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Markets

Traders’ $129 Billion Commodities Exodus Marks a Historic Shift

Sharp daily fluctuations in prices have market players bowing out.

Combine harvesters unload wheat into a truck in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine.

Combine harvesters unload wheat into a truck in the Khmelnytskyi region of Ukraine.

Photographer: Alexey Furman/Getty Images

In just one year, investors’ bullish exuberance for commodities has turned into a spectacular retreat.

It’s one of the biggest shifts in sentiment in history for raw materials. This time around, wild price swings have helped spur a rush for the exits that’s taken $129 billion out of the global market — a record for any annual period up to mid-December, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. The latest exodus comes after money poured into commodities in the first two months of this year.