May 7, 2020 - Energy & Environment

Dallas Fed boss warns of oil-sector bankruptcies amid coronavirus crisis

Photo: Paul Ratje/AFP/Getty Images

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan told Yahoo Finance Wednesday that he expects a substantial number of bankruptcies in the U.S. oil sector despite the recently expanded access to Fed's Main Street Lending Facility.

How it works: "[T]hat program will be designed for companies that would be already be creditworthy," said Kaplan, whose district has a large number of energy companies.

  • "If you're a company on the other hand, that is more highly leveraged than that, concerned about insolvency and other credit issues ... it's not going to be able to access those programs."
  • "And there will be a substantial number of bankruptcies, restructurings that are going to have to happen, because so much of production is being shut in."

What we're watching: Other policy levers the Trump administration may try and use to prop up battered domestic producers.

Go deeper: Whiting Petroleum files for bankruptcy as coronavirus takes a bite out of the economy

Go deeper

Mark Zuckerberg: Social networks should not be "the arbiter of truth"

Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg argued on CNBC's "Squawk Box" Thursday that social media platforms should not police political speech, and that "people should be able to see what politicians say.”

Why it matters: Zuckerberg was responding to Twitter's decision this week to fact-check a pair of President Trump's tweets that claimed that mail-in ballots are "substantially fraudulent."

Go deeper (1 min. read)Arrow2 mins ago - Politics & Policy

House Democrats pull FISA reauthorization bill

Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images

House Democrats pulled legislation Thursday that would have renewed expired domestic surveillance laws and strengthened transparency and privacy protections amid broad opposition from President Trump, House GOP leadership and progressive Democrats.

Why it matters: The failure to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) comes as Trump continues to attack the intelligence community, which he claims abused the law to surveil his 2016 campaign and Trump administration officials.

Go deeper (2 min. read)ArrowUpdated 32 mins ago - Politics & Policy

U.S. GDP drop revised lower to 5% in the first quarter

Data: Bureau of Economic Analysis; Chart: Axios Visuals

The U.S. economy shrunk by an annualized 5% in the first quarter — worse than the initially estimated 4.8% contraction — according to revised figures released by the government on Thursday.

Why it matters: It's the worst quarterly decline since 2008 and shows a huge hit as the economy was just beginning to shut down because of the coronavirus. Economists are bracing for the second quarter's figures to be the worst ever — with some projecting an annualized decline of around 40%.

55 mins ago - Economy & Business