By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

New York’s financial watchdog is protesting too much over insurance. The state’s brash regulator, Benjamin Lawsky, rubbed fellow overseers the wrong way when he broke ranks to go after Standard Chartered over money laundering. Now he may be doing the same again. His capital-inflation beefs are legitimate, but other U.S. regulators are on the case. What’s needed is coordination, not a vigilante.

By Agnes T. Crane

The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

The so-called wealth effect looks overrated. Americans’ private worth grew twice as fast as the U.S. economy last year, according to the Boston Consulting Group, due largely to the rise in stocks and other financial assets. But consumers aren’t rushing to spend their gains.

By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

The exit of GE Capital’s chief shifts the spotlight onto his boss, Jeffrey Immelt. Michael Neal, who has led General Electric’s erstwhile high-flying lending unit for eight years, may be soon handing the helm to someone else, according to the Wall Street Journal. His departure raises the question of who will eventually replace the conglomerate’s top dog.

By Agnes T. Crane and Neil Unmack
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

Rumors of a credit bubble are only partially exaggerated. Tell-tale signs of a boom seem to be everywhere. Yet, most investors aren’t panicked. Who’s right? Breakingviews offers a bubble-meter for the credit market.

By Agnes T. Crane and Antony Currie
The authors are Reuters Breakingviews columnists. The opinions expressed are their own.

The Pyrrhic victory Tuesday for Jamie Dimon is a defeat for governance. Just over two-thirds of JPMorgan shareholders voted to keep him as both chairman and chief executive at the bank’s annual meeting in Tampa on Tuesday. And Dimon and the board had to devote a considerable amount of time to preserving his titles rather than running America’s largest bank by assets. The episode perfectly illustrates the common sense behind separating the two roles.

By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

Exchange-traded funds have added to gold’s gyrations this week. The yellow metal’s swift decline – a 13 percent sell-off over two trading days – left investors breathless. Though it is still not clear what sparked the slide on Friday and Monday, stock-like ETFs added to the selling pressure. It’s a reminder there’s a dark side to making illiquid assets easier to trade.

By Agnes T. Crane
The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.

U.S. car sales are putting the brakes on the economy’s detractors. Americans are buying more vehicles thanks in part to pent-up demand and cheap loans. But the housing recovery helps, too. That and other economic data suggest consumers are looking beyond slimmer paychecks. Federal spending cuts allowing, that means the U.S. engine may be about to purr.