The Tactical and Strategic Value of Commodity Futures
Posted: Tue Jul 10, 2007 5:03 pm
http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm? ... _id=650923
The Tactical and Strategic Value of Commodity Futures
CLAUDE B. ERB
TCW
CAMPBELL R. HARVEY
Duke University - Fuqua School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) January 12, 2006
Abstract:
Investors face a number of challenges when seeking to estimate the prospective performance of a long-only investment in commodity futures. For instance, historically, the average annualized excess return of individual commodity futures has been approximately zero and commodity futures returns have been largely uncorrelated with one another. However, the prospective annualized excess return of a rebalanced portfolio of commodity futures can be equity-like. Certain security characteristics, such as the term structure of futures prices, and some portfolio strategies have historically been rewarded with above average returns. Avoiding na�ve extrapolation of historical returns and striking a balance between dependable sources of return and possible sources of return is important. This is the unabridged version of our 2006 publication in the Financial Analysts Journal.
The Tactical and Strategic Value of Commodity Futures
CLAUDE B. ERB
TCW
CAMPBELL R. HARVEY
Duke University - Fuqua School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) January 12, 2006
Abstract:
Investors face a number of challenges when seeking to estimate the prospective performance of a long-only investment in commodity futures. For instance, historically, the average annualized excess return of individual commodity futures has been approximately zero and commodity futures returns have been largely uncorrelated with one another. However, the prospective annualized excess return of a rebalanced portfolio of commodity futures can be equity-like. Certain security characteristics, such as the term structure of futures prices, and some portfolio strategies have historically been rewarded with above average returns. Avoiding na�ve extrapolation of historical returns and striking a balance between dependable sources of return and possible sources of return is important. This is the unabridged version of our 2006 publication in the Financial Analysts Journal.