JPMorgan's unbridled speculation touched the price of a full range of commodities to the benefit of JPMorgan Chase and at the cost of consumers most everywhere.
The frenzy of investment has driven up the prices of a wide range of commodities, from iron ore for the steel in building girders to copper for household plumbing, enriching many countries that export them.
The Act is especially sensitive to the fact that not all futures transactions are created equal, and thus it provides for a thoughtful range of fees covering the entire range of commodity transactions.
Still, over the long run, demand for a range of commodities is likely to be high because of the rapid industrialization of China, India and other nations, as well as continued demand by markets including the Middle East.
This growth in trading resulted mainly from the introduction of futures markets for a wide range of commodities and financial instruments and from the initiation in 1982 of options contracts, including for agricultural commodities.
Last Thursday, the rout spread to a wide range of commodities, including coffee, cotton and oil, as investors looked at silver's plunge, as well as global interest rate trends and other economic news, and concluded that the yearlong boom in commodities prices was ending.
The frenzy has driven up prices of a wide range of commodities, from iron ore for the steel in building girders to copper for household plumbing, enriching many countries that export them.
Unlike the technical knowledge at the periphery of the produce space, the technology at the centre can be readily applied to a wide range of commodities and lead to diversification and further growth.
On Thursday, prices for a wide range of commodities plunged, with the broad CRB commodities index closing down 4.9 percent.
