Are pension funds index speculators? In Thursday's Wall Street Journal Fund Track column, Ian Salisbury writes about the debate spurred by the rise in commodity prices. On Wednesday, two senators unveiled three proposals to restrain "excessive speculation" which they say is bidding up prices of commodities. At a Senate testimony last month, a hedge fund manager branded institutional investors such as pension funds "index speculators."

"We're not involved in speculation," Salisbury quotes a spokeswoman for the $247 billion California Public Employees' Retirement System. "We're in it for the long term."

The Fund Track column also included an item about shareholders of Fidelity's $41.2 billion Fidelity Magellan Fund and $37.5 billion Fidelity Growth Company Fund thumbing down a proposal to put in place procedures to prevent investments in firms tied to genocide.  

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