Futures Commission Looking for Price Manipulation
Federal regulators are six months into a wide-ranging investigation of U.S. oil markets, with a focus on possible price manipulation.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Thursday it started the probe in December and took the unusual step of publicizing it “because of today’s unprecedented market conditions.”
The commission said details of the investigation remain confidential, but announced a handful of other initiatives designed to increase transparency of the energy futures markets.
The CFTC has an agreement with the United Kingdom Financial Services Authority and InterContinental Exchange Inc.’s Futures Europe to expand information-sharing for surveillance of energy commodity contracts with U.S. delivery points, including the West Texas Intermediate crude-oil futures contracts that trade on both the New York Mercantile Exchange and ICE Futures Europe in London.
