Iowa is a “quiet economic power,” according to CNBC, which ranked the state as the fourth-best in the nation for business. The state ranked ninth in last year’s CNBC survey. Iowa was first in the cost of doing business, one of 10 categories the cable network used to judge economic vitality. Virginia came in at No. 1, based in large part on improvement in its quality-of-life rating, CNBC said. Also in the top five were Texas, Utah and Colorado. Kansas and Minnesota placed in the top 10.

The U.S. Treasury Department has sent draft legislative language to Congress that outlines the Obama administration’s financial reforms, including a section that would establish the Office of National Insurance, BestWire reported. The office would “monitor all aspects of the insurance industry,” except for health insurance. The American Council of Life Insurers supports the legislation, which would create an optional federal charter for insurance companies. The National Association of Insurance Commissioners and the Independent Insurance Agents of Iowa Inc. oppose the measure, saying that having two regulators would confuse consumers. Click here for related story.

East Village Web development company Visionary Services Inc. (VSi) has acquired 2 Guys Consulting, a Web site design and development company in Ankeny. The acquisition continues VSi’s expansion into the small and medium-sized business Web site development market.

The Iowa Department of Economic Development’s Targeted Small Business Program, Iowa Department of Human Rights and Iowans for Social & Economic Development will host the Iowa Black Business Summit Sept. 24-25 in Des Moines. The keynote speaker is Michele Hoskins, founder and owner of Michele Foods Inc., which produces several varieties of syrup. To finance the business in the early days, Hoskins sold everything she owned and bottled syrup in her mother’s basement. For more information and to register, go to www.iowabbs.com.

Microsoft Corp. blamed weakness in the global PC and server markets for a sharp drop in quarterly revenue that badly missed Wall Street’s forecasts, CNNMoney.com reported. Sales fell 17 percent to $13.1 billion in the company’s fiscal fourth quarter, which ended June 30, far short of analysts’ forecasts of $14.4 billion. It was the second consecutive quarter in which sales fell from year-ago levels. In the company’s previous quarter, sales fell for the first time in Microsoft’s 23-year history as a public company.

American Express Co. and Capital One Financial Corp. experienced declines in quarterly profits as the credit-card giants continued to be hurt by loan losses, MarketWatch reported. American Express said second-quarter net income was $337 million, down 48 percent from a year earlier, when the company made $653 million. Net income attributable to common shareholders was 9 cents a share, compared with 56 cents a year earlier. The results include the money American Express paid to buy back preferred shares from the U.S. Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). Excluding this payment, adjusted earnings from continuing operations were 27 cents a share. Capital One reported a second-quarter loss of $276 million, or 65 cents a share. That compares with a profit of $453 million, or $1.21 a share, a year earlier. The quarterly loss included $461.7 million that Capital One paid to redeem a TARP investment in preferred stock and a $38 million dividend payment on those securities.