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jim-wiederhold

Jim Wiederhold

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

Jim Wiederhold is 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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May 1, 2023

The S&P GSCI Cooled in April as Inflation Cooled

The S&P GSCI fell 0.8% in April as the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), fell slightly on a year-over-year basis to 4.6%. Continued elevated readings of inflation, albeit cooling, led to market expectations that the Fed would hike rates again in May to bring inflation back to its 2% target. Commodities…

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Apr 11, 2023

Breakfast – The Most Important Meal of the Day

The first quarter of 2023 was a slow start to the year for commodities in general. The S&P GSCI Dynamic Roll Breakfast (OJ 5% Capped) also had a slow start, down 3.1%, after a solid 2022 performance of 14.12%. Maybe a higher weight to coffee would give the index the caffeine kick needed to boost…

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Mar 15, 2023

Will the S&P GSCI Electric Vehicle Metals Outperform with Copper Leading the Way?

Recent bullish fundamentals appear to be falling in line for the electric vehicle metals space. A decade of weak metals prices has led to underinvestment by miners and refiners, as private investment and bank financing support waned. In 2022, S&P Global released a comprehensive report on copper outlining the current trending Rocky Road supply scenario…

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Mar 1, 2023

Commodities Could Not Escape the Sea of Red Seen Across Asset Classes in February

The S&P GSCI, the world’s leading commodities benchmark, could not escape the volatile markets experienced in February, as the index fell 3.83% for the month. Despite recent declines, inflation remained high, which kept the U.S. Fed steadfast in its rate-hiking campaign, and expectations for a possible easing by year-end 2023 were squashed in the latest…

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Feb 1, 2023

Commodities Flat in January After Second-Best Yearly Performance in Two Decades

The 24 individual commodities comprising the S&P GSCI finished the first month of 2023 with divergent performance. This echoed the uncertain path forward regarding inflation expectations. Half outperformed, with industrial metals leading the way, while the other half declined, with natural gas tanking, as European countries filled their tanks to their brims. Gold had one…

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Nov 4, 2022

Petroleum Helped the S&P GSCI Gain 6.7% in October

Commodities, represented by the broad-based S&P GSCI, rose 6.7% in October on the back of strength in the petroleum complex. During the month, the director of the International Energy Agency said the world is in the middle of “the first truly global energy crisis.” All petroleum constituents rose by double-digit percentage points. Livestock also rose,…

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Oct 11, 2022

Will Diwali Light Up Demand for Gold in the Fourth Quarter?

During the Diwali festival in India, retail gold demand tends to pick up, offering a floor to global gold prices or the potential impetus to push prices seasonally higher. Several years of lower-than-expected gold demand suggest that there is room for an uptick in demand in Q4 2022 for India’s second-largest import by value. India…

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Aug 1, 2022

Commodities Rise 36% in 2022 after a Flat July

The S&P GSCI remained flat in July, holding on to a 36% YTD gain despite the bearish sentiment permeating the broad financial markets. This benchmark for world commodities has proven its merit during extremely hot inflation. The Fed hiked interest rates another 75 bps to fight inflation late in the month, but several factors across…

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Jul 19, 2022

Commodities: Inflation, Interest Rates and the U.S. Dollar

After last week’s highest inflation print in over four decades, the U.S. dollar (USD) rose to its strongest level in 20 years, as measured against a broad basket of currencies. The euro also hit parity with the USD for the first time since 2002 as a consequence of Europe’s front-line exposure to the Russia-Ukraine conflict…

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Jul 15, 2022

Compliance versus Voluntary Carbon Markets

After the launch of S&P GSCI Global Voluntary Carbon Liquidity Weighted, the first-to-market benchmark that seeks to track the current performance of global voluntary carbon futures markets, we thought it would be wise to go into further detail regarding the two main types of carbon commodity markets. These two markets are similar in that the…

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