Hence, for most of our companies we expect sequentially tighter spreads.

In addition to boosting Protective Life's earnings per share and return on equity, this deal is a substantial positive because investors have been anxious to see the company put its excess capital to work.

I like to think that I've got determination, and I'm fiercely protective of the people I love.

Part of being a fiction writer is being able to imagine how someone else is thinking and feeling. I think I've always been good at that.

There are two perspectives on the oil sands. You have companies that want to make it the next Saudi Arabia. The other is that it's a transitional resource to a low-carbon economy, and to regard it as anything else is to drain the continent's financial resources.

Many of us like to think of financial economics as a science, but complex events like the financial crisis suggest that this conceit may be more wishful thinking than reality.