Approaching A Crossroads

Oil prices breach 109 dollars after OPEC rejects output hike calls

NEW YORK (AFP) — Oil prices surged to near all-time highs Monday after OPEC oil exporters rejected Western calls to increase output and ease supply pressures.

Over the weekend, the secretary general of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, Abdullah al-Badri, rejected calls for an increase in the cartel's crude output, saying that non-fundamental factors were to blame for current high prices.

"At the moment there is enough oil in the market and no need to change OPEC's output," Badri said in Tehran late Saturday.

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hnjJSa09GHxFvSUAjUwoTgygU_Yg

Hey, these guys might wear towels on their heads, but they ain't stupid. It's no secret to anybody that high Oil prices are a direct result of the US Federal Reserves poor monetary policy. The falling Dollar is having hugely inflationary effects on OPEC nation economies. If Saudi Arabia wasn't the largest OPEC exporter, the group would have by now dumped the Dollar as payment for their Oil. But the natives are getting restless, and the Saudis may have no choice soon but to dump their Dollar peg. The negative effects such a move would have on the US Economy would be horrific to say the least. And remember too, that the rest of the world has to convert local currency to Dollars to pay for much of their Oil. This in effect gives foreigners a discount on the cost of Oil. Few will be anxious to prop up the Dollar and see it rise if the result would be a higher energy bill.

WaMu Poised to Get $5B in Cash From TPG

Wall Street cheered news that WaMu may join a growing list of battered financial institutions that have secured much-needed cash since the credit crisis began last summer. Share jumped 17 percent, or $1.73, to $11.90 in early trading.

As of Friday, WaMu's stock had fallen another 25 percent in 2008. Cuts to its credit ratings erased a brief moment of investor optimism sparked by a positive comments from Chief Executive Kerry Killinger at a Wall Street conference in January.

At the time, Killinger said WaMu had enough cash and access to loans to get through the fiscal year.

Despite WaMu's tough year, Killinger received $14.4 million in compensation for 2007.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080407/washington_mutual_tpg.html

It continues to escape me the euphoria surrounding news of banks "raising cash". I would think the exact opposite would be the result. They can pay their CEO $14.4 million for his efforts in leading them towards bankruptcy, and then turn around and dilute shareholders stock by issuing more to "raise money"? How is this a good thing? Run, run, run away from financial stocks!