Down the tracks: While the U.S. has the world’s largest coal reserves, the government forecasts that electric utilities will end the year with their lowest coal stockpiles since 2005. And with carriers including BNSF Railway jammed with record shipments of oil and grains, Xcel Energy Inc. and other power producers say they can’t get the coal they need. Consequently, utilities have had to rely more on natural gas to power their generators, thus increasing costs for consumers. Read the full story.
Facts and figures: Consumers are finding another upside in tumbling oil prices: lower mortgage rates. While indirect, there’s a link between the steep slide in crude and current super-low mortgage rates. Concerns over a slowdown in global growth partly have driven down oil prices, and those worries also have pushed down yields on longer-term Treasurys, which mortgage rates tend to follow closely. “The oil collapse of 2014 appears to have been a key driver” of the decline in mortgage rates, according to a report from Bank of America Merrill Lynch mortgage-rate strategist Chris Flanagan. “Further oil price declines could lead the way to sub-3.5% mortgage rates.” CBS News has the full story.
The lowdown: The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell last week, suggesting the labor market continued to strengthen. Initial claims for state unemployment benefits dropped by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 289,000 for the week ended Dec. 13, the Labor Department announced this morning. The report came a day after the Federal Reserve offered an upbeat assessment of the labor market and the broader economy, and signaled it could start raising interest rates next year. Reuters has the full story.
