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jim-wiederhold

Jim Wiederhold

Associate Director, Commodities and Real Assets, S&P Dow Jones Indices

Jim Wiederhold is Associate Director of Commodities and Real Assets at S&P Dow Jones Indices (S&P DJI). He is responsible for the product management of the commodities and real assets indices, including the S&P GSCI, Dow Jones Commodity Index (DJCI), and S&P Real Assets Indices. These indices are designed to be leading measures of the commodities market and composite real assets.
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Jan 6, 2021

Reflecting on the Inflection Points of 2020

Last year might end up being known as the year of countless inflection points. Narratives that were playing out over months and years were accelerated or reversed with volatility not seen since World War II. Among commodities, there were new all-time highs hit in gold and new all-time lows that reached into negative territory for…

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Jan 5, 2021

A Global Macro Look Back at Commodities in 2020

Over the past 50 years, commodities have displayed mostly positive yearly performances, as measured by the world-production-weighted S&P GSCI. The index rose in 34 out of those 50 years, or roughly 70% of the time. Usage as an inflation hedge coupled with its low correlation to other asset classes has given market participants ample reasons…

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Nov 17, 2020

Where Do You See Yourself in Five Years? China Stocks Up ahead of Their Latest Five-Year Plan

When discussing global economic recoveries, China is usually at the forefront of the conversation. As of Nov. 16, 2020, metal commodities with an industrial focus were the outperformers YTD. China is the world’s top industrial metal destination. Exhibit 1 shows the top 10 performing commodities tracked by S&P DJI. Seven metal commodities made it to…

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Nov 16, 2020

India’s Contribution to the Global Economic Recovery

Discussions regarding a K-shaped recovery from COVID-19 highlight disparities across different commodity sectors. India seems to be experiencing its own version of this, with some areas improving faster and stronger than others. Decreased importation costs have served as a tailwind to help India. Energy accounts for about one-third of India’s total imports, and as crude…

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Oct 26, 2020

A Supply Drop and Demand Pickup Pushed Soybeans to a Three-Year High

Only a few months ago, it seemed that global soybean supplies were more than ample, and in the case of the U.S., a semi-permanent soybean mountain had been built in the wake of damaged demand from its top customer, China. Fast forward to late October 2020, and the S&P GSCI Soybeans is up 29% since…

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Sep 1, 2020

Cyclones and Cyclicals

Most constituents of the S&P GSCI posted positive performance in August. The headline S&P GSCI rose 4.59% on the back of increased inflation expectations and bullish market sentiment brought on by the S&P 500® reaching new highs. The performance attribution across sectors was evenly distributed. Inflation hedging may have been one of the key drivers…

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Aug 11, 2020

Gold Breaks Out to a New All-Time High as the U.S. Dollar Drops

Despite the drop in volatility in many asset classes over the summer, some broke through key support and resistance levels. The S&P GSCI Gold (TR) was one of them, reaching a new all-time high of USD 1,056.83 on Aug. 6, 2020, eclipsing the previous high from the summer of 2011. The underlying gold futures had…

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Jul 20, 2020

The Less Precious Metal

Silver has soared since mid-March 2020, fueled by renewed industrial demand and investor appetite for alternatives to gold and government bonds. From its low in mid-March, the S&P GSCI Silver was up 65% as of July 17, 2020. The less precious metal, silver, has lagged gold’s recent multi-year increase. The more volatile precious metal has…

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Jul 1, 2020

June Heatwave for Metal and Petroleum Commodities

The S&P GSCI rose 5.09% in June and 10.47% for the second quarter of 2020. The recovery in the second quarter did not fully retrace the dramatic downside from the first quarter, as can be seen in the index’s -36.50% YTD return. Continued recovery in petroleum commodities contributed, but bullish sentiment in industrial metals such…

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Jun 15, 2020

IRONclad ORE Is Full of Steam

Just like the ironclad battleships of the 19th century, the S&P GSCI Iron Ore has steamed through 2020 in the explosive sea battle atmosphere of this year’s highly volatile markets. It stayed afloat when most commodities sunk to negative YTD returns (see Exhibit 1). The S&P GSCI Iron Ore was up 22.1% YTD as of…

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