Commodity Markets For Dummies

April 20, 2007 6:04 AM

I don't know much about commodity markets. Please help me rectify that.

What books or sites give a good overview of how the markets work and how to interpret data? Suggestions for n00b, intermediate, and advanced reading would be much appreciated, as well as anything that focused on the North American foodstuffs/livestock markets and explored the relationship between the markets and NA agribusinesses (The impact of GMO, globalization, et al.).
Much thanks!

posted by Alvy Ampersand to Work & Money (4 answers total)

Best answer: This definitely qualifies as intermediate or advanced, but the standard textbook is John Hull's Options, Futures, & Other Derivatives. Great book.
posted by raf at 6:11 AM on April 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Best answer: My first real job was working order entry for a futures company. The books recommended to me were "The Commodity Futures Game" by Teweles, Harlow, and Stone, and "Reminiscences of a Stock Operator" by Edwin Lefèvre. Both are quite good and well written, but may predate what you want to focus on.
posted by Chuckles McLaughy du Haha, the depressed clown at 6:19 AM on April 20, 2007 [1 favorite]

Best answer: In this intro to financial mathematics course I took, in addition to the aforementioned Hull book we were required to read Jack Schwager's Market Wizards and The New Market Wizards. The primary focus in these books is on the psychology of the traders, but Market Wizards has brief, n00b-friendly overviews of different types of commodity markets and how they work.
posted by needled at 6:49 AM on April 20, 2007

Response by poster: Thanks!
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 2:11 PM on April 22, 2007