00:00Good afternoon and welcome to the Gulf News Business Wrap. My name's Ed Clouse and here
00:05are the top stories for today.
00:07First of all, Saudi Arabia produced a record 11 million barrels of oil in November, indicating
00:12it was preparing for an oil drought following Iran's removal from the market. The U.S. reimposed
00:18sanctions on November the 4th and it was expected to withdraw a lot of oil produced by Iran
00:24from global supply. However, the U.S. at the last minute gave exemptions to eight countries
00:29including India and China, meaning that in fact in the end it was more of a glut of oil
00:35on the market. This has led to a 36% drop in the price of Brent crude, down to a year's
00:42low at the moment of around $68. The oil ministers from Russia, Saudi Arabia and the U.K. and
00:49the U.S. are expected to meet at the end of this month at the G20 in Argentina to discuss
00:542019's oil policy. Potentially curbs to production in order to reduce the supply, but the U.S.
01:01will be vetoing for greater production to keep prices low.
01:06Elsewhere, euro bonds and stocks have rallied, including the euro currency, on the news that
01:12Rome will be backing down over its plans to run up a 2.4% deficit. Over the last couple
01:19of months, the EU has publicly clashed with Italy over its plans to run the deficit on
01:24spending plans. Today, Rome's prime minister said that he would be inclined to not run
01:30up as high a deficit if needs be. The news sent markets higher and we'll be waiting to
01:38see what else comes out from the further negotiations between those two.
01:42And finally, Nissan and Mitsubishi chairman Carlos Ghosn has been formally sacked by Mitsubishi.
01:50The news follows yesterday's announcement that he would be stepping down from Nissan.
01:56Carlos Ghosn has been accused of corruption and fraudulent behavior at the car companies
02:01and he has been arrested in Japan.
02:04That's all for today. Thanks very much for watching. My name's Ed Clouds and please log
02:07on to gulfnews.com for further updates.
02:12Thanks for watching.
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