OPEC’s agreement to cut oil production is much stronger than Wall Street expected and oil prices soar

Yesterday I wrote that the financial markets’ reaction to whatever came out of OPEC’s meeting today would depend on how weak or strong the agreement to cut production was. Well, the actual agreement announced today to cut oil production was far stronger than expected. That surprise sent oil markets soaring today with U.S. benchmark West Texas Intermediate up 8.34% to $49.00 a barrel. The Brent benchmark rose 8.82% to $50.47 a barrel.

U.S. economy shows 3.2% third quarter growth ahead of Fed meeting on interest rates

The second revision to U.S. GDP growth in the third quarter was the charm. The U.S. economy grew at a 3.2% annualized rate in the the three months that ended in September, according to the Commerce Department. That was ahead of the 2.9% growth reported in the initial estimate and above the 3% growth rate that economists surveyed by Bloomberg were expecting.