Oil, gold, agriculture: Where next for commodities?

David Donora, head of commodities at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, takes a closer look at prospects for the different commodity sectors in the months ahead.

Commodities have had a mixed start to 2017. The Bloomberg Commodities index fell 2.5% to 31 March, after a substantial drop in the oil price that month pared back gains made earlier in the first quarter. However, this pull-back has not altered our view that a convergence of favourable factors will push commodity prices significantly higher this year. An OPEC-production cap, strikes at the world's largest copper mines and stronger global growth are just some of the elements that will help to support price increases across the commodity market in 2017. The prospect for base metals lo...