Will This End Silver/Gold Manupulation ?

Will this hearing from CFTC with their positive note end the manipulation of Commodities(Energy/GOLD/SILVER) by the big banks end after having deregulated back in late 80's so that they have total control on thier position sizing on thier investments. Anyway here is whole story and Hearing.

CFTC to Hold Three Open Hearings to Discuss Energy, Position Limits, and Hedge Exemptions

First Hearing Scheduled for July 28, 2009

WASHINGTON -- The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) today announced that it will hold three hearings to address the current application of position limits and exemptions from position limits in energy markets. The hearings are scheduled to be held between 9 a.m. ET and 1 p.m. ET on Tuesday, July 28, Wednesday, July 29, and Wednesday, August 5, 2009.

The first hearing will consist of testimony by Congressman Bart Stupak, CFTC staff presentations and two witness panels:

Panel 1: Jeff Sprecher, Intercontinental Exchange, and
Terry Duffy, Chicago Mercantile Exchange

Panel 2: Todd Petzel, Futures Industry Association; Ben Hirst, Delta Airlines; Laura Campbell, American Public Gas Association; and Sean Cota, Petroleum Marketers Association of America

"The CFTC is directed by statute and provided with broad authorities to ensure the fair, open, and efficient functioning of futures markets," CFTC Chairman Gary Gensler said. "While the CFTC currently sets and ensures adherence to federal position limits for certain agriculture products, the agency does not do the same for energy markets. Our hearings, beginning next week, will be critical as we look into different approaches to regulate energy markets. I look forward to hearing from our panelists as we consider applying position limits to energy markets.Full Story

HyperInflation Vs Deflation

One of the key issues investors have to make a decision on in the next couple of years is what the likely profile for inflation is going to be and how it will affect their investment decisions.

Some have framed this decision as being one between deflation and hyper inflation. Even if we ignore the somewhat ridiculous “hyper” element of the choice, the implications for financial assets are hugely different.

If we see deflation then the obvious choice is government bonds, with equities likely to struggle and commodities still more so, while index linked bonds are likely to be a waste of money.

If we get inflation you can largely turn the order around, although too high an inflation rate is normally not to be good for equities either as interest rates tend to be high and volatile in such an outcome. Yet is this the real choice we are facing? The Financial Times has been full of articles arguing that inflation is a necessary outcome of the quantitative easing, normally citing a likely surge in “inflationary” lending.Full Story

Commercial real estate freefall

Commercial real estate values around the country have dropped 35 percent from their peak in October 2007, according to Moody’s REAL Commercial Property Price Indices.

The decline appears to be accelerating as the index dropped more than 15 percent during April and May. Transactional volume also fell along with value, which is showing signs of effects from distressed sales.

“May marked a new low for both counts,” the report said.

Along the lines of kicking a sector when it’s down, a rise in interest rates caused several deals to unravel, hitting apartment sales the hardest.

To calculate the index, Moody’s used 52 repeat sales, which had a dollar value of $400 million in April 2002.

Dan Fasulo, managing director of Real Capital Analytics, said Moody’s report is beginning to reflect true market pricing conditions “well ahead of any other indicators” and noted that commercial property values have fallen more than residential prices in annual terms.Full Story