Drunk broker adds $1.50 a barrel to oil prices.

Capt'n Midnight

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/oilandgas/7862246/How-a-broker-spent-520m-in-a-drunken-stupor-and-moved-the-global-oil-price.html

By 10am it emerged that Mr Perkins had single-handedly moved the global price of oil to an eight-month high during a "drunken blackout". Prices leapt by more than $1.50 a barrel in under half an hour at around 2am – the kind of sharp swing caused by events of geo-political significance. Ten times the usual volume of futures contracts changed hands in just one hour.
...
Having admitted to an alcohol problem and received treatment, Mr Perkins was banned from trading for five years and hit with a £72,000 fine

Just in case anyone was wondering why fuel is so expensive.

Is the threat of a £72 grand fine enough to get these guys to behave sensibly ?

And is anyone surprised about this based on previous behaviour by brokers , I'm not. Not saying that all brokers are this irresponsible but why does this sort of thing keep happening where firms loose tonnes of money because of a reckless individual probably chasing bonuses. If it didn't affect everyone of us in our pockets then it might be funny. :mad:

Spunge

Ah sure we've all been there.

CardBordWindow

Oil be damned!

connundrum

Any person, be they drunk or not, should not have the single handed ability to fuck around with world oil prices.

Or any other commodity price.

I am sick to the back teeth of the power that 'the markets' have over the day to day prices the average person has to deal with.

brandon_flowers

$72,000, the man wouldn't bend down to pick that up if he dropped it. (OK this man might bend down but the big players in NYMEX would not)

For a insight into oil traders lives read Rigged by Ben Mezrich. One guy had a $2m bet that he would make $4m in one mornings trading. He only made $3.9m so he had to pay out the $2m bet which left him with only $1.9m. Not bad.

seamus

Stockbrokers are soulless sociopaths, professional gamblers whose only motivation is the money in their pocket and chasing the next endorphin high from scoring a big win.

There is nothing you can do to force them to act responsibly because their profession is inherently childish and irresponsible.

He was only coming out of his Shell.

mikom

CardBordWindow wrote: »

Oil be damned!

Crude.

connundrum

mikom wrote: »

Crude.

That, coming from Mr. Refined himself.

brandon_flowers

connundrum wrote: »

That, coming from Mr. Refined himself.

Well?

Skiup

Markets would drive you mad. All about what they "predict" and "expect". They seem to live in their own fantasy land.

Boombastic

Oil prices are rigged anyway

CardBordWindow

seamus wrote: »

Stockbrokers are soulless sociopaths, professional gamblers whose only motivation is the money in their pocket and chasing the next endorphin high from scoring a big win.

The deafening highs......and the terrifying lows.

Boombastic

CardBordWindow wrote: »

The deafening highs......and the terrifying lows.

Urgh, the lows....You're a barrel of laughs:pac:

dilallio

His employers were very very lucky only to lose 9 million.

666irishguy

They are some bunch of clowns. Just goes to show that nothing has really changed. He could just as easily have played the whole market and phoned up a buddy and said that he had more than a sneaking suspicion the price of crude might go up a bit, and if he wanted to make some cash on the back of it he should do it now. Never ceases to amaze me what one greedy bastard can do in this day and age.

mikom

connundrum wrote: »

That, coming from Mr. Refined himself.

Suck it....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nQ9YQt7N8s

admiralofthefleet

sweet, if a little crude

GLaDOS

Not that it makes it any less interesting, but the article is over 2 years old

Deise Vu

I have always thought that futures markets should be restricted to people / businesses with a direct commercial interest and for direct commercial purchases eg an airline hedging oil but only the amount they use themselves. Futures would then actually do what they are supposed to do, smooth risk, instead of the polar opposite as they do now. A few minutes checking transactions by regulators would soon identify the pure gamblers (probably 99% of all current hedges).

Being drunk and drinking on the job is not uncommon for traders believe it or not.

ScienceNerd

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Not that it makes it any less interesting, but the article is over 2 years old

Ahhhhhhhh, makes sense now.

Boombastic

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Not that it makes it any less interesting, but the article is over 2 years old

Any chance of a refund?

humbert

How does this affect us? Private companies lost money.

It's more a testament to the computerisation in trading not being able to spot that something is amiss.

Capt'n Midnight

humbert wrote: »

How does this affect us? Private companies lost money.

Oil prices went up $1.50 a barrel

Oil is used in heating, transport, fertilizer, plastics etc.

any change has a knock on effect through the whole economy

Also the prices affect things like pension funds and interest rates, so pensions may be worth less and cost of government borrowing goes up.

JohnMarston

Even if that article were written yesterday, i wouldnt expect the price of petrol to go back down here

ScumLord

The global economy is a sham!

humbert

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

Oil prices went up $1.50 a barrel

Oil is used in heating, transport, fertilizer, plastics etc.

any change has a knock on effect through the whole economy

Also the prices affect things like pension funds and interest rates, so pensions may be worth less and cost of government borrowing goes up.

It's my understanding that it was a fluctuation. The price hasn't changed in any lasting way so those things wont be effected.

He must of been well oiled

stoneill

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.

JohnMarston

stoneill wrote: »

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.

Thanks Mr.Gekko

fishy fishy

that's gas.

ScumLord

stoneill wrote: »

Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right, greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms; greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge has marked the upward surge of mankind.

The majority of living things are greedy and self serving but humans upward surge came not from greed but sociability, selflessness and working for the greater good of their community. Sharing workloads gave humans time to appreciate life and ponder bigger questions, ignoring instinct for greed allowed people to recognise that everything is connected in one symbiotic relationship. Greed is crude and distracting, it's uncivilised and holds back humanity whenever popular.

Ghandee

Whale oil beef hooked.

ejmaztec

They should Castrolate him, it's the only cure for these feckin petrofiles.

splendid101

This reminds me of the time Ihad a drunken black out and accidentally the whole of my lunch break.

Rothko

CardBordWindow wrote: »

The deafening highs......and the terrifying lows.

And the creamy middles

Gmol

CardBordWindow wrote: »

The deafening highs......and the terrifying lows.

Congratulations on getting married

steddyeddy

Its nice to see that stockbrokers dont care about mental age when hiring. Seriously though this is another reason why I think that stockbroking attracts idiots. The first reason being the amount of unscientific reasons they apply to global markets which affects the lives of billions. It affects famine, wars, politcal stability and world hunger. I want someone intelligent in charge of something that can influence that

This will hopefully have the benifit introducing some tough controls for these guys. If he added 1.50 to condoms or anything relatively unsignificant then thats one thing but oil ffs. Oil dictates global power, stability, military policy of america, russia and other countries and It obviously affects the price of travel! Is this guy going to be fired for this?