OPEC

Oil prices immediately went up by 10 percent to around $50 per barrel following an agreement between member economies of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

The agreement, signed in Vienna on November 2^nd, will see output cut by around 1.2 million barrels of oil per day from January.

OPEC heavyweights, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Iraq, which are the group’s three largest producers, signed the agreement, effectively stopping market forces setting the price, which was agreed two years prior.

Benchmark U.S. crude fell $1.88, or 4 percent, to settle at $43.08 a barrel in New York on Tuesday, its lowest close since March of 2009.

The price of oil fell to a six-year low Tuesday after OPEC said its production increased and China devalued its currency, suggesting economic growth there was weakening and could lead to lower oil demand.

Copper also fell sharply as traders feared a slowing Chinese economy would need less of it. Mining company Freeport-McMoRan sank 12 percent.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 212 points, or 1.2 percent, to 17,402.