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

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke saw green shoots in the U.S. economy more than two years ago. The labor market may at last be growing roots to match. Nonfarm payrolls swelled by a larger-than-expected 244,000 in April, according to data released on Friday. That makes three consecutive months of solid gains.

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

OMAHA, Nebraska — Warren Buffett, to his credit, dove right in to the David Sokol affair. Early at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting on Saturday, the Oracle of Omaha compared his one-time deputy’s dealing in Lubrizol shares to the scandal that rocked Salomon Brothers two decades ago. Buffett called both events “inexcusable” and “inexplicable.” Yet he overlooked the more significant link to the Wall Street bank he once partly owned and led as chairman. The rogue trading at Salomon exposed poor controls.

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

By Agnes T. Crane

Berkshire Hathaway’s directors are cleaning up after their chairman. The audit committee’s findings that David Sokol, one-time heir apparent to Warren Buffett, misled the company and violated its ethical standards should help restore confidence in Berkshire’s corporate governance. But just days before the annual shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, it raises even more questions about how Buffett handled the matter.

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

It’s no secret the Obama administration would prefer to offload the U.S. government’s remaining stake in General Motors. Adding a successful exit from at least one of the automakers it bailed out to the profits made on Uncle Sam’s banking exploits would be a handy feather in the president’s cap as the election season heats up. So reports that the U.S. Treasury is considering another stock sale later this year should come as no surprise. The trouble is GM’s shares aren’t cooperating.

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

NEW YORK — Borrowing short and lending long is the essence of banking. But the business model has some serious flaws when big banks dive too deeply into short-term debt, as they did before the 2008 financial crisis. There’s little danger yet that bad habits have returned, but recent data indicate some banks may be flirting with temptation.

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

It didn’t take long for financial engineers to find a new playground. Fresh from dreaming up collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), structured finance specialists are applying the same techniques to exchange-traded funds. ETFs are wildly popular with big and small investors who love the liquidity and diversification such investments promise. But derivatives, special purpose vehicles and skewed incentives — hallmarks of the last boom — have found their way into ETFs as well.

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

By Agnes T. Crane

The Federal Reserve’s 25,000-page data dump on bank borrowings so far hasn’t unearthed any shocking revelations or sent financial markets into a tailspin. But it has caught out Goldman Sachs Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn. Last year, Cohn told the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, under oath, that Goldman tapped the Fed’s discount window — the mechanism that allows banks to get emergency funding — once for a “de minimus” amount of money.

JPMorgan is creating loan envy. Jamie Dimon’s record-setting $20 billion financing for AT&T is turning bankers green the world over. With this as the new benchmark for credit-hungry corporate executives the risk is that banks wind up competing in a game of one-upmanship that leads some to fly solo on far dicier deals.

Working with just one lender has many merits for companies. The borrower has a greater capacity to minimize leaks — an enormous perk when navigating regulatory briar patches like the one AT&T must to win approval for buying T-Mobile. For banks, of course, it means juicy fees and huge bragging rights. Andy O’Brien, JPMorgan’s dauphin of leveraged finance (if Jimmy Lee is still the prince), certainly has them.