create-metals, food...
Commodities
Material world
Oct 18th 2007
From The Economist print edition
Oil is not the only commodity on a tear
But investors seem to feel that the global economy can overcome the
problems in the American housing market. Peter Oppenheimer, a
strategist at Goldman Sachs, says that high metals prices reflect the
strength of the BRIC economies (Brazil, Russia, India and China), which
contribute twice as much as America to global consumption growth.
Individual commodity prices are still highly volatile thanks to
speculative demand. A sharp rise tends to attract "momentum" investors,
who push prices up even further until end users start looking for
alternatives. At that point, the momentum buyers retreat.
