"Why should I cut production?" said Saudi Arabia’s oil minister Ali Al-Naimi in response to questions over whether he thought it would be necessary to reduce output prior to OPEC's next meeting in June. While oil prices have fallen more than $10 a barrel since OPEC's Vienna meeting, Naimi showed no greater concern, saying that the market would be left to balance itself without the Kingdom's intervention. Crude plunged yesterday as OPEC cut its demand forecast for 2015, but has now rebounded, up 0.8% at $61.40/bbl. Increasing its lending target for 2014, China has told banks to issue more loans by the end of the year to lift flagging economic growth. The People's Bank of China will now permit banks to lend more than 75% of their deposits and allow banks to lend a record 10T yuan ($1.6T) for all of 2014, up from a previous target of 9.5T yuan, Reuters reports. The move comes just one day after Chinese inflation slipped to a five-year low and follows last month's surprise cut in interest rates. Hong Kong officials met little resistance as they began clearing the main pro-democracy protest camp near the heart of the financial center today. Hundreds of police stood by as workers used wire cutters to remove protester barricades, following a court injunction two days ago. The protests drew well over 100K people at their peak as students demanded electoral reforms and free elections. Hang Seng closed down 0.9% at 23,313. Stocks Activist investor Starboard Value has bought a 6% stake in Staples (NASDAQ:SPLS) and raised its stake in Office Depot (NASDAQ:ODP) to 10%, in a move that could increase pressure for a combination of the office-supply retailers, WSJ reports. If Starboard pushes for a deal, it would be the second time in recent months it pursued a merger of competitors, having called for a Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO)-AOL (NYSE:AOL) combo since September. SPLS +1.9% premarket.

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