OPEC Matters

The Saudis go out of their way to have this specific meeting outside the OPEC frameworks, and if you're the OPEC president, you want to be important, so you come out of it and say $150 to $170,'' said Roger Readd, an analyst at Natixis Bleichroeder in Houston. ``He's trying to prove he matters and OPEC matters and the Saudis don't make all the decisions.''
The dollar is also lower on a forecast that the ECB will boost interest rates. The currency's drop against the euro made commodities cheaper for buyers outside the U.S. The dollar was at $1.5756 per euro as of 4:38 p.m., from $1.5666 yesterday.
Now the worry is that the European Central Bank may raise rates, which would be the same as another Fed cut,'' said Peter Beutel, president of energy consultant Cameron Hanover Inc. in New Canaan, Connecticut.
The Federal Reserve yesterday left its benchmark interest rate at 2 percent and said uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high'' as energy and commodity prices continue to rise. Leaving the interest rate unchanged ended the most aggressive series of rate cuts in two decades.