Commodities Trading and Gasoline Prices

On March 5th, 68 Congressional Democrats sent a letter to regulators at the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) urging that the agency “immediately enact strong position limits to eliminate excessive oil speculation as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.” The Dodd-Frank Act requires that the CFTC promulgate and enforce limits on oil speculation by January 17, 2011, but the CFTC has not yet done so. According to a Goldman Sachs report cited by the letter, “excessive oil speculation ‘translates out into a premium for gasoline at the pump of $.56 a gallon’”. Despite… [more]