Just a few short weeks after completing a $58B merger with Coterra Energy earlier in May, Devon Energy received an offer of $8B for its shale assets in the Marcellus region of Pennsylvania. The offer, from money manager Stone Ridge Asset Management, covers about 190,000 net acres and could become the largest asset-backed securitization funding ever attempted in the United States oil and gas sector. (Source).

As noted in Business News Today, the Coterra merger gave Devon both assets and exposure across the Marcellus, Anadarko, Eagle Ford and Williston Basins, with the attendant risks and opportunities. Devon must now show that it can handle such varied assets, or else divest itself of those not related to its core business.

The Marcellus assets are expected to account for approximately twenty percent of Devon’s 1.6M barrels of oil equivalent (boe)/day production forecast in 2026. (Source). Part of the importance of the Stone Ridge offer is that it provides a clear price point for Devon’s Marcellus assets, and not a theoretical framework for discussion of value. While Devon DEO Clay Gaspar has indicated that Devon might divert some non-core positions, the company recently has been in an expansion mode. On May 20 it was the biggest buyer of oil and gas drilling rights on federal land in New Mexico and Texas at an auction held by the federal government. In fact, Devon was responsible for $2.5B out of the total $4B sale, a record for such auctions.

Regardless of whether Devon accepts the Stone Ridge offer, the fact of the offer itself shows the value of such wells in Pennsylvania. As of February 2026, the Keystone State has 281,000 wells which produce an average of 1,073,895 million cubic feet (mcf) per natural gas well. (Source). That makes Pennsylvania the second largest producer of natural gas in the United States, accounting for approximately 19% of the national total. (Source). This is an extraordinary statistic given that approximately twenty years ago Pennsylvania had almost no natural gas industry at all.

Pennsylvania’s natural gas reserves doubled from 2013 to 2023 and now reaches an estimate of 101 trillion cubic feel (Tcf). (Source). As the state uses only about one-quarter of the natural gas that it produces, Pennsylvania truly becomes the “keystone” for surrounding states in providing natural gas, especially to states north and east like New York, which has plentiful natural gas reserves but chooses not to develop them, or New Jersey which has limited reserves.

In addition, the Marcellus Basin assets have demonstrated low decline rates. As such there is talk that these assets might lend themselves to securitization of individual wells, which could be appealing to potential investors looking for an interest in energy assets. This is made possible by the lower depletion rates, making these assets attractive to investors over the longer term. (Source).

Likely then, Stone Ridge would partner with an operator to extract the natural gas while using its financing skill to develop, produce and sell an investment vehicle. If successful, this could help revolutionize the energy industry – at least in the Marcellus – and drive up even further the value of Marcellus assets.

However the Stone Ridge offer for Devon’s Marcellus assets shakes out, it could be that the big winner is Pennsylvania. Unlike New York, Pennsylvania welcomed the energy industry, and that industry may continue to make Pennsylvania a strong place to do business into the middle of the twenty-first century.

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Rockford’s finance and personnel committee decides to reject the lone bid for meal services to the city’s Head Start and Early Head Start program.

In a memo to the committee chair, city staff feel there was not enough bids and the only entity to submit one did not meet nutrition requirements. A new bidding process is expected to open soon.

“It’s a concern of us to make sure that we get the right qualified individuals that they know what they’re doing. So, we address the issues that HUD might have or any of that specific criteria that exists out there and the team is going to work to find someone,” 11th ward alderperson Jaime Salgado (D).

The U.S. economy may be holding up better than expected, but Americans are growing more pessimistic about their personal finances.

Roughly 48% of Americans said their financial situation was worse in May than a year ago, the highest share since January 2023, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s Survey of Consumer Expectations.

Consumers are also less optimistic about the future. The share of households expecting their finances to improve over the next year, relative to those expecting them to worsen, fell to its lowest level since October 2022, the New York Fed said.

The findings come amid an inflation spike driven by the Iran war, which has sent oil and gas prices soaring. The May Consumer Price Index, set to be released on Wednesday, is expected to show that the annual pace of inflation accelerated to 4.2% last month, according to financial data firm FactSet. That would mark the highest level in three years.

The survey also found growing public anxiety about the state of the labor market. About 15% of Americans said they believe they could lose their jobs within the next year, 0.5 percentage points above the series’ 12-month average. Meanwhile, confidence in finding a new job fell to its lowest level since December 2025.

Consumers have continued to spend despite financial pressures ranging from tariffs to higher gas prices, while hiring across the U.S. has picked up over the last three months. Even so, signs of financial strain are appearing as gas prices remain elevated, eating into household budgets. 

For instance, wages rose at an annual rate of 3.4% in May, but inflation the previous month rose at an annualized 3.8%, eroding consumers’ purchasing power. Three-quarters of Americans said their wages aren’t keeping up with inflation, according to a recent CBS News poll.

Credit card delinquencies across the U.S. have also reached their highest level since 2011, when the economy was still recovering from the Great Recession, according to earlier data released by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. That jump signals that more consumers are struggling to meet their financial obligations.