Can Exchange Rates Forecast Commodity Prices?
49 Pages Posted: 21 Mar 2008 Last revised: 27 Jun 2021
Date Written: March 2008
Abstract
We show that "commodity currency" exchange rates have remarkably robust power in predicting global commodity prices, both in-sample and out-of-sample, and against a variety of alternative benchmarks. This result is of particular interest to policymakers, given the lack of deep forward markets in many individual commodities, and broad aggregate commodity indices in particular. We also explore the reverse relationship (commodity prices forecasting exchange rates) but find it to be notably less robust. We offer a theoretical resolution, based on the fact that exchange rates are strongly forward looking, whereas commodity price fluctuations are typically more sensitive to short-term demand imbalances.
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on SSRN?
Recommended Papers
-
Tests of Equal Forecast Accuracy and Encompassing for Nested Models
-
Long Swings in the Exchange Rate: are They in the Data and Do Markets Know it?
-
Exchange Rates and Fundamentals
By Charles M. Engel and Kenneth D. West
-
Exchange Rates and Fundamentals
By Charles M. Engel and Kenneth D. West
-
Empirical Exchange Rate Models of the Nineties: Are Any Fit to Survive?
By Hong Kong Institute For Monetary And Financial Research Submitter
-
Exchange Rates and Monetary Fundamentals: What Do We Learn from Long-Horizon Regressions?
By Lutz Kilian
-
Empirical Exchange Rate Models of the Nineties: Are Any Fit to Survive?
By Yin-wong Cheung, Menzie David Chinn, ...