The Silver Rush at MF Global

The trustee overseeing the liquidation of the failed MF Global has proposed dumping all remaining customer assets -- gold, silver, cash, options, futures and commodities -- into a single pool that would pay customers only 72% of the value of their holdings. In other words, while traders already may have paid the full price for delivery of specific bars of gold or silver they'll have to forfeit 28% of the value. It's still unclear whether CME will put its commodity-futures customers first -- or its shareholders. The company has set aside a $550 million reserve for MF Global customers, and it has cash balances of more than $1.1 billion that it could tap, if needed.