Cropp wins top Corridor award
Chattanooga attorney Wayne Cropp, who chaired the first two Tennessee Valley Corridor summits in Chattanooga and Oak Ridge, was recently recognized with the top award at the TVC’s National Summit at Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville, Tenn.
Cropp and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) Federal Co-Chair Earl Gohl won this year’s Corridor Champion Award in recognition of their leadership to enhance the the national visibility, high-tech economic development, and collaborative efforts within the five-state region.
TVA Chair Steve Cope from Tullahoma called Cropp “a true champion for our region’s efforts to promote its federal missions and to leverage those investments for high tech economic development.”
Cope. said Gohl’s focus at the ARC on entrepreneurship and the importance of our community colleges “fits well with the mission and emphasis of the TVC’s efforts in the 10 congressional districts we serve – all of which are within the ARC’s area of responsibility.”
Cropp is an attorney with the Baker Donelson law firm’s Chattanooga office with a focus on public policy, economic development and environmental law. He is a recognized author and lecturer on air quality, climate change law and brownfield redevelopment.
Nation’s largest banks all pass Fed’s ‘stress tests’
The Federal Reserve says the U.S.’s largest financial banks have enough capital to withstand the turmoil of a major U.S. and global recession.
The results of the Fed’s annual “stress tests” show that the 33 largest financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America and Wells Fargo, all hold more capital than they did the year before. They also hold enough capital that, even if faced with billions of dollars in losses from loans as a result of an economic crisis, they would continue to function.
The stress tests were created in the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession. This is the sixth round of stress tests the Fed has done.
30-year mortgage rates rise to 3.56 percent
Long-term U.S. mortgage rates rose this week but remain at levels low enough to boost home sales in the spring buying season.
Mortgage buyer Freddie Mac says the average 30-year fixed-rate mortgage edged up to 3.56 percent from a 52-week low of 3.54 percent last week. The rate is down from 4.02 percent a year ago.
The average rate on the 15-year fixed rate mortgage also rose – to 2.83 percent from a 52-week low of 2.81 percent. A year ago, the 15-year rate stood at 3.21 percent.
Twilio shares soar in stock market debut
Communications software maker Twilio Inc. flourished in its stock market debut Thursday, signaling that investors starving for new opportunities may be renewing their interest in risky tech companies.
Twilio shares jumped 90 percent from the initial offering price of $15, closing at $28.53.
The San Francisco company’s well-received debut could lift the spirits of other expensively priced California startups, including file storage service Dropbox and note-taking app Evernote, that produce little or no profits but view an IPO as one way to generate returns for early investors.
Wall Street has valued such companies on statistics such as user growth, betting that money will pour in at some point.
“The valuation disconnect between private market and the public market has chilled IPO activity, but today, IPO investors showed they were willing to pay up for growth,” said Matthew Kennedy, an analyst at Renaissance Capital, which manages exchange-traded funds centered on newly listed companies.