Perhaps it's time for just a bit more perspective-and a bit more clarity-from OPEC. Does it intend to sit back and say nothing about commodity prices, which many fear might be headed for a rout unless the cartel cuts production now, or will it get off the dime and explain what its equilibrium price is? More and more, that's the question daunting investors, says one market maven. Obviously, the market's confusion about OPEC's role as a price stabilizer is that it has never spoken with one voice about the price floor it is willing to defend, says New York-based Bernard J. Picchi, senior managing director for Wall Street Access, an independent brokerage firm. "But maybe that's a good thing," he says. "Drawing a price line in the sand could stir up a hornet's nest among the [OPEC] producers themselves. Still, the market needs a convincing, even if rough, idea of what Saudi Arabia-OPEC's largest and influential member-sees as the price level that allows it to meet its budgetary needs without inducing demand destruction." For more on this, see the October issue of Oil and Gas Investor. For a subscription, call 713-260-6441.

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