Wall Street Gets Eyed in Metal Squeeze

[FreakinDJ]

Wall Street Gets Eyed in Metal Squeeze

by Tatyana Shumsky and Andrea Hotte

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and other owners of large metals warehouses are being scrutinized by the London Metal Exchange after being accused by users like Coca-Cola Co. of restricting the amount of metal they release to customers, inflating prices.

<snip>

Aluminum prices have jumped 13% since the start of 2010 even though economic growth had been tapering off. Aluminum for delivery in three months on Thursday closed at $2,557 a metric ton on the LME, down 1.3% on the day.

Goldman, through its Metro International Trade Services unit, owns the biggest warehouse complex in the LME system, a series of 19 buildings in Detroit that house about a quarter of the aluminum stored in LME facilities.

"The situation has been organized artificially to drive premiums up," said Dave Smith, Atlanta-based Coca-Cola's strategic procurement manager. "It takes two weeks to put aluminum in, and six months to get it out."

http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/112955/wall-street-gets-eyed-metal-squeeze-wsj?mod=bb-budgeting

1 more fine example why the Anti-Trust Laws need to be re-instated. Goldman Sachs bought up a majority of the wharehouses only to use it as a mean to drive up Aluminum prices and Aluminum Futures (which they sell)

This ain't Trickle Down Economics any more - this is just plain getting pissed on

[Hawkowl]

1. Life without parole for all GS executives

Seriously. These people are destroying more lives than many other petty dictators or violent criminals. History has shown that eventually the people rise up in violent rebellion against these types of crimes, e.g; Russian and French revolutions, Mao's cultural revolution, etc.

[FogerRox]

2. Lets say you have a few billion bucks.....

why should you build factories to make solar panels or wind turbines for a steady return of say 5% annually, when you can engage in currency and commodities speculation and make 15% to 25% annually?

[Turbineguy]

3. Wall Street is an unsustainable drain

on the economy.

[Kat45]

4. +1