I cheer every time I see oil prices go up. Besides being an oil company employee (meaning I keep my job and my pension stays healthy), it means more gas guzzlers being replaced by more fuel efficient small cars. Its painfull for a lot of people who made bad choices in the past, but their wasteful habits were never sustainable. The only thing people understand is money, so the market is doing its job just fine right now. Its just too bad us Americans couldn't accept a $2 gas tax years ago to speed that reality up. In my neighborhood of 100 houses, my wife and I are the only ones who drive Prii. Nothing but SUVS around here. At least for now...

ml19,

You must have endured scowls from some of your fellow employees or neighbors whose incomes are somehow linked to the oil industry for choosing to drive a Prius. My brother-in-law manages an oil field in Montana and I have sensed some slight smirks coming from him when he sees me drive up in the Pri or whenever the subjects of fuel economy or fuel conservation come up.

Trick question: why would Morgan Stanley (an investment bank) "predict" a rise in oil prices?

You would be surprised. I also work in the petroleum industry, and when I still drove my Prius to work (I bicycle commute exclusively now), it was one of five in our parking lot. Some of the "old school" guys still drive pickups and large SUVs, but I can honestly say that cars, minivans, and small SUVs make up the majority of the vehicles in our company lot. I can count the number of huge SUVs (suburbans, excursions, etc.) on one hand. The expression "Don't get high on your own supply" comes to mind.

why do I think you are gonna say that the invstment company is saying it to make it so?

It could also be because China and India are buying it up with govt subsidies to the people too.

Not very likely currently, the investment company wants to make it so, its multiple wins for them, their parent company gets government money because of the mortgage crisis, that money devalues the dollar, price of oil can go up due to that, then add fuel to the fire with weird predictions, win, win, win.

I just got my renewal for my insurance on my Prius. In 12 months the market value hasn't dropped 1 cent. I'm in favour of higher fuel prices if that is the result. I save on fuel and depreciation.

Bet your pension won't be so healthy when you realize that high oil prices mean more than high gas prices. The price of oil effects the price of everything.

No Kidding!!! Answer: Because it's not illegal for "Financial Advisers" to release statements, which consequentially manipulate the market. Hmmmm. So let me get this... Morgan Stanley tells advises their clients to buy oil when it was at $125, then it got to $135, fell to $122, and was headed lower, when Morgan Stanley mysteriously issues a report saying they expect it to get to $150 by Fourth of July, and oil rallies to $139. NOW TO THE UNTRAINED EYE, (and the trained eye, by which I am, since I have been investing for decades), IT WOULD SEEM THAT SOMEHOW MORGAN STANLEY "MANIPULATED" THE MARKET TODAY!!!

...so, Congress is planning to hold hearings on the concept of outlawing anyone from buying and selling (trading) oil futures unless they are directly involved in the oil industry. Currently, any Mutual Fund can buy and then turn around and sell oil futures before the date the oil is to be delivered.

That sounds like a very un-American thing to do.
First it's your ability to trade in oil futures, next it's your gun, your truck then all your freedoms will be taken by this totalitarian government. WATCH OUT!!

In everything, the key is balance. America created anti-trust laws for a reason. (think about why) We have many other regulations designed to support competitive markets. Problems arise when markets are not competitive. After the Great Depression, the government implemented limited rules and regulations that have served America very well. Over the past year, you and I have seen how a "meltdown" resulted in new regulation for the mortgage industry, to protect the consumer.

In everything, the key is balance. "Limited regulation" is what has brought America's economy to where it is today.

(Oil prices, however, are in a whole different category. National Security. You say "whaaaaaaaat?" My answer is one word; "Energy.")

This is interesting. Take note of what our Secretary of Energy just said on the matter in this recent news release...

"Samuel Bodman, attending two days of meetings in northern Japan among energy chiefs from Group of Eight industrialized countries and other top economies, said the surge in world oil prices was largely a simple problem of supply and demand. ...
"We're in a difficult position where we have a lid on production and we have increasing demand in the world," he told a small group of reporters, dismissing the effects of speculation and unclear inventory levels and other factors on oil prices."

Full article here: Energy chief: Flat production behind oil prices - Yahoo! News

and, from the original article of this thread, posted by the OP, we've got...

"The influx of so much fresh money into the energy markets has caught the attention of federal watchdogs. The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently said it was six months into a probe of U.S. oil markets focused on possible price manipulation."

- Just a tad bit of a discrepancy here, wouldn't you say?

What's up with that?

ICE, ICE, Baby, conclusion | Ed Wallace | Star-Telegram.com

"What’s been happening since 2004 is very high prices without record-low [oil] stocks. The relationship between U.S. [oil] inventory levels and prices has been shredded and become irrelevant."
— Jan Stuart, Global Oil Economist, UBS Securities

It's time for the government to step in. You can't have speculation determine the price of a vital commodity that determines your whole economy. This did not happen in the 1990s, when OPEC controlled the price. The question is how did the speculators get control of the price?

You may have missed it but my post was tongue in cheek. Did you notice the trucks and guns Reference? Two groups always crying civil liberties?

Funny how your right to trade futures is not as important as you right to have a gun but it is often argued that all rights are as important as all other rights.

A little bit of rational talk from the Bush Admin. Admittedly still not enough.

Why not? It happens every day with beef, pork, wheat, sugar, corn, barley, lamb, etc so why not energy? You can also trade electricity, gas, coal, as well as oil so what is the big deal? I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. If it all collapses the price will fall and a lot of investors will get their fingers burned. If the byproduct of high energy prices is reduced demand then isn't that a good thing?

Huh? It was total BS, there was nothing rational about it, or for that matter, anything that has come out of the Bush administration in 8 years.

Speculation it isn't. Read The Oil Drum: Europe | Why oil costs over $120 per barrel