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May 12, 2012 | | ELECTORAL MAP Both parties are calculating the impact from Obama’s announcement on his reelection chances. The Daily Beast’s Andrew Romano on why it won’t move the needle much. REGULATION The first rule of gambling is to know when to fold ’em. But after the creation of the Volcker Rule, a regulatory law meant to prevent overly risky trading, JPMorgan Chase sent lobbyist to Washington to argue for loopholes that would allow for trades much like those that led to a $2 billion loss announced by the bank on Friday. Bank chief executive Jamie Dimon and other members of upper management paid regular visits to lawmakers to argue that, while they thought some parts of the rule were useful, others would hurt the bank’s ability to hedge against risk. The result, said Senator Carl Levin, was a “big enough loophole that a Mack truck could drive right through it.” RADICAL LEFT Chaos is, after all, is derived from Greek. And the political landscape of the country continued to shift this week as SYRIZA, a hard-left party led polls, but seemed to be losing support to more moderate parties that support the country’s bailout. In a vote last Sunday that was widely seen as a referendum against the unpopular international bailout, voters kept any one party from forming a majority, effectively stalling the next stage of aid. Support for the extremist Golden Dawn party, which gathered seven percent of the vote last week, fell as well, down to 4.7 percent. The pro-bailout New Democracy and PASOK parties gained slightly in support this week in polls, though they still fall behind SYRIZA in overall support. AVERAGE BELOW AVERAGE The Down Jones Industrial Average closed its worst week this year Friday, falling 1.7 percent overall, the worst decline since January. Much of that activity—83 percent of it, in fact—was attributable to a drop in JPMorgan Chase stock after the bank announced it had lost $2 billion in a series of trades. JPMorgan’s stock fell $3.78. The Standard & Poor’s 500 dipped 4.6 points, while the Nasdaq lifted slightly. JPMorgan has said that it could suffer as much as $1 billion in additional second quarter losses. Analysts said that the bad news for the Dow may be more a blip than anything else, as the market looked strong overall in the first quarter. POTABLE The Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that water in Dimrock, Pennsylvania does not show hazardous levels of contaminants linked to fracking, the agency announced Friday. Homeowners in the town had filed complaints saying that their water appeared clouded and could be lit on fire. After testing 61 wells in the town, the EPA concluded that water in the town did not show contamination beyond the federal standards set for drinking. According to the agency, one home in the town did test for high levels of methane, but the EPA does not set standard for the presence of the gas. An earlier series of tests found elevated levels of contaminants at four well, and the agency said it will retest those. | | 
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