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Do Commodity Futures Help Forecast Spot Prices?

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  • Mr. David A Reichsfeld
  • Mr. Shaun K. Roache

Abstract

We assess the spot price forecasting performance of 10 commodity futures at various horizons up to two years and test whether this performance is affected by market conditions. We reject efficient markets based on in-sample tests but, out-of-sample, we find that the forecast from the futures market is hard to beat. We find that the forecasting performance of futures does not depend on the slope of the futures curve, in contrast to the predictions of well-known models of commodity markets. We also find futures' forecasting performance to be invariant to whether prices are in an upswing or downswing, casting doubt on aspersions that uninformed investors participating during bull markets impede the price discovery process.

Suggested Citation

  • Mr. David A Reichsfeld & Mr. Shaun K. Roache, 2011. "Do Commodity Futures Help Forecast Spot Prices?," IMF Working Papers 2011/254, International Monetary Fund.
    • Handle: RePEc:imf:imfwpa:2011/254
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    Cited by:

    1. Oya Celasun & Mr. Lev Ratnovski & Miss Roxana Mihet, 2012. "Commodity Prices and Inflation Expectations in the United States," IMF Working Papers 2012/089, International Monetary Fund.
    2. Markos Farag, Stephen Snudden, Greg Upton, 2024. "Can Futures Prices Predict the Real Price of Primary Commodities?," LCERPA Working Papers jc0145, Laurier Centre for Economic Research and Policy Analysis, revised 2024.
    3. Leung, Charles Ka Yui & Shi, Song & Ho Tang, Edward Chi, 2013. "Commodity house prices," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(6), pages 875-887.
    4. Xu Xiaojie, 2018. "Using Local Information to Improve Short-Run Corn Price Forecasts," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    5. Phillip A. Cartwright & Natalija Riabko, 2019. "Do spot food commodity and oil prices predict futures prices?," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 53(1), pages 153-194, July.
    6. Bohl, Martin T. & Stephan, Patrick M., 2013. "Does Futures Speculation Destabilize Spot Prices? New Evidence for Commodity Markets," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Southern Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 45(4), pages 1-21, November.
    7. Mishra, Vinod & Smyth, Russell, 2016. "Are natural gas spot and futures prices predictable?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 178-186.
    8. Algieri, Bernardina & Kalkuhl, Matthias, 2014. "Back to the Futures: An Assessment of Commodity Market Efficiency and Forecast Error Drivers," Discussion Papers 187159, University of Bonn, Center for Development Research (ZEF).
    9. Albuquerquemello, Vinícius Phillipe de & Medeiros, Rennan Kertlly de & Jesus, Diego Pitta de & Oliveira, Felipe Araujo de, 2022. "The role of transition regime models for corn prices forecasting," Revista de Economia e Sociologia Rural (RESR), Sociedade Brasileira de Economia e Sociologia Rural, vol. 60(2), January.
    10. Bernardina Algieri & Matthias Kalkuhl, 2019. "Efficiency and Forecast Performance of Commodity Futures Markets," American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Science Publications, vol. 11(1), pages 19-34, June.
    11. Kertlly de Medeiros, Rennan & da Nóbrega Besarria, Cássio & Pitta de Jesus, Diego & Phillipe de Albuquerquemello, Vinicius, 2022. "Forecasting oil prices: New approaches," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PC).
    12. Mustanen, Dmitri & Maaitah, Ahmad & Mishra, Tapas & Parhi, Mamata, 2022. "The power of investors’ optimism and pessimism in oil market forecasting," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C).
    13. Benjamin Beckers & Samya Beidas-Strom, 2015. "Forecasting the Nominal Brent Oil Price with VARs—One Model Fits All?," IMF Working Papers 2015/251, International Monetary Fund.
    14. Tao Xiong & Miao Li & Jia Cao, 2023. "Do Futures Prices Help Forecast Spot Prices? Evidence from China’s New Live Hog Futures," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Alexandra Dwyer & James Holloway & Michelle Wright, 2012. "Commodity Market Financialisation: A Closer Look at the Evidence," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 65-77, March.
    16. Muthucattu Thomas Paul, 2018. "The Issues and Implications About the Volatility of the Stock and the Bond Prices and Their Returns and the Volatility of Interest Rates and Inflation - Which Are Being Researched in Finance and Macro," Applied Economics and Finance, Redfame publishing, vol. 5(2), pages 125-142, March.
    17. Thomas St rdal Gundersen & Even Soltvedt Hvinden, 2021. "OPEC's crude game: Strategic Competition and Regime-switching in Global Oil Markets," Working Papers No 01/2021, Centre for Applied Macro- and Petroleum economics (CAMP), BI Norwegian Business School.
    18. Marek Kwas & Michał Rubaszek, 2021. "Forecasting Commodity Prices: Looking for a Benchmark," Forecasting, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-13, June.
    19. Xiaojie Xu, 2020. "Corn Cash Price Forecasting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(4), pages 1297-1320, August.
    20. Rubaszek Michal & Karolak Zuzanna & Kwas Marek & Uddin Gazi Salah, 2020. "The role of the threshold effect for the dynamics of futures and spot prices of energy commodities," Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics, De Gruyter, vol. 24(5), pages 1-20, December.
    21. Talipova, Aminam & Parsegov, Sergei G. & Tukpetov, Pavel, 2019. "Russian gas exchange: A new indicator of market efficiency and competition or the instrument of monopolist?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    22. Nixon, Dan & Smith, Tom, 2012. "What can the oil futures curve tell us about the outlook for oil prices?," Bank of England Quarterly Bulletin, Bank of England, vol. 52(1), pages 39-47.
    23. Donders, Pablo & Jara, Mauricio & Wagner, Rodrigo, 2018. "How sensitive is corporate debt to swings in commodity prices?," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 237-258.
    24. Bertrand Gruss, 2014. "After the Boom–Commodity Prices and Economic Growth in Latin America and the Caribbean," IMF Working Papers 2014/154, International Monetary Fund.

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