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Financialization and the returns to commodity investments

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  • Main, Scott
  • Irwin, Scott H.
  • Sanders, Dwight R.
  • Smith, Aaron

Abstract

Commodity futures investment grew rapidly after their popularity exploded—along with commodity prices—in the mid-2000s. Numerous individuals and institutions embraced alternative investments for their purported diversification benefits and equity-like returns. We investigate whether the “financialization” of commodity futures markets reduced the risk premiums available to long-only investors in commodities. While energy futures markets generally exhibit a decline in risk premiums after 2004, premiums in all but one non-energy futures market actually increased over the same time period. Overall, the average unconditional return to individual commodity futures markets is approximately equal to zero before and after financialization.

Suggested Citation

  • Main, Scott & Irwin, Scott H. & Sanders, Dwight R. & Smith, Aaron, 2018. "Financialization and the returns to commodity investments," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 10(C), pages 22-28.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jocoma:v:10:y:2018:i:c:p:22-28
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jcomm.2018.05.004
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    Cited by:

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    2. Hussein Abdoh & Michael Chitavi, 2024. "The impact of deviations from soybean product crushing estimates on return and risk," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(2), pages 181-199, March.
    3. Nguyen, Quynh Nga & Aboura, Sofiane & Chevallier, Julien & Zhang, Lyuyuan & Zhu, Bangzhu, 2020. "Local Gaussian correlations in financial and commodity markets," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 285(1), pages 306-323.
    4. Fry-McKibbin, Renée & McKinnon, Kate, 2023. "The evolution of commodity market financialization: Implications for portfolio diversification," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 32(C).
    5. Ding, Shusheng & Cui, Tianxiang & Zheng, Dandan & Du, Min, 2021. "The effects of commodity financialization on commodity market volatility," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    6. Ramesh Adhikari, 2024. "Performance of Commodity Futures-Based Dynamic Portfolios," Commodities, MDPI, vol. 3(3), pages 1-13, September.
    7. Marcel Prokopczuk & Chardin Wese Simen & Robert Wichmann, 2021. "The dynamics of commodity return comovements," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 41(10), pages 1597-1617, October.
    8. Jean-François Carpantier, 2021. "Commodity Prices in Empirical Research," Dynamic Modeling and Econometrics in Economics and Finance, in: Gilles Dufrénot & Takashi Matsuki (ed.), Recent Econometric Techniques for Macroeconomic and Financial Data, pages 199-227, Springer.
    9. Rashid Khan, Haroon Ur & Islam, Talat & Yousaf, Sheikh Usman & Zaman, Khalid & Shoukry, Alaa Mohamd & Sharkawy, Mohamed A. & Gani, Showkat & Aamir, Alamzeb & Hishan, Sanil S., 2019. "The impact of financial development indicators on natural resource markets: Evidence from two-step GMM estimator," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 240-255.
    10. Scott H. Irwin & Dwight R. Sanders & Aaron Smith & Scott Main, 2020. "Returns to Investing in Commodity Futures: Separating the Wheat from the Chaff," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 583-610, December.
    11. Ramesh Adhikari & Kyle J. Putnam, 2024. "Financial Market Stress and Commodity Returns: A Dynamic Approach," Commodities, MDPI, vol. 3(1), pages 1-23, January.
    12. Su, Miao & Nie, Yufei & Li, Jiankun & Yang, Lin & Kim, Woohyoung, 2024. "Futures markets and the baltic dry index: A prediction study based on deep learning," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    13. Emm, Ekaterina E. & Gay, Gerald D. & Shen, Mo, 2020. "Futures commission merchants, customer funds and capital requirements: An organizational analysis of the futures industry," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 18(C).
    14. Carter, Colin A. & Revoredo-Giha, Cesar, 2023. "Financialization and speculators risk premia in commodity futures markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    15. Bannigidadmath, Deepa & Narayan, Paresh Kumar, 2022. "Economic importance of correlations for energy and other commodities," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 107(C).
    16. Zhang, Yue-Jun & Lin, Jia-Juan, 2019. "Can the VAR model outperform MRS model for asset allocation in commodity market under different risk preferences of investors?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
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    18. Ruano, Fábio & Barros, Victor, 2022. "Commodities and portfolio diversification: Myth or fact?," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 86(C), pages 281-295.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commodity; Financialization; Futures prices; Index fund; Investments; Risk premium; Storable;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D84 - Microeconomics - - Information, Knowledge, and Uncertainty - - - Expectations; Speculations
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing
    • G14 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Information and Market Efficiency; Event Studies; Insider Trading
    • Q13 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Agricultural Markets and Marketing; Cooperatives; Agribusiness
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

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