London, January 2011

If 2009 was a recovery year for commodities, 2010 was the year they regained their crown. The Reuters-Jeffries CRB Index jumped 17.44% in 2010. Combined with 2009’s 24% gain, the CRB has climbed nearly 45% off 2008 lows. Twelve of the 14 commodities US Global Investors track were in positive territory in 2010 and nine of them saw gains exceeding 20%. "That’s in stark contrast to the bloodshed of 2008 when gold was the only commodity not in the red".

This updated version of US Global Investors' popular commodities periodic table shows how strong the bounce back has been.

The Periodic Table of Commodity Returns

Natural resources are the building blocks of the world, essential to progress and prosperity. These commodities, like all investments, can have wide price fluctuations over time. This table shows the ebb and flow of commodity prices over the past decade and illustrates the principal of mean reversion—the concept that returns eventually move back towards their mean or average. The price movement of commodities is historically both seasonal and cyclical. That’s why when investing in natural resources, we believe it is important for your portfolio to hold a diversified basket of commodities and to be actively managed by professionals who understand these specialized assets and the global trends impacting them. As with all investments, diversification does not protect an investor from market risks and does not assure a profit, and of course, past performance does not guarantee future results.

Download a PDF of the Table Here

Mouse-over a commodity in the key on the right to view its trend.

www.usfunds.com/research/the-periodic-table-of-commodity-returns/?CFID=2585828&CFTOKEN=81902786

Palladium was the top performer, rising over 96 percent during 2010. Part of this rise can be attributed to the explosion of auto sales in emerging markets since palladium is a critical component of catalytic converters in cars. Marketwatch reported in December that Johnson Matthey estimates palladium demand to have risen 27 percent in 2010.

Silver (up 83.21 percent), corn (up 51.75 percent) and wheat (up 46.68 percent) were next in line. Natural gas was the worst performer, falling more than 21 percent—its third-straight year of declines.

Looking over the past decade, you can see how strong the commodity space has been. Nine of the 14 commodities have averaged a double-digit gain per year since 2001. Silver has been the best performer, averaging a 21 percent rise each year, but lead (up 18.25 percent annually) and copper (up 18.1 percent annually) aren’t far behind.

The past ten years have been very kind to gold investors. Since 2001, gold has had a positive return each year and has averaged 17.97 percent a year.

It’s impossible to say whether the bull run can continue in 2011 but we believe that the same critical factors that have carried high commodity prices into this decade remain intact. Demand should continue to rise along with the emerging world and supply for most of these commodities will be hard pressed to keep up.

The Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index is an unweighted geometric average of commodity price levels relative to the base year average price. All opinions expressed and data provided are subject to change without notice. Some of these opinions may not be appropriate to every investor.

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