BUS323 Energy and Commodity Market Analysis

Credits (ECTS):10

Course responsible:Marie Gotteberg Steen

Campus / Online:Taught campus Ås

Teaching language:Engelsk

Course frequency:Annually

Nominal workload:250 hours.

Teaching and exam period:This course starts in spring parallel. This course has teaching/evaluation in spring semester, .

About this course

Through this course, students will gain a broad theoretical and applied competence to carry out commodity market analyzes, risk management and investments. By covering all major commodity classes (energy, metals, agriculture/foods/softs), students will learn how to analyze pricing, price relationships, trading, and investments over a wide array of commodities. Focus will be on economic as well as institutional facts and issues. Each student (in groups of three) is given a specific commodity (or a group of related commodities) to follow and is expected to obtain a comprehensive knowledge of how and where the commodity is produced and consumed, how the commodity is traded internationally, who are the major participants in the markets, what are the price relationships over time and across commodities etc. The futures markets will play a key role throughout the course. After having taken the course, students will have acquired detailed knowledge and competence when it comes to hedging and investing in the futures markets. This competence will be developed through the students’ active participation in a close to real-life investment game at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. In order to be successful in this investment game, students will have to follow closely economic and geopolitical factors that may have an impact on both short and long term market developments. In this respect, the course sets out to be an advanced "hands-on" learning process for future commodity producers, traders, investors and all those for whom the understanding of commodity markets is important.

Learning outcome

Knowledge:

After finishing the course the candiate should have knowledge about:

  • the functioning of international commodity markets (price formation, supply, demand, storage)
  • the functioning of the large commodity exchanges, hereunder price formation, spot-futures price relations, hedging and investment strategies
  • the production and consumption og commodities globally
  • international players within production, processing and distribution of commodities

Skills:

After finishing the course the candidate should be able to

  • obtain data on commodities, commodity prices etc. from central databases like Refinitiv (Datastream) and the large commodity exchanges
  • analyse data (prices, turnover etc.) from the commodity markets to develop investment- and hedging strategies

General competence:

  • competence within (investments, risk management)
  • competence in data collection and analysis of commodity markets
  • Lectures, guest lectures, investment game, price forecasts, blogging and work on semester report.
  • BUS220 Finance and Investment or equivalent, introductory microeconomics, introductory statistics / econometrics.
  • This course has single evaluation in the form of an oral exam in the exam period. The oral examination is based on the semester report, curriculum, lectures, investment game report and blog report.
  • An external examiner will assess the semester assignments and also possibly the oral examination. The course teacher will discuss the course arrangements with the external examiner.
  • Participation of at least 2/3 of the lectures / seminars. Delivering price forecast report for assigned commodities. Write blog posts every second week throughout the semester. Write a semester report, including an investment report. Present partially completed report 1 time during the semester, as well as being an opponent on another presentation. A retake exam is not organized in this course. Those who do not pass need to take the whole course next time the course is organized.
  • The course is in English. Incoming students can contact student advisors at the School of Economics and Business (studieveileder-hh@nmbu.no) for admission to the course.
  • -Normally, 4 hours per week. However, it may be necessary to run some more intensive modules
  • Letter grades
  • The course is for master students enrolled in the following programs: Master in Business Administration and Master in Economics. It is also open for other master students from NMBU and exchange students and single course students with sufficient background (cfr Prerequisites).