Good morning. Today is Wednesday, April 29th. I'm Rina Sherble, filling in for Julie Morgan.

Our top stories today. Oil rallies on OPEC shock, investors preparing for Fed policy decision,

and Megatac earnings. Wall Street's major averages closed lower on Tuesday after the United Arab

Emirates announced its departure from OPEC effective May 1st. The benchmark SMP 500 lost 0.5%. Tech-focused NASDAQ ended down by 0.8% and the blue chip

Dow handed back 0.1%. Gold futures fell to the lowest in more than four weeks on Tuesday as

U.S. crude oil prices climbed above $100 a barrel, exacerbating concerns over the inflationary impact of higher energy costs,

as U.S.-Iran talks remain at an impasse.

Reportedly, President Trump is unhappy with Iran's latest proposal on resolving the Middle East War,

dampening hopes for a resolution to the conflict that has disrupted energy supplies and sparked inflation.

Geopolitical tensions remained in focus after Iran's foreign minister arrived in Russia,

where he is expected to meet President Vladimir Putin, even as negotiations with the U.S.

reached a stalemate over the weekend. Tensions between the UAE and OPEC have been building well before Tuesday's

sudden departure of the group's third biggest producer, having chafed for years at OPEC's per

country production quotas that are intended to limit global supply and lift oil prices. Saudi

Arabia and the UAE are the cartels two swing producers that have excess capacity

to ramp up output, with the UAE, capable of producing 1.4 million barrels a day more than OPEC's

quota. While OPEC's control over prices has waned, its quotas have hurt the UAE, which has a lower

break-even price than other OPEC members, and the country has clashed with

the Saudis at times because it has been forced to bear a disproportionate share of the cartel's

production cuts. On Tuesday, the bearish news of the UAE's exit from OPEC was outweighed by the

continued stoppage of transit through the Strait of Hormuz. Again, Capitals John Clinduff said, in normal times,

this would have been very bearish news for the oil market and sparked a sizable sell-off.

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