The Fundamentals of Commodity Futures Returns

63 Pages Posted: 13 Jul 2007 Last revised: 15 Sep 2022

See all articles by Gary B. Gorton

Gary B. Gorton

Yale School of Management; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Yale University - Yale Program on Financial Stability

Fumio Hayashi

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies; GRIPS

K. Geert Rouwenhorst

Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance

Multiple version iconThere are 2 versions of this paper

Date Written: July 2007

Abstract

Commodity futures risk premiums vary across commodities and over time depending on the level of physical inventories, as predicted by the Theory of Storage. Using a comprehensive dataset on 31 commodity futures and physical inventories between 1969 and 2006, we show that the convenience yield is a decreasing, non-linear relationship of inventories. Price measures, such as the futures basis, prior futures returns, and spot returns reflect the state of inventories and are informative about commodity futures risk premiums. The excess returns to Spot and Futures Momentum and Backwardation strategies stem in part from the selection of commodities when inventories are low. Positions of futures markets participants are correlated with prices and inventory signals, but we reject the Keynesian "hedging pressure" hypothesis that these positions are an important determinant of risk premiums.

Suggested Citation

Gorton, Gary B. and Hayashi, Fumio and Rouwenhorst, K. Geert, The Fundamentals of Commodity Futures Returns (July 2007). NBER Working Paper No. w13249, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1000353

Gary B. Gorton (Contact Author)

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Fumio Hayashi

National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies ( email )

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K. Geert Rouwenhorst

Yale School of Management - International Center for Finance ( email )

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