Financialization and the returns to commodity investments

Commodity futures investment grew rapidly after their popularity exploded—along with commodity prices—in the mid-2000s. Numerous individuals and institutions embraced alternative investments for their purported diversification benefits and equity-like returns. We investigate whether the “financialization” of commodity futures markets reduced the risk premiums available to long-only investors in commodities. While energy futures markets generally exhibit a decline in risk premiums after 2004, premiums in all but one non-energy futures market actually increased over the same time period. Overall, the average unconditional return to individual commodity futures markets is approximately equal to zero before and after financialization.