Perhaps it was a sign of things to come.
The Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) had to halt trading on all markets at 9:45 central today due to a “power issue at the ICE Primary Data Center” in Chicago.
Later the Senate passed the Farm Bill by a veto proof margin. The Bill included the CFTC Reauthorization Act of 2008, which included a measure added by sponsor Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) to eliminate the so called “Enron loophole,” and add quite a bit of regulatory oversight to ICE’s over-the-counter energy platform.
Feinstein has been fighting for years to give the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) added regulatory authority over energy markets. In a release last week after the measure was added to the Bill, Feinstein said, “This Bill puts all the significant energy trades on electronic platforms within the regulatory confines of the CFTC and will impose limits on the size of trader’s positions to prevent excessive speculation.”
