US senator Bernie Sanders has released confidential data gathered by US commodities regulator the CFTC on oil derivatives market positions in 2008. The data show banks holding eight of the nine largest open positions on US crude futures and over-the-counter swaps as WTI futures rose towards an intra-day record high of $147/bl. Vitol had the secondlargest crude open position. Sanders says banks "and other speculators on Wall Street dominated the crude oil futures market, causing tremendous damage to the economy". But the data include off-exchange derivatives positions as well. Open interest on US crude is over 3.5 times larger in the Sanders data than it was on Nymex WTI futures and options at the time. The CFTC studied the 2008 oil market and found noncommercial firms played no major role in the rally (AGM, 14 September 2009, p4).
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