by Calculated Risk on 3/17/2011 03:40:00 PM

By request ...

White House: President Obama on Japan 3:30 PM ET

From Reuters: Japan earthquake LIVE (an excellent site to follow events)

From Reuters: Japan nuclear situation reasonably stable: IAEA

The situation at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant was serious but "reasonably stable" Thursday with no major worsening since the day before, a senior U.N. nuclear watchdog official said.

"It hasn't got worse, which is positive," Graham Andrew of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. "The situation remains very serious but there has been no significant worsening since yesterday."

But Andrew, a senior aide to IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, cautioned at a news conference: "It is still possible that it could get worse."

From the IAEA:

Japanese authorities have informed the IAEA that engineers were able to lay an external grid power line cable to unit 2. The operation was completed at 08:30 UTC.

They plan to reconnect power to unit 2 once the spraying of water on the unit 3 reactor building is completed.

From the WSJ: Japan Claims Modest Gains in Bid to Cool Nuclear Plant

From the NY Times: Danger of Spent Fuel Outweighs Reactor Threat

From Chicago Breaking Business: Radiation on O’Hare flights deemed no threat

NHK World English TV stream

Earlier on U.S. Economy:
• Weekly Initial Unemployment Claims decline to 385,000
• Industrial Production, Capacity Utilization decline in February
• Philly Fed Survey highest since January 1984

Best wishes to all.