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Chesapeake Energy Corp. has received a $3 billion loan from Goldman Sachs and Jefferies Group, giving the company more time to sell assets and lower its debt.

Chesapeake has been aggressively selling oil and gas assets, but its stock tumbled Friday after the company suggested that some of its planned sales could be delayed. Investors, who worried about a cash crunch if any sales were delayed or halted, sent Chesapeake’s stock down 13.8 percent to close at $14.81 on Friday.

But the Oklahoma City company’s shares climbed 3.7 percent to $15.35 in after-hours trading on news of the unsecured loan.

“This short-term loan from Goldman and Jefferies provides us with significant additional financial flexibility as we execute our asset sales during the remainder of 2012,” Chairman and CEO Aubrey McClendon said in a statement.

Chesapeake said late Friday that it plans to complete $9 billion to $11.5 billion in asset sales during the remainder of 2012 and will use part of the proceeds from those sales to pay back the loan. The company previously outlined plans to sell as much as $14 billion of assets this year.

Chesapeake anticipates closing on the sale of its Permian Basin property in Texas and its Mississippi Lime joint venture during the third quarter, saying it has received strong interest for both assets from potential buyers.

Chesapeake also said that it will use the loan’s net proceeds to repay borrowings under an existing revolving credit facility. The new facility expires on Dec. 2, 2017.

Shares of the company had drifted lower earlier on Friday after a published report said the company didn’t tell investors about $1.4 billion in liabilities.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Chesapeake has raised $6.4 billion since 2007 by signing oil and gas production deals with a number of banks. Those deals are essentially debts that Chesapeake must repay with oil and natural gas. The Journal said the full cost of meeting those obligations over the next 10 years wasn’t disclosed.

Chesapeake spokesman Michael Kehs disagreed. He said a portion of those liabilities were included in a May 1 regulatory filing as part of its operating costs for 2012. Kehs said the rest of the $1.4 billion is reflected in an estimate of future net revenue from Chesapeake’s oil and natural gas reserves, which the company put at $48 billion in a Feb. 29 regulatory filing.

A series of negative headlines have called Chesapeake’s leadership and oversight into question recently. During the past few weeks, news reports revealed that McClendon took out personal loans from a company while that company was planning to buy Chesapeake assets. Reuters also reported that McClendon ran a private hedge fund that made bets on the price of oil and natural gas _ commodities that Chesapeake produces.

Chesapeake has stripped McClendon of his board chairmanship. It’s also ending a program that allows McClendon to make personal investments in the company’s wells. On Friday, Chesapeake said McClendon received $108.6 million from January to April from sales of company well assets.

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News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch is unfit to lead his global media empire, an influential group of British lawmakers said Tuesday.

In a scathing report, the lawmakers said his company misled Parliament about the scale of phone hacking at one of its tabloids.

Parliament’s cross-party Culture, Media and Sport committee said News International, the British newspaper division of Murdoch’s News Corp., had deliberately ignored evidence of malpractice, covered up evidence and frustrated efforts to expose wrongdoing.

Murdoch has insisted he was unaware that hacking was widespread at his now-shuttered News of the World tabloid, blaming underlings for keeping him in the dark.

The legislators said if that was true, “he turned a blind eye and exhibited willful blindness to what was going on in his companies.”

“We conclude, therefore, that Rupert Murdoch is not a fit person to exercise the stewardship of a major international company,” the report by the panel of 11 lawmakers said.

Labour Party panel member Tom Watson said the decision had not been unanimous, and Conservative lawmakers Louise Mensch _ who opposed condemning Murdoch _ said the split had been along party lines Same day payday loans.

The judgment on Murdoch implies that News Corp., which he heads, is also not a fit to control British Sky Broadcasting, in which News Corp. holds a controlling stake of 39 percent.

The committee agreed unanimously that three key News International executives misled Parliament by offering false accounts of their knowledge of the extent of phone hacking at the News of The World _ a rare and serious censure which usually demands a personal apology to legislators.

Murdoch closed down the 168-year-old Sunday tabloid last July amid public revulsion at the hacking of voice mail messages of celebrities and victims of crime, including murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

Throughout the scandal, News International’s approach “was to cover up rather than seek out wrongdoing,” the legislators wrote.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank remains prepared to take additional action if needed to boost the economy.

A strong showing by Socialist candidate Francois Hollande in the first round of France’s presidential election Sunday may rattle U.S. and global financial markets in the coming weeks.

Hollande wants to renegotiate a European treaty, agreed to just last year, intended to limit excessive government spending. He wants the pact to emphasize growth over austerity. He has also promised to roll back some deficit-cutting reforms put in place by his opponent, current President Nicolas Sarkozy.

Many economists fear that those steps would upset the delicate cooperation with Germany that has been key to Europe’s response to its financial crisis. Sarkozy has formed a partnership with German chancellor Angela Merkel on Europe’s debt crisis, so close that many commentators refer to them as “Merkozy.”

“Europe is not `fixed’ yet, but if you have France and Germany agreeing on certain policies, that makes it more likely they will fix it somehow,” said Jay Bryson, global economist at Wells Fargo Securities. Disagreement between the countries’ leaders raises the risks that Europe’s crisis could worsen, he said.

Hollande finished just ahead of Sarkozy out of a 10-candidate field. They will face off May 6 in the final round of voting. Sarkozy is struggling to avoid becoming France’s first one-term president since 1981.

Hollande is a 57-year-old career politician and party boss who has never held a high-ranking position in French government. He led the Socialist Party during its last two presidential defeats, including in 2007, when his former partner, Segolene Royal, lost to Sarkozy.

Like most of Europe, France’s economy is struggling and jobs are one of the top issues on voters’ minds. The International Monetary Fund forecasts the economy will barely expand this year. The unemployment rate is nearly 10 percent.

France’s election results come as the European debt crisis has flared again after months of relative quiet. Many analysts question whether Italy and Spain can stick to steep budget cuts and labor market reforms that they have promised to get their finances in order and jump-start economic growth.

Europe’s financial problems have repeatedly roiled U.S. stock markets in the past two years. The European Union is the United States’ largest trading partner and a financial meltdown in the region would cut into U.S. exports and reduce factory production. U.S. banks would also likely pull back on lending to preserve cash in response to a worsening financial crisis.

Italian and Spanish bond yields, after falling earlier this year, have risen in recent weeks. That indicates investors see the bonds as riskier and are demanding higher rates to buy them.

The renewed fears about Italy and Spain make it a particularly risky time for France and Germany to disagree over how to resolve the debt crisis, economists said.

“It raises uncertainty, and markets never like uncertainty,” Bryson said high quality business cards.

That increased risk, in turn, makes it more likely that investors in the U.S. and around the world will shift money to safer assets _ U.S. and German government bonds, for example _ and away from riskier holdings, such as stocks.

Bonds from highly indebted European countries, such as France, Italy and Spain, are also likely to take a hit. Hollande’s campaign promises, such as his commitment to lower France’s retirement age, could worsen the country’s budget deficit.

And his pledge to raise the top tax rate for the wealthiest in France to 75 percent would slow the country’s economy, economists say. That would make it harder to generate the tax revenue to pay off its debts.

Hollande also uses anti-free market rhetoric that could also alienate investors. In a rally last week, he pledged to be a president “stronger than the markets, stronger than finance.”

There are already some signs that investors are worried about the election’s ultimate outcome. Dan Greenhaus, chief economic strategist at BTIG, an institutional brokerage, said that yields on France’s 2-year bonds have jumped in recent weeks.

Currently, 10-year French government bonds yield about 3 percent, Greenhaus said, after creeping up a bit recently. That’s much lower Italian and Spanish 10-year debt, where yields are just below 6 percent. But the gap between French and German bond yields has widened steadily since last summer.

“Nervousness about the election is clearly having an effect,” he said.

Still, Jeffrey Bergstrand, a finance professor at the University of Notre Dame, said the possibility that financial markets will drive up France’s borrowing costs will limit Hollande’s ability to sharply disagree with Germany or radically depart from Sarkozy’s policies.

“He can’t go rogue,” Bergstrand said. “There’s too much on the line.”

The timing of the market’s reaction is also uncertain. Most investors expected Hollande would edge out Sarkozy and that the two would face each other in the run-off election, Greenhaus said. Since Sunday’s results met those expectations, the initial market reaction may be limited.

One result that wasn’t forecast was the strong showing by far-right candidate Marine Le Pen, who ran on an anti-immigrant platform aimed mostly at Muslims. She captured 19.2 percent of the vote.

Those voters may be more likely to support Sarkozy in the second round, rather than Hollande, Bryson said. That raises Sarkozy’s chances, Bryson said, “and that’s the market’s preferred outcome.”

A stronger combined showing by Hollande and a far-left candidate, Jean-Luc Melenchon, would have unnerved markets more in the short run, he added.

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European stocks slipped Friday on weak Chinese economic data and persistent tensions in eurozone debt markets, while Asian markets were buoyed by a botched North Korean missle test.

Concerns about the prospects for global groth remained the market focus after official data in China showed its economy grew at an 8.1 percent pace in January-March, its slowest in nearly three years.

Although Asian investors brushed off the news on hopes the country would provide more economic stimulus, European markets gave it more weight. As the world’s largest exporter, China is a bellwhether for global economic growth, which European countries desperately need to heal their public finances.

France’s CAC-40 dropped 1.1 percent to 3,233.49, while Germany’s DAX shed 0.99 percent to 6,676.32. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares fell 0.57 percent to 5,677.95.

“Unimpressive macro newsflow continued, which has kept concerns about global economic prospects at the forefront of the market’s mindset,” Credit Agricole analysts said.

Helping to weigh on European stocks was continued pressure in bond markets, with yields on Spanish debt inching higher, a sign of investor unease over the country’s financial future.

U.S. stocks were also poised to fall on the open. Dow futures were down 0.4 percent to 12,904 while the broader S&P 500 futures fell 0.4 percent to 1,381.10.

In Asia, markets mostly closed higher as traders were reassured by news that a North Korean rocket exploded soon after takeoff. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 1.1 percent to 2,008.91.

Tensions had risen as North Korea pushed ahead with the launch despite protests from the U.S., South Korea and other countries that deemed it a test of missile technology. Pyongyang said it was to put into orbit a satellite commemorating the anniversary of its founder’s birth.

Mainland Chinese shares were higher as regional investors saw the GDP figures as proof that the economy would avoid a brusk slowdown and that authorities might clear further measures to boost growth. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index edged up 0.3 percent to 2,359.16. The smaller Shenzhen Composite Index added 0.6 percent to 950.91.

“The GDP data is within earlier expectations and both policy and the economy are stable. Even if the slowdown is obvious, growth is still above the government’s target,” said Li Jianfeng, an analyst at Caida Securities, based in Shanghai. The government’s annual growth target is 7.5 percent.

Overall, there was a sense of confidence that China is managing to steer the economy into a slower growth track without veering toward a ‘hard landing.’

“Chinese policymakers likely are neither as asleep at the wheel nor as paralyzed by political indecision as global investors seem recently to be fearing,” Michael Kurtz of Nomura in Hong Kong said in a report.

In currency markets, the euro fell 0.2 percent to $1.3154 and the dollar inched up to 80.94 Japanese yen.

Concerns persist that high energy prices _ driven in part by unrest in the Middle East _ could weigh on any economic recovery. Benchmark oil was down 45 cents to $103.19 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose by 94 cents to finish at $103.64 on Thursday.

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AstraZeneca PLC says it has won a judgment in a U.S. court protecting its patent on the extended release version of Seroquel, its blockbuster drug for treating bipolar disorder.

AstraZeneca said Friday that U.S. District Court in New Jersey upheld the formulation patent for Seroquel XR, which expires in 2017.

The company said the court also ruled that Anchen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Osmotica Pharmaceutical Corp., Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd., Torrent Pharma Inc., Mylan Pharmaceuticals Inc saving account payday loan. and Mylan Inc. have infringed the patent.

AstraZeneca has also been fighting legal battles to protect its patent on quetiapine, the active ingredient in Seroquel, which expires in December. Seroquel is the company’s second-largest-selling brand, accounting for 17 percent of sales last year.

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Global stock markets drifted lower in lackluster trading Monday as investors saw few optimistic indicators to weigh against the prospects of a global economic slowdown.

Benchmark oil remained above $106 per barrel while the dollar rose against the euro and the yen.

In early European trading, Germany’s DAX slid 0.2 percent to 6,981.43 while France’s CAC-40 retreated 0.3 percent to 3,466.11. The FTSE 100 index of leading British companies edged up 0.1 percent to 5,862.13.

U.S. stocks were poised to fall. Dow futures were marginally lower at 13,029 while broader S&P 500 futures lost less than 0.1 percent to 1,393.20.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose less than 0.1 percent to end at 10,018.24 as the yen slipped against the dollar, helping the country’s powerhouse export sector. Markets elsewhere had a tepid start to the week after reports in China and Europe last week pointed to a likely slowdown in those economies.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index finished unchanged at 20,668.86 but property companies rebounded as investors shook off worries that the social reform policies promised by the city’s next leader would hurt home prices.

South Korea’s Kospi index fell 0.4 percent to 2,019.19. Australia’s S&P ASX/200 shed 0.2 percent to 4,262.80. Benchmarks in Singapore, Taiwan and Indonesia also fell. New Zealand was higher.

“The market is still lacking positive catalysts,” said Jackson Wong, a vice president at Tanrich Securities, who noted that investors are hanging back as they await market-moving news.

Germany is set to release later Monday its monthly index of business confidence, a closely watched indicator for Europe’s biggest economy. Earnings reports by Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd. and Hutchison Whampoa Ltd., controlled by Hong Kong’s richest man, Li Ka-shing, are due Thursday.

Mainland Chinese shares were flat. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index was less then 0.1 percent higher at 2,350.60 while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index was unchanged at 952 paydayloans.76.

Real estate- and media-related companies weakened. China Vanke, the country’s biggest real estate developer, lost 1.2 percent while No. 2 Poly Real Estate lost 0.8 percent.

“Investors worry GDP data in the first quarter might be 7 to 7.5 percent instead of the earlier 7.5 to 8 percent” that’s been forecast, said Peng Yunliang, an analyst based in Shanghai.

Shares of Qantas Airways Ltd. rose 2 percent in Sydney after it announced plans to set up a Hong Kong-based discount airline with China Eastern Airlines Co.

Chinese auto and battery maker BYD Co. fell 4.8 percent in Hong Kong after it reported 2011 profit fell by nearly half as the country’s booming auto sales slowed and competition intensified.

Shares of China Construction Bank, one of China’s four major state-owned lenders, fell 1 percent in Hong Kong even after reporting 2011 profit rose 25.5 percent despite government-imposed credit curbs and slowing economic growth.

Big Hong Kong property developers rebounded on hopes that social reform policies espoused by Leung Chun-ying, who was selected Sunday to be Hong Kong’s next chief executive and pledged to expand public housing, would not bring down house prices. New World Development Co. rose 3.8 percent, Sino Land Co. was up 3.8 percent and Henderson Land Co. climbed 2.1 percent.

“We reiterate our view that general property prices will not fall substantially on the simple theme of Leung taking office,” Citigroup analysts said in a report.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was down 46 cents to $106.41 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was up $1.52 to end at $106.87 per barrel in New York on Friday.

The euro weakened to $1.3205 from $1.3263 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 82.88 yen from 82.49 yen.

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Asian stock markets fell Friday, dragged down by reports of a manufacturing slowdown in China and a deepening economic malaise in Europe.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 index dropped 1 percent to 10,027.72 as the country’s formidable export sector faded amid fears of slowing overseas demand.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng lost 0.9 percent to 20,712.70 and South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.3 percent to 2,019.79.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 slipped 0.2 percent to 4,264.50 as the country’s mining and resource shares took a pounding over worries of reduced demand from China, the world’s biggest consumer of raw materials.

BHP Billiton, the world’s largest mining company, lost 1.3 percent in Sydney. Steel makers also took a hit. South Korea’s POSCO lost 0.9 percent while Japan’s JFE Holdings dropped 2.2 percent.

On Thursday, data showed China’s manufacturing is contracting. An index compiled by HSBC fell to 48.1 in March from 49.6 in February. Figures below 50 indicate that manufacturing is shrinking.

That’s a negative sign because growth in China has played a key role in shoring up the global economy since the financial crisis of 2008.

And in another sign of cooling growth in the world’s No. 2 economy, new home prices dropped in 45 Chinese cities in February as the government implemented measures to cool property speculation.

Worries about China’s deceleration were compounded by a survey Thursday showing slower growth in Europe. An index of economic activity from financial information company Markit fell to 48.8 in March from 49.3 a month earlier. The index combines both the services and manufacturing.

Japanese exporters whose fortunes are closely linked with European demand came under pressure. Honda Motor Corp. lost 2.3 percent and Mazda Motor Corp. shed 2.1 percent. Sharp Corp. slid 2.9 percent and Sony Corp. lost 2.6 percent.

A rare gainer was Japanese food processor Yukiguni Maitake Co., which rose 0.6 percent a day after announcing a study showed that maitake mushrooms might help fight obesity, Kyodo News reported.

Benchmark oil for May delivery was up 17 cents to $105.52 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.92 to finish at $105.35 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3198 from $1.3181 late Thursday in New York. The dollar rose to 82.88 yen from 82.59 yen.

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A physician has sued a leading St. Louis area urology firm, saying that he was forced out of the medical practice on trumped-up sexual harassment allegations.

Dr. Kent Adkins, who filed the lawsuit Jan. 13 in the Circuit Court of St. Louis County, also says that he has been blackballed by his former medical practice, Metropolitan Urological Specialists PC, from obtaining employment as a urologist.

In his 24-page complaint, Adkins maintains that the sexual harassment allegations were concocted by the doctors’ group last year so that it could appropriate more than $500,000 of his patient fees to help pay its debts, including bank loans and back taxes. Adkins also says that he learned from prospective employers that individuals associated with Metropolitan Urological have told others in the medical community that he was fired because of the alleged misconduct.

Adkins’ lawsuit is the latest legal dustup for Chesterfield-based Metropolitan, whose former chief executive officer, Dunard Morris, was indicted last week on embezzlement charges.

Metropolitan and eight of its physician-shareholders are named as defendants in Adkins’ lawsuit.

The doctors’ group has denied any wrongdoing. In a counterclaim, Metropolitan has accused Adkins of “malicious prosecution,” and asked the judge to dismiss Adkins’ claims and compel him to submit his case to binding arbitration.

Adkins says that he began working for Urological Surgeons, a predecessor of Metropolitan, in July 2004, and that from 2006 to 2010 he was the medical firm’s second-highest producer of patient revenues.

He says that Metropolitan owes him $297,222 in unpaid compensation; his share of $117,000 in patient receipts; unspecified compensation for lost earnings since his termination; unpaid contributions to the medical firm’s retirement and profit-sharing plans; and an unspecified amount for damages to his reputation.

On or about Sept. 2, Adkins alleges, he was informed by Metropolitan’s lawyer, Mayer Klein, that his employment was being terminated because of a “thick file” of Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints.

Adkins, however, says that he has never been the subject of any complaint filed with the EEOC and that Metropolitan has not produced any such complaints. Adkins also denies any improper business conduct.

At a shareholders’ meeting on Nov. 7, Adkins says, Klein presented the findings of an internal inquiry, which alleged that Adkins “had engaged in sexual harassment, made discriminatory statements, conducted unnecessary medical tests, had ‘anger management’ issues, and misused the corporate credit card.” Adkins denies these allegations.

In its counterclaim, Metropolitan says that Adkins’ misconduct includes “workplace violations, such as being disrespectful to women, frequently stating to a female employee of the (medical) Group that a woman’s place is in the home, not treating a patient in an emergency situation, and issuing inappropriate sexual comments to a female member of the Group.”

Metropolitan says that Adkins owes $995,272 to Metropolitan under the terms of his employment contract; $100,000 for excess salary and bonus pay; $109,404 for insurance; $72,801 for auto expenses; $28,181 for using Metropolitan’s credit card for unauthorized personal purchases including his personal trainer; and an “unspecified amount of money for outrageous conduct that he engaged in while employed at the Group.”

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China set a 2012 target for inflation that