Database Guide - Bloomberg: Commodities

A basic good used in commerce that is interchangeable with other commodities of the same type. Commodities are most often used as inputs in the production of other goods or services. The quality of a given commodity may differ slightly, but it is essentially uniform across producers. When they are traded on an exchange, commodities must also meet specified minimum standards, also known as a basis grade.  Source: Investopedia on Bloomberg

Bloomberg's commodity overview: <Commodity F9> <go>

Prices and inventory data available for commodities in the following sectors:

• Oil (Oil), Natural Gas (GAS), Electricity (VOLT), Coal (COAL)
• Renewables (RENE), Emissions (EMIS)
• Metals (Mine), Agriculture (AGS)
• Shipping (SHIP), Weather (WEAT)
• Commodity Investors (CMNV) which includes collectible coins (CCEX) and polished diamonds (PLPR)

SLIGHTLY DELAYED REAL TIME PRICING AVAILABLE

Unless one has a special paid subscription through a licensed data distributor, it is almost impossible to obtain the current daily commodity settlement price on a website or through the press. Commodity exchanges have rules for disclosing price information to the press and public.  For instance, the London Metal Exchange delays releasing the end of day settlement prices by a day and updates them once daily at 2:00am UTC. The CME Group posts its final settlement prices at about 6 pm U.S. CT

Ross students do not have to wait until the end of day to receive daily commodity prices. The Tozzi Center provides students access to slightly delayed real time commodity prices through licensed data distributors Bloomberg or Factset.

SECF (Security Finder);   Select tab 34) CMDTY

• In Search box, type commodity name, i.e. nickel
• Look for “spot” or “cash” in the description to obtain current prices
• Note the exchange where it is traded and the assigned ticker
• i.e. Nickel is traded on the London Metal Exchange (LME) and ticker is LMNIDY

To obtain the most current real time prices and warehouse stock inventory,  access the exchanges’ monitor if available:

• London Metals Exchange: LME<go>
• Shanghai Futures Exchange: SHFP<go>
• Intercontinental Exchange: ICE <go>

HISTORICAL PRICING: HIGH OR LOW?

Check the historical price of a commodity such as nickel

LMNIDY  HP (Historical price of nickel) 

OTHER COMMODITY AND EXCHANGE IDENTIFIERS

EPRX (Exchange Profile).  Countries and their exchanges

GLCO Major commodities, their exchanges and current prices

CTM (Contract Table Menu). Commodity contracts and their exchanges

MTL precious metals  (gold, silver, platinum, palladium, rhodium)

MTL Gold 

METL base metals: aluminum, copper, lead, zinc, nickel, tin

AGGP agriculture spot prices

BOIL spot oil

BGAS North American spot gas prices

CPFC (Commodity Price Forecasts)

Analyst price forecasts for agriculture, energy, metals

FDM (Commodities Fundamental Data Explorer)

Provides commodity inventory levels for supply and demand analysis

BMAP (Bloomberg Commodity Maps)

Generates maps for various categories such as energy assets, mines, vessels & ports, oil racks, oil pipelines, agriculture prices and earthquake data.  Query databases to locate oil refinery production,  determine extent of earthquake damage and view the natural gas flows in Louisiana.