I don’t know about you but I have other investments besides equities. That is because diversification has a calming effect on my financial nerves. The opportunity to diversify across stocks, bonds, options and future contracts is too rich to ignore. So I own some bonds and real estate (a house is nice since it is hard to live inside a 401 K) and variable annuities too. I have even been fascinated by coin collecting as an investment. (That proved to be an alarming investment that tested my sanity. For as soon as I tried to discern between 70 grades of coin scrutinizing lint marks and knowing that a MS-63 Morgan was worth a warm bucket of spit compared to an MS-66, I knew I had become temporarily insane. Better to just be a collector of coins.) Also, now and then I get excited about a commodity and throw a commodity ETF into the financial concoction. I mean, you had to have been in a very dark and isolated room not to notice Gold and Silver surging over the past two years.
Of course, commodity prices have a comprehensive impact on our economy. It fascinates me how they are all interrelated like a family of meerkats.
Oil goes up in price and then grains may follow because fertilizer and transportation costs more, which then has the possibility to ignite inflation, which drives the price of precious metals up and may devalue equities. Also, commodity supplies are at the mercy of capricious acts of nature like earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, floods and other vagaries, all of which add an “Oracle of Delphi” like excitement to selecting the right future contract at the right time.
In my opinion, investors are working without a complete picture of the financial landscape if commodities are ignored. Even if one does not invest in commodity futures, knowing what is happening with certain key commodities like oil, gold, and wheat can give you a good sense of the state of the economy and what equity sectors might benefit or be hurt as prices change.
That is why NASDAQ.com have included prices, charts and articles for 31 commodities. These include metals, energies, grains, meats and softs. Also, since one way of investing in commodities is through an ETF, we also have ETF’s that are based on the underlying commodity.
We hope you find our new and improved Commodities area beneficial as you look for investments to round out your portfolio. Come back often and check us out as we continue to build the world’s finest stock market web site.
As always, let me know what you think about these new features.
Cheers,
Bruce Hashim
Vice President and General Manager, NASDAQ.com