The first 4 links was like 30 new positions across 4 institutions. Hardly what you would call "so many new commodities traders." That is basically a rounding error compared to the size of these firms...
Thus far the arguments I believe are contingent upon a US recovery & US demand (Granted the US is the largest consumer of crude). However, what if the demand for crude ramps up off US soil? China & India have economies that yes have been hit, but the greater need for crude has been established with their move toward being more developed economies. Now, couple that with the fact that the US has been printing dollars like newspaper you may have a situation in which demand & a weaker dollar point to higher commodity prices & volumes, hence the build up on desk staff. & they dont wish to be caught off guard if & when this happens. Right or wrong, that's what I have pieced together at the moment.
Commodities is where the money is. Where else can you trade something very liquid like oil and get huge price swings. Plus commodities trade very nicely with the Euro/ inverse to US Dollar... so it allows you to be properly hedged, and also provides some arbitrage opportunities. Supply/demand in commodities is also generally more simple to understand than it is in stocks.
Yes, only 30 traders, but could be tip of the iceberg or as you said just 30 extra personnel. Commodity headhunters could prob speak to that either way. maybe proof in the pudding if there is a huge hiring after Xmas & New Year, come March 2010. On the OPEC cut, i wont argue that over the short term we will see lower front month prices. ie seasonality factors, post labor day, fall/winter crude building a contango & of course slack demand due to the credit crunch. 6 to 9 months out....could be different situation. After all just a hypothesis. Here like a soccer ball to kick around. Thanks for chiming in.
But.....Watching Asia Bloomberg. now, CEO for MFGlobal http://www.mfglobal.com/Pages/default.aspx just said that they have hired in upwards in 200 plus personel & expanding into Asia to compete w/ the IB's. MF Global provides trade execution services for FX & futures.
I dont think they remembered to put the big ass number of people they laid off in 2008 or early to mid 2009. So hiring is still going to make the total smaller then pre 2008.
Not only that, but banks call any dipshit order taker/sales jerkoff a "trader". Yeah, they're hiring real traders, alright.
They will measure the demand in dollars not barrels. Rising price at the pumps will be sold as rising demand jjf