July 11, 2008 at 3:00 pm by Tom Lydon
The recent gush on high crude oil prices had many pondering if there was a conspiracy that was conspiring to send prices, shares and exchange traded funds (ETFs) off the charts. Speculators, in particular, were suspected of being the real market bogeyman.
The head of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) reported to Congress Thursday that there is no evidence that people are hoarding oil, and there is no systematic work showing traders working together in the current market to drive price up higher, reports Tom Doggett for Reuters.
There is nothing indicating that people are hoarding oil, that market traders are working together to push up crude oil prices, or that oil supplies are being hoarded. Later in the week, the CFTC will give Congress an interim report on the role speculators have played in this market.
The report probably doesn’t do much to inspire consumer confidence, but the following ETFs will likely enjoy any continued run-up in prices:
- United States Oil (USO), up 50.9% year-to-date
- Powershares DB Oil (DBO), up 54.5% year-to-date
- iPath ETN Crude Oil (OIL), up 50.4% year-to-date
