Commodities 2010: Five Themes to Drive Commodity Markets This Year

The economic and financial crisis of 2008-09 was so significant that its consequences for a very long time have been dominating markets, including those of commodities. As a result, most asset classes have moved largely in sync for most of the past year, inducing unprecedentedly high correlations between, for example, commodities on the one side and equities, bonds and the dollar on the other. Indeed, market focus has so far primarily been on one common factor: the stance of the global business cycle. For commodities, this meant that the focal point became the prospects of a recovery in the global economy and, in turn, a come-back of demand for raw materials.