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To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (49357)	2/19/2000 4:32:00 PM
From: Eashoa' M'sheekha	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 116756

In The.." What's Wrong With This Picture ". News:1 US Begins Talks With OPEC This Weekend WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States launches a round of high-stakes energy diplomacy this weekend to persuade OPEC and other major oil-producing nations to pump more crude into the world market or face a backlash which might include Washington releasing oil from its emergency stockpile. U.S. Energy Secretary Bill Richardson's success is important to the White House, which has come under intense pressure from Congress to get tough with OPEC and other oil suppliers. OPEC's strict lid on production is gouging U.S. consumers with high prices for heating oil, gasoline and other refined petroleum products, some lawmakers contend. The Clinton administration has already taken a beating from Northeast politicians and homeowners over high heating oil prices in the region. Public outcry would be even louder -- with the political consequences more severe in an election year -- if American motorists are hit with high gasoline prices nationwide this spring and summer. Industry analysts have said that unless OPEC pumps more oil soon, crude oil prices could skyrocket to $45 a barrel and retail gasoline hit $1.75 a gallon by late May. After setting a nine-year high of more than $30 a barrel earlier this week, crude oil futures for March delivery eased and were trading at $29.40 a barrel at midday Friday. Mexico Is First Stop Richardson's first stop on his 10-day mission is Mexico, where he meets Saturday with energy minister Luis Tellez. He then leaves for the Middle East and Europe to talk with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Norway. ``These are going to be some tough discussions,' Richardson said earlier this week. The United States buys about 40 percent of its oil imports from the four countries. Richardson has repeatedly said he will not pressure the suppliers to increase their output. Instead, he plans to explain how it would be in their long-term interests to pump more oil because high prices could slow the world economy, which in return would reduce demand for crude oil. If that argument fails, U.S. lawmakers have urged Richardson to make it clear Washington is ready to release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which holds 569 million barrels. ``OPEC must know that we are prepared to release oil from our well-stocked SPR in order to protect our national economic interests and to help make oil prices reflect its true market value,' Senators Charles Schumer, a New York Democrat, and Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, said in a letter to Richardson on Thursday. Richardson's trip comes one month before OPEC decides whether to extend its production cuts or increase oil output to replenish dwindling world crude inventories. ``As long as we refuse to use the SPR as leverage, we will remain at the mercy of OPEC,' Schumer and Collins said. Lawmakers Urge Scaling Back Aid Other lawmakers have urged the administration to consider trimming foreign aid to OPEC nations such as Indonesia and Nigeria, and to reconsider other types of assistance. Rep. Benjamin Gilman, the New York Republican who heads the House International Relations Committee, has urged the State Department to take a hard look at U.S. security relationships with OPEC. ``They should not assume we will bail them out the next time their security is threatened,' Gilman said. One of Richardson's main negotiating points could be that OPEC's international image is being ``tarnished', said Dr. Cyrus Tahmassebi, president of Energy Trends Inc., an energy consulting group based in Bethesda, Maryland. ``Everyone is talking again that we are at the mercy of these countries. That is not a good thing for OPEC in the long run,' he said, adding that oil-consuming nations may retaliate by increasing their development of alternative energy sources. Even if reserve oil is released, its effect will not last long because the stockpile does not hold enough crude, said Tahmassebi, adding: ``It might do good for a few months.' The 1975 law which created the emergency stockpile allows its use only in the event of a severe disruption in supplies. But President Clinton said in a thinly veiled warning this week that he was ``deeply' troubled by high prices and would consider all options to keep the U.S. economy strong. Clinton's strong language may already be working. Mexico's Tellez said on Friday that his country, along with Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, agreed that oil prices were too high and oil production should be increased beginning April 1 to lower crude prices to a range of $20 to $25 a barrel.

To: Eashoa' M'sheekha who wrote (49357)	2/19/2000 10:57:00 PM
From: PaulM	Respond to of 116756

Two Year, Five Year NYSE Chart bigcharts.com bigcharts.com Check these out (the NYSE is still the broadest measure of blue chips) Especially the effect of August-Nov LTCM 1998 bailout and Fed money pump. And the much lessened bang from the (even bigger) August-Nov 1999 Y2k money pump. The CB's are getting less and less bang from their stimulatory buck and are running out of options. And with each new round of credit pump, money is funneled into a narrower and narrower class of lower quality issues as the number of worthwhile investments becomes fewer and fewer in relation to the amount of credit. Which will it be, another money pump or deflation? Just itching to see how the Feds "growth experiment" ends.