Commodities special report

A proposal to impose position limits in US energy futures markets has been rumbling on since oil prices hit record highs in 2008, and follows a succession of hearings by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last year. New rules were proposed in January, and a comment period ended in April. All that remains is a vote by the CFTC for the new rules to come into force.

However, many believe the supervisor is waiting for US financial reform legislation to be passed into law this month,