Breaking down Thursday’s GDP report, which—as expected—was gangbusters in isolation but in context shows U.S. economic output “3.5 percent below where it was in the last pre-pandemic quarter, equivalent to a severe recession...more
In Washington: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in a Thursday morning letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin pressed the White House for a response to the Democrats' latest coronavirus relief package proposal....more
U.S. Shale Producers Race for Federal Permits Ahead of Presidential Election - "Federal permitting in the largest U.S. oilfield in the Permian Basin, located in Texas and New Mexico, is up 80 percent in about the last three...more
Microsoft made a huge gaming move on Monday with its $7.5 billion acquisition of ZeniMax Media, the “parent company of gaming studios like Bethesda,” and maker of titles like “The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Doom, Quake and...more
Despite an earlier White House promise to postpone, American and Chinese trade negotiators met via videoconference on Monday to discuss “the status of the trade deal both nations signed in January, a pact that continues to...more
Exxon Mobil: Doubling Down While Facing Peak Oil Demand - "With most competitors pivoting away from upstream growth, Exxon continues to press ahead with investments despite very challenging current price environment for...more
Volatility’s the name of the game these days on Wall Street. So what was down on Monday was up (a bit, at least) yesterday, although the basics of the situation haven’t improved at all....more
The Situation: A U.S. District Court vacated a $2 million penalty imposed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC") against Exxon Mobil Corporation ("Exxon") because OFAC failed to...more
U.S. and Chinese trade negotiators are “laying the groundwork for a delay of a fresh round of tariffs set to kick in on Dec. 15” as the countries continue to work through how a Chinese promise to make huge ag purchases from...more
Some remembrances upon the passing of influential former Fed Chair Paul Volcker, a force in American economic policy for nearly 60 years who led “the Federal Reserve’s brute-force campaign to subdue inflation in the late...more
The U.S. and China have tentatively [maybe?] agreed that a first phase of a trade agreement “would roll back a portion of the tariffs placed on each other’s products, a significant step toward defusing tensions between the...more
Mario Draghi presided over his final ECB meeting yesterday, with the central bank deciding to hold rates steady and let current stimulus measures play out for the time being. His departure (and the arrival of former IMF chief...more
A round of internal Facebook emails produced in response to an FTC probe appear to show that the company’s “potentially problematic privacy practices” had filtered their way up to the very top of the social networking...more
Judge Delivers Major Setback to Trump Policy to Increase Coal Mining on Federal Land - "But the court ruling does say that the 2017 Trump administration policy, enacted by former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, to overturn...more
New York Sues Exxon Mobil, Saying It Deceived Shareholders on Climate Change - "The litigation, which follows more than three years of investigation, represents the most significant legal effort yet to establish that a...more
New York has sued Exxon Mobile over its alleged failure to disclose to its shareholder the “expected risk of climate change to its business”—behavior that the state asserts amounts to a “’longstanding fraudulent scheme’ to...more
As Storm Looms, 4th Circuit Reverses Ruling Against Dominion on Coal Ash Pollution at Chesapeake Site - "Water pollution from a coal ash landfill and settling ponds at a closed power plant in Chesapeake is not a violation of...more
SEC Drops Probe of Exxon's Accounting Practices - "The Securities and Exchange Commission has dropped its probe into whether ExxonMobil misled investors about its knowledge of climate change and the potential effects on...more
Ohio Supreme Court Joins Texas and Oklahoma in Holding the State Does Not Recognize a Separate Implied Covenant to Explore Further - "We conclude that Ohio does not recognize an 'implied covenant to explore further'...more
- U.S. High Court Asked to Review WV Justice's Role in Gas Royalties Case - "The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to review West Virginia Supreme Court Justice Beth Walker's participation in a high-stakes natural gas...more
This is our second installment of Currents - our weekly energy news e-blast where we deliver the week's top energy news stories and our synopsis of why those stories are important from a legal perspective. - Appeals Court...more
Despite the new administration’s efforts to rollback Obama Era environmental regulations, most businesses in the U.S. are maintaining their commitments to sustainability. According to Lucid’s 2017 Sustainability Outlook...more
The Department of Justice (DOJ) ended its probe of Net1 UEPS Technologies, according to SEC filings from the South African-based payment processing company. The company received a declination from the Securities and Exchange...more
The first six months of the Trump Administration saw several notable developments for US sanctions, with particular implications for Russia and Iran. The Administration also declared a shift in US policy toward Cuba. ...more
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a regulatory program administered by EPA that requires petroleum-based transportation fuel sold in the U.S. to contain a minimum volume of various categories of biofuels. The program’s...more