Intelligent Commodity Indexing: A Practical Guide to Investing in Commodities

Book excerpt: THE SECRETS TO CAPITALIZING ON THE COMMODITIES BOOM In the mid-1970s, when Bob Greer scrolled through miles of microfilm in the basement of a public library in order to record commodity prices in his yellow legal pad, the idea of commodities being an investable asset class was way outside the mainstream. Now, it's a multibilliondollar vehicle for achieving portfolio diversification and inflation hedging--and he and his colleagues have written the book on earning better returns than the indexes themselves! In Intelligent Commodity Indexing, Bob joins his fellow leaders of PIMCO's Commodity Practice, Nic Johnson and Mihir Worah, in opening up commodity indexes. Never before has there been a more thorough explanation of how a commodity index works coupled with a powerful set of strategies for making it work for you. Inside, you'll find the most up-to-date tools and time-proven best practices for earning "structural alpha" by capitalizing on recurring risk and liquidity premiums in the commodities markets. It offers the right amount of history and theory to reinforce cuttingedge techniques for: Interpreting how seasonal effects change risk premia Choosing the most profitable market for specific commodity exposure Using intelligent commodity indexing to collect risk premiums in the options market Maximizing roll yield in order to increase long-term returns Managing risk, including specific frameworks and systems Investors gain a superior advantage with this book's coverage of the nuts-and-bolts workings of various markets. Praise for Intelligent Commodity Indexing "A seminal work on an asset class that has grown in importance within institutional portfolios. The authors offer considerable insight to this complex asset class and provide investors with a thorough examination of the drivers of risk and return." -- Julia K. Bonafede, CFA, President of Wilshire Consulting "This is an excellent guide for professional investors to successful investing in commodity indexes." -- Blythe Masters, Head of Global Commodities, JP Morgan "A manual written by successful practitioners for intelligent commodity investors. An excellent guide which explains how this asset class complements and interacts with other investments." -- Alan H. Van Noord, CFA, Chief Investment Officer, Pennsylvania Public School Employees' Retirement System "Commodities are invaluable tools for investors wishing to benefit from diversification and inflation hedging. For such an investor, this is the authoritative source to all you need to know about commodity indexing." -- Mark Makepeace, Chief Executive, FTSE Group "Greer, Johnson, and Worah simply explain the critical drivers to commodity index returns that have provided the main historical benefits of diversification and inflation protection. Every commodity index investor, or hopeful investor, should read this book and use it as a guide for evaluating the relevant index characteristics for benchmarking and investing, especially given recent industry innovations." -- Jodie Gunzberg, CFA, Director-Commodities, S&P Indexes