Putting the pressure on: President Barack Obama wants Congress to pass legislation requiring companies to inform customers within 30 days if their data has been hacked, a move that follows high-profile breaches at retailers including Target, Home Depot and Neiman Marcus. The Associated Press reports Obama will announce the proposed legislation later today, along with a measure aimed at preventing companies from selling student data to third parties and from using information collected in school to engage in targeted advertising. Read the full story.
Market forces: The oil industry was listening as OPEC talked down crude prices to a more than five-year low. As Bloomberg reports, drillers, refiners and other merchants increased bets on lower prices to the most in three years in the week ended Jan. 6, government data shows. Producers idled the most rigs since 1991, with some paying to break leases on drilling equipment. Companies are hedging more and drilling less amid concern that the biggest slump in prices since 2008 will continue. Oil prices now have declined for seven straight weeks after officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait reiterated they won’t curb output to halt the decline. Read the full story.
One thing leads to another: Tumbling oil prices are dimming one of the few big bright spots that banks have enjoyed since the financial crisis. As The New York Times reports, banks have been lending hand over fist to companies in the nation’s energy industry, underwriting bonds, advising on mergers, even financing the building of homes for oil workers. All of this has provided a boon to banks that have been struggling to find more companies and consumers wanting to borrow. Yet with the price of crude oil falling below levels sufficient for some energy companies to service their huge debts, strains are being felt and defaults are likely. While it may take some time for the crunch in the oil industry to translate into losses, one thing already seems clear: The energy banking boom is over. Read the full story.
