The future investment stars are already with us. The NYSE Financial Future Challenge, operated by the NYSE Foundation, By Kids for Kids, K12 Inc. and the United Investors Association, is in full swing, with five finalists just identified. To reach this level, the participants had to develop a new product, idea or process that would "excite, educate and motivate their peers" to become interested in the financial marketplace. The eventual winner lurks within this subset and will receive a $2,500 prize -- a great way to get that portfolio started. And, he or she will be feted at a closing bell ceremony at the NYSE (NYX) on January 11, 2010.

The finalists presented a variety of ideas which are sure to generate some buzz. Kelsey Foss, a 12-year-old from Mountainville, NY, proposed a new television show, "Stock Market Tycoon Idol," which would harness the popularity of reality TV while amping up the content. The program would involve the journeys of 10 kids as they seek to make money or lose it, with the possibility of becoming virtual millionaires along the way. The show would be set at a mock NYSE studio on Wall Street, and exports would be brought out to mentor the contestants. The reality TV reach would help engage a younger audience.

On Thursday morning, Citigroup (NYSE: C) announced that it is going to lower the number of U.S. retail outlets, limiting the banks to six major metropolitan areas. The Wall Street Journal reports that the bank will also limit its lending mainly to wealthy customers. Citigroup chose to take this step in order to control the amount of its consumer lending, limiting its transactions to credit cards and jumbo mortgages.

According to the report, Citi will release its plans in October, when we should learn that the bank will be a presence mainly in New York, Washington D.C., Miami, Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. That said, it turns out the plan could be contingent upon approval from the U.S. Government. The report notes that some Citi executives are concerned the government may not issue approval.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) already has one store in Chicago, but ran into staunch resistance from the city's politicians and labor leaders when it looked to open more.

Now the company is deciding that the time is right to give it another shot: Chicago's budget is a mess and disposable income is at a premium. The theory apparently is that Chicagoans were willing to stand on principle when times were good but now that it's a recession, they'll happily trade their values in for everyday low prices.

It reminds me of this old story about the ever-wise-crackin' Sir Winston Churchill: The British Statesman offered a woman an enormous amount of money to provide him with a romantic favor. When she accepted, he countered with an offer of £10.

The rumor mill announced yesterday that Playboy Enterprises (NYSE: PLA) is going to suck it up, pull out, and move its entire operation to its home port of Chicago. According to a blurb in The New York Post, "Playboy is combining its Web site and magazine staff into one editorial organization." Evidently, the company is feeling the squeeze from 1.5 million free internet porn sites, give or take several million.

In the matter of nudity as entertainment, has the adage "sex sells" been supplanted by the new phase of "sex is free for the taking?" In the world of high gloss paper media, such would seem to be the case. So, what is a gnarly old, skin peddling millionaire to do? Whatever shall become of our most familiar white bunny head?

Hugh Hefner is still smiling, and it seems obvious that he still has some faith in his production staff. However, getting a continuing rise out of the public, and getting them to continue opening their wallets, is quite another matter. The company is doing fairly well in it's non-media operations, but in the world of cheesecake, it looks pretty much all down hill.

I'm guessing that in the halls of Playboy there have been some extremely hot and sweaty brain storming sessions going on. There is one thing in this situation that I'm almost absolutely certain of: If the gang at Playboy Enterprises can't continue to do something to stimulate some growth, we're sure to see some serious bunny fur fly.

The real estate market is as bad as it gets, so lenders are getting cold feet about big projects. Even Donald Trump, who can usually work magic filling his buildings with tenants, is running into problems. (It should be noted he has never been good at the casino business and spends too much time doing TV junk like The Apprentice).

Trump may not have much of an argument. He wants an extension to the loan for his residential tower in Chicago, which means a portion of its has lapsed. Why the banks involved, including Germany's largest bank, Deutsche Bank (NYSE: DB), would do that is unclear.

According to The Wall Street Journal, "The suit demands -- among other things -- that an extension provision in the original loan agreement be triggered because of the unprecedented financial crisis in the credit markets now prevailing, in part due to acts Deutsche Bank itself participated in." In other words, the financial crisis almost rises to the level of being an "act of God." Not quite, but getting close.

Trump's real problem is not the banks. Since everyone in the U.S. is poor, no one wants to buy his expensive Chicago condominiums. A lawsuit won't solve that.

Douglas A. McIntyre is an editor at 24/7 Wall St.

This post is part of a series on some of the most memorable companies that have disappeared.

The original Montgomery Ward retail strategy focused on selling quality merchandise over long distances. Aaron Montgomery Ward had a vision of providing first-quality goods, at reasonable prices, to rural customers who might otherwise not have had such merchandise available to them. The first Montgomery Ward catalog appeared in 1872 as a single sheet of paper, listing 163 items for sale, with ordering instructions.

By 1883, the Montgomery Ward catalog, dubbed the "Wish Book," had grown to 240 pages and 10,000 items. It wasn't until 1896 that Montgomery Ward faced any serious competition in the mail order field. That was the year Richard W. Sears fielded his first catalog and the fierce competition between the two companies began. By 1904, Montgomery Ward was mailing as many as three million, four-pound catalogs to its loyal customers across the country. In 1908, the company opened a 1.25 million square foot distribution center and headquarters north of downtown Chicago.

In 1926, Montgomery Ward opened its first retail store in Plymouth, Indiana, while continuing to operate its catalog business. The company rebuffed a merger offer from Sears in 1930. All was well until the early 1950s when the automobile gave birth to suburbia, and Montgomery Ward held the city ground while its competitors moved out to the strip malls. By the mid 1960s, the company's catalog sales began to weaken and the company struggled into the 1970s after a merger with Container Corporation of America. In 1976, the company was acquired by Mobil Oil, and an aggressive restructuring buoyed the company. However, its catalog operations ceased in 1985, as its retail outlets underwent transformation from department stores to specialty stores. A leveraged buyout then took the company private in 1988.

The legal team at eBay (NASDAQ: EBAY) has been working harder than Mystic Tan guy at Angelo Mozilo's favorite salon.

First, Tiffany (NYSE: TIF) sued the company over counterfeit merchandise appearing on the auction site. Then, eBay sued Craigslist, Craigslist sued eBay, and many legal fees were spent by all. Now, eBay and its StubHub subsidiary have attracted the scorn of Chicago, which is suing the company for failing to collect the 8% amusement tax the city charges on ticket sales, including resales. Heaven forbid anyone in Chicago have fun without forking 8% over to the city. eBay says the 8% sales tax doesn't apply to it.

Chicago's city government joins Texas and New York in looking to crack down on e-commerce sites that don't collect sales tax.

It's unclear to me why the 8% amusement tax should apply to the resale of tickets online -- the tax has already been collected on that ticket, hasn't it? But bureaucrats have an infinite number of ways to make money, and that requires an ever-growing pile of money to waste. It'll be a victory for consumers if eBay emerges victorious in this battle.

If you live in Philadelphia's Society Hill, Atlanta's Grant Park, or Dallas's University Park, (and if you're the type who doesn't pay much attention to what's going on in the world), you might be tempted to ask, "Housing slump? What housing slump?"

That's because you live in one of the most lucrative neighborhoods in the U.S., as listed by Forbes. Neighborhoods in 15 major metropolitan areas made the list because they experienced the greatest increase in home sales prices since 1990 -- between 300% and 4,000%. Many were downtrodden areas that benefited from an influx of development. A few others were already among the most upscale neighborhoods in the nation, and have thus far resisted the recent housing slump. For example:

• Bucking the Florida real estate downturn is Miami Beach's City Center, with its mega-mansions with built-on docks. The 2006 median home sales price was $1.64 million, up 1,532% since 1990.
• Chicago's Wicker Park benefited from an influx of young urban professionals and rehabbers. The 2006 median home sales price was $575,525, an increase of 1,870%.
• San Francisco's Western Addition neighborhood is among the fastest growing in U.S. The 2006 median home sales price was $1.38 million, an increase of 522% since 1990.
• New York's uptown neighborhood around 149th Street and Riverside drive features large brownstones and federal townhouses. Its 2006 median home sales price was $774,708, up 4,391%.

See the article at Forbes.com for the complete list.

It seems Chicago, home of Wrigley Field and the Sears Tower, has hired a marketing firm to explore the potential of offering naming rights to public property, programs, and other assets as a way of raising revenue. The city hopes to begin attracting corporate sponsors as soon as next spring. Any proposed sponsorship will have to be approved by an advisory committee made up of civic leaders, whose job it will be to ensure the integrity of the city's brand image.

Chicago isn't the only city to consider offering naming rights. New York has partnerships with Verizon Communications (NYSE: VZ), and Pepsico (NYSE: PEP), and the Las Vegas monorail is sponsored by Nextel (NYSE: S). Winnipeg, Calgary, and Toronto also have similar programs.

Chicago is no stranger to naming rights issues. The city has already attempted to sell naming rights to the Chicago Skyway, which links the city to the Indiana Tollway. Many White Sox fans decried the name change of New Comiskey Park to U.S. Cellular Field, and an attempt to sell the name of Solider Field ultimately went nowhere. Many Windy City shoppers still haven't forgiven Macy's Inc. (NYSE: M) for changing the name of State Street institution, Marshall Fields.

But Chicago hasn't yet found itself in the embarrassing situation that Houston did after the naming of Enron Field. I wonder if there was an advisory committee to protect the integrity of Houston's brand image?

In response to yesterday's threat from the Chicago Board of Trade (NYSE: BOT)'s largest shareholder, Caledonia Investments managing director Will Vicars, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (NYSE: CME) announced today that it has revised the terms of its definitive merger agreement with CBOT for the third time.

The Chicago Mercantile Exchange will now offer CBOT shareholders 0.375 shares of CME Holdings for each share of CBOT Holdings, compared to the previous offer of 0.350 shares. The newly valued $9.21 billion offer has been approved by the boards of both companies.

With the revised terms from CME, Caledonia Investments, which has a 7% stake in CBOT Holdings, agreed to support the deal.

The offer, however, is still lower than the $10.12 billion bid from Atlanta-based rival Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE). Intercontinental said it is willing to enter talks regarding potential increases to its proposal, including a higher value for exercise rights and an alternative integration plan.

Looks like third time may be the charm for the CME. The two Chicago exchanges expect to close the deal, pending a shareholder vote on Monday and regulatory approval, sometime this summer.

When I worked in Chicago's Loop, I used to see the traders everywhere, with their brightly colored jackets and their enormous badges. Whether in their smoking circles, crowded into the restaurants and bars, or simply scurrying from one place to another, there was a air of frenetic energy about them, and though sometimes looking weary, they always seemed to be having a good time.

Well, as it turns out, Chicago, home of the championship Bulls and Bears, is also the top trading city in the world, according to a survey of traders by Trader Monthly. London, New York, Dubai, and Miami rounded out the top five.

The two largest U.S. futures marts and the largest U.S. options exchange can be found in the Windy City. Trading is "in the city's blood," said the magazine. Just this past week the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (NYSE: CME) had its second-highest volume trading day ever.

Trader Monthly rated cities on several factors, including trading infrastructure, taxes, access to capital, weather, nightlife, and time zone. Especially popular with traders was the real estate market; Chicago is infinitely more affordable than London or New York, the next two runners up.

Over the weekend, Chicago received word that it was selected by the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) as the U.S. candidate to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. The Windy City narrowly edged out rivaling venue Los Angeles in what USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth called a "very, very close" vote. (Didn't L.A. have the games in 1984? The games of Mary Lou Retton and Carl Lewis? I think the USOC made the fair choice.)

Chicago Mayor Richard Daley said the bid provides "a great opportunity for us as we move forward to really sell Chicago and America." The proposed $366 million Olympic Stadium would be located on the South Side of the city, while a $1.1 billion Olympic village would be constructed along the city's picturesque lakefront. "Personally, I love the idea of athletes on the lakefront," Ueberroth noted, adding "Let's hope Chicago gets the opportunity."

But don't start making your Drake hotel reservations just yet ... the International Olympic Committee will not make a final decision on the hosting city until October 2009. Other cities with their proverbial hats in the ring include Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Madrid, New Delhi, and Qatar. New York City lost its bid for the 2012 Summer Games to London; the last summer Olympics hosted on American soil was in 1996, when Atlanta acted as host.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Mmm, mmm, mmm . . . furry! First there were rats spotted at a Manhattan KFC/Taco Bell, owned by Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM). Not to be outdone by its east-coast rivals, a downtown Chicago-area quick eatery (a Quiznos, to be precise) was invaded by a coyote.

Patrons of the sandwich shop, open for business when the befanged friend burst onto the scene, were surprised to see the animal stroll in and recline in a cooler stocked with cold beverages. The manager was relieved to note that "It wasn't aggressive at all . . . it was just looking around."

Veterinarians will examine the animal and, if he is found to be healthy, release him into the wild.

Quiznos is the number-two sandwich chain in the world (trailing Subway), parented by privately held Quiznos Master LLC.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Julie Roehm contradicted everything that Sam Walton ever held dear, and her hiring a year ago had many Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) observers scratching their heads. Famous for her racy, attention-getting antics -- like her "Lingerie Bowl" in which models clad in underthings played 'football' -- Roehm never seemed the right sort for Wal-Mart. She was fast cars, sex and rock-and-roll to Wal-Mart's Buicks, family values and Barry Manilow. In fact, her transformation of the shareholder meeting from boring to off-Broadway was a spectacle to behold (and, it seems, had old-line Wal-Mart executives "groaning," according to the New York Times.

[Recent Julie Roehm news:
Wal-Mart should bring Julie Roehm back -- May 27, 2007
Julie Roehm claims Lee Scott violated ethics -- May 25, 2007
Julie Roehm says Wal-Mart charges invalid -- March 29, 2007
Wal-Mart countersues Julie Roehm -- March 20, 2007]

Now she's been ousted, amid allegations of an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate, and the advertising agency she chose -- DraftFCB of Chicago -- is unceremoniously dismissed before it even began work on the huge account.

How was this ever supposed to work? I have to ask. Wal-Mart executives, even Sam himself, were always told to sleep two to a room while travelling on business, and select the cheapest available lodging. The company has strict "fraternization" rules so that any relationship between colleagues is inappropriate. [While it's not said outright in anything I've read, it seems that Julie Roehm has been read-between-the-lines accused of sleeping with Sean Womack, a member of the marketing staff at a lower rank than Roehm. It doesn't shock me. People who work together sleep together, it's happened everywhere I've ever collected a paycheck.]

Wal-Mart is so not Julie Roehm.

I've blogged previously about unionization efforts by Starbucks (SBUX) retail employees (baristas and store-manager-level personnel) in New York City. Efforts are underway elsewhere too. In Chicago workers in a Logan Square store declared their wish to be represented by the IWW just before the Labor Day holiday weekend. The IWW is the "wobblies" -- a historically important union prior to the first world war, but hardly the Teamsters. However, a branch of the Teamsters: the Amalgamated Lithographers of America issued a press release in protest of the firing of an IWW member in NYC. Leaders in the Logan's Square unionization effort state they feel they should be paid $10 an hour -- which is a nice round number -- and are paid $7.50 an hour now. Most Starbucks employees are eligible for discount stock purchases and grants, but unionized employees in Canada, for example, are not eligible for this benefit. So that's a trade-off to consider.

Rarely do companies readily give over, or willingly share, a degree of control with a collective bargaining unit. Starbucks probably feels that the company offers competitive wages. As a pioneer in providing (at least some degree) of medical benefits to part-timers, management may even feel resentful of any implication that its employees need unions. Starbucks' stated position is that it does not discourage unionizing efforts -- which legally it would have to say anyway, so I put no stake either way in that claim.

Whether these union efforts will factor into the decision making process for investors, I can't say for certain, but frankly I doubt it. At this point most of the information I read about this effort comes from union websites, with an occasional mention in the popular press about an planned event, such as the Logan Square declaration. Retailers like Starbucks operate on such a thin margin that -- were Starbucks to become widely unionized -- there would be some transfer of money into union dues, but any significant increase in pay or benefits would result in the need to cut overall staff, something a union would not be likely to tolerate.

Michael Canfield is a private investor, a business and media writer, living in Seattle. He doesn't own stock in Starbucks.