Tactical Allocation in Commodity Futures Markets: Combining Momentum and Term Structure Signals

48 Pages Posted: 30 Apr 2008 Last revised: 11 Sep 2019

See all articles by Ana-Maria Fuertes

Ana-Maria Fuertes

Bayes Business School, City, University of London

Joëlle Miffre

Audencia Business School

Georgios Rallis

City University of London - Sir John Cass Business School

Date Written: April 22, 2010

Abstract

This paper examines the combined role of momentum and term structure signals for the design of profitable trading strategies in commodity futures markets. With significant annualized alphas of 10.14% and 12.66% respectively, the momentum and term structure strategies appear profitable when implemented individually. With an abnormal return of 21.02%, a novel double-sort strategy that exploits both momentum and term structure signals clearly outperforms the single-sort strategies. This double-sort strategy can additionally be utilized as a portfolio diversification tool. Interestingly, the abnormal performance of the double-sort portfolios cannot be explained by a lack of liquidity or data mining and is robust to transaction costs and to different specifications of the risk-return trade-off.

Keywords: Commodity Futures, Momentum, Term Structure, Backwardation, Contango, Double-sort strategy

JEL Classification: G13, G14

Suggested Citation

Fuertes, Ana-Maria and Miffre, Joelle and Rallis, Georgios, Tactical Allocation in Commodity Futures Markets: Combining Momentum and Term Structure Signals (April 22, 2010). Journal of Banking and Finance 34, 2530-2548 , Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1127213 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1127213

Ana-Maria Fuertes

Bayes Business School, City, University of London ( email )

Faculty of Finance
106 Bunhill Row
London, EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom
+44 207 477 0186 (Phone)
+44 207 477 8881 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://bit.ly/3RxCJqu

Joelle Miffre (Contact Author)

Audencia Business School ( email )

8 Road Joneliere
BP 31222
Nantes Cedex 3, 44312
France

Georgios Rallis

City University of London - Sir John Cass Business School ( email )

106 Bunhill Row
e-mail: g.rallis@city.ac.uk
London, EC1Y 8TZ
United Kingdom

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