Update: Wall Street has gone Mad (Oil Jumps $25/barrell)
That type of headline is frightening enough given that we're coming into winter and there are real fears of people freezing to death in the north as they are unable to heat their homes.
We've had this discussion here at Kos in the past. It's not fearmongering, but a real and true fact that people have and will die due to the high cost of heating oil. Don't even get me started on the people (some here at Kos) that seem to revel in the idea.
But what happened today doesn't make sense.
The US dollar tanks and people are looking for a secure place to put their money and they pick oil. That much makes sense. WE were all expecting that to one degree or another.
But to stop panic buys there was a limit of $10.00 in either direction before trading should have been halted. And today that happened...for a few seconds.
The Nymex temporarily halted electronic crude oil trading after prices breached the $10 daily trading limit. Trading resumed seconds later after the daily limit was increased.
The huge rally was poised to shatter crude's previous one-day price jump of $10.75, set June 6.
What the hell happened here? Can someone explain why a daily trading limit could be increased in seconds?
Whatever reason, it's the same logic that got us into this mess inthe first place.
Reported by Daily Kos
