BOCA RATON, Fla. â€" MF Global’s collapse put Wall Street on high alert at last year’s futures trading bash here. In earlier years, the financial crisis similarly consumed the junketgoers.
This year, Wall Street had other things to fill its dance card: Gary Gensler’s moves.
The regulator lit up the dance floor on Tuesday night, onlookers said, shaking loose with a former colleague.
Mr. Gensler, chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, later explained that he simply liked to dance. Others speculated that he was savoring his last trip to Boca Raton as chairman, noting that Mr. Gensler could leave the agency by the end of the year.
Either way, the performance at the Futures Industry Association’s annual conference drew rare praise and collective amusement from Wall Street executives accustomed to Mr. Gensler’s no-nonsense style.
“He actually looked good up there,†one onlooker later remarked.
By Wednesday, Mr. Gensler had returned to form. He deivered forceful remarks about interest rate manipulation across the banking industry and called for action to overhaul the rate-setting process.
But it was too late. Word of his performance had already ripped through the oceanfront resort, fitting neatly into a conference light on news and heavy on gossip.
It did not help that a Wall Street Journal reporter captured the moment on video, fueling the fascination. Some at the conference took to refreshing YouTube over and over, eager for a peek at Mr. Gensler’s performance.
“We need to get that video,†one attendee was overheard saying. As of Thursday morning, the video had yet to surface online.
