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Do hedging and speculative pressures drive commodity prices, or the other way round?

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  • Georg Lehecka

Abstract

Concerns have been raised that trading position behavior of futures market participants may have caused recent commodity price movements. This study empirically examines whether pressures on prices due to hedging and speculative activities can be identified and whether they have changed due to structural changes in commodity futures markets. It employs Toda–Yamamoto Granger-causality tests applied on a variety of measurements of hedging, speculative, and index trader position activities and futures prices in a broad range of commodity markets. Results suggest that hedging and speculative position behavior may not be helpful in explaining prices; to the contrary, prices may have predictive power for position changes. Copyright Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015

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  • Georg Lehecka, 2015. "Do hedging and speculative pressures drive commodity prices, or the other way round?," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(2), pages 575-603, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:empeco:v:49:y:2015:i:2:p:575-603
    DOI: 10.1007/s00181-014-0886-7
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    Cited by:

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    2. Duc Huynh, Toan Luu & Burggraf, Tobias & Nasir, Muhammad Ali, 2020. "Financialisation of natural resources & instability caused by risk transfer in commodity markets," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    3. Raza, Syed Ali & Guesmi, Khaled & Belaid, Fateh & Shah, Nida, 2022. "Time-frequency causality and connectedness between oil price shocks and the world food prices," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. Mayer, Herbert & Rathgeber, Andreas & Wanner, Markus, 2017. "Financialization of metal markets: Does futures trading influence spot prices and volatility?," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 300-316.
    5. Dwight R. Sanders & Scott H. Irwin, 2017. "Bubbles, Froth and Facts: Another Look at the Masters Hypothesis in Commodity Futures Markets," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 345-365, June.
    6. Ordu, Beyza Mina & Oran, Adil & Soytas, Ugur, 2018. "Is food financialized? Yes, but only when liquidity is abundant," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 82-96.
    7. Algirdas Justinas Staugaitis & Bernardas Vaznonis, 2022. "Financial Speculation Impact on Agricultural and Other Commodity Return Volatility: Implications for Sustainable Development and Food Security," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(11), pages 1-27, November.
    8. Algirdas Justinas Staugaitis & Bernardas Vaznonis, 2022. "Short-Term Speculation Effects on Agricultural Commodity Returns and Volatility in the European Market Prior to and during the Pandemic," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-26, April.
    9. Bernhard Tröster & Ulrich Gunter, 2023. "The Financialization of Coffee, Cocoa and Cotton Value Chains: The Role of Physical Actors," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 54(6), pages 1550-1574, November.
    10. Michael Pedersen, 2019. "The impact of commodity price shocks in a copper-rich economy: the case of Chile," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1291-1318, October.
    11. Palazzi, Rafael Baptista & Figueiredo Pinto, Antonio Carlos & Klotzle, Marcelo Cabus & De Oliveira, Erick Meira, 2020. "Can we still blame index funds for the price movements in the agricultural commodities market?," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 84-93.
    12. Scott H. Irwin & Dwight R. Sanders & Lei Yan, 2023. "The order flow cost of index rolling in commodity futures markets," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 45(2), pages 1025-1050, June.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commodity prices; Futures market; Hedging; Lead–lag relationships; Speculation; D84; G12; G13; Q11; Q41;
    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
    • Q11 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Agriculture - - - Aggregate Supply and Demand Analysis; Prices
    • Q41 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Energy - - - Demand and Supply; Prices

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