March 17, 2017
IT’S CHANGED! — After 3 1/2 boring months with little change in the price of an OPEC barrel, the long-awaited change has now arrived. The price fell below $50 for the first time since OPEC made pledges November 30 to trim output in order to prop up prices. The price dropped 8.5 percent over four days. The driver was almost un iversally attributed to rising oil stocks in the United States. They had been dropping in recent weeks. But last week, they rose and sent tremors through the markets, suggesting that OPEC had not cut enough.