Oklahoma’s Chesapeake Energy (NYSE:CHK) is up over 4% today after announcing it had acquired 1.2 million acres in the Utica Shale, a basin that is expected to contain large amounts of oil and natural gas that the company can mine.

Chesapeake is the best-performing stock on the InvestorPlace.com Real America Index today. Other top performers include:

Iowa’s Heartland Express (NASDAQ:HTLD) rumbled ahead 1.92%. The trucking company reported earnings of 25 cents vs. a consensus estimate of 21 cents. The company benefited from tight capacity issues, but also faces a shortage of drivers.

Minnesota’s Target (NYSE:TGT) bucked up 1.78%. The only news in the sector was negative, as GDP came in disappointingly low, knocking back most retailers.

As for the worst performers in the Real America Index today:

Montana’s Stillwater Mining (NYSE:SWC) is down 2.77% today. Investors might be fearful that Stillwater’s move to buy a copper mining company is a foray into an area for which the palladium-specialized company isn’t equipped.

Kansas’ Sprint Nextel

(NYSE:S) phoned in a 3.23% loss on top of yesterday’s 18% drop. The company is struggling after a weak earnings report that showed an $800 million loss.

Washington D.C.’s Washington Post Company (NYSE:WPO) got hit for a 3.63% loss, in response to other publishing companies’ declining revenue and a losing streak in for-profit schools (the Post owns the Kaplan Higher Education school).

Looking at the broad perspective, the Real America Index is down a fraction of a percent, along with the other three major indices.

About the Real America Index

When Americans wonder how healthy the nation’s economy is, where can they turn? At InvestorPlace, we hope we have the answer: a list of 50 publicly traded stocks we call the Real America Index.  Check out the interactive Real America Index map, browse a list of all 50 component stocks, or find out how we created this index.