Mastering the Commodities Markets

Francesca Taylor has a B.Sc in Geology from London University and has been active in the commodity, currency and derivatives markets for many years. She is a well-established and published author  Francesca has a talent for simplifying the complex and the complicated. She is the founder and ex-CEO of Taylor Associates (International) and is Managing Partner of the Matrix Partnership. Now based in the Middle East (Dubai) she is at the heart of the global oil and gas markets and has close ties with commodity traders and commodity asset managers. In addition she has worked closely with the Dubai Mercantile Exchange (DME) where the Oman crude oil contract is traded and has a wide reaching and broad group of contacts.  Francesca is the author of Mastering Derivatives Markets (now in its 4th edition), Mastering Foreign Exchange and Currency Options and Market Know How: Finance and Markets

• AcknowledgementsContributors  1 Commodity FundamentalsCommodities are an asset class in their own rightRange of commodity investmentsMarket developments and global driversCommodity prices and their effect on financial marketsMarket participantsHow commodities differ from other assetsEconomics of commodities: spot and forward transactionsForward curves: contango and backwardationUnderstanding the ‘basis’Commodity trading, hedging, arbitrageCommodity indices  2 Key Commodity DerivativesBackground and contextMarket FundamentalsMarket fundamentals: exchange traded v. OTC derivatives markets The major commodities exchangesExchange traded futuresExchange traded optionsOTC commodities derivativesOTC commodities options (caps)OTC commodities swapsRegulatory reform  3 Oil Steve McBainBackground and contextCrude oil productionCrude oil consumption Crude oil refining Geopolitics OPECDefinitions and key featuresOil reservesOil uses and applicationsOil pricing and price discoveryFreightingHedging and risk managementEnvironmental concernsFuture market developments  4 GasWith featured section on natural gas trading, by Victoria AdamsBackground and contextWhat is natural gas?Gas measurementsNatural gas formationNatural gas reserves Natural gas producersLiquefied natural gas (LNG)Shale gasGas pricing and price discoveryTrading natural gas‘Prompt’ and ‘curve’ marketsSpot trading and balancingExchange trading  5 CoalBackground and contextRange of coalsMining and production World production and reservesCoal pricing and price discoveryExchange traded markets Trading with coal futuresEnvironmental concernsCoal and carbon issues  6 Alternative EnergyBackground and context Measurements of electricityEnergy definitionsHydropower Wind powerSolar powerBiofuelsGeothermal power  7 Carbon and Environmental Commodities Andrew PisanoBackground and context Economics of climate changeAn overview of emissions trading Emissions trading schemesPricing and price discovery – supply and demandHedging and tradingThe future of emissions trading  8 Precious MetalsJeffrey RhodesIntroduction – a personal viewBackground and context: London Bullion MarketBullion accountsSupply and demand Producers and consumersPricing and price discoveryHedging and trading instrumentsTechnical analysisGlossary of terms for bullion markets  9 Base Metals Fabrice TayotBackground and contextThe mining lifecycle Rehabilitation and environmental concerns Characteristics, supply and demand of key base metals: Pricing and price discoveryRisk management and derivativesOutlook  10 Rare Earth ElementsBackground and contextDefinition and key featuresSupply and demandWorld production and reservesImportance of China Importance of rare earth elements in today’s marketsDefence uses of rare earth elements<

"I really like the way it has been written, it provides excellent coverage of the subject matter" Ahsan Ahmedani, Treasury Superintendent at Cristal (The National Titaniun Dioxide Company Ltd), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia