London, February 2011

Market Attributes: Commodities Report Focus Shifts to Petroleum

The S&P GSCI ended February 24th with a year-to-date (YTD) gain of 5.54% on the back of a month-to-date (MTD) increase of 2.41%. Continued political unrest in the Middle East, notably in Libya, reminded global markets of the economic significance of petroleum and shifted much of the commodity focus toward energy as evidenced by the 4.32% MTD increase in the S&P GSCI Energy Index.

Fears of stagflation and liquidation pressured most other commodities as measured by the 1.46% MTD decline in the S&P GSCI Non-Energy Index. Precious metals were the exception, though, as flight to safety helped to boost the S&P GSCI Precious Metals Index to a MTD increase of 7.83% led by a 17.7% gain in the S&P GSCI Silver Index. Continued U.S. dollar weakness also contributed to dollar denominated commodity gains as the U.S Dollar Index declined 0.89% on the month for a YTD loss of 2.47%.

Ends --

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