CFTC Proposes Position Limits on Energy Speculation

(Bloomberg) — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission today proposed limits on energy speculation that may curtail the investment of large banks and swaps dealers in the markets for oil, natural gas, heating oil and gasoline.

Speculators in the futures market will no longer be lumped in with commodity-linked businesses like airlines and oil companies that are allowed to exceed limits on the number of energy futures one trader can hold, according to the proposal.

Swaps dealers, index funds and commodity traders have been waiting for the proposal since August, when the commission last held hearings amid concerns that speculators drove oil prices to a record high of $147.27 a barrel in 2008.