American optimism at all-time low, 2009 recession imminent… Fannie and Freddie to the rescue? Chris Mayer with good news for oil investors. Another day, another double-digit decline… Russian market, currency plummeting. Pat Cox with a “huge” breakthrough medical tech about to become reality. Have we hit a nerve? The automaker debate rages on in The 5’s inbox

There’s an old adage in business that big contracts command big headlines. But bigger isn’t always better. All too often, companies that focus only on big contracts discover there are very lean stretches between contract awards. And that affects the predictability of their earnings.

It’s one of the biggest product-development programs in Asia right now, and it could easily determine whether Japan remains a global industrial powerhouse – or limps into the future as an international has been.

The U.S. economy shed 20,000 in April, the Department of Labor announced in its monthly employment summary, bringing total unemployment up to 5% from 5.1% last month.