Morning Market Roundup: The Rise of Shale, BP Fights With Halliburton
- Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:02am by
Becket Adams
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Here’s what’s important in the financial world this morning:
Eurozone on notice: The situation in Europe, so promising just days ago, took a sharp turn for the worse. S&P put 17 nations in the euro area on credit watch and said it might even downgrade AAA-rated nations, including Germany and France. In theory, this might increase their borrowing costs. In fact, it probably will. Money from international capital markets investors has already begun to shift into safe haven U.S. Treasuries. The S&P action is yet another warning to EU leaders that economists see the sovereign situation deteriorating, as long as the European Central Bank and International Monetary Fund will not provide substantial aid to the weakest nations in the regions, and the eurozone itself will not quickly create a loan facility. News that Angela Merkel and French president Sarkozy want a treaty to force more fiscal discipline within the region hardly provides a road map for a rescue.
Deepwater Horizon fallout: The fighting among the companies involved in the Deepwater Horizon catastrophe has escalated a year-and-a-half after the rig’s explosion. BP has accused oil services company Halliburton of suppressing data about its role in the incident. The charge is serious and could eventually lead to accusations of fraud. The firms responsible for the well, which also include Transocean, still face tremendous liability. Thousands of individuals and business have staked claims for damages caused by the explosion and leak. The U.S. government and those of several states may bring actions of their own that could seek large penalties.
USPS Cuts: The U.S. Postal System’s management continues to advocate greater cuts to save itself from billions of dollars in losses and the weight of its pension plans. Congress may not support these suggestions. There will be political fallout if hundreds of post offices are closed and tens of thousands of postal union members are fired. The most visible of the suggestions made by the Postmaster General is that first-class mail no longer be delivered in one to three business days. The window for delivery would be lengthened to two to five days. But the postmaster is not the captain of his own fate. His suggestions could fall on deaf ears in Congress.
Facebook ad revenue: Facebook sharply increased its market share of online advertising among portals from 2009 to 2010. The trend is more troubling for Facebook competitors, if the 2006 to 2010 period is used as a measurement. Facebook has 0.6 percent of global internet ad expenditures among portals in 2006. That number was 3.1 percent last year. The victims of Facebook’s success are primarily AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo!, each of which has had little if any improvement in ad revenue so far in 2011 compared to last year.
Shale gas growth: The shale gas industry should support more than 850,000 jobs by 2015 and contribute $118 billion to GDP. That is according to a new study from global research firm IHS. The news is unexpected. U.S. energy job growth was not supposed to come from fossil fuel businesses. It has been widely assumed that America had begun to exhaust those assets. Wind, thermal and solar business were anticipated to be the major creators of energy jobs. All three industries have stumbled due to high costs and slow adoption. The success of shale gas shows that new means of exploration and exploitation of fossil deposits still have a promising future.
(24/7 Wall St./The Blaze)
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LightInBottle
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 12:49pmAre your stock shares even real…Check out this sting operation the Government performed to capture over 2 trillion phantom shares of this Company. Now the Government is keeping the money that was suppose to go to the shareholders. We live in totaly corrupt times my friends…and no one will expose it. Please get the word out….
http://www.scribd.com/doc/74848190/Hodges-Appeal-Brief
Report Post »jonbutterfly
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 11:52amThe house of cards will fall when the last debtor can no longer pay . . . and then we will see Mad Max in the Western World.
http://djia.tv/press-tv/whoops-why-everyone-owes-everyone-no-one-can-pay-by-john-lanchester-epilogue-12-05-2011/
Report Post »Hobbs57
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 1:16pmYep, I was just talking about the Mad Max senario with a friend the other day. No kidding. I am beggining to realize I need to invest in tools and equipment that will aid me in rebuilding of this nation after the collapse. I am not sure if technology has progressed so far that a total near Mad Max times is possible, considering the Chinese will still need to off load the products they are making, but the industry getting the products to the consumer may have a tremendous challenge if the dollar falls. Food and possibly water, will be the greatest asset in the near future, for me anyways. I am a man who is quite able to build or provide any useful service, I know I can survive and have means as to which I can trade in order to get what I need. However, my Mom who cares for my nieces, isn’t so fortunate, So I will have to care for them as well. I tell ya boys, things are getting scary here with the state of affairs. God bless all of you, no matter what candidate differences we have, we are on the same team !! PLEASE remember that !!
Report Post »SamIamTwo
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:58amAnd check out what Gold is doing…manipulating ain’t it, eh?
http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=GCZ11.CMX+Interactive#symbol=gcz11.cmx;range=1d;compare=;indicator=volume;charttype=area;crosshair=on;ohlcvalues=0;logscale=off;source=;
USPS, could get rid of their mid and higher level managers. The little PO building I go to has a 2 to one ratio. One manager for two people. And the manager never comes to the front when the line is out the door.
I’m buying big blocks of forever stamps and will put up on ebay after they increase the rates. lol
Report Post »dnewton
Posted on December 7, 2011 at 11:58amThe fix is already in for people like you and me. They are going to degrade the qualifications for mail, either size or weight that can carry the forever stamp. It is still a forever stamp, it just does not deliver the same amount of mail.
Report Post »dsind
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:51amBP trying to tap into the “Bush, Chenney, Haliburton” hate wagon
Report Post »for deflection?
hauschild
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:44amFirst question: Why is a stake not driven thru the heart of the USPS? It’s useless and all but irrelevant at this point (not unlike GM and Chrysler) and its only purpose is to provide slugs a pretty nice retirement. Why are we going to attempt to restructure and fix absolute crap? It’s horrible decisions like these that drive me absolutely insane.
Report Post »garyM
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:32amOFF topic: Glenn lest talk about Romney’s progressivism, yea if you take enough votes away from Newt and give to Backmann you are gonna put the biggest progressive in the lineup in there which is Romney, when are you gonna ask Romney the tough questions about his progressivism?
Report Post »AJAYW
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:22amU.S. Postal System’s , They shoulds go to Mon.- Wed.- Fri. service cut off all those standing around in the post office–ie 5 at the counter only one waiting on customers just happened to me yesterday
Report Post »hauschild
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:46amUSPS should be dismantled immediately; no cuts, restructures, nothing. It has served its purpose and now is nothing more than a shill for corrupt unions.
Report Post »Devildog0811
Posted on December 6, 2011 at 10:08amI work in a large schale gas deposit. The company that I work for has already created 1,000+ new jobs. These jobs are only going to increase over the next decade as we continue to explore for more gas deposits. Just pray that we get rid of Obama in 2012 and elect a person who has morals and wants to see this country thrive!
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