Increased energy market supervision; CFTC regulation

There is an interesting story by Reuters about how the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the U.K’s Financial Services Authority (FSA) have announced they will closely moniter energy markets. The story also details some of the CFTC’s plans to tighten commodity trading rules, including position limits in U.S. futures markets and sujecting more  over-the-counter derivatives subject to mandatory clearing. Under [...]

Brodsky calls for merger of CFTC and SEC

Reuters has a story about William Brodsky, CEO of the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), saying in a written statement there’s a “compelling need” to merge the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Brodsky was scheduled to testify at a House of Representatives Financial Services Committee hearing on Friday about the [...]

Speculators accounted for 71% of oil contracts of the NYMEX

Reuters have obtained statistics from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) which shows that speculators accounted for 71% of the benchmark oil contracts on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), the world’s largest for energy trading, as of April 2008. The story also looks at what impact the proposed regulation by CFTC chairman Gary Gensler could [...]

Goldman Sachs speak out on proposed CFTC regulation

Reuters has a story in which Goldman Sachs chief financial officer David Viniar says the bank’s energy trading is hedging and should be exempt from proposed U.S. government limits on the volume of contracts that speculators can trade. READ HERE

CFTC hopeful of new regulation by late October

A follow up story by Reuters about the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s process and plans for regulating excessive speculation in the commodity market. For those who have not been following this story, the CFTC’s moves are part of the Obama administration’s plans to tighten U.S. financial regulation and prevent another banking and market crisis.  Critics have  argued the global financial [...]

Senate probe finds excessive speculation in wheat markets

A story by Reuters about a U.S. Senate report finding excessive speculation in wheat markets: Commodity index traders had snapped up more than 200,000 wheat contracts by mid-2008 that helped fuel last year’s record jump in prices, which ended up raising costs for both industry and consumers, according to a  year-long bipartisan Senate probe. The [...]