Russia and Saudis Fix Oil Output
Saudi Arabia and Russian oil ministers agreed to freeze — but not cut — crude oil output at near-record January levels, a highly unusual pact between the world’s leading OPEC and non-OPEC petroleum producers. Qatari and Venezuelan oil ministers also joined the agreement in a meeting Tuesday in Doha, but the accord did not include Iran, which is seeking to ramp up oil output after the lifting of sanctions related to its nuclear...
Output Gains Lag, As Do Wages
Washington — Leroy and Lauri Dixon used to plow $40,000 a year into promoting their party-supply business in a dozen telephone books. Today they spend $4,000 less and reach a lot more people by advertising on Google, Yahoo and Bing. Also gone are the house calls to potential customers; the Dixons and their staff of 15 at Party Plus Tents & Events now get leads through Facebook, Instagram and other social media. Technology has...
U.S. Factories Still Haven’t Recovered
Washington — It took less than a year for America’s factory output to rebound from the 1991 recession. It took three and a half years to bounce back from the 2001 recession. Now, six years clear of the Great Recession, manufacturing output still hasn’t returned to the pre-crisis levels it reached in 2007, according to revised economic data from the Federal Reserve. The downward revisions highlight the persistent weakness in a sector...
OPEC Set To Boost Production
Never mind cutting output to staunch a global glut: The talk so far at this week’s OPEC summit in Vienna is mostly about pumping more oil. Iraq will increase exports this month as fighting with Islamic State militants spares its biggest-producing regions, the country’s oil minister said Wednesday. His counterpart from Iran urged the group to make room for more output when global sanctions recede. The prospect of more supply led BP...
