Morning Money Memo…

OPEC producers are split as the price of oil hits a four-year low.

The 12-member group will meet later this week in Vienna, Austria. The recent 30 percent drop in global prices has cut the amount of money OPEC countries take in by nearly $1 billion a day.

Some member states want to reduce production to stop the price slide. But the biggest producer, Saudi Arabia, is resisting, saying the market will stabilize over time.

There is widespread doubt that OPEC will be able to do much of anything.

"The idea that this is a cartel that places meaningful restrictions on its members' behavior is fiction," said Jeff Colgan, a political science professor at Brown University's Watson Institute who studies OPEC. "OPEC countries do exactly what we would expect them to do if there were no such thing as OPEC."

Oil production outside of OPEC is surging for the first time in a generation, boosting global oil supplies. U.S. production has risen 70 percent since 2008, adding 3.5 million barrels of oil per day. The increase itself is more than any OPEC member produces other than Saudi Arabia.

Impulse Purchases Bring Regret

Most Americans have made impulse purchases - and many of regret it. That's the finding of a new survey of shoppers.

"Three out of four Americans say they have made an impulse buy and about half of those … have said they regretted doing so," says Matt Schultz of creditcards.com.

Its survey shows men and women both do it.

"However, men are three times as likely as women to have spent $1,000 or more on an impulse buy," Schultz said.

Fed Proposes Tougher Rules for GE Capital

The Federal Reserve is proposing tougher rules for the GE Capital unit of General Electric because of the threat the company could pose to the financial system.

"The Fed proposal effectively seeks to regulate GE Capital as if it were a bank holding company," reported The Wall Street Journal.

Under the rules, GE Capital would be required to raise its capital ratios to improve its cushion against losses from a future crisis.

The Fed is also said to be calling for more independence for the firm from its parent company.

Germany Wants More Women on Company Boards

Germany's coalition government wants major companies to have at least 30 percent women on its supervisory boards.

The leaders of Germany's Social Democrats and Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative bloc agreed on the measure at a meeting Tuesday night.

Currently, women hold just 22 percent of non-executive positions on the boards of companies listed in Germany's benchmark DAX 30 index. They hold 6 percent of management board posts.

EPA Reportedly Will Pitch Air Quality Plan

The stricter smog standard being proposed by the Obama administration joins a string of historic - and controversial - moves by the administration to improve air quality.

People familiar with the proposal say the Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce a plan today with a preferred range of 65 to 70 parts per billion to reduce the amount of smog-forming pollution allowed in the air.

Republicans say it's a job creation killer.

Smog is linked to widespread health problems including asthma and lung disease.