The London Metal Exchange asked a panel of U.S. judges on Thursday to assign a federal court in Manhattan to handle a series of antitrust lawsuits that allege the world's largest metal exchange, two of Wall Street's biggest banks and big commodity merchants conspired to raise the price of aluminum. The venue of lawsuits is sometimes critically important because of the varying levels of experience among judges in different cities, as well as other factors such as convenience for lawyers and witnesses.LME, which is owned by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd , and other defendants including Goldman Sachs Group Inc, JPMorgan Chase & Co and merchants Glencore Xstrata are fighting allegations in about 30 lawsuits that they manipulated the warehousing of aluminum in order to lift the price of the metal. The U.S. Justice Department is also investigating the matter.Goldman, JPMorgan and HKEx have rejected the claims and said they would contest them vigorously.Many of the warehouses are in or near Detroit, Michigan, so some aluminum buyers want their cases to be heard there.
The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (Goldman Sachs) is a global investment banking, securities and investment management firm that provides a range of financial services to a substantial and diversified client base that includes corporations, financial institutions, governments and high-net-worth individuals. Shares of GS fell by 1.86% or $-3.14/share to $165.56. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $115.62 and as high as $171.58. On average, 3365140 shares of GS exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3566341.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPMorgan Chase) is a financial holding company. Shares of JPM fell by 2.4% or $-1.37/share to $55.82. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $41.73 and as high as $58.14. On average, 20443500 shares of JPM exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 21328432.
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