I believe part of this is driven by Big Banks. Their typical tricks include driving prices to force small investors to hit their stop losses. They go in one direction, accumulating contracts, stop the little guys out, and then send prices in the other direction. The volatility of petroleum prices is sending small investors, “speculators”, out of the market. Economic and other news is not fully responsible for price swings. It’s intention and unfortunately legal. Big Banks need to be prohibited from investing in equity and commodity markets.
“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.”
-Andrew Jackson