FYI: Unless you were operating in the trading pits like Billy Ray Valentine in Trading Places, it was basically impossible to invest in commodities for the average investor until the 1990s. But no one really paid attention to commodities until the huge boom in the mid-2000s. Price tends to drive narratives so most investors felt they needed to load up on commodity funds to get in on the action. Since a broad basket of commodities peaked in 2007 or so it’s been a rough ride ever since. The following piece I wrote for Bloomberg looks at how investors and traders alike should view this asset class. (A few people emailed to tell me the chart I referenced in here from another source isn’t exactly accurate but the cyclical nature of commodities remains nonetheless.)
Regards,
Ted
http://awealthofcommonsense.com/2017/09/commodities-are-meant-for-trading-not-investing/
