Government May Try to Curtail Oil Speculation

U.S. regulators may start stepping in to curb speculators in the energy markets, which would include oil and gasoline. The chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, Gary Gensler, used the rapid rise and fall of oil and gas prices over the past year as a prime example of the need for new regulations that would stop speculators in these commodities.

While the commodities would still be traded, there would be new rules regarding how they could be traded and who could trade them, in an attempt to curtail involvement by pure investors, not users and producers of the commodities, like farmers, airlines and other industries.

The end result could be more stable prices at the pump.

U.S. Considers Curbs on Speculative Trading of Oil (New York Times)