Sunlight on a ‘Dark Market’

[depakid]

Source: NY Times

Lawmakers have leveled some scathing adjectives at the IntercontinentalExchange, known as the ICE, a technology company whose electronic markets are at the center of fierce debates about commodity speculation raging in Congress recently.

It has been called shadowy, conspiratorial, unregulated and opaque. There have been hints, too, of links to market manipulation and even the Enron scandal. “To be clear, ICE is a dark market,” Senator Maria Cantwell, Democrat of Washington, said during a Senate debate in May.

The vitriol seems to roll off the back of Jeffrey C. Sprecher, the 53-year-old founder of the ICE, which started as a private, high-ticket eBay for market professionals to trade esoteric electricity and natural gas derivatives.


...time and again, Mr. Sprecher has sat at polished tables in Washington and listened as his brainchild was described as a murky bazaar where prices have been manipulated, and where speculators have run wild and driven up oil prices to the detriment of consumers and the global economy.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/25/business/worldbusiness/25ice.html

[flashl]

1. But, but, the CFTC Report said speculators were just in our minds and there's no manipulations. nt