Rewarded

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last Monday was rewarded for its years of lobbying when the Obama administration proposed a major hike in the annual budget of the agency that oversees the energy futures markets. However, the Obama administration’s requested budget increase for another regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), was more modest.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Monday was rewarded for its years of lobbying when the Obama administration proposed a major hike in the annual budget of the agency that oversees the energy futures markets. However, the Obama administration’s requested budget increase for another regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), was more modest.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Monday was rewarded for its years of lobbying when the Obama administration proposed a major hike in the annual budget of the agency that oversees the energy futures markets. However, the Obama administration’s requested budget increase for another regulator, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), was more modest.

In a trading session that rewarded the contrarian viewpoint,natural gas futures tumbled lower Wednesday afternoon after traderslearned that the market withdrew a larger-than-expected volume ofgas out of the ground last week. The March contract shuffled 55cents lower during the last 70 minutes of trading yesterday toclose at $5.707, off 39 cents for the day.