REUTERS/Jayanta Dey
The Federal Reserve is currently "reviewing" a landmark 2003 decision that first allowed regulated banks to trade in physical commodity markets.
Why exactly shouldn't banks be able to trade physical commodities? To see one argument, take a look at a big report from David Kocieniewski in today's New York Times.
According to Kocieniewski, a Goldman Sachs-owned company has been involved in an elaborate plan to move around aluminum in a way that has inflated market prices. The report states that every time an American consumer buys a product containing aluminum, they pay a price that has been affected by this maneuver. Sources told The New York Times that in total the plan has cost American consumers more than $5 billion over the last three years,
Kocieniewski's investigation centers on Metro International Trade Services, an aluminum storage company that Goldman Sachs bought three years ago. According to the Times, since Goldman bought the company the average wait time at the storage facility has gone up more than 20-fold. As the wait times are longer, the companies' revenues for storing the aluminium are higher. This cost is reflected in the market price of aluminum.
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