The report comes as a conference committee in the U.S. Congress is putting the final touches on regulatory reform legislation that will impose limits on most futures positions.
The authors analyzed data from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission from 2006 to 2009 a period in which crude oil prices shot up to $147 a barrel and then fell to $33 a barrel.
Even Gary Gensler, the CFTC chairman, expressed the opinion in congressional testimony during his confirmation hearings last year that the rapid growth of commodity index funds and increased hedge fund allocation to commodity assets contributed to the "bubble in commodities prices that peaked in mid-2008."
By. Darrell Delamaide for OilPrice.com
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