The commodity bull case revisited
Investors have again started looking at increasing their exposure to commodities this year. However, the asset class has delivered mixed results so far.
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Investors have again started looking at increasing their exposure to commodities this year. However, the asset class has delivered mixed results so far.
The correlation between oil and US high yield markets broke down in July, indicative of a shift in the focus of the sector.
An interesting paradox is becoming visible in Expert Investor’s investment sentiment data: while fund buyers’ appetite for risky assets is on the up, their macroeconomic outlook is going the other way.
Two thirds of institutional investors expect European companies to reduce their dividends or keep them unchanged this year, according to research conducted by Source, the ETF provider.
Gold has had a good start to 2016 but three months of positive fund returns and an upwardly mobile price are not enough to badge it as a safe haven.
Although commodities are still being treated with a great deal of suspicion, by taking a long-term view investors could reap the rewards of the consolidation that is already underway in the sector.
A gold rush has gripped Monaco. All but one of the fund selectors our researcher interviewed when she visited the principality recently, said they are either sure they will buy more gold or will seriously consider the opportunity.
The news over the weekend that the sanctions against Iran have been lifted took very few people by surprise, but the confirmation that the country is back among the global oil-producing fold does bode ill for prices.
The Norwegian government has launched a review of the asset allocation of the national oil fund ‘Statens pensjonsfond utland’. The purpose of the review is especially to determine whether its current exposure of 60% to equities should be increased.
The news that Brent Crude oil slipped below $35 a barrel for the first time since 2004 on Wednesday should come as little surprise.
I’ve lost count of the number investors who described themselves as “cautiously optimistic” in 2015, but going into 2016 maybe we should drop the caution entirely (or at least tone it down a bit).
The plunge in oil has moved front and centre in investors’ market thinking despite the looming Fed rate decision, experts say. But not all the thinking is negative.