“Those Evil Speculators, They Are Everywhere!”

On Tuesday afternoon President Barack Obama urged Congress to ramp up federal supervision of oil trading markets, including larger penalties for manipulation. He suggested giving the CFTC new authority to raise margin requirements for traders’ oil positions and stiffen civil and criminal penalties for businesses that are guilty of market manipulation.

“Rising gas prices means a rough ride for a lot of families” Obama said in remarks in the White House Rose Garden. “When gas prices go up it’s like an additional tax that comes right out of your pocket.”

Phil Flynn, an analyst at PFGBest in Chicago, said the move would have little impact on energy prices and may force some out of the U.S. market.

“To blame speculators for reflecting the fundamentals of the market is far stretched,” Flynn said. “If they raise the margins too high, it’s going to make the market less transparent, it’s going to force money overseas.”

Jeff Clark from the Growth Stock Wire wrote a few interesting point about the evil speculators in the market:

“President Obama is right. Evil speculators are pushing up the price of gasoline.

What else can explain it? Demand for gasoline is way down. Inventories are way up. So common sense argues the price should be lower. But it’s not. Clearly, it must be the evil speculators.

Of course, the speculators aren’t just hanging out at gas stations. Those evil-doers are all around us.

Look at the stock market…

The S&P 500 is 9% higher so far this year – which makes no sense at all. Retail investors have pulled $25 billion out of mutual funds so far in 2012, and stock exchange volume is 20% lower than where it was last year. How can stock prices be going up when demand is falling? It must be the evil speculators.

But the worst part is those little demons haven’t been confined to just the financial markets. They’re everywhere.

My health insurance premium is 15% higher today than it was last year – even though I haven’t been to the doctor in the past 12 months. My water bill is 12% higher this year, too – even though my usage is down.

Those evil speculators are pushing up the prices of everything…

… Except interest rates. Apparently, the little devils like cheap money. That explains why global interest rates look like this…

Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results

Only the combined efforts of the world’s central banks can keep interest rates this low while the price of everything else is rising. So we know who the real evil speculators are…”

We here at ACE Investment Strategists have been monitoring the Energy markets for quite some time. We believe there are many factors pushing the price of these commodities back and forth. With the right approach traders can potentially find many opportunities to try and capitalize on.

Read more from Jeff Clark from The GrowthStock Wire: Evil Speculators Are Everywhere

Let us know what you think. Do you curse the evil speculators? Or are you laughing to yourself every time you fill up?
Email us at  iinvest@chesapeakeinvestment.com.

“Always invest your time before you invest your money”

Chesapeake Investment Services
Managed Futures Specialists