Bernstein: CFTC’s plans won’t stop wild speculation

Richard Bernstein, the former Chief Investment Strategist and Head of the Investment Strategy Group at Merrill Lynch and CEO of Richard Bernstein Capital Management, believes plans by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate speculation on the exchange won’t work because it will merely push speculators to the non-regulated over-the-counter markets. Bernstein also argues that it was hedge [...]

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 [...]