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The Dow Jones industrials surged more than 200 points in yet another volatile session as investors were ringing with the news that the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority said it will invest $7.5 billion in Citigroup Inc., the largest bank in the US. Who knows why Wall Street is so delighted with the news that Citigroup has sacrificed 5% of their company’s interests to a foreign entity and with the whopping 11% interest on the Citigroup/Abu Dhabi deal, it’s even more of an unappealing situation in the eyes of many long term investors.

A pullback in already inflated oil prices aided the US market’s gains today. A barrel of light, sweet crude dropped $3.28 to $94.42 on the New York Mercantile Exchange based entirely on expectations that the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries will raise production at its Dec. 5 meeting (which is highly unlikely).

In other news, Senator Trent Lott, the former Senate Majority Leader, who had been re-elected to a fourth term in 2006, announced his plans to resign before the end of the year. While there is rampant speculation as to the reason Lott has decided to resign yesterday, the truth of the matter is both he and Illinois Republican and former Speaker of House, Dennis Hastert are hoping to land lucrative lobbyist contracts in Washington. With the old ethics rule of one year restriction on outgoing members of Congress from accepting lobbyist poistions being changed to two years as of January 2008, it’s no suprise both Lott and Hastert decided to “cut and run” with their 80% of $175,000 per year pension before signing lurcative deals with Washington lobbyists a year from now. Expect to see more Republicans following Lott and Hastert’s lead and bailing on the Grand old Party.