Governments and oil producing countries come to an agreement
A look back to early 2008 shows that the oil markets were flooded with speculators who forced the price of a barrel of oil up to around about $150, much to the detriment of the worldwide economy. Today has seen energy ministers from across the world hammer out an agreement with the oil producing countries of the world for greater regulation and monitoring of the market. While there is no suggestion that oil producing countries were involved in the price spike there is a need to control and monitor the actions of some speculators who made big money while the worldwide economy suffered.
Whether this is all hot air remains to be seen as effectively a free market is a "free market" which is susceptible to investment trends and speculators. Once you try and take out the ability of investors to invest on their own accord then in many ways the underlying market is open to claims of manipulation. Whether governments around the world like it or not, speculators play a large part in regulating markets and prices and narrowing the differentials between various investments and investment markets. True, they will exploit pricing irregularities and anomalies but in time these flatten out.
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