Mastering the Commodities Markets

<p>Acknowledgements</p> <p>Contributors</p> <p><strong></strong>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>1 Commodity Fundamentals</strong></p> <p>Commodities are an asset class in their own right</p> <p>Range of commodity investments</p> <p>Market developments and global drivers</p> <p>Commodity prices and their effect on financial markets</p> <p>Market participants</p> <p>How commodities differ from other assets</p> <p>Economics of commodities: spot and forward transactions</p> <p>Forward curves: contango and backwardation</p> <p>Understanding the ‘basis’</p> <p>Commodity trading, hedging, arbitrage</p> <p>Commodity indices </p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>2 Key Commodity Derivatives</strong></p> <p>Background and context</p> <p>Market Fundamentals</p> <p>Market fundamentals: exchange traded&nbsp;v. OTC derivatives&nbsp;markets&nbsp;</p> <p>The major commodities exchanges</p> <p>Exchange traded futures</p> <p>Exchange traded options</p> <p>OTC commodities derivatives</p> <p>OTC commodities options (caps)</p> <p>OTC commodities swaps</p> <p>Regulatory reform</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>3 Oil </strong></p> <p>Steve McBain</p> <p>Background and context</p> <p>Crude oil production</p> <p>Crude oil consumption </p> <p>Crude oil refining </p> <p>Geopolitics </p> <p>OPEC</p> <p>Definitions and key features</p> <p>Oil reserves</p> <p>Oil uses and applications</p> <p>Oil pricing and price discovery</p> <p>Freighting</p> <p>Hedging and risk management</p> <p>Environmental concerns</p> <p>Future market developments</p> <p><strong></strong>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>4 Gas</strong></p> <p>With featured section on natural gas trading, by Victoria Adams</p> <p>Background and context</p> <p>What is natural gas?</p> <p>Gas measurements</p> <p>Natural gas formation</p> <p>Natural gas reserves </p> <p>Natural gas producers</p> <p>Liquefied natural gas (LNG)</p> <p>Shale gas</p> <p>Gas pricing and price discovery</p> <p>Trading natural gas</p> <p>‘Prompt’ and ‘curve’ markets</p> <p>Spot trading and balancing</p> <p>Exchange trading</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>5 Coal</strong></p> <p>Background and context</p> <p>Range of coals</p> <p>Mining and production </p> <p>World production and reserves</p> <p>Coal pricing and price discovery</p> <p>Exchange traded markets </p> <p>Trading with coal futures</p> <p>Environmental concerns</p> <p>Coal and carbon issues</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>6 Alternative Energy</strong></p> <p>Background and context </p> <p>Measurements of electricity</p> <p>Energy definitions</p> <p>Hydropower </p> <p>Wind power</p> <p>Solar power</p> <p>Biofuels</p> <p>Geothermal power</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>7 Carbon and Environmental Commodities </strong></p> <p>Andrew Pisano</p> <p>Background and context </p> <p>Economics of climate change</p> <p>An overview of emissions trading </p> <p>Emissions trading schemes</p> <p>Pricing and price discovery – supply and demand</p> <p>Hedging and trading</p> <p>The future of emissions trading</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>8 Precious Metals</strong></p> <p>Jeffrey Rhodes</p> <p>Introduction – a personal view</p> <p>Background and context: London Bullion Market</p> <p>Bullion accounts</p> <p>Supply and demand </p> <p>Producers and consumers</p> <p>Pricing and price discovery</p> <p>Hedging and trading instruments</p> <p>Technical analysis</p> <p>Glossary of terms for bullion markets</p> <p><strong></strong>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>9 Base Metals </strong></p> <p>Fabrice Tayot</p> <p>Background and context</p> <p>The mining lifecycle </p> <p>Rehabilitation and environmental concerns </p> <p>Characteristics, supply and demand of key base metals: </p> <p>Pricing and price discovery</p> <p>Risk management and derivatives</p> <p>Outlook</p> <p>&nbsp;</p> <p><strong>10 Rare Earth Elements</strong></p> <p>Background and context</p> <p>Definition and key features</p> <p>Supply and demand</p> <p>World production and reserves</p> <p>Importance of China </p> <p>Importance of rare earth elements in today’s markets</p> <p>Defence uses of rare earth elements&lt;</p>