News
Bloomberg | Chesapeake Seen Offering Biggest Gain in U.S. Shale Boom: Energy
Chesapeake Energy Corp. (CHK), battered by a glut-driven collapse in natural-gas prices and growing investor distrust of its management, still is the cheapest way of buying into the U.S. shale revolution.
Time | The Best and Worst States in America to Do Business
Chief Executive Magazine has released its annual list of best and worse states to do business, and Southern and Mountain-West states dominated the rankings — to the detriment of the two coasts.
CNN Money | Mortgage rates hit record lows
Average rates for both 15-year and 30-year fixed mortgages fell to new all-time record lows this week, according to a report released by Freddie Mac Thursday.
WSJ | Warning Signs Rise for Big Lenders in Asia
When Indonesian tanker operator B.L.T. froze payments on $2 billion of debt earlier this year, blaming a global economic slowdown, the default hit some of the world's biggest banks.
Bloomberg | AIG Plunges Most Since December as Sales Fall at Main Units
American International Group Inc. (AIG), the bailed-out insurer, plunged in New York trading after sales declined at its largest units.
National Journal | New Keystone Permit Application 'Imminent'
TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha on Thursday confirmed a report that the company could reapply for a federal permit for the northern portion of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline “as early as Friday,” but would not say whether the application would necessarily come that day.
Econ Comments & Analysis
WSJ | College Grads Need Jobs, Not a Lower Loan Rate
President Barack Obama has been on a tour of college campuses touting proposals to lower student loan repayments for college graduates. He hopes to rekindle the enthusiasm of young voters, who in 2008 favored him over Sen. John McCain by more than two-to-one.
Market Watch | Boston Fed: Housing crisis wasn’t industry’s fault
The cause of the housing crisis wasn’t the financial industry deceiving mortgage borrowers and investors but instead overly optimistic beliefs about house prices, according to a research paper released by the Boston Fed.
Politico | Export-Import Bank deal appears near
House leaders appear to have settled on a framework to extend the Export Import Bank’s charter into 2014 and raise its loan exposure cap to $140 billion – a 40 percent increase.
Washington Times | Blaming energy futures for energy’s current costs
President Obama, doing his best imitation of a late 19th-century prairie populist, recently pinned the blame for rising gasoline prices on speculators in energy futures markets.
Blogs
WSJ | World Food Prices Moved Lower in April
World food prices fell in April following three consecutive months of gains, pressured by declines in sugar, dairy and cereal prices that offset increases in oils and meat, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization said Thursday, but it warned that soybeans and corn could still drive prices higher later this year.
