As market participants increasingly incorporate ESG metrics into all aspects of investing, it is inevitable that commodities investing would collide with ESG. The search for low-carbon fuel feedstocks from renewable sources to meet the demand for green energy is one area where the commodity-ESG conundrum is already apparent. In part 1 of our blog, we…
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November proved to be a good month for risk assets, including commodities. The headline S&P GSCI rose 12.0%, outperforming the S&P 500®, which gained 10.8%. Promising developments on the COVID-19 vaccine front and the U.S. election outcome rewarded risk assets such as energy and industrial metals, while safe-haven assets like gold lost some luster. The…
The headline S&P GSCI fell 3.6% in October. Energy was responsible for the bulk of the declines in October, while agriculture continued to benefit from the return of demand from China, as well as weather-related supply issues. Across the energy complex, the rising number of COVID-19 infections, a second wave of lockdowns, and travel restrictions…
The headline S&P GSCI fell 3.6% in September on the back of growing concern regarding the prolonged economic impact of a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Across sectors, both industrial metals and energy contracted, while the agriculture and livestock sectors benefited from cursory signs of the return of demand from China. The S&P GSCI…
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…
COVID-19 continued to wreak havoc across commodities markets in April. The S&P GSCI fell 9.67% in April and 47.92% YTD. Economic data continued to weaken into uncharted territory. Supply chains crucial to the flow of commodities from extraction to consumption experienced a sudden shut off and demand collapsed. Energy and agriculture underperformed, while metals offered…
It is difficult to accurately express the magnitude of the health, societal, and economic costs of the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the lens of the commodities markets, the economic impact has been swift and severe. The broad-based S&P GSCI ended March down an extraordinary 29.4%, the largest monthly drop in performance in the index’s nearly 29-year…
In our blog post from December 2019,[1] we highlighted the disparity seen last year between different sectors of the commodity futures and commodity equities markets. The second thing to watch highlighted the substantial 25% performance difference in 2019 between the S&P GSCI Energy and the S&P GSCI Equity Commodity Energy Index. However, so far in…
The S&P GSCI ended 2019 up 17.6%. This was the S&P GSCI’s 10th-strongest performance since 1990 and its best annual return since the heights of the so-called commodity super cycle in 2007. Across the commodity markets, gains were driven by the petroleum complex and precious metals, while agriculture and livestock detracted from headline performance. Petroleum…
In this blog post, we present five eclectic thoughts for commodity investors to ponder as we look forward to the New Year and the start of a new decade. S&P 500® versus S&P GSCI Similar to the 1990s, the last decade saw equities radically outperform commodities. Prior to that, the 2000s were more volatile, with…
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