Political Crossfire Forums Index Political Crossfire Forums
Discuss and Debate Political, cultural and social issues.

 Political Crossfire Forums Index

How much do speculators influence the price of oil?
Click here to go to the original topic

 
       Political Crossfire Forums Index -> Economics
Click here to go to the original topic        View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
CursedLemon



Joined: 07 Sep 2006
Posts: 341
Location: Nashville, for the time being...

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 11:20 pm    Post subject: How much do speculators influence the price of oil?  

Can someone explain that to me?
Back to top  
beachbum bob



Joined: 14 Sep 2005
Posts: 25828
Location: Home state of the ChiSox and Obama

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 9:17 am    Post subject: Re: How much do speculators influence the price of oil?  

CursedLemon wrote: Can someone explain that to me?

oil
unleaded gas

are all commodities and BIG OIL have commodity traders...as well as the big investment houses

option contracts
future contracts
spot prices


no small wonder the price of gas went down...after Goldman-Sachs unloaded 2/3's of the gas futures, which drove the price down

Where did paulson come from? He is the current Sec. of Treasury...and former head of Goldman-Sachs

the explanation of how commodity market works can be googled
Back to top  
gavnook



Joined: 18 Jan 2006
Posts: 1970
Location: Arizona

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:04 pm    Post subject:  

Speculators raise prices in anticipation of higher future market clearing prices and lower prices in anticipation of lower future prices.
Back to top  
PS_Student



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Osan

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 1:49 am    Post subject:  

Speculatos anticipate [oil] prices by using trends, current affairs and how they would affect the price for [oil]. Speculators then tell agencies to make contracts with oil firms for the lowest prices possible. An example of this would be a speculator anticipating an oil increase from like 5$ a barrel and foresees next years price will be 9$ a barrel (due to like... no oil from Venezuela) They then help agencies and firms make a contract (let's say, they contract at 6$)so the supplier is obligated to sell at 6$ a barrel even if the market clearing is 50$ a barrel.
Back to top  
Brock



Joined: 04 Oct 2006
Posts: 297

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 6:41 pm    Post subject:  

PS_Student wrote: Speculatos anticipate [oil] prices by using trends, current affairs and how they would affect the price for [oil]. Speculators then tell agencies to make contracts with oil firms for the lowest prices possible. An example of this would be a speculator anticipating an oil increase from like 5$ a barrel and foresees next years price will be 9$ a barrel (due to like... no oil from Venezuela) They then help agencies and firms make a contract (let's say, they contract at 6$)so the supplier is obligated to sell at 6$ a barrel even if the market clearing is 50$ a barrel.

are you saying that the supplier, only sells for $6 and the traders mark it up to $50 and resell it?
Back to top  
PS_Student



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Osan

Posted: Sun Oct 29, 2006 7:16 pm    Post subject:  

Brock wrote:
are you saying that the supplier, only sells for $6 and the traders mark it up to $50 and resell it?

I believe the trader ensures a contract at purchasing barrels at 6$ even if there was like supply shortage and caused the barrels to skyrocket to 50$. What they do with the barrels goes into their own personal interests so I dunno.
Back to top  
chris_mthomas



Joined: 29 Jan 2006
Posts: 561
Location: Shenzhen

Posted: Mon Oct 30, 2006 9:40 am    Post subject:  

Quote: How much do speculators influence the price of oil?
Increased speculation in a market makes the prices more volatile.
Back to top  
PS_Student



Joined: 28 Oct 2006
Posts: 50
Location: Osan

Posted: Wed Nov 01, 2006 6:00 pm    Post subject:  

woops-
Just realized I was explaining Speculation + Hedging, speculation I think is to just use trends to guess the prices in the future. The buying of oil at cheaper prices is the act of using speculation to hedge, and undergo arbitrage to get profit of some sort
Back to top  
Click here to go to the original topic
       Political Crossfire Forums Index -> Economics
Page 1 of 1

Political Forums|Politics Connected|Contact Us



Powered by phpBB Search Engine Indexer
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group