This tweet just sent markets spiking higher

Myles Udland

Feb 12, 2016, 01:23 IST

Stocks are getting crushed. Near 2:30 p.m. EST, the Dow was down more than 400 points and oil broke to a new 12-year low around $26.07 a barrel.

And then: BOOM! Near 2:50 p.m. EST, the Dow was down just 220, the S&P 500 was off 18 points, and the Nasdaq was down 13.

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And it looks like it all comes from this tweet from Wall Street Journal OPEC correspondent Summer Said:

OPEC is ready to cooperate on a cut, but current prices are already forcing non-opec producers to at least cap output, says UAE Energy min
- Summer Said (@summer_said) February 11, 2016

Right now, financial markets are all about oil prices. And any sign that OPEC - the 13-state cartel led by Saudi Arabia that has been a big part of flooding the market with oil - is going to pull back production to balance the market has the chance to make everything go nuts.

And so here we are.

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