OPEC agree to cut oil production

The price of oil surged late last night as the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have agreed, somewhat provisionally, to cut oil production for the first time in 8 years. Brent crude, which is known as the global benchmark when gauging pricing for oil, almost hit $49 a barrel after a sudden 6% increase due to the positive news. November’s next official meeting will give investors full confirmation of how many barrels are to be produced a day, but it is expected to be in the region of 32M-33M barrels.
 
Mario Draghi fighting to defend his decisions
 
Yesterday, Mario Draghi had to come out fighting at a conference after German officials appeared to pass blame onto Draghi and the European Central Bank’s monetary policies. He had to firstly defend his decision to cut interest rates into negative territory, stating that they were not to be blamed for the downfall of ‘some German banks’, and then had to protect the rejigged £70bn bond purchasing programme (Quantitative Easing) which has been put in place to boost growth and get consumers spending.
 
Today’s data could increase markets volatility
 
Today could see even more volatility if the markets reacted wrongly to the data on show. It consists of German Unemployment rate, German Consumer Price Index, US Initial Jobless Claims, wholesale Inventories, with the potential of up to 5 Federal Reserve Members speaking throughout today and touching on a number of key issues.

{^youtubevideo|(width)560|(height)340|(rel)True|(url)http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8N4tI-BO69o|(fs)True|(loop)False|(autoplay)False^}