Fed may restrict bank ownership of commodities

Anchorage Daily News:  WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve, in a surprise move, set the ball rolling late Tuesday for possible new limits on ownership of physical commodities by the large financial holding companies on Wall Street that it regulates.

The Fed’s advance notice of a proposed rulemaking came after months of pressure, following news reports that showed that Goldman Sachs & Co. and JP Morgan Chase & Co. were involved not just in the trading of financial contracts for delivery of commodities but actually had their feet in the physical markets where aluminum and copper are stored and delivered in the real economy.

Read article