BUFFETT’S MANIPULATION?

On Wednesday, January 14, 1998, almost ten years after the Hunt case went to trial, the Wall Street Journal reported that the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had “increased surveillance in the silver futures market following allegations that several market participants were manipulating prices.”¹ A price increase of almost 30% during November and December 1997, bringing the white metal to an 8½-year high of almost $6 an ounce, triggered the inquiry according to the Journal.² A CFTC spokesperson said, “The Commission intensifies its surveillance efforts when unusual events or activities occur such as we’ve seen lately in silver markets.”³ The CFTC