The Real (and Troubling) Reason Behind Lower Oil Prices

I am obsessed with how the top tier of finance has undermined, rather than fueled, the real economy. In part, that’s because of I’m writing a book about the topic, but also because so many market stories I come across seem tosupport this notion. The other day, I had lunch with Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets for Morgan Stanley Asset Management and chief of macroeconomics for the bank, who posited a fascinating idea: the major fall in oil prices since this summer may be about a shift in trading, rather than a change in the fundamental supply and demand equation. Oil, he says, is now a financial asset as much as a commodity.