When Banks Play Metals
Banks like money, and this seems to be global: always us, and nothing else matters. The news that the U.S. government is hitting JP Morgan Chase with a $1 billion fine for manipulating metal prices is not necessarily surprising since these firms like to win at all costs. They put orders which they never hope to execute, but while that is hanging, they book “gains” somewhere else.
JPMorgan, the biggest U.S. bank, has admitted to “spoofing” or manipulating metals and Treasury markets for the better part of a decade — and it will pay almost a billion dollars in the largest-ever federal fine for the practice. Half a dozen employees were charged with rigging the price of gold and silver futures by flooding markets with orders never intended for execution. The bank, which reached a deferred prosecution settlement in the case, is alleged to have hosted a criminal racketeering operation.