Report Faults Wall Street for High Energy Prices

[Bill USA]

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/10/14/report-faults-wall-street-for-high-energy-prices/


A new report by Better Markets, a nonprofit group advocating constraints on speculative trading, blames Wall Street for inflating prices at the gas pump and the grocery store.

The study centered on commodity index funds, investments tied to the value of oil, wheat and other commodity futures contracts. The funds, according to the Better Markets review of more than 25 years in data, have historically caused an uptick in futures market prices as they periodically exit expiring contracts and roll into a new batch of deals.

“The data shows the trading those funds do every month has severely disrupted and dramatically changed those markets, causing food and fuel prices to increase, hedging costs for businesses to rise, and prices to swing erratically up and down, which also raises everyone’s costs,” Dennis Kelleher, president and C.E.O. of Better Markets, said in a statement.

The report was timed to an upcoming meeting where regulators plan to unveil new limits on speculative commodities trading. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s so-called position limits rule, which stems from the Dodd-Frank financial regulatory overhaul, would cap the amount of futures contracts that a single trader or firm can hold on certain commodities. The limits would apply to trading on 28 commodities like oil, wheat and gold, while existing position limits apply to only nine items.
(more)

[liberal N proud]

1. Speculators were allowed to drive the prices up

[Autumn]

2. Right. And not a damn thing will be done about it.

Nothing

[ixion]

3. This is what Cheney's super secret 'Energy Task Force' meetings were about

and why he won't release the notes.

Enron was a proof-of-concept, now taken worldwide.

[dkf]

4. Isn't this just Contango and backwardation?

That is the mechanics of ETFs not speculation unless they are not happy ETFs exist at all.

[aquart]

5. Energy is too important to national security to be in private hands.

Look what greedy speculators have been able to do.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

6. THE FUTURES GAMBLR-ERS MAKE ALL PRICES DOUBLE OR MORE

[PETRUS]

7. K&R nt

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.