The market seemed to prefer to wait for the group's official announcement on a cut late on Wednesday. Crude futures on the Nymex were down 4 cents at $43.56 on Wednesday morning, after rising by $1.50 to more than $45.00 a barrel in European trading. United States Oil Fund (nyse: USO - news - people ), an exchange-traded fund that seeks to mirror the returns of crude and other products, was flat at $36.55.

If OPEC were to formally announce that it was cutting by 2.0 million, it would be the biggest single output cut ever made by the organization. Still, such a size would not be particularly alarming. Earlier this month OPEC President Chakib Khelil said there would be a "surprise" cut in production on Dec. 17 and the market has since then upped its forecast for a cut to 2.0 million, from 1.5 million. (See "OPEC's 'Surprise' May Disappoint.") A truly "surprise" cut would have to be one of around 2.5 million to 3.0 million.

Along with tackling an oversupply of oil in the market, OPEC's big challenge will be for all 15 of its members to comply with such a significant cut. For those whose budgets are already stretched--think Iran, Venezuela and Nigeria--that will be especially difficult. The group said that its rate of compliance with that last production cut of 1.5 million in late October had been 85.0%.

"The issue going forward is: 'What is the aim of the supply cut?'" said BNP Paribas analyst Harry Tchilinguirian. "Is it to push for higher prices, or is it to establish a price floor?" Pushing too aggressively for higher prices could backfire in a market that is falling because of waning demand, but the cartel also needs to make a cut significant enough to get the market's attention, he said.

Tchilinguirian believes a cut of 2.0 million would be on the "high side" if OPEC wanted to find that balance, while a reduction of 1.5-1.6 million would be more appropriate.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, left, and Barack Obama attend a 2007 rally for Chicago's 2016 Olympics bid.

"The president-elect agrees with [Illinois] Lt. Gov. [Pat] Quinn and many others that under the current circumstances it is difficult for the governor to effectively do his job and serve the people of Illinois," Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

FBI agents on Tuesday arrested Blagojevich and his chief of staff, John Harris, on federal corruption charges related in part to the selection of Obama's successor to the Senate.

Obama's former partner in the Senate, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Illinois, has also called on Blagojevich to step down immediately.

"Beyond guilt or innocence, the charges against you raise serious questions about your ability to carry out your duties as chief executive of our state," Durbin wrote in a letter sent to Blagojevich. Explainer: Federal complaint against Blagojevich »

Durbin also asked Blagojevich not to name a successor to Obama.

"Because of the nature of the charges against you, no matter whom you were to select, that individual would be under a cloud of suspicion. That would not serve our state, our nation, or the United States Senate,"

Even if Blagojevich named a replacement for Obama, it is unclear whether the Senate would seat the governor's choice. The Constitution gives the Senate the sole authority to decide who is qualified to serve as a senator. Watch whom Blagojevich has considered »

Gibbs said Obama also supported legislation that Illinois lawmakers will consider next week to authorize a special election to choose his successor. Explainer: Illinois governors in hot water »

Obama believes the lawmakers should "put in place a process to select a new senator that will have the trust and confidence of the people of Illinois," Gibbs said.

The Illinois Legislature will begin a special session Monday to consider legislation that would authorize a special election to choose Obama's successor.

Cindy Davidsmeyer, a spokeswoman for Illinois Senate President Emil Jones, said a House committee was scheduled to consider the bill Monday afternoon and then the full House would vote afterward. iReport.com: Do you trust your leaders?

The Senate could consider the legislation as soon as the next day, Davidsmeyer said. Watch what was in the complaint against Blagojevich »

Obama on Tuesday declined to comment on the arrest, saying, "Like the rest of the people of Illinois I am saddened and sobered by the news that came out of the U.S. attorney's office."

Obama also said he had not contacted Blagojevich about his possible successor, adding, "I was not aware of what was happening." Watch Obama's ties to the Illinois governor »

Wall Street had a strong start to the week, after President-elect Barack Obama outlined his economic stimulus plans and indications that Congress will help Detroit's automakers stave off bankruptcy.

Over the weekend, Obama outlined plans to invest in infrastructure, energy and construction projects to spur the U.S. economy out of its year-long recession and create jobs. The proposals came after the Labor Department said the economy shed 533,000 jobs in November.

The major averages started the day higher, as the Dow Jones industrial average gained 269 points, or 3.1%, to 8,904, shortly into the session. The Standard & Poor's 500 was up 31 points, or 3.5%, to 907, while the Nasdaq added 43 points, or 2.9%, to 1,553.

According to TradeTheNews.com, Democrats in Congress and the Bush administration have agreed to the framework of a deal that provide loans to General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ), Ford Motor (nyse: F - news - people ) and Chrysler, but not nearly the $34.0 billion the companies requested. Rather, the package is believed to be worth around $15.0 billion, and would help GM and Chrysler hold off bankruptcy until at least March, but may require management change. Shares of GM climbed 62 cents, or 15.2%, to $4.70 early Monday, while Ford gained 31 cents, or 11.4%, to $3.03. (See "Promises Of Rescue Come With Demands For Change.")

Still, the news out of corporate America was not all good over the weekend and Monday morning. More job cuts are on the way, from companies like 3M (nyse: MMM - news - people ) and Dow Chemical (nyse: DOW - news - people ).

3M announced over the weekend that it would cut 1,800 jobs in the fourth quarter, and on Monday morning the diversified company cut its 2008 earnings guidance to reflect the global economic slowdown. Shares of the Dow component were up 22 cents, or 0.4%, to $60.07, during the broad rally early Monday.

Dow Chemical said it will lay off 5,000 workers and close 20 plants in "high-cost" locations as part of its accelerated restructuring plans. The news sent Dow shares up $1.03, or 5.4%, to $20.03.

The outlook is also uncertain for MetLife, after the insurance company trimmed its fourth-quarter earnings guidance and said it could report a loss for the period. MetLife (nyse: MET - news - people ) still managed a $1.19, or 3.9%, gain, to $31.95.

An earlier version of this story included a subhead that gave the impression that MetLife is in imminent trouble. This is not the case. As of the end of its 2008 third quarter, MetLife had unrealized losses of $17 billion out of a total investment portfolio of $324 billion. On Nov. 5, Moody's Investor Services affirmed MetLife's Aa2 financial-strength rating, its second-highest rating.

With the financial system in crisis, investors increasingly rely on government guarantees to protect their money. Bank accounts are backed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and its $53 billion war chest. After decades on their own, money market funds now are backed by the U.S. Treasury. And life insurance policies and annuities? They're backed by state guaranty associations. There's only one hitch: The states have virtually no cash on hand and must rely on promises to pay made by healthy life insurers.

In today's climate, that could be a major problem. Stocks of life insurers, formerly immune to the fear and panic hitting other sectors, recently became the market's target of choice. Shares have declined nearly 50% in the past two months as investors have learned the extent of losses in insurers' investment portfolios. Metropolitan Life (MET), for one, said its debt investments declined $17 billion in the third quarter of 2008. Adding to the pressure, many insurers sold variable annuities with guaranteed-income features, which could cost them an additional $15 billion to support, according to a recent Fitch Ratings report.

So far the system has held up. Insurers are not banks—which can tumble in an instant if worried depositors pull money simultaneously. Insurance companies fail in slow motion, if only because policyholders pay expensive penalties to cancel policies. When insurers do fail, state regulators sell off what they can and bill the remaining life insurers operating in that state to make policyholders whole. "The funds have been pretty good at providing a basic level of consumer protection," says Peter G. Gallanis, president of the National Organization of Life & Health Insurance Guaranty Assns.

But the system runs on the assumption that only small insurers are likely to fail, and then only one at a time. Few noticed in 2007, when Benicorp Insurance in Indiana and Texas-based Lincoln Memorial Life Insurance both flopped.

Sometimes, though, failures are far more substantial. When Executive Life went belly-up in 1991, states couldn't raise enough to cover its obligations. Annuity and life insurance policyholders in California recovered as little as 70 cents on the dollar or were forced to accept modified terms with alternative providers. "I wouldn't put a tremendous amount of credence in guaranty funds," says Adam Sherman, president of advisory firm Firstrust Financial Resources in Philadelphia.

It remains to be seen if the insurance market will further weaken or keep muddling through. But if a large company does fail, certain guaranty funds may not live up to their name. In a handful of states, a single insurer dominates the business, writing nearly one-fifth of the total dollar value of premiums. Even in others, guaranty funds are typically permitted to assess surviving companies only a small amount—about 1% to 2% of premiums per year. "The funds could become exhausted," says Donald Light, an insurance analyst at consultancy Celent.

Insurance customers need to be more vigilant. Stop focusing only on cost and service and start worrying about solvency. Check such agencies as Standard & Poor's (MHP), Fitch Ratings, Moody's (MCO), and A.M. Best to find the highest-rated companies, and be alert for downgrades. Then dig deeper. Find out about an insurer's exposure to real estate and mortgages and make sure its debt holdings are investment-grade. "Everyone's under the false assumption that it doesn't matter what company you buy from," says Thomas Archer, chairman of financial-services firm Archer Financial Group in New York. "It does."

When Chrysler was near death and awaiting a government bailout in 1979, then-CEO Lee Iacocca ordered drastic spending cuts and required all checks above $1,000 to be approved by a senior vice president.

Chrysler LLC and General Motors Corp. need to follow the same play book now, industry analysts and management professors say, as they try to outlast the debate in Washington over whether they will get billions in government loans.

With no hope of getting credit elsewhere and auto sales at a 25-year low, both automakers are perilously close to having only the minimum amount of cash needed to operate.

Today, with GM alone spending $6.9 billion more than it took in last quarter and having operations in 34 countries, Iacocca's $1,000 limit might not be practical. But industry analysts and bankruptcy experts say both companies must take similar measures to ensure their companies live long enough to use any loans they get.

"You turn the electricity off. You do things like shut the proving grounds down," said Jim Hall, managing director of 2953 Analytics of Birmingham, Mich.

Top executives of GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. went to Washington this week seeking roughly $25 billion but ran into so much opposition that Congress delayed voting on the bailout until the automakers prove they can be viable.

They must submit a plan to Congress by Dec. 2, followed by more hearings before any vote is taken. That means money won't be available at least until late December, probably not until early next year.

Meanwhile, the companies face huge expenses and a lack of revenue because car buyers are having trouble getting financing or are delaying big purchases because of uncertainty about their jobs. October was the worst U.S. auto sales month in 25 years, and November is looking only slightly better.

Chrysler CEO Bob Nardelli told the Senate Banking Committee his company had $6.1 billion in cash at the end of the third quarter after burning up $1 billion in cash per month from July through September.

GM fared worse. It burned up $6.9 billion last quarter and about $6 billion in the first half of the year and has warned that it could reach its minimums sometime next month.

Ford, while burning through billions as well, has a big stockpile of borrowed money and says it can last at least through 2009.

But without aid soon, GM and Chrysler will have trouble paying bills and may have to seek bankruptcy protection.

Inside both companies' headquarters, teams likely are looking to cut spending any way they can, including delays in new investments, experts say.

"They have to take really drastic steps in their cost-cutting," said Robert Wiseman, a Michigan State University professor who teaches strategic management. "Stop buying everything except for the most critical things they need for their operation."

GM announced Friday it is canceling its traditional holiday party for the media "due to the very difficult economic situation facing the nation, the state, the industry, and our company." The party will be replaced by a $5,000 donation to a journalism scholarship fund.

At Chrysler, Nardelli testified, there's a cash committee that scrutinizes requests every week.

But what they're doing now may not be enough. Some in Congress criticized the CEOs for flying to Washington on separate corporate jets. GM is reducing its leased fleet from seven planes last year to three, but the stigma remains.

Lawmakers also rapped the automakers' high labor costs and particularly the jobs bank, in which laid-off workers get 95 percent of their pay plus benefits even though they aren't working.

The United Auto Workers said it has cut the jobs bank and placed time limits on it in new contracts signed with the companies last year. Still, more than 3,500 workers are getting paid for not working, and that number is sure to rise as the companies continue to cut jobs.

On Friday, GM announced it would extend holiday shutdowns and make other production cuts at five North American factories. It also accelerated the closure of a truck plant in Oshawa, Ontario.

Harlan Platt, who teaches corporate turnarounds at Northeastern University in Boston, said GM should turn to the UAW for help.

"The bank right now is the union, and they're going to have to give up something in the near term so they have something very valuable in the long term," Platt said.

Initially the UAW said it already gave up a lot in the new contracts, agreeing to lower wages for new hires and to shift the companies' huge retiree health care costs to a union-administered trust.

But on Thursday, President Ron Gettelfinger softened his stance, saying that the union is at the bargaining table already.

"We would welcome all the other stakeholders to the table to make some concessions," he said.

In Washington, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said lawmakers are trying to get reassurances that the companies have a specific plan to survive before the government hands over taxpayer money. But that might be troublesome for the automakers.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner told reporters Thursday that the company already has shared a detailed plan confidentially with the Bush administration and key staffers in Washington. He's concerned that sensitive information could be made public.

"Historically things like your future product plans, technology plans and financial plans would be competitively sensitive information, and so for a variety of reasons, we wouldn't be sharing that publicly," he said.

Douglas Baird, a professor who specializes in bankruptcy at the University of Chicago Law School, says the automakers were too vague, giving Congress less information than companies normally give lenders when seeking bankruptcy financing.

"That's not the way you approach a lender in a work-out. That's just not the way it's done," he said.

Wagoner, he said, will have the difficult task of showing Congress how GM can be viable with its current structure.

"That's not going to be easy to do," he said.

In Pictures:

Seven Work-Stress Relievers

Star Athletes On Staying Cool Under Pressure

Think you're stressed? Try a day in the life of Rich Gelfond, co-chief executive of IMAX, the large-format film company.

Take Nov. 5, for instance. After his usual 6 a.m. stint at the gym, Gelfond joined his board of directors and audit committee for a two-hour meeting. From there, he headed to a three-hour meeting to finalize third-quarter financials to be announced the next day. In the afternoon, he wrote a script for the conference call and practiced fielding tough questions with his public relations team, all while battle-planning with film executives preparing to launch Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa in 35 newly outfitted digital-projection Regal theaters--IMAX's (nasdaq: IMAX - news - people ) biggest opening to date.

That's pressure. But you don't need to be a top executive like Gelfond to feel stressed out on the job. The American Institute of Stress estimates that stress costs U.S. corporations $300 billion annually in health care costs, turnover and absenteeism.

In Pictures: Seven Work-Stress Relievers

In Pictures: 10 Star Atheletes On Staying Cool Under Pressure

How to cope? We spoke with psychologists and sports stars to find some helpful tactics--no heavy pharmaceuticals allowed. In calmer moments, much of this might seem like common sense. But if you think you've heard it all before, ask yourself: How often do you actually follow the advice?

In the short term, coping with stress is about finding release--or at least some semblance of it. When Gelfond is at his busiest--bouncing between meetings, grappling with the latest technology and dealing with investors--he makes sure he gets an hour in the gym before he starts his day. "Not only do [my workouts] help me to relieve existing stress, they increase my ability to deal with problems that arise throughout the day," he says.