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Commodity futures prices: More evidence on forecast power, risk premia and the theory of storage

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  • Brooks, Chris
  • Prokopczuk, Marcel
  • Wu, Yingying

Abstract

In this paper, we examine the temporal stability of the evidence for two commodity futures pricing theories. We investigate whether the forecast power of commodity futures can be attributed to the extent to which they exhibit seasonality and we also consider whether there are time varying parameters or structural breaks in these pricing relationships. Compared to previous studies, we find stronger evidence of seasonality in the basis, which supports the theory of storage. The power of the basis to forecast subsequent price changes is also strengthened, while results on the presence of a risk premium are inconclusive. In addition, we show that the forecasting power of commodity futures cannot be attributed to the extent to which they exhibit seasonality. We find that in most cases where structural breaks occur, only changes in the intercepts and not the slopes are detected, illustrating that the forecast power of the basis is stable over different economic environments.

Suggested Citation

  • Brooks, Chris & Prokopczuk, Marcel & Wu, Yingying, 2013. "Commodity futures prices: More evidence on forecast power, risk premia and the theory of storage," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 73-85.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:quaeco:v:53:y:2013:i:1:p:73-85
    DOI: 10.1016/j.qref.2013.01.003
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    Cited by:

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    2. Joshua G. Maples & B. Wade Brorsen, 2022. "Handling the discontinuity in futures prices when time series modeling of commodity cash and futures prices," Canadian Journal of Agricultural Economics/Revue canadienne d'agroeconomie, Canadian Agricultural Economics Society/Societe canadienne d'agroeconomie, vol. 70(2), pages 139-152, June.
    3. Aepli, Matthias D. & Füss, Roland & Henriksen, Tom Erik S. & Paraschiv, Florentina, 2017. "Modeling the multivariate dynamic dependence structure of commodity futures portfolios," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 6(C), pages 66-87.
    4. Cortazar, Gonzalo & Ortega, Hector & Rojas, Maximiliano & Schwartz, Eduardo S., 2021. "Commodity index risk premium," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 22(C).
    5. Heumesser, Christine & Staritz, Cornelia, 2013. "Financialisation and the microstructure of commodity markets: A qualitative investigation of trading strategies of financial investors and commercial traders," Working Papers 44, Austrian Foundation for Development Research (ÖFSE).
    6. Asche, Frank & Misund, Bård & Oglend, Atle, 2016. "Determinants of the Atlantic salmon futures risk premium," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 2(1), pages 6-17.
    7. Roncoroni, Andrea & Prokopczuk, Marcel & Ronn, Ehud I., 2018. "Introduction—special issue on commodity and energy markets in the Journal of Banking and Finance," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 1-4.
    8. Cagatay Basarir & Mehmet Fatih Bayramoglu, 2018. "Global Macroeconomic Determinants of the Domestic Commodity Derivatives," Contributions to Economics, in: Hasan Dincer & Ümit Hacioglu & Serhat Yüksel (ed.), Global Approaches in Financial Economics, Banking, and Finance, chapter 0, pages 331-349, Springer.
    9. Salisu, Afees A. & Adediran, Idris A. & Oloko, Tirimisiyu O. & Ohemeng, William, 2020. "The heterogeneous behaviour of the inflation hedging property of cocoa," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 51(C).
    10. Paraschiv, Florentina & Mudry, Pierre-Antoine & Andries, Alin Marius, 2015. "Stress-testing for portfolios of commodity futures," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 9-18.
    11. Algieri, Bernardina & Kalkuhl, Matthias & Koch, Nicolas, 2017. "A tale of two tails: Explaining extreme events in financialized agricultural markets," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 256-269.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Commodity futures; Theory of storage; Risk premia;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G13 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Contingent Pricing; Futures Pricing

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