position limits

Who is writing comments for CFTC’s O’Malia?

July 6, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

Is someone ghost-writing Scott O’Malia’s comments on CFTC rules and guidelines? According to John Kemp of Reuters, who recently wrote a very intriguing piece exploring the transformation of O’Malia’s comments into eight thousand word legal briefs, it’s likely.

During O’Malia’s first two years, his statements were–on average, around 1,240 words, with two footnotes–similar to his colleagues. But since October 2011 the average has jumped to 3,020, with 17 footnotes–including two statements of over 8,000 [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, National, Wall Street Tagged With: CFTC, position limits, Scott O'Malia, Wall Street

Myths and facts about commodity speculation

June 1, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

The Commodity Markets Oversight Coalition (CMOC), an alliance of commodity derivatives end-users and consumers, has compiled an excellent list of commonly held myths about speculation in commodity markets and facts that dispel them.

For example, here’s one of my favorites:

MYTH: Restraining financial speculation is against American principles and free market ideals.

FACT: Even America’s Founding Fathers worried about financial speculation and feared its excesses. In a letter to President George Washington on May 23, [Read More...]

Filed Under: Congress, National, Wall Street Tagged With: CMOC, commodity speculation, Dodd Frank, position limits, speculation

Stabenow urges full implementation of Wall Street Reform, now

May 21, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

On Friday Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, called on officials overseeing the implementation of Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to finalize the new rules and provide the strong protection markets and consumers need. The rules have languished for months, giving Wall Street lobbyist and House Republicans an open season to effectively gut and kill any substantive reform.

In her letter Stabenow also [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, Congress, National, Wall Street Tagged With: CFTC, Consumer Protection Act, Dodd Frank, position limits, Senate Agriculture Committee, Senator Stabenow, Wall Street

CFTC Considers Loosening Dodd-Frank Speculation Limits

May 18, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

(Bloomberg)-The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission may propose easing Dodd-Frank Act regulations limiting speculation in oil, natural gas, wheat and other commodities, according to four people briefed on the matter.

The CFTC’s five commissioners are considering a private vote to change how companies aggregate their trading positions when they have ownership stakes in other firms, according to the people, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The agency may propose raising to 50 percent from 10 [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, Congress, National, Wall Street Tagged With: Cargill, CFTC, commodity speculation, ConocoPhillips, ISDA, position limits, SIFMA

Senators defend CFTC in court over position limits

April 16, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

Carl Levin (D-MI) and nineteen other senators filed a friend-of-the-court brief last week to help the Commodity Futures Trading Commission defend its recently passed position limits in oil and other commodity markets aimed at stopping excessive speculation.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) filed their suit in December, claiming that the new rules “would force their members to drastically alter their businesses, cost them tens [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, Congress, National, Wall Street Tagged With: Carl Levin, CFTC, Dodd Frank, excessive speculation, position limits

India tightens position limits on agricultural commodities

April 3, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

Following last week’s announcement to terminate all guar seed and guar gum contracts, India’s commodity market regulator, the Forward Markets Commission (FMC), says that it plans to to lower position limits–cutting the number of contracts any trader can hold in agricultural commodities. These recent measures to curb excessive speculation came after India’s food minister ordered an investigation into volatile prices.

“The review will be done now and we will be consulting with the exchanges as [Read More...]

Filed Under: International, Wall Street Tagged With: commodity market regulation, excessive speculation, India, position limits

Speculators are driving up gas prices

March 21, 2012 by Brennan 1 Comment

Dennis Kelleher, president of Better Markets, lays out a clear and convincing argument that Wall Street speculators play a significant role in rising gas prices in a CNN op-ed today:

Now, there is broad agreement — from airlines to coffee chains to farmers to President Obama — that excessive speculation in commodity markets is needlessly driving up prices.

So it’s not a question of if, but how much of an effect does this speculation have [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, Congress, National, Wall Street Tagged With: Better Markets, CNN, commodity market regulation, commodity speculation, Dennis Kelleher, excessive speculation, gas prices, House Natural Resource Committee, oil speculation, position limits

Former CFTC commissioner joins top DC lobbying firm

February 8, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

Back in January former head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), Walter Lukken, was named head of the Futures Industry Association (FIA)–the chief lobbying arm for futures investors. Lukken was criticized during his time at the CFTC for turning a blind eye to chaotic commodity markets in 2008, which many saw as protecting the interests of Wall Street over healthy commodity markets.

Well, it’s happened again. Another former CFTC regulator turns to working for [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, National, Wall Street Tagged With: CFTC, lobbying, Michael Dunn, Patton Boggs, position limits, Walter Lukken

U.S. Appeals Court dismisses lawsuit against CFTC position limits

January 23, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

Three judges on a U.S. Court of Appeals panel have dismissed a suit filed by The International Swaps and Derivatives Association Inc. (SIFMA) and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association against new Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) position limit rules, on the grounds that the legislation does not indicate the rules can be directly challenged to the appeals court.

With the dismissal, SIFMA will have to return it’s focus to the district court case, which had been [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, National, Wall Street Tagged With: commodity markets, Dodd-Frank bill, excessive speculation, position limits, SIFMA, Wall Street

Three randomly selected judges set to hear case against CFTC position limits

January 13, 2012 by Brennan Leave a Comment

Three judges are now set to hear arguments by The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association and the International Swaps and Derivatives Association–two leading financial industry groups–that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) overstepped its authority when it passed position limit rules in October. The two groups filed suit in December claiming that the CFTC failed to show that the rules did more harm than good for commodity futures markets.

The three randomly selected judges include [Read More...]

Filed Under: CFTC, Congress, National Tagged With: CFTC, commodity speculation, Dodd-Frank bill, financial regulation, Occupy Wall Street, position limits, Wall Street

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