A new policy paper by Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy shows a clear increase in the size and influence of noncommercial traders, or “speculators,” in the oil futures market since regulations were eased by the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. [It’s time to fix what Texan Phil Gramm slipped in as a rider.]
Speculators now constitute about 50 percent of those holding outstanding positions in the U.S. oil futures market, compared with only about 20 percent prior to 2002.
Peak oil or not peak oil.
“The tremendous increase in the market presence of speculators by fifteenfold speaks for itself.”