by Menzie Chinn: As I type this post, the President is proposing once again drilling in ANWR, noting the "enormous" benefits. [1] [2] [3] I'd like to just note the analysis his Administration's DoE just published last month. From Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, published May 2008: Summary The opening of the ANWR 1002 Area to oil and natural gas development is projected to increase domestic crude oil production starting in 2018. In the mean ANWR oil resource case, additional oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR reaches 780,000 barrels per day in 2027 and then declines to 710,000 barrels per day in 2030. In the low and high ANWR oil resource cases, additional oil production resulting from the opening of ANWR peaks in 2028 at 510,000 ...

In the slideshow, “States with the Biggest Declines and Increases in Home Prices,” where does Wyoming stand?

I couldn’t find the slideshow, but found this reference which appears to be correct elsewhere:

“OFHEO: Wyoming had a 6.3% gain in home-price appreciation from Q1’07 to Q1’08…

If CNBC wants to direct the traffic to their site they’ll have to make these things a bit easier to find.

Yesterday we learned that non-farm productivity rose 2.2% in the first quarter of this year. Anyone who was working in an office or factory when the last recession hit in 2001 knows what that means—a lot of people have been laid off or had their hours cut back, and the lucky ones who haven’t are filling in the gap left by their colleagues’ absence. Here’s how the Bureau of Labor Statistics explained the current numbers: Productivity gains were due primarily to declines in hours worked. . . The decrease in hours was the largest since the second quarter of 2003, when they fell 2.1 percent. A look back to the 2001 – 2003 period reminds us that productivity continued to grow at a healthy pace throughout the recession. Wages, on a per-hour basis, rose, but not enough to keep up with inflation: Hourly ...

My latest column is up at RealMoney as part of my series on wallflowers - stocks that have little or no analyst coverage. In this column I look at Innospec (IOSP), which makes fuel additives and other specialty chemicals that are sold primarily to oil refineries and other chemical and industrial companies. The company operates in three segments: fuel specialties, active chemicals and octane additives. Innospec has a monopoly position in the rapidly declining business of tetraethyl lead additives for gasoline. In the past, declines in that business have overshadowed growth in the remainder of the firm. Now accounting for just 16% of total revenue, I think the lead weight is becoming less burdensome. Innospec scores well in my models: Earnings momentum: Positive Earnings quality: Neutral Price momentum: Positive Free cash flow: Neutral Return potential: Positive Disclosure: At time of publication, William Trent has no position in the companies mentioned in this article. Sponsor: Financial Education Everything ...

I have not written in some time about a theme that I think is an important one. Skeptics could probably argue that the reason I haven’t written about it was that the recent facts have contradicted my belief, though the fact is just that I haven’t gotten around to it. So, to put the cards back on the table, it is time to talk about valuation cycles. Many people can tell you that the average market P/E over the long term is something like 15 times. Of course, “average” doesn’t imply that the P/E is always 15. About half the time it is higher, and about half the time it is lower. The trick is figuring out in advance which half is which. In behavioral finance, some would argue that the market follows long-term trends in valuation. Rising valuations spark investor interest, and additional investors adding money to the market causes ...