The Commodity Futures Trading Commission said Friday that it will start releasing more detailed data for all the physical commodity markets in its weekly large-trader report.
The move is the latest development in the CFTC's effort to bring more transparency to the commodity markets' trading activities. The changes come after criticism the commission got last year during the run-up in oil prices when some said the large-trader reports were flawed because they did not give a good snapshot of the market. Critics were particularly troubled that many large banks, which use the markets to both hedge and speculate, were classified as hedgers. They contended this was a problem because it meant there was no way to tell whether speculation was fueling high prices.
