Maybe days with no solid economic data are the best after all. The Saudis denied that OPEC was considered moving away from oil being quoted in US Dollars and gold put in new all-time contract highs. T. Boone Pickens was also out with his new 2010 oil price predictions this morning.

Here were today's unofficial closing bell levels:

Dow 9,731.25 +131.50 (1.37%)
S&P 500 1,054.72 +14.26 (1.37%)
Nasdaq 2,103.57 +35.42 (1.71%)

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Under the radar: Some trends are obvious enough and visible to all investors. Others are more-subtle, but are just as potent, and these often slip 'under the radar.'

Case in point: Russia's oil production rose by about 40,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 10.01 million bpd in September -- a new monthly record for the nation, Reuters reported Friday, citing Russian Energy Ministry data.

This recession certainly has had its unique characteristics: the longest contraction (at least 18 months) since the end of World War II, the first U.S. median home price decline in at least 40 years, and OPEC production discipline.

Amid slack demand and rising inventories, OPEC, excluding Iraq, cut production for the second consecutive month, decreasing average production by 10,000 barrels per day from August (bpd) to 26.045 million bpd, according to a survey of oil companies, producers and analysts, Bloomberg News reported Thursday.

OPEC oil ministers want to see a stable U.S. dollar and higher oil prices before they start to increase investment. OPEC maintains that because oil is priced in U.S. dollars it wants the U.S. to keep the dollar stable.

But these are secondary problems. The main thorn in OPEC's side is Russia. Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil exporter.

Unlike OPEC that is trying to keep a lid on production, Russia has increased production to a record 10 million barrels per day. Russia and other non OPEC countries were not invited to attend the OPEC meeting.

Oil traders have been flocking into the precious crude today as the U.S. dollar fell to a new yearly low against the euro.

Oil prices have passed through the psychological $70 barrier, and continued to move higher, currently trading up $3.12 on the day to $71.14. Oil is not the only commodity that has been moving higher, as gold prices moved through the $1,000 mark for the first time since this past February.

Oil traders have been selling off the precious crude Monday, as a steep sell-off of China's benchmark index raised concerns over the current state of both the Chinese and U.S. economies.

The Chinese Shanghai Composite Index took a beating to start off the week, trading down 6.74%, and raised fresh concerns over a global economic rebound. Today's sell off in the Chinese market was its biggest decline since June of 2008. The sell-off comes on the heels of a near 3% drop in the index last Friday.

Oil prices are moving strongly higher today following a government report that showed inventories dropped dramatically last week.

Today's report from the Energy Department indicated that oil inventories fell by 8.4 million barrels last week, in stark contrast to the increase of 1.2 million barrels that analysts had been expecting to see for the precious crude.

According to the chief economist at the International Energy Agency (IEA) in Paris, the world could be hurtling toward an energy crunch that could effectively kill any global economic recovery. Dr. Fatih Birol said in an interview that most major oil fields in the world have eclipsed their peak production. Birol noted that the public and many governments are oblivious to the fact that oil is running out faster than earlier predicted, with global production likely to peak in roughly 10 years.

Birol said, "One day we will run out of oil, it is not today or tomorrow, but one day we will run out of oil and we have to leave oil before oil leaves us, and we have to prepare ourselves for the day. The earlier we start, the better." It will not be cheap to convert from our dependence on oil, but the cost may be better than the possibility of having no oil whatsoever; or having $200-per-barrel oil.

Why is OPEC expecting a sharp drop in oil prices? First, much of the rise in oil prices has followed the rally on Wall Street. Investors reasoned that higher stock prices means that business is doing better and hence a need for more oil, and prices rise.

Not so fast. Business demand for oil is weak, and the consumer got clobbered by the recession and is holding back spending money. So the classic relationship between the stock market and oil that investors follow is not there this year.

What is the current supply/demand for oil going forward? OPEC is saying that it will take five years to bring demand back to pre-recession levels.

In 2008 average consumption of OPEC oil reached 31 million barrels per day. We will not reach that mark until 2013. Demand for non OPEC oil is expected to remain flat at about 45 million barrels per day.

So now with less demand, there is less desire to invest in new capacity. OPEC had previously planned to spend $165 billion dollars in new capacity. Now they have scaled back these numbers to $110 to $120 billion into the year 2013.

In Rome last May, the International Energy Agency feared that lower investments in capacity would lead to severe future shortages.

The unemployment numbers just came out and showed that the U.S. economy lost 467,000 jobs last month. That was the trigger for the oil traders. Within a few minutes oil dropped $2.02 per barrel to $67.19 at 9:07 EDT.

Adding fuel to the decline was the report that gasoline stockpiles rose by 2.9 million barrels, but crude dropped 3.7 million barrels.

McDermott International (NYSE: MDR) is a global oil engineering and construction company that specializes in offshore oil and gas construction and power generation systems.

Although more diversified than pure oil plays, McDermott has benefited greatly from the increase in price in crude.

The speculation is that McDermott will be quite busy with construction projects, as drillers are more active with the higher prices.

You have to love OPEC. It's not uncommon for the barons of the giant cartel to voice their interest in seeing oil at such-and-such a price.

Recently, OPEC reiterated its desire to see oil prices at $80 per barrel. This, they claim, is the price needed to spur additional investment in crude projects. Apparently, anything less will result in oil sitting idle in the ground.

Oil moved up above $70 early in the session, but was unable to hold that momentum through the day. After its strong start to the day, prices dropped $2.19 to $67.83.

A major reason for the drop in prices can be attributed to the World Bank. The World Bank slashed its forecast for this year's global economic growth, and reported that the current recession is deepening.