The Properties of Commodity Spot and Futures Markets



Thursday, 16. October 2014 | 14:00 Uhr

Speaker

Marco Haase / Alex Tobler

Organisation

University Basel / Picard Angst Asset Management Ltd.

Reporting

Marco Haase of the University of Basel and Alex Tobler of Picard Angst Management AG explained the functioning of commodity trading to the audience at the 13th Dialogue on Science. In 2008, food prices rose rapidly. Price increases of up to 70% on staple foods like maize and rice were recorded. Many accused investors of being responsible for driving prices up with speculating in foodstuffs. However, Haase and Tobler are convinced that speculations in financial derivatives were not the only reason for the high prices. Population growth, depreciation of the dollar, loss of arable land due to climate change, export restrictions of the biggest producing countries, rising oil prices, and crop failures also contributed to the high prices.

In their presentation, they conveyed the differences between the physical (spot) market and the futures market, the correlation between spot and futures prices, as well as the role played by inventories as a buffer against supply and demand shocks.

Learn more about food speculation in the video of Marco Haase and Alex Tobler.

Marco Haase / Alex Tobler

Alex Tobler has joined Picard Angst Asset Management Ltd. as a portfolio manager in 2014. He is part of the four-member portfolio management team overseeing around $2bn in assets.  Furthermore he is an active board member of the Commodity Club Switzerland, the Swiss association of commodity professionals.

Prior to joining Picard Angst, Alex spent 6 years at the asset management company Alnua Ltd. in a variety of roles (with focus on commodities), ultimately becoming head of asset management. During his time at Alnua Ltd., he was actively involved in several projects about responsibility issues in the field of commodity investing. Alex graduated from the University of Zurich and received an MA in Banking and Finance.

Marco Haase has several years of experience in the commodity and financial industry. From 2007 to 2012 he worked as head of research and later as head of risk controlling for CYD Research GmbH in Zurich. He was responsible for the development of commodity strategies and their implementation in the portfolio management. He has a long standing experience in risk modelling of complex commodity portfolios and served for several German banks in the treasury, ALM department and as head of controlling.

He holds a doctorate in Economics from the University of Basel on the topic of “Scarcity, Risk Premiums and the Pricing of Commodity Futures”. He is currently engaged in two research projects in the department of finance theory at the University of Basel. The first addresses the assessment and management of commodity- and currency price risk in companies, including the enhancement of commonly used hedging strategies. The second project evaluates the impact of speculators on commodity futures prices.

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