Energy market participants are relaxed about the position limits on speculative trading proposed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission today. Limits have been expected for some time after an inquiry in the summer of 2009 and a subsequent review by the Commission, and the consensus is that the proposed limits are quite high and would affect few players.
The front month futures price for West Texas Intermediate crude oil at the New York Mercantile Exchange remained virtually unchanged throughout the CFTC hearing on position limits.
Amrita Sen, a commodities analyst at Barclays Capital in London, said: “[The announcement...