Traders would be limited in the positions they can hold in oil,wheat, gold, and other commodities under a proposal approved by theU.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

The CFTC proposal, approved on a 3-to-1 vote yesterday, wouldcap the number of futures contracts a company can hold in 28commodities. The limits were sought by Congress after airlines,trucking firms, and consumer groups blamed speculators for surgingfuel prices in 2008. Among the measure's supporters wasCommissioner Bart Chilton, who yesterday announced that he wouldsoon step down from the agency.

The vote marks the CFTC's second attempt at a position-limitsrule, after a federal judge rejected an earlier version on groundsthat the agency failed to show why the limits were needed. Industrygroups have successfully challenged other Dodd-Frank Act mandatesby arguing that policy makers misread statutes or failed toconsider business impact.