Commodity Indices

The benchmarks tracking baskets of futures that anchor passive commodity investment.

Overview

The S&P GSCI, the old Goldman index, is energy heavy, the Bloomberg Commodity Index is balanced, and the old Reuters CRB was the press favorite. They weight constituents and roll expiries on schedules, producing total return equal to collateral yield plus spot change plus roll gain or bleed. Index funds and ETFs replicate them, holding futures rather than metal. The 2000s boom supercharged index assets until the 2008 crash, and the financialization debate followed. Rebalancing rules buy losers and sell winners, contrarian by design, and production weighted versions follow world output. Institutions hold them for inflation sensitivity and diversification, with mixed evidence since.