Mideast oil chiefs mum on OPEC cuts
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Energy ministers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates dodged questions Tuesday about whether OPEC will extend the cartel's oil production cuts, saying the decision will come at a planned meeting in Vienna later this week.
OPEC agreed in September 2016 to cut daily production across the 14-nation organization to 32.5 million barrels of oil a day. Russia and other non-OPEC nations also agreed to cut their production, hoping to boost prices weakened by oversupply in the market.
OPEC and non-OPEC members are expected to continue the cuts into 2018 to help keep prices rallying.
Crude oil sold for more than $100 a barrel in the summer of 2014 before bottoming out below $30 a barrel in January 2016. That fall largely came from a boom in U.S. shale oil and countries like Saudi Arabia keeping their production high to hold onto market share. Once-sanctioned Iran also re-entered the global energy market in 2015 after its nuclear deal with world powers.
Oil prices now sit around $60 a barrel, in part over fears of new instability in the Mideast after Saudi Arabia's mass arrest of princes, business leaders and others, as well as its tensions with Iran. However, even that boost in price isn't enough to heal many of the hurting, oil-dependent economies in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere.
-- The Associated Press
Consumer confidence highest since '00
WASHINGTON -- The Conference Board said Tuesday that its consumer confidence index hit 129.5 this month, up from 126.2 in October and the highest since November 2000.
The business research group's index measures consumers' assessment of current conditions and their outlook for the next six months. Both improved this month. More than 37 percent of respondents said jobs were "plentiful," the highest share since June 2001.
Economists closely monitor the report because consumer spending accounts for about 70 percent of U.S. economic output.
The overall index hit bottom at 25.3 in February 2009 at the depths of the recession before rebounding as the U.S. economy recovered.
Economic growth clocked at a healthy 3 percent annual pace from July through September, and the unemployment rate has dropped to a 17-year low of 4.1 percent.
-- The Associated Press
Arby's purchasing Buffalo Wild Wings
NEW YORK -- Arby's said Tuesday that it is buying Buffalo Wild Wings for about $2.4 billion, making it the latest casual restaurant chain to be taken private.
Buffalo Wild Wings, which serves chicken wings in a sports-bar-like atmosphere, has reported falling sales as it and other casual restaurants lose customers to cheaper and faster chains. In the most recent quarter, it reported a 2.3 percent sales drop at its established restaurants.
Last month, struggling sit-down chain Ruby Tuesday Inc. agreed to be sold for $146 million and taken private.
Atlanta-based Arby's, known for its meaty sandwiches, said Buffalo Wild Wings will operate as an independent brand. Arby's is majority-owned by private equity firm Roark Capital Group, which also has investments in other chains, including Hardee's.
-- The Associated Press
Southwest has 2nd day of website woes
DALLAS -- For a second straight day customers of Southwest Airlines ran into problems Tuesday when trying to use the airline's website to manage their travel plans.
Southwest posted an apology to customers who were having difficulty on the website or the carrier's mobile app. Some customers said on Twitter that they were unable to check in online for flights.
A Southwest spokesman said the airline fixed a broken link in customer emails that led to check-in problems, and the airline removed the apologetic advisory from its website around midday.
On Monday, the Southwest spokesman blamed difficulties in making or changing reservations on a problem with the airline's new reservation system.
-- The Associated Press
Gold trader to testify in corruption case
Reza Zarrab, a Turkish-Iranian gold trader at the center of an international corruption case, is to tell a New York jury the "inside story" of a plot to evade American sanctions on Iran that reached the highest levels of Turkey's government, a prosecutor said.
Zarrab is the U.S. government's star witness in the prosecution of Mehmet Hakan Atilla, a deputy chief executive officer at state-run Turkiye Halk Bankasi AS, who is accused of conspiring with Zarrab to launder money and funnel Iranian funds through the U.S. financial system. Zarrab, who has pleaded guilty after being charged with Atilla, is likely to take the witness stand today.
"Atilla and his lies played a crucial role in giving Iran access to U.S. dollars and U.S. banks," Assistant U.S. Attorney David William Denton Jr. told jurors at the start of the case. "Iran did not need soldiers. Iran needed a banker."
With the U.S. expected to present evidence of corruption at the highest reaches of the Turkish government, the case has sparked anger from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who claims the prosecution is a plot to undermine his country's economy.
-- Bloomberg News
Business on 11/29/2017