Last year was a boom time for commodities. Volumes in New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex) energy and metals products that were traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s Globex platform more than tripled to an average of 757,000 contracts per day, and grew by 130% in Q4 alone.
Returns have been good, too. The GSCI commodity index last year returned in excess of 30%, for example. Compare that to the average equity or bond return and it makes commodities more than an attractive diversification play.
