The S&P GSCI index – which tracks more than 20 commodities ranging from precious and industrial metals to oil – gained around a third last year, its best annual performance since 2009. Many raw materials have continued to flourish this year: oil and natural gas are now up by 50% over 12 months, for instance.
The rebound from multi-year lows comes as investors have been encouraged by signs of inflation and improving demand, says Stephanie Yang in The Wall Street Journal. Worldwide commodity assets under management were up 50% year-on-year in January.
Viewpoint
“In 2016, China boasted a staggering 731 million internet users, according to the China Internet Network Information Center. Putting this into context, the entire population of the US is just under 320 million… The Chinese have taken to social networking in a big way. According to statistics portal Statista, there were 514 million users of social networks in 2016… Not surprisingly, the numbers have not gone unnoticed and the huge online population has been identified as a lucrative market for advertising. Marketing research firm eMarketer predicts that digital advertising spending will reach $50.5bn in China this year, up from $31bn just two years ago.”
Henderson Global Investors