Periodic Table of Commodity Returns

However, here is our quick summary of things we found interesting:

First, the two worst performers in 2014 were the two best performers the previous year: oil and natural gas. This speaks to the short-term volatility of commodities, as well to the fact that investors need to be looking to the long term. While something may swing up and down in a short time horizon, in the long term it may prove to fulfill the investment thesis based on supply and demand fundamentals.

Frank Holmes, their CEO and Chief Investment Officer, has an in-depth post about it here on LinkedIn.

Second, despite the sentiment for gold, it was actually the second best performing currency in the world in 2014. It was down -1.7% relative to the US Dollar, but denominated in other currencies it did quite well. In a year where many currencies (Russian Ruble, Argentine Peso, Swedish Krona, Japanese Yen, Euro, etc.) had double digit declines, this is very notable. Also, as we have learned from the recent unpegging of the Swiss Franc to the Euro, we have seen that even stalwart safe havens can be tampered with.

Read More: www.visualcapitalist.com/periodic-table-commodity-returns/