Not so long ago, oil prices would surge or plummet on just a whisper from OPEC, who at the time held all the supply cards. The mere hint that the world’s most powerful oil cartel was going to cut production could send oil prices up dramatically. Those days are over. When the cartel announced on November 30, 2016 , that it would cut production for the first time in eight years amid a major oil-price crisis, the market cheered. Before any cuts even happened, the sentiment alone boosted prices from a $50.74 close on that day to $54.94 at the close on December 5th, 2016. From that point on, at least up until recently, OPEC could drop the vaguest hint about production, or even think about production, and it would move the market–no fundamentals necessary. This phenomenon was still going strong in the last quarter of 2018. On December […]