Economics
Commodities Beat Stocks, Bonds as All Assets Advance
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Commodity prices beat gains in stocks, bonds and the dollar this year as China, the biggest user of everything from cotton to copper to soybeans, led the recovery from the first global recession since World War II.
The Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB index of 19 raw materials gained 17 percent. The MSCI All Country World Index of stocks rose 13 percent with dividends reinvested. Global bonds returned 4.7 percent as of Dec. 30, based on Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s Global Broad Market Index. The U.S. Dollar Index, a gauge against six counterparts, added 1.5 percent. The CRB outpaced the other measures for the first time since 2007.