Posts tagged 'speculators'

Speculation’s part in gas prices downplayed

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Sep 02 2011 09:52 | Comment |

The Federal Trade Commission weighed into the intensifying debate in Washington about oil-market speculation, saying supply-and-demand forces drive gasoline prices, not speculative oil traders, the WSJ reports. The FTC didn’t investigate speculation independently, but reviewed the available research and found it inconclusive. The agency also looked at competition in the oil industry and whether it affected gasoline prices from 2005 to early 2011 in the report published on Thursday. The commission also said that gas prices rise faster than they fall, a phenomenon known as “asymmetric pricing” or “rockets and feathers,” an ABC consumer report adds. Read more

Speculators, slapped

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jun 24 2011 10:39 | Comment |

The US doesn’t like high oil prices. Neither does it like the speculators it thinks exacerbates them.

So why not take aim at both? Read more

The silver crowd

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

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| May 05 2011 15:27 | Comment |

The wonders of Google auto-suggest, silver vox pop edition:

 Read more

US regulator eyes curbs on speculators

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jan 14 2011 09:24 | Comment |

Sweeping plans to curb speculation in raw materials including oil, gold and wheat have been proposed by US regulators, the FT says. The plans come amid fears that surging prices for fuel and agricultural commodities could lead to a food crisis and threaten recovery. But they face an uphill battle to survive after strong opposition even within the regulatory panel that has drawn them up. Platts reports the Commodity Futures Trading Commission voted 4-1 to propose position limits in 28 commodities. Read more

David Rosenberg’s cartoon-ish 2011

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Jan 12 2011 16:56 | Comment |

David Rosenberg’s gone all cartoony.

The Gluskin Sheff analyst seems to have given up on on words and is instead using charts — and Loony Tunes — to illustrate his (very salient) points. Read more

It’s a zero-sum game Mr. Hari

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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| Jul 05 2010 12:40 | Comment |

In case you missed it, the Independent’s Johann Hari has done a Matt Taibbi – yes he of Vampire Squid fame.

But this time the author doesn’t just accuse the bank of gross financial manipulation, he accuses the institution of single-handedly starving millions around the world 2006 onwards. Read more

The pictorial, speculative, yen carry trade

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| May 28 2010 06:01 | Comment |

Academics have been busy figuring out ways to plug the gaps in pre-crisis financial data, FT Alphaville says — and in doing so they’ve managed to quantify the notoriously opaque yen carry trade. It’s not pretty, but it’s a worthy attempt. Read more

CME opposes plan over limits

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Apr 28 2010 03:41 | Comment |

CME Group is opposing a plan by the US commodity regulator to limit speculative energy trading by hedge funds, investment firms, banks and oil companies, reports the FT. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission in January proposed to limit traders’ holdings in US crude oil, natural gas, heating oil and gasoline futures and options. Read more

Lagarde calls for European CFTC

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Apr 14 2010 03:26 | Comment |

France has called on the European Union to set up its own US-style Commodity Futures Trading Commission to regulate commodity derivatives and curb market volatility, reports the FT. Christine Lagarde, finance minister, said on Tuesday that the idea would be “highly welcome”. The move is a sign that concern over volatility in commodities and commodity derivatives – often referred to as “excessive speculation” in the US – appears to have reached some European politicians. Read more

Trojan speculators, or, one headache for the Greek authorities

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Mar 23 2010 08:20 | Comment |

Something of an intellectual challenge looms ahead for the Greek government, as it transpires that the Greek State-controlled Hellenic Post Bank spent nearly €1bn last year to secure positions against the possible bankruptcy of the Greek state, writes FT Alphaville. Read more

Chart du jour, commodity speculator edition

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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| Mar 22 2010 16:05 | Comment |

The ever watchful Sean Corrigan at Diapason Commodities drew our attention on Monday to the state of outright net speculative length in crude products on the Nymex.

Here’s the chart: Read more

No, not everyone is shorting the euro

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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| Mar 03 2010 13:44 | Comment |

On Wednesday, Bank of New York Mellon’s FX analyst Simon Derrick proffered some wise words on the matter of currency speculation and the recent sell-off in both the euro and pound.

Just like FT Alphaville, Derrick has cautioned that a little perspective is needed when reviewing the CFTC’s weekly International Monetary Market (IMM) open-interest figures. Read more

The not entirely unexpected Germano-Greek inquisition

| Mar 01 2010 14:40 | Comment |

Speculators, beware.

From Reuters on Monday: Read more

And so it begins…

| Feb 12 2010 11:05 | Comment |

…the backlash against those nasty conspiratorial financial speculators who have caused all this sovereign debt crisis stuff, that is.

The following quotes come from a Newsnight interview with Christine Lagarde, France’s finance minister. Read more

Let’s throw a concert for Greece

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Feb 12 2010 08:27 | Comment |

The EU’s response to the Greek crisis has fallen rather flat.

Markets are lacklustre on Friday morning — a day after European leaders pledged “determined and co-ordinated action if needed to safeguard stability” of the eurozone. 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

More evidence speculators are not to blame for commodity moves

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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| Oct 28 2009 15:45 | Comment |

Barclays Capital does a nice job of assessing the latest back-dated release from the CFTC on commodity index trader positions in the CBOT corn market.

The CFTC statistics, released on October 20, present disaggregated positions of swap dealers and managed money going back to 2006. They were released in an attempt to provide further transparency to 2007 figures, which originally hoped to address the issue of speculator influence on commodity prices  As Barcap explain: Read more

Barcap say speculators are not to blame!

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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| Sep 08 2009 08:28 | Comment |

Last Friday the CFTC re-categorised the way it presents trader positions in its weekly report to reflect more specifically the type of contracts being held by “managed money”  and “swap dealers” — ie, funds and index-funds or financials hedging swap positions.

Anyone hoping the figures would, once and and for all, prove speculative positions controlled far too much length in the energy market might, however, be disappointed. Read more

How effective are speculative limits in commodities anyway?

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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| Aug 27 2009 15:18 | Comment |

As has been well-publicised, the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) is considering increasing position limits in energy commodities trading, on the perception that large speculative inflows may have contributed to last summer’s epic oil price-moves.

Whether speculators were indeed to blame, however, is still being hotly debated — as, for that matter, is the question of how effective position limits on non-commericial entities might actually be in curbing volatility. Read more

Dresdner/Commerzbank blames oil speculators

Tracy Alloway used to be deputy editor of FT Alphaville. Here she learned the details of derivatives, the absurdities of accounting and the various structures of ... erm ... structured finance. She now covers big US banks for the FT paper, including Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. She pops up on FT Alphaville every once in a while.

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| Aug 21 2009 13:30 | Comment |

Wow, the commods analysts at Dresdner/Commerzbank have taken a rather bold — if slightly self-congratulatory — stand on oil speculators.

In a note published on Thursday, analysts Eugen Weinberg, Barbara Lambrecht and Carsten Fritsch, are very clear: oil speculators have driven up oil prices, and pending an imminent clampdown by the CFTC, those oil prices will now be going down — closer to their fundamentals. Read more

Evil commodities speculators in the dock

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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| Jul 28 2009 15:55 | Comment |

The CFTC hearings into the evil commodity speculators have got under way in Washington.  Those testifying on Tuesday include:

Panel One:   Jeff Sprecher, Intercontinental Exchange and Terry Duffy, Chicago Mercantile Exchange     Panel Two:   Todd Petzel, Futures Industry Association; Ben Hirst, Delta Airlines; Laura Campbell, American Public Gas Association; and Sean Cota, Petroleum Marketers Association of America. Read more

What’s really moving the energy markets

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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| Jul 13 2009 09:58 | Comment |

Supply? Bleh.

Demand? Bleh. Read more