Commodity-equity and cross-commodity return co-movements rose dramatically after the 2008 financial crisis. This development took place following what has been dubbed the “financialization” of commodity markets. We first document changes since 2000 in the intensity of speculative activity in...

Amidst a sharp rise in commodity investing, many have asked whether commodities nowadays move in sync with traditional financial assets. Using daily, weekly and monthly data, we provide evidence that challenges this idea. Applying dynamic correlation and recursive cointegration techniques, we...

We identify and explain a structural change in the relation between crude oil futures prices across contract maturities. As recently as 2001, near- and long-dated futures were priced as though traded in segmented markets. In 2002, however, the prices of one-year futures started to move more in...

Some of the world’s largest futures exchanges impose daily limits on the price movements of individual contracts. Using data from three of the most active US commodity futures contracts, we show that these price restrictions are largely ineffective because traders are able to take similar...

Following the International Conference on “Oil Price Forecasts and Trends” organized by FEEM on May 23-24, 2013, Re3 interviews energy experts Bahattin Buyuksahin, Leo Drollas, John Elder, Wincenty Kaminski, Charles F. Mason and James Smith on the key issues of oil price forecasts and...

On January 12-13, 2012, FEEM organized a brainstorming workshop on “Financial Speculation in the Oil Market and the Determinants of the Oil Price” gathering together leading scholars in the field of energy economics and top professionals from international financial and energy institutions...

We test the prevalence, sources and effects of herding among large speculative traders in thirty U.S. futures markets over 2004-2009. Using unique U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) data identifying daily trader positions we compare herding among hedge funds and floor market...