Oil dropped 5% from 67 to 63
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- A perfect storm made up
1) of bad economic data,
2) a sell-off in Shanghai and
3) hearings on curbing speculation in energy trading
sent most commodities sharply lower and also pressured stocks on Wall Street Wednesday.
The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index /quotes/comstock/11j!i1:cr\y (CRB 243.96, -6.25, -2.50%) , a benchmark that gauges the prices of major commodities, fell 2.4% to 244.13 points.
Overnight, stocks in Shanghai tumbled 5% on some disappointing Chinese corporate profits and fears of possible central-bank moves to tighten lending. See full story.
'Traders are starting to realize that there's going to be a new cop in town.'
Fadel Gheit, Oppenheimer & Co.
"The big sell-off there put us in a bearish mood," said Phil Flynn, senior energy-market analyst at Alaron Trading. "We've been living on China time in the oil market and were still celebrating their economic rebound."
Hearings
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The sell-off also took place as the Commodity Futures Trading Commission held the second of three hearings to examine whether speculation has unduly influenced the energy markets. Wednesday's hearings featured giant brokerage Goldman Sachs Group /quotes/comstock/13*!gs/quotes/nls/gs (GS 158.54, -2.00, -1.25%) , which presented its case against regulating energy pits. See full story.
Some traders, such Flynn at Alaron, believed the sell-off to be purely coincidental with the hearings. But for others, the perspective of new regulations in commodities has spooked the market.
"Traders are starting to realize that there's going to be a new cop in town," said Fadel Gheit, energy analyst at Oppenheimer & Co.
"Anybody that knows anything about the business knows that these markets are manipulated by traders," he added. "There has to be an honest cop in there. I think there's some correction in the cards, and commodities prices will have to come down.