What advantage is there in using equities to access the commodities markets, over other means?
Satch Chada, managing director/global head, Investor Solutions, Jefferies Asset Management (Chada): First, they’re simple. For example, equity-based ETFs distribute 1099s, which are simpler from a tax perspective than the K-1s distributed by futures-based ETFs. But also, if you take a look at the market capitalization of the equities in the CRB-EQ Composite Index, it’s roughly between $4.5 trillion and $5 trillion; it’s a gigantic market. If you take a look at the aggregate open interest in corresponding commodity futures, such as oil futures, it’s an order of magnitude less. So equities are easy to access for investors; by comparison to their futures counterparts, they’re highly liquid and highly tradable. Crigger: But when you own commodity equities, are you really getting the noncorrelated returns the asset class is known for? Don’t commodity equities behave more like equities than commodities? Chada: Unless you’re willing to own spot directly, there’s no “pure” way to own commoditi
