IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/jfutmk/v45y2025i9p1409-1427.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Detangling Risk Premiums: Common and Idiosyncratic Components of Crude Oil, Corn, and Ethanol Futures

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaoli Etienne
  • Bingxin Li
  • Rui Liu

Abstract

Applying a no‐arbitrage term structure model, we analyze how risk premiums in crude oil, corn, and ethanol futures have evolved amid their increasingly synchronized price movements. Specifically, the model estimates a common factor that summarizes the information driving the three futures prices simultaneously and one idiosyncratic factor that captures distinct information in each market. The common risk prices are more strongly linked to macroeconomic observables, whereas market‐specific factors Granger cause the risk prices of both common and idiosyncratic components. We find that financialization negatively impacts the overall level of risk premiums. The risk premiums for crude oil, corn, and ethanol risk premiums all increased from the financialization period to the post‐financialization period. While financialization significantly affected the level of risk premiums, its influence on their comovement across markets may have been limited. In contrast, uncertainty surrounding biofuel policy may have affected the linkage between corn and ethanol risk premiums.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaoli Etienne & Bingxin Li & Rui Liu, 2025. "Detangling Risk Premiums: Common and Idiosyncratic Components of Crude Oil, Corn, and Ethanol Futures," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 45(9), pages 1409-1427, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:jfutmk:v:45:y:2025:i:9:p:1409-1427
    DOI: 10.1002/fut.70001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/fut.70001
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/fut.70001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dahlgran, Roger A., 2009. "Inventory and Transformation Hedging Effectiveness in Corn Crushing," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 34(01), pages 1-18, April.
    2. Mallory, Mindy L. & Irwin, Scott H. & Hayes, Dermot J., 2012. "How market efficiency and the theory of storage link corn and ethanol markets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(6), pages 2157-2166.
    3. Alanoud Al-Maadid & Guglielmo Maria Caporale & Fabio Spagnolo & Nicola Spagnolo, 2017. "Spillovers between food and energy prices and structural breaks," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 150, pages 1-18.
    4. Yannick Le Pen & Benoît Sévi, 2013. "Futures trading and the excess comovement of commodity prices," Post-Print hal-01613916, HAL.
    5. Davidson Heath, 2019. "Macroeconomic Factors in Oil Futures Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4407-4421, September.
    6. Gao, Xin & Li, Bingxin & Liu, Rui, 2023. "The relative pricing of WTI and Brent crude oil futures: Expectations or risk premia?," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    7. Chen, Wei & Huang, Zhuo & Yi, Yanping, 2015. "Is there a structural change in the persistence of WTI–Brent oil price spreads in the post-2010 period?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 64-71.
    8. Mallory, Mindy L. & Irwin, Scott H. & Hayes, Dermot J., 2012. "How Market Efficiency and the Theory of Storage Link Corn and Ethanol Markets Energy Economics," ISU General Staff Papers 201211010700001537, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    9. Natanelov, Valeri & Alam, Mohammad J. & McKenzie, Andrew M. & Van Huylenbroeck, Guido, 2011. "Is there co-movement of agricultural commodities futures prices and crude oil?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(9), pages 4971-4984, September.
    10. Engle, Robert F & Sheppard, Kevin K, 2001. "Theoretical and Empirical Properties of Dynamic Conditional Correlation Multivariate GARCH," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series qt5s2218dp, Department of Economics, UC San Diego.
    11. Lutz Kilian, 2009. "Not All Oil Price Shocks Are Alike: Disentangling Demand and Supply Shocks in the Crude Oil Market," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 99(3), pages 1053-1069, June.
    12. Cheridito, Patrick & Filipovic, Damir & Kimmel, Robert L., 2007. "Market price of risk specifications for affine models: Theory and evidence," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(1), pages 123-170, January.
    13. Hamilton, James D. & Wu, Jing Cynthia, 2014. "Risk premia in crude oil futures prices," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 9-37.
    14. Brunetti, Celso & Reiffen, David, 2014. "Commodity index trading and hedging costs," Journal of Financial Markets, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 153-180.
    15. Ang, Andrew & Piazzesi, Monika, 2003. "A no-arbitrage vector autoregression of term structure dynamics with macroeconomic and latent variables," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(4), pages 745-787, May.
    16. Kenneth J. Singleton, 2014. "Investor Flows and the 2008 Boom/Bust in Oil Prices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 60(2), pages 300-318, February.
    17. Jaime Casassus & Pierre Collin‐Dufresne, 2005. "Stochastic Convenience Yield Implied from Commodity Futures and Interest Rates," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 60(5), pages 2283-2331, October.
    18. Jonathan Hambur & Nick Stenner, 2016. "The Term Structure of Commodity Risk Premiums and the Role of Hedging," RBA Bulletin (Print copy discontinued), Reserve Bank of Australia, pages 57-66, March.
    19. Gregory R. Duffee, 2002. "Term Premia and Interest Rate Forecasts in Affine Models," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 57(1), pages 405-443, February.
    20. Acharya, Viral V. & Lochstoer, Lars A. & Ramadorai, Tarun, 2013. "Limits to arbitrage and hedging: Evidence from commodity markets," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 109(2), pages 441-465.
    21. Jaime Casassus & Peng Liu & Ke Tang, 2013. "Economic Linkages, Relative Scarcity, and Commodity Futures Returns," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 26(5), pages 1324-1362.
    22. Mohammad Isleimeyyeh, 2020. "The role of financial investors in determining the commodity futures risk premium," Journal of Futures Markets, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(9), pages 1375-1397, September.
    23. Jeffrey A. Frankel, 1986. "Expectations and Commodity Price Dynamics: The Overshooting Model," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 68(2), pages 344-348.
    24. Li, Bingxin, 2018. "Speculation, risk aversion, and risk premiums in the crude oil market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 64-81.
    25. Yannick Le Pen & Benoît Sévi, 2018. "Futures Trading and the Excess Co-movement of Commodity Prices [On the comovement of commodity prices]," Review of Finance, European Finance Association, vol. 22(1), pages 381-418.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Gao, Xin & Li, Bingxin & Liu, Rui, 2023. "The relative pricing of WTI and Brent crude oil futures: Expectations or risk premia?," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    2. Naomi Boyd & Bingxin Li & Rui Liu, 2022. "Risk premia in the term structure of crude oil futures: long-run and short-run volatility components," Review of Quantitative Finance and Accounting, Springer, vol. 58(4), pages 1505-1533, May.
    3. Ames, Matthew & Bagnarosa, Guillaume & Matsui, Tomoko & Peters, Gareth W. & Shevchenko, Pavel V., 2020. "Which risk factors drive oil futures price curves?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    4. Davidson Heath, 2019. "Macroeconomic Factors in Oil Futures Markets," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 65(9), pages 4407-4421, September.
    5. Kang, Boda & Nikitopoulos, Christina Sklibosios & Prokopczuk, Marcel, 2020. "Economic determinants of oil futures volatility: A term structure perspective," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    6. Lang, Korbinian & Auer, Benjamin R., 2020. "The economic and financial properties of crude oil: A review," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).
    7. Isleimeyyeh, Mohammad, 2025. "Financial investors and cross-commodity markets integration," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 38(C).
    8. Sung Je Byun, 2017. "Speculation in Commodity Futures Markets, Inventories and the Price of Crude Oil," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 5).
    9. Cummins, Mark & Dowling, Michael & Kearney, Fearghal, 2016. "Oil market modelling: A comparative analysis of fundamental and latent factor approaches," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 211-218.
    10. Cifuentes, Sebastián & Cortazar, Gonzalo & Ortega, Hector & Schwartz, Eduardo S., 2020. "Expected prices, futures prices and time-varying risk premiums: The case of copper," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    11. Sophie van Huellen, 2020. "Approaches To Price Formation In Financialized Commodity Markets," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(1), pages 219-237, February.
    12. James D. Hamilton & Jing Cynthia Wu, 2015. "Effects Of Index‐Fund Investing On Commodity Futures Prices," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 56(1), pages 187-205, February.
    13. Dudda, Tom L. & Klein, Tony & Nguyen, Duc Khuong & Walther, Thomas, 2022. "Common Drivers of Commodity Futures?," QBS Working Paper Series 2022/05, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    14. Yan, Lei & Irwin, Scott H. & Sanders, Dwight R., 2018. "Mapping algorithms, agricultural futures, and the relationship between commodity investment flows and crude oil futures prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 486-504.
    15. Yan, Lei & Irwin, Scott H. & Sanders, Dwight R., "undated". "Identifying the Impact of Financialization in Commodity Futures Prices from Index Rebalancing," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258504, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    16. Li, Bingxin, 2018. "Speculation, risk aversion, and risk premiums in the crude oil market," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 64-81.
    17. Prat, Georges & Uctum, Remzi, 2024. "Risk premium, price of risk and expected volatility in the oil market: Evidence from survey data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    18. Valenti, Daniele & Manera, Matteo & Sbuelz, Alessandro, 2020. "Interpreting the oil risk premium: Do oil price shocks matter?," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    19. Riza Demirer & Konstantinos Gkillas & Rangan Gupta & Christian Pierdzioch, 2022. "Risk aversion and the predictability of crude oil market volatility: A forecasting experiment with random forests," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 73(8), pages 1755-1767, August.
    20. Yao, Wei, 2025. "The US Quantitative Easing Monetary Policy and Commodities’ Prices," Other publications TiSEM 185d14d3-9dc2-4276-82ec-e, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:jfutmk:v:45:y:2025:i:9:p:1409-1427. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.interscience.wiley.com/jpages/0270-7314/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.