Last week, the oil market was weak. In fact, it was on the verge of breaking long-term support levels. All that changed Friday.

The Wall Street Journal reported on two events that drove oil prices higher. The first was a leak in an oil pipeline between Superior, Wisconsin and Griffith, Indiana. The pipeline carries 670,000 barrels a day. The second event was the report by the U.S. Department of Energy report, which showed that crude stockpiles fell 1,853 million barrels for the week ended September 3.

Elkhart, Indiana; a favorite stomping ground of President Obama - where the government's economic stimulus plan was to be on full display, helping the town rise like a phoenix from the ashes. According to this New York Times article, Elkhart has gained jobs in the past nine months, but the federal support for housing is failing. More than one in 10 mortgages in Elkhart is "seriously behind" on payments and the median sale price of homes is back to where it was 10 years ago. One of the main goals of the federal support program was to keep prices from falling and mortgage delinquencies from rising, and how is that working out? Elkhart residents note that the only reason their real estate market works at all is because of the emergency federal funding. In fact, in the past 18 months, the FHA upped loans in Elkhart by 40% while defaults increased 174% --- not a good ratio.

Bank of America's (NYSE: BAC) newly-acquired Countrywide Financial is being sued by yet another state attorney general, with Indiana's Steve Carter announcing on Sunday that he's suing the company for deceiving borrowers into loans that they could not afford and/or were not aware of the associated risks.

In a press release announcing the suit, Carter said that "These unfair lending practices may have harmed thousands of people and, in turn, negatively affected our communities and neighborhoods throughout the state." According to Carter, "The most common misrepresentations uncovered to date have been on 1) pre-payment penalty terms, and 2) the time period in which interest rates would be recalculated (resetting ARMs – adjustable rate mortgages)."

Carter is seeking penalties of up to $15,500 per violation, plus investigative costs and restitution.

Countrywide had been sued many times before the Bank of America acquisition, and BofA knew that there would be more to come. But for a deal that is widely considered to have been too expensive and too risky, the distraction and headache of all these lawsuits would seem to make this a deal Ken Lewis probably regrets. Of course, he won't say that publicly.