No / It is a commonly held view that gold protects investors’ wealth in the event of negative economic conditions. In this study, we test whether other metals offer similar or better investment opportunities in periods of market turmoil. Using a sample of 13 sovereign bonds, we show that other precious metals, palladium in particular, offer investors greater compensation for their bond market losses than gold. We also find that industrial metals, especially copper, tend to outperform gold and other precious metals as hedging vehicles and safe haven assets against losses in sovereign bonds. However, the outcome of the hedge and safe haven properties is not always consistent across the different bonds. Finally, our analysis suggests that copper is the best performing metal in the period immediately after negative bond price shocks.

In connection to the process of financialization of commodity markets which is caused by the sharp increase of money flowing into the commodity markets, the question of which factors affect commodity and commodity indices prices is discussed. The aim of the dissertation is to determine and quantify the factors affecting the prices of industrial metals during the period of financialization of commodity markets and derive the pricing model of industrial metals, which would be able to generate signals of a possible overvaluation or undervaluation. The paper examined non-ferrous industrial metals traded on the Commodity Exchange LME (London Metal Exchange), namely aluminum, copper, lead, nickel, tin and zinc. These metals are also included in the most of the world's composite commodity indices. The dissertation analyzes the contemporary developments in commodity markets; relationship between the price volatility and fundamental factors (including production, consumption and stocks of chosen metals and a wide range of macroeconomic determinants) or the relationship between risk and return of industrial metals. The closing part of the dissertation focuses on the creating of composite pricing indicator for copper and tin by using the Boosted Trees method. The results obtained in the research show that created indicator is able to explain the volatility of the 3m copper futures contracts by 94.25% and 3m futures contracts of tin by 96, 79% in the period from 1/2000 to 3/2015.

A des dates et à des vitesses différentes selon les pays, l’aluminium a changé tout à la fois le monde industriel et les modes de vie. Au début du XXème siècle, le monde en développement était déjà partagé entre l’Amérique du Nord où acier et béton commençaient à façonner les villes reliées par le chemin de fer, et l’Europe où il fallait détruire pour reconstruire et où le changement a pris plus de temps. Aluminium et hydroélectricité ont effectué leurs débuts ensemble, ouvrant une longue période de croissance que leur complémentarité a accélérée. Les réussites techniques dans les deux domaines ont eu un effet boule de neige. L’expansion a duré ¾ de siècle jusqu’à ce que l’augmentation des usages domestiques de l’électricité contraigne la production d’aluminium à trouver de nouvelles sources de courant, au sein des États-Unis d’abord. Les pays en développement ont adopté le chemin suivi auparavant et assuré la continuité. Depuis 2003, la Chine est le premier producteur mondial d’aluminium. La modernisation a touché tous les domaines en même temps, sant apparaître des besoins considérables d’accompagnement. L’économie et la gestion ont construit et développé des bases théoriques et pratiques en réseau, amplifiant l’efficacité des progrès techniques. Ce qu’il a paru intéressant de mettre en lumière dans cette étude, ce sont les interactions durables entre la théorie économique et la production industrielle d’un métal qui a façonné le siècle. / At different times and speeds, depending on the countries concerned, aluminium has transformed both the world of industry and our ways of life. In the early 20th century, the developing world was already divided between North America, where steel and concrete were beginning to shape cities linked by railroads, and Europe, where it was necessary to demolish before rebuilding, and the transformation therefore took longer. Aluminium and hydroelectricity emerged together, heralding a long period of growth that was accelerated by their complementarity. Technical progress in both domains had a snowball effect. The expansion lasted three-quarters of a century, until the rising household demand for electricity forced aluminium producers to look for new sources of energy, firstly in the United States. The developing countries followed the same path and provided continuity. China has been the leading aluminium producer in the world since 2003. Modernisation affected both domains at the same time, creating considerable needs for support. Economics and management sciences have developed theoretical and practical foundations in a network, amplifying the effectiveness of technical advances. The interest of this study lies in our revelation of the lasting interactions between economic theory and industrial production.