percentage savings won't vary even if my "usage" goes up to that of a steel mill.

What if the cable guy was also your home security guy? Maryland consumers are about to find out. Comcast Corp. has launched a marketing blitz this month to sign up customers for its new "Xfinity Home" package, which features a residential alarm system, video monitoring, and temperature and lighting controls, among other features — all manipulated from a touchpad, mobile device or computer. It's not enough for major telecom and cable companies to sell you services for your television, computer and smartphone.

This column may stress you out. It stressed me out just writing it. Start counting on your fingers how many of the following aggravations you have encountered personally. Ready? •You call a customer line to report a problem with some product or service, and after being forced to navigate through a multi-stage menu of options, you finally get a live person - who, unfortunately, seems capable of responding to only small set of basic requests. •You file an insurance claim, but the paperwork and documentation required to get the claim paid seem intentionally convoluted so as to deter you from ever collecting.

Here's a phrase you probably didn't expect to hear associated with the housing market so soon after the crash: Bidding war. They've been roaring back into suddenly-hotter-again areas in recent months. Now they're a lot more common here, too -- in a milder way than during the bubble years, but surprising nonetheless. Online real estate brokerage Redfin says nearly half of its Baltimore-area buyers' offers in the first three months of the year had competition. Some buyers are using escalation clauses again to try to avoid being outbid.

I was glad to see The Baltimore Sun recognizes the challenges facing the thousands of craft artists seeking viable outlets for their talent ("Creative outlets: 'Art incubators' provide shelf space and business guidance in tough times," May 24). As a national organization that champions crafts, the American Craft Council provides resources, tools, opportunities and systems to assist artists in establishing and sustaining successful businesses. Maryland's craft market is one of the strongest in the country.

Because financial markets were closed yesterday for Thanksgiving, no tables appear in today's editions. Stock markets will close today at 1 p.m. and bond markets will close at 2 p.m.

At House of Kahn Estate Jewelers in Chicago, Kathleen Markiewicz fingered a ruby-encrusted brooch, shaped like a fish and pinned to the lapel of her shirt. She had paid $4,000 for the piece. "I felt aquatic today," she said, taking a sip of sparkling wine. For Markiewicz, such purchases have become almost a monthly affair, part of efforts to move her investments away from the rise and fall of the markets and onto her fingers, neck and ears. "I'm protecting my money," she said.

Few municipal activities are more likely to flourish free of the clumsy hand of political flunkies than the city's public markets. Several are struggling, and none is prospering as much as it should. Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has wisely decided to turn over the operation of five of the six neighborhood markets to a private, non-profit corporation. That body is asked to wean the markets from an annual public subsidy approaching $1 million and allow them to blossom with imaginative marketing and competent management, both of which have been conspicuously lacking for decades.

Baltimore City's neighborhood municipal markets play an important role in many older neighborhoods. They're more than places to shop for food. Many are focal points -- in the suburbs they'd say "anchors" -- for neighborhood retail centers. They are also the places where neighbors bump into each other and get a chance to chat, a modern version of the village green. As such they are worth preserving, and Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has taken a welcome step in that direction.The markets have languished for many years under inept city management.

At Steve Bongiovani's tidy produce stand, the lettuce is crisp, the cherry tomatoes sweet and the strawberries fresh. His spirits, however, are wilting.A third-generation grocer at Baltimore's Cross Street Market, Mr. Bongiovani cherishes the tradition and independence of his business but fears he could not survive substantial rent increases proposed by the city at a time when, according to the merchants, the daily flow of customers is dwindling.He is one of scores of merchants from the city's six municipal markets who plan to protest a rent restructuring that is expected to be considered by the Board of Estimates this morning.

David D. Igla lost out on three Ellicott City homes in the past few months before he finally beat the competition and had an offer accepted. What kind of so-called buyer's market is this, he wondered? Some houses zip off the market — occasionally above asking price — while others languish because the price isn't right, the home isn't updated or other aspects of the property don't appeal. The result: plenty of frustrated buyers and sellers. Welcome to the post-bubble, post-bust housing market.

A Columbia-based biotechnology company said this week it received the world's first government approval to market a stem cell drug , in Canada. Osiris Therapeutics, founded in 1992, spent 17 years developing a stem cell therapy that offers anti-inflammatory and tissue-regeneration properties. The first treatment it has received approval for this week will help treat children who've received bone marrow transplants that their bodies have rejected. The condition, known as acute graft-versus-host disease, or GvHD,  is fatal to 80 percent of the children who contract it, the company said.  C. Randal Mills, president and CEO of Osiris, said in a conference call Friday morning that the company has spent the past eight years navigating clinical trials and regulatory paperwork in a mission to be the first approved stem cell treatment in the world.  “During the past eight years, we have not wavered from that mission,” Mills said.

The Aberdeen Farmers Market is open for the season, Fridays from 3 p.m. until 7 in Festival Park at 60 N. Parke St. The market features Hickory Chance Farm's Angus cross beef, Keyes Creamery ice cream and cheese, herbs, flowers, heirloom vegetables, baked goods, seasonal produce, handmade furniture, bird houses, hanging flower baskets, dog treats and many more vendors. The market is open rain or shine. Festival Park is across from Aberdeen City Hall. For more information, call 410-272-1600

This column may stress you out. It stressed me out just writing it. Start counting on your fingers how many of the following aggravations you have encountered personally. Ready? •You call a customer line to report a problem with some product or service, and after being forced to navigate through a multi-stage menu of options, you finally get a live person - who, unfortunately, seems capable of responding to only small set of basic requests. •You file an insurance claim, but the paperwork and documentation required to get the claim paid seem intentionally convoluted so as to deter you from ever collecting.

Open only since last month, Luigi's Italian Deli in Hampden avoids any of the missteps that invariably are part of a new restaurant. Luigi's, and several of the small restaurants on 36th Street in Hampden, aka The Avenue, belie the old adage that patrons are reluctant to walk up stairs to a restaurant. At the top of these steps is a pleasant porch furnished with four tiny tables. Sipping a Blood Orange Pellegrino and tackling one of the specialty sandwiches makes scaling a few steps a small price to pay. There is also a spacious patio out back.

Prepaid debit cards are everywhere these days — and so are their fees. The cards allow you to load cash onto them and are accepted by businesses just like other types of plastic. But you might have to pay a fee to activate the card, make ATM withdrawals, check your balance, talk to customer service or reload money onto the card. Monthly fees can be as high as $14.95, and you could be dinged up to $5.95 if you haven't used the card in a while. "This is sort of a gift card with lots of fees," says Ruth Susswein, a spokeswoman with Consumer Action, which recently published a survey on prepaid card fees.

Three weeks ago we told you that The Pea Man (aka Thomas McCarthy of Woodside Greenhouse, Caroline County) said he should be bringing peas in about three weeks. Three weeks later he brought peas. By 10 a.m. all of his peas were gone. And so was he. He'll be back next week with more peas. Still, the market seemed especially crowded on Mother's Day, and the craft booths were doing brisker business than usual. Baltimore Sun contributor John Houser III checked out the market's new pizza vendor, Pizza Ruby , which has just stepped in for the departed Red Zebra.

They're facing high unemployment, depressed wages and loads of debt — and they're only in their 20s. Welcome to life after college. Though the labor market is recovering slowly, graduates this spring have only slightly better chances of landing jobs than grads did in the depths of the recession, experts say. Over the last year, unemployment has averaged 9.4 percent for college graduates under age 25. Meanwhile, researchers at the Washington-based Economic...