Silver manipulation probe likely to end

A U.S. probe into possible manipulation of the silver market may be dropped due to lack of evidence, people familiar with the situation said. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's five commissioners haven't yet formally determined the outcome of the investigation, leaving the possibility that staff could be instructed to dig deeper, the Financial Times reported Sunday. "The investigation has not reached its conclusion," a panel spokesman said. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission first said it was investigating complaints of misconduct in September 2008, following a number of allegations of manipulation from a group of precious metals investors. Ending the investigation would anger some U.S. silver investors, who claim a group of large investment banks -- singling out JPMorgan -- conspired to drive the price of silver lower. "I'm sure it will be met with some concern from a certain group of aggressive silver speculators," one person familiar with the investigation said. The committee said it analyzed more than 100,000 documents and interviewed dozens of witnesses since it began investigating the market in 2008. People familiar with the matter said the evidence included records from JPMorgan. A class-action lawsuit was filed against JPMorgan. Lawyers for the bank have asked that it be dismissed because the plaintiffs failed to identify any trade showing manipulation.