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Impact of speculation and economic uncertainty on commodity markets

Author

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  • Andreasson, Pierre
  • Bekiros, Stelios
  • Nguyen, Duc Khuong
  • Uddin, Gazi Salah

Abstract

We examine the interactions between commodity futures returns and five driving factors (financial speculation, exchange rate, stock market dynamics, implied volatility for the US equity market, and economic policy uncertainty). Nonlinear causality tests are implemented after controlling for cointegration and conditional heteroscedasticity in the data over the period May 1990 – April 2014. Our results show strong evidence of unidirectional linear causality from commodity returns to excess speculation for the majority of the considered commodities, in particular for agriculture commodities. This evidence casts doubt on the claim that speculation is driving food prices. We also find unidirectional linear causality from energy futures markets to exchange rates and strong evidence of nonlinear causal dependence between commodity futures returns, on the one hand, and stock market returns and implied volatility, on the other hand. Overall, the new evidence found in this paper can be utilized for policy and investment decision-making.

Suggested Citation

  • Andreasson, Pierre & Bekiros, Stelios & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Uddin, Gazi Salah, 2016. "Impact of speculation and economic uncertainty on commodity markets," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 115-127.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:finana:v:43:y:2016:i:c:p:115-127
    DOI: 10.1016/j.irfa.2015.11.005
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commodity markets; Economic uncertainty; Nonlinear causality; Step-wise filtering;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C14 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Semiparametric and Nonparametric Methods: General
    • C32 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes; State Space Models
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation

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