STOCK MARKET WATCH -- Wednesday, 18 April 2012

[Demeter]

38. AND THEN THERE'S THE POLITICAL ASPECTS

Obama moves to curb oil speculators

http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/17/markets/obama-oil-speculators/index.htm

The Obama administration proposed new measures Tuesday to limit speculation in the oil markets, seeking to draw a contrast with Republicans who have been calling for more domestic drilling during a time of near record gasoline prices.

The new proposals require oil traders to put up more of their own money for transactions, ask for more money for market enforcement and monitoring activities, and call for higher penalties for market manipulation.

"None of these will bring gas prices down overnight," Obama said at a White House press. "But they will prevent market manipulation, and help protect consumers."

Cracking Down on Oil Market Manipulation

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/04/17/cracking-down-oil-market-manipulation

Lately, President Obama has spent a lot of time discussing his all-of-the-above strategy for American energy.

The central idea is this: It's going to take a range of initiatives, from increased drilling to scientific breakthroughs in the development of renewable fuel sources, to put the United States on solid footing when it comes to our energy future.

But one of the reasons that fuel prices can jump unpredictably has nothing at all to do with production or even consumption. There are those who work to manipulate the energy markets for their own financial gain.

And today, President Obama announced a new series of steps to strengthen oversight over those markets -- while asking lawmakers to pass legislation aimed at curbing illegal behavior and holding the people who manipulate markets accountable.

As Gas Prices Cast Cloud, Obama Calls for Scrutiny on Market

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/18/us/politics/obama-urges-oil-market-scrutiny-as-gas-prices-cast-cloud.html?_r=1

With his re-election prospects influenced by the price of gasoline, President Obama on Tuesday demanded more “cops on the beat” to crack down on oil market manipulation, calling on Congress to bolster federal supervision of oil markets and to increase penalties for subverting markets.

In remarks in the Rose Garden, Mr. Obama, flanked by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. and Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, chided Republicans who have been calling for increased American production to tamp down prices.

“There are politicians who say if we just drill more, gas prices will come down,” Mr. Obama said. “What they don’t say is that we have been drilling more.” He said no amount of drilling would solve the fundamental imbalance “that we use more than 20 percent of the world’s oil and we only have 2 percent of the world’s oil reserves.”

But it is doubtful that Mr. Obama’s proposal will go anywhere; it would increase spending on enforcement by about $52 million at the same time that Republicans in Congress are trying to rein in federal regulations. The president wants Congress to increase the surveillance and enforcement staff at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission...

IS THAT AN ELECTION I SEE HOVERING ON THE HORIZON?