Industrial activity is down. Retail spending and investment are down. Trade is weaker than expected.

Filed under: Energy , Exxon Mobil , Books ExxonMobil ( XOM ) is an easy company to hate. As the world’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company, it’s hard not to blame it for the pain we experience at the pump — particularly when you consider how much money it makes. If it were a country, its 2011 revenues of $486 billion would have placed it 20th in terms of GDP, ahead of Poland, Sweden, and Argentina, just to name a few

Filed under: Market News Sunday’s elections in France and Greece have defiantly and decisively moved the backlash against austerity from the streets of Europe to the halls of political power. With the winning parties in both countries having staked their campaigns on pushing back against the harsh deficit- and debt-slashing regimes being imposed by the European Union, the future of the eurozone is again in doubt.

Filed under: Investing Another one bites the dust. For weeks, Chesapeake Energy ( CHK ) CEO Aubrey McClendon has hogged the spotlight of investor ire and newspaper criticism, thanks to his self-interested and shady purchases of ownership stakes in his own company’s oil wells. Considering that this is the same man who, in 2008, made leveraged bets on the stock, and was forced to liquidate most of his Chesapeake shares when hit with margin calls from his broker, you’d think this would cement McClendon’s reputation as…

Filed under: Energy , People , Market News Hounded by his shareholders, excoriated by analysts, and now under investigation by both the IRS and the SEC, Chesapeake Energy ( CHK ) CEO Aubrey McClendon caved in to the pressure Tuesday and announced he’s resigning as company chairman. On top of that, he’s agreeing to end his participation in Chesapeake’s “Founder Well Participation Program” 18 months early “without compensation.” These are the headlines this week. Now here’s the real story.