Shocker: Federal Regulators Conclude That Oil Speculators Not Responsible For High Gas Prices
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has released financial data indicating that commodities traders engaged in oil speculation have had little ... driving the future price of oil down. Commodity index funds also have a much smaller share ... of transactions worth billions of dollars between January and June of this year. Commodity futures [more...]
Date: 2008-09-15 14:50:11
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17/10/08. Commoditex Review and Other News
Hi, guys! I would first like to thank one of my readers who recommended this program to me. So today I can introduce it to you – meet Commoditex! ... by the name Commoditex is apparently involved with commodity trading, meaning gold, oil, soybeans and other products. This is how they describe their investment strategy in a nutshell: “Trading with oil [more...]
Date: 2008-10-17 17:02:05
Maryland’s Gensler finds a spot in Obama administration
Some Marylanders’ names have been tossed around as possibilities for posts in the Obama administration (i.e. former Rep. Wayne Gilchrest and Dr ... as his pick to head up the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. The CFTC oversees $5 trillion in futures and options trading — oil and other commodities prices have been hot-button issues there this year [more...]
Date: 2008-12-18 18:11:06
Remember $50 a Barrel Oil? It Has Returned.
Remember $50 a Barrel Oil? It Has Returned. Posted by David Gaffen ... , falling to one-third of that price in recent trading. Scott Magnuson, commodity trading advisor at MF Global, says oil could eventually settle into a trading range in the $45 to $50 area, but to date [more...]
Date: 2008-11-20 15:03:47
Commodities jump alongside oil prices
By MADLEN READ NEW YORK (AP) — Metals and grains rose alongside energy prices in light trading Friday, after a nine-day plunge in oil encouraged investors to buy back into the struggling commodities market. But so far, there is little evidence that crude oil or other battered commodities [more...]
Date: 2008-12-27 14:09:19
The case for oil price speculation improves
U.C. San Diego economist Jim Hamilton has long argued that fundamental forces of supply and demand explain oil prices better than "speculation ... by David Cho, "A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading." Hamilton closed his dissection ... recently deemed by the Commodities Futures Trading Commission to be more of a speculator than [more...]
Date: 2008-08-27 16:28:48
Trade, Letter of Credit Woes Finally Go Mainstream
We have been writing for a few weeks that the credit crisis had engulfed letters of credit, a crucial instrument in international trade, particularly of commodities (ex oil) and other raw materials. With banks hesitating to extend ... of regulators and international trade organizations . From the Times Online: The credit drought [more...]
Date: 2008-11-03 02:24:33
Four at Four: Unstable Foundations
It’s almost as if the oil contract itself saw the equity rallies of Thursday and Friday as a personal affront, ... , senior vice president at Alaron Trading. “The big question is, ‘Is it just one commodity fund ... massive spikes — oil hit $130 a barrel in trading today [more...]
Date: 2008-09-22 11:36:00
Oil speculation bigger than we knew
by Frank James For the past few months as oil-futures prices were breaking records with a barrel of oil topping out around $150, ... ' influence. Last month, the main U.S. regulator of commodities trading, the Commodity Futures Trading [more...]
Date: 2008-08-15 20:09:58
Oil Speculators. WP: Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ... of fuel. Even more surprising to the commodities markets was the massive size of Vitol's portfolio [more...]
Date: 2008-08-21 13:45:50
Oil Breaks Below $38; Bespoke's Commodity Snapshot
The amazing fall in oil continued this morning, with the commodity falling below $40, $39, and $38 ... . Oil1218 Below we highlight our trading range charts of ten major commodities. The green ... , and moves above this shading are considered overbought or oversold. Most commodities have staged rallies [more...]
Date: 2008-12-18 15:18:11
Olbermann Blames McCain for Bipartisan Clinton-signed 'Enron Loophole'
Almost two years ago, NewsBusters wondered when media would begin reporting Enron's ties to higher oil and gas prices ... "Enron Loophole" created by the enactment of the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Though ... trading, deregulation that lets speculators overwhelm trading in oil futures, those complicated [more...]
Date: 2008-06-20 14:38:34
SPECULATORS ARE NOT DRIVING UP OIL PRICES, REPORT SAYS
As Congress debates how to curtail the role of speculators and rein in rising oil prices, ... report by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission with help from six other agencies, including ... offer investors a future return linked to commodity markets, were roughly balanced between purchases [more...]
Date: 2008-07-25 13:21:56
Stopping Oil Manipulation
This morning on Money for Breakfast Commissioner Bart Chilton of the CFTC joined me to discuss yesterday’s charges against Optiver for manipulating ... for futures trading in oil as well as many more commodities), the right to oversee over the counter trading [more...]
Date: 2008-07-25 19:22:22
More speculation about those oil speculators
I normally leave it to folks like Dean Baker to beat up on the press ... their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol's books last month ... in oil and a number of other commodity markets. The CFTC separates the holders of those contracts [more...]
Date: 2008-08-22 04:02:06
Obama goes after McCain, oil speculation
by John McCormick Sen. Barack Obama's campaign went on the offensive again today on energy related matters, charging that a co-chairman for Sen ... said the provision in law exempts some energy traders from regulation and thus prevents the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from fully overseeing the oil futures market and investigating cases [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 18:55:46
Bespoke's Commodity Snapshot
Below we highlight our trading range charts of ten major commodities. The green shading represents two standard deviations above and below the commodity's 50-day moving average. As shown, oil continues its epic collapse along with most other commodities. Natural [more...]
Date: 2008-12-04 21:01:01
Vultures
Nothing to see here, just move along: Regulators had long classified a private Swiss energy conglomerate called Vitol as a trader that primarily helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures Trading Commission examined Vitol’s books last month, it found that the firm was in fact [more...]
Date: 2008-08-21 14:42:10
Earnings on Tap this Week
Earnings season does not really begin in earnest until NEXT week but the first wave is hitting this week ... . That said, we hold a few commodity stocks on the "reflation" trade and any day oil, or the Baltic Dry Index rise HAL9000 and friends drive up commodity stocks as if the world economy will turn any [more...]
Date: 2009-01-05 12:30:07
Don't Blame the Speculators; Without Futures Markets, Oil Might Be At $200 Instead of $135
Excerpts below from the Fortune Magazine article "Don't Blame the Oil Speculators: ... former U.S. Commodities Futures Trade Commission chief economist Gerald Gay. "No, they're clueless ... Misunderstanding of How Futures Markets Work": Here's a suggestion: The next time a Congressional committee [more...]
Date: 2008-06-28 02:03:05
Morning Brief: U.S. and Iraq nearing troop agreement
Morning Brief: U.S. and Iraq nearing troop agreement Thu, 08/21/2008 - 9:54am Top Story Khalid Mohammed - Pool/Getty Images U.S ... of speculators appear to rule the oil markets. According to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ... for the New York Times Magazine. Obama advisors Richard Clarke and Susan Rice slammed "quick-draw [more...]
Date: 2008-08-21 13:05:11
Has Oil Broken Down?
Commodities These commodity market blowups are becoming all-too-familiar in the last few years ... in a commodity turned into a buying frenzy, fueled at first by speculators caught up in the mere expectation ... at Alaron Trading in Chicago. SemGroup said in its bankruptcy filing that it had bet that crude [more...]
Date: 2008-07-24 16:38:58
Oil Prices and Speculation
The Washington Post says the scale of speculative activity in commodities markets is larger than previous estimates indicated: A Few Speculators Dominate Vast Market for Oil Trading, by David Cho, Washington Post ... helped industrial firms that needed oil to run their businesses. But when the Commodity Futures [more...]
Date: 2008-08-21 07:42:00
Tuesday Trades
The long T-bond trade seems to go bust much like the short oil trade did earlier today and Friday. I have a very tight stop on my TLT position ... at the charts my sense is that money is rotating into the inflation trade with Agriculture and Commodity [more...]
Date: 2009-01-06 05:09:02
Oil Scapegoat Update: CFTC Finally Finds Some Evil Speculators!
The Netherlands is known more for its bucolic landscapes, dotted with windmills and tulip beds, than for its connection to energy markets. But that's where the Commodities Futures Trading ... the CFTC launched its probe into irregularities in energy markets. FT: The Commodity Futures Trading [more...]
Date: 2008-07-24 18:13:00
Bush Ends Executive Ban on Off-Shore Drilling and Oil Prices Drop 7% in two trading sessions
June 20, 2008 — USA Today: Democrat Barack Obama’s campaign released remarks he plans to make at the start of a news conference in ... of futures trading in commodities. – WLS ... on July 14 — $145.18. Price of oil at close on July 16 — $134.60. “Crude-oil futures tumbled $4.14 [more...]
Date: 2008-07-17 00:34:34
The oil-major prop desks cometh
Proprietary trading (Wikipedia): The term used in investment banking to describe when the firm's traders actively trade stocks, bonds, options, commodities, or other items with its own money as opposed to its customers' money, so as to make a profit for itself. Not so easy anymore says former Sempra Metals-economist turned Reuters columnist [more...]
Date: 2008-11-06 09:21:39
NYT's Krugman: Speculators schmeculators - demand is pushing oil higher, not traders
Filed under: International markets, Commodities, OilOne of the major economic debates on Main Street and in Washington concerns the influence of ... -- driven it higher than a level the commodity would trade at if the price were based solely on supply ... a commodity's price can rise a great deal, without the influence of speculators. His evidence: iron [more...]
Date: 2008-07-01 17:34:00
Trading in Jan 2009: Oil
This site does not provide financial advice and anything that you read here should in no way be construed as financial advice. Trading in shares and commodities has seen the average investor lose 50% of their money in 2008 ... and Gas the FTSE and AIM markets have a huge variety of options. Many are pure gambling bets at the moment [more...]
Date: 2009-01-04 22:24:00
As Per Astrology: Gold Will Be Safe Investment in 2009
Lt. Col. Ajay Jain, Commodity Online Leave the year 2008 behind and look for the future as the coming year is expected to bring good hopes for Asian ... and commodity markets. But hold on. The US and European economy may still suffer before it can rebound. Astro ... , this is right time for investment in crude oil for short term trading, since crude oil [more...]
Date: 2009-01-01 14:51:43
Four at Four: OPEC Gets Burned
This is a situation the market has not witnessed in some time: declines in oil, the dollar, bond yields and stocks ... Scott Magnuson, commodity trading advisor at MF Global. “The perception of another six to seven ... Paul Brigandi, vice president of trading at Direxion Funds. macys_art_160_20081217161108.jpg [more...]
Date: 2008-12-17 12:26:00
Four at Four: OPEC Gets Burned
This is a situation the market has not witnessed in some time: declines in oil, the dollar, bond yields and stocks ... Scott Magnuson, commodity trading advisor at MF Global. “The perception of another six to seven ... Paul Brigandi, vice president of trading at Direxion Funds. macys_art_160_20081217161108.jpg [more...]
Date: 2008-12-17 12:26:00
Potential Portfolio Candidates
I've been jettisoning some names this week to make way for new kids on the block; or in some cases, old friends we've once owned ... commodity stocks since HAL9000 trades** almost all of them in 1 group; if oil and/or the Baltic Dry ... you get trounced. These are just day traders paradise for now. Remember, to HAL9000 oil = coal = iron ore [more...]
Date: 2009-01-03 18:58:41
Obama Hates Oil Speculators, Hearts Ethanol
Bloomberg reports that Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama is proposing new rules to increase government interven... err... oversight in energy markets. He wants to "require the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate trading in energy futures contracts and direct the commission to investigate ways [more...]
Date: 2008-06-23 16:04:51
Oil Nears $100 — On the Way Down.
For a time, it looked as if the next round number of significance for oil was $200 a barrel, but unless something quite spectacular occurs, ... Consumers started to change their habits a bit,” says Scott Magnuson, commodity trading advisor at MF Global. David Aleman, senior trade analyst with Grand Central Trading Co. in Newport Beach, Calif., [more...]
Date: 2008-09-09 16:13:40
Four at Four: Crude Tensions
Gaza The deflationary trade that has reduced oil to a fraction of where it stood earlier in the year has been, for the time being, ... , it suggests that crude oil and other energy commodities are unlikely to bounce off their bottom dramatically [more...]
Date: 2008-12-29 12:09:00
What Can Onions Teach Us About Oil Prices?
Onions have no futures market, yet their recent price volatility makes the swings in oil and corn look tame ... in a commodity not in today's news: onions. The bulbous root is the only commodity for which futures trading is banned. Back in 1958, onion growers convinced themselves that futures traders were [more...]
Date: 2008-06-29 15:52:02
China’s FDI inflow seen at $95 bln in 2008 -minister
China will attract an estimated $95 billion of foreign direct investment (FDI) this year, Minister of Commerce Chen Deming said on Tuesday ... 22, 2008 — Aussie advances on firmer commodities, gains muted August 13, 2008 — Free Forex Trading ... Street Gains; Oil Extends Losses December 22, 2008 — HK dollar falls slightly, interbank rates ease [more...]
Date: 2008-12-23 05:55:42
Oil Traders: Don't Fence Us In
Investment bank and hedge fund representatives tell the Commodity Futures Trading Commission the oil market doesn't need more oversight [more...]
Date: 2008-06-17 00:51:19
Speculators are Part of the Market
In a July 21, 2008 column in the Jewish World Review with a shouting headline of STOP OIL SPECULATION NOW! ... trade the right to specified quantities of a specified commodity to be delivered at some point ... to deliver a barrel of crude petroleum on December 1, 2016 at a price of $150. Traders who believe the price [more...]
Date: 2008-07-24 22:30:22
Obama’s Plan To Address Energy Trading
This is one way to bring some sanity back to the price of oil, ... some energy traders from regulations that govern other exchange-traded commodities. Democrats call this “ ... years. Speculators also had purchased enough corn futures to fuel the entire U.S. ethanol production [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 18:56:50
Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight
The way Republicans tell it, the minute we start drilling off the coasts of California, Florida and elsewhere, the price of gas will go down ... for the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC), the government board that oversees commodities markets: “Yes ... follows.) The Enron Loophole is the nickname for a provision written into the [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 18:55:04
Closing Enron Loophole Would Drop Oil Prices 25% - 50% Overnight
Guest blogged by Jon Ponder, Pensito Review. Drilling off the coast of California, ... by Michael Greenberger, the former director of Trading & Markets for the Commodities Future Trading ... follows.) The Enron Loophole is the nickname for a provision written into the Commodity Futures [more...]
Date: 2008-06-22 19:42:52
Oil Set for Rebound as Record Drop Spurs OPEC Production Cuts
By Grant Smith and Mark Shenk Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Oil futures may rebound from their worst year to average $60 a barrel next year as OPEC makes ... be turning around.” Crude futures averaged $100 this year, the highest since crude began trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange in 1983. Oil plunged along with commodities from copper to corn [more...]
Date: 2008-12-30 00:25:00
Cebolas
“What onions teach us about oil prices” na CNN The bulbous root is the only commodity for which futures trading is banned. Back in 1958, onion growers convinced themselves that futures traders (and not the new farms ... in onions. The law still stands. And yet even with no traders to blame, the volatility in onion prices [more...]
Date: 2008-07-09 09:35:41
CFTC Report on High Oil Prices - "Speculation My A$$"
With a pending Senate vote on the "Stop Excessive Energy Speculation Act", it seems that we (not the TOD 'we', but the collective society 'we') ... . In this report, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), threw cold water on the recent ... , activity on the crude oil futures market – as measured by the number of contracts outstanding, trading [more...]
Date: 2008-07-23 14:47:59
Samuelson on Why We Should (Not) Shoot the Speculators
Who are these offensive souls? Well, they often don’t fit the stereotype of sleazy high rollers: ... and producers of commodities to hedge. Airlines can lock in fuel prices by buying oil futures; farmers can lock ... generally don’t buy the physical goods, whether oil or corn. Instead, they trade “futures contracts,” [more...]
Date: 2008-07-01 15:26:38
Senate Republicans Block Windfall Profits Tax on Big Oil Companies
... work on separate legislation to increase oversight of trading by the Commodity Futures Trading [more...]
Date: 2008-06-10 19:50:46
Study Shows Speculators Helped LOWER Oil Prices
It was said to be the year of speculators gone wild ... , the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has offered hard statistical data that financial trading hasn't ... -month period. In other words, index traders and swap dealers were driving the future price of oil [more...]
Date: 2008-09-17 15:39:38
It's Not The Cheese That Costs so Much
I admit that I can still be astonished. When I watched '60 Minutes' last night I saw a big surprise report that I was right all along about oil ... the commodities futures market. At the New York Mercantile Exchange, it's traded alongside cotton [more...]
Date: 2009-01-12 19:28:09
