We noted earlier this week how a recently released United Nations report on price formation in commodity markets had recommended that government take an active role in attempting to manage commodity prices.
We found this disturbing and pointed out how the report acknowledged some of the fundamental factors behind the recent surge in commodity prices but then ignored them in seeking solutions.
Well now the United Nations has wandered into the analysis of what is going on in commodity markets, releasing a report this week, and appears to have fallen into the blame speculators camp. While I did not read the 80-page report cover to cover, some of the recommendations in the UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) report are downright scary.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) filed a civil enforcement action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against three energy trading firms and two individuals charging them with unlawfully manipulating and attempting to manipulate WTI crude oil prices traded at the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) from January 2008 to April 2008.
