A Mixed Day on Wall Street

(NEWSER) - Oil approached $41 a barrel today after OPEC said it would cut its output if necessary to stabilize prices, Reuters reports. “I think we still need more action,” OPEC’s secretary-general said, promising the cuts would be more thorough than many expected, with 80% compliance among the 12-member group. More»

Some see 'violent correction' once $101.70 is shattered

(NEWSER) - With oil prices poised to break $100 a barrel this week, potentially punching through the inflation-adjusted record of $101.70 in 1980, speculation shifts to how long it will stay there. The steep rise—27% in 3 months—could set the stage for a dramatic fall. "We probably are headed to a hundred bucks, but I would expect a violent correction very soon," one broker tells the Wall Street Journal. More»

Breaks $93 a barrel on news of Mexican storm

(NEWSER) - Oil prices topped $93 today, breaking another record on news that Mexican production would drop by 20% due to a storm. "This is on top of what has already been simmering,” said an analyst in Singapore. Prices have been breaking records for a week due to US-Iran tensions and Turkish-Kurdish border skirmishes. Experts also cite the weak American dollar. More»

Many fear disruption of Kurdish pipelines

(NEWSER) - Crude oil hit yet another record today, trading near $88 a barrel over fears that a looming Turkish attack on Northern Iraq would disrupt pipelines in the world’s third-largest oil producer. Turkey’s PM said he expected parliament to approve an incursion to root out PKK militants in the Kurdish region, through which Iraq ships most of its crude. More»

Morgan Stanley adjusting thousands of first-day trades

(NEWSER) - Some traders at the underwriters of Facebook's bungled IPO were busy aiding short sellers who bet the stock would drop in the days after its debut, the Wall Street Journal finds. Insiders say traders at JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs were loaning out the shares hedge funds needed to bet against Facebook, even as chief underwriter Morgan Stanley (which refused to lend shares) was scrambling to prop up the price. Short sales—in which investors sell borrowed stock, hoping to buy it back at a lower price later and return that cheaper stock to the lender—accounted for at least a quarter of Facebook's first-day trades and 36% of trades on Wednesday. More»