This paper investigates whether an investor is made better off by including commodities in a portfolio that consists of traditional asset classes. First, we revisit the posed question within an in-sample setting by employing mean–variance and non-mean–variance spanning tests. Then, we form...

In light of the recently passed 2010 Dodd–Frank Act, we assess the effect of margin changes on prices/returns, the risk-sharing between speculators and hedgers, and the price stability of a large number of commodity futures markets. We find that margin increases decrease the rate at which...

We explore whether there are common factors in the cross-section of individual commodity futures returns. We test various asset pricing models which have been employed for the equities market as well as models motivated by commodity pricing theories. The use of these families of models allows us...

In light of the recently passed 2010 Dodd–Frank Act, we assess the effect of margin changes on prices, the risk-sharing between speculators and hedgers, and the price stability of 20 commodity futures markets. We find that margin increases decrease the rate at which prices change, yet they...

We review selectively some recent advances in the commodity futures literature. First, we discuss the literature on the diversification benefits of commodity futures and we highlight some common misconceptions. Next, we survey the commodity futures asset pricing literature. We explain why it is...

We explore whether there are common factors in the cross-section of individual commodity futures returns. We test various asset pricing models which have been employed for the equities market as well as models motivated by commodity pricing theories. The use of these families of models allows us...