Posts tagged 'index speculators'

Pop goes the index effect

Paul Murphy is the founding editor of FT Alphaville.

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| Mar 12 2010 21:26 | Comment |

The index effect — the long-observed fact that if a stock joins one of the major indices, the price goes up — seems to be on the wane.

Shrinking everywhere, that is, but the UK. Read more

Digging deeper into the CFTC’s position limits

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jan 20 2010 10:21 | Comment |

Energy analyst Olivier Jakob from Petromatrix has crunched through the CFTC’s proposals on position limits released last week.

His findings are worth flagging up because they differ to the consensus view that the proposals, if enforced, would be a benign influence on energy markets. Read more

Is the CFTC trying to restrict physical traders after all?

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jan 15 2010 13:08 | Comment |

Thursday’s CFTC proposals on position limits in the energy markets were largely seen as a ‘light touch’ by industry voices. This is because, quantifiably speaking, they set loose limits that hardly went beyond those already enforced by exchanges in the form of accountability limits.

The CFTC also confirmed the new rules would only affect about 10 larger traders, who could probably seek exemptions anyway. That said, in historical terms, the limits would have prevented the likes of Amaranth, the USO and UNG amassing the sort of positions that skewed the markets in previous years. Read more

CFTC targets funds in position-limit clampdown

Izabella Kaminska joined FT Alphaville in October 2008. Before that she worked as a producer at CNBC, a natural gas reporter at Platts and an associate editor of BP's internal magazine.

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| Jan 14 2010 18:29 | Comment |

The oil markets have been waiting for it since the summer of 2009; some players have even acted in anticipation already.

But it wasn’t until Thursday that the commodity world got details of what the CFTC really had in mind in terms of increased regulation of energy markets, and position limits. Read more