The Second Wave of the Global Crisis? A Log-Periodic Oscillation Analysis of Commodity Price Series

TL;DR

This paper analyzes commodity price series using log-periodic oscillation models, suggesting an imminent second wave of the global financial crisis driven by bubble collapses in gold and other commodities.

Contribution

It applies log-periodic oscillation analysis to forecast the timing of commodity bubble collapses and discusses their implications for the global economy and crisis dynamics.

Findings

Gold bubble expected to burst between July and September 2011

Commodity bubbles have begun collapsing in May-June 2011

Potential for a second wave of the global crisis due to these collapses

Abstract

This article continues our analysis of the gold price dynamics that was published in December 2010 (abs/1012.4118) and forecasted the possibility of the "burst of the gold bubble" in April - June 2011. Our recent analysis suggests the possibility of one more substantial fluctuation before the final collapse in July 2011. On the other hand, in early 2011 we detected a number of other commodity bubbles and forecasted the start of their collapse in May - June 2011. We demonstrate that this collapse has actually begun, which in conjunction with the forthcoming burst of the gold bubble suggests that the World System is entering a bifurcation zone bearing rather high risks of the second wave of the global financial-economic crisis. Indeed, on the one hand, it is obvious that such a collapse may lead to huge losses or even bankruptcies of many of the major participants of exchange games and their dependent firms and banks. Therefore, the immediate market reaction is likely to be entirely negative. Negative impact on the market could well be amplified by numerous publications in the media and business press, drawing analogies with the events of the early 1980s and earlier similar events, as well as by losses of shareholders of bankrupt companies. On the other hand, investments in gold also lead to the diversion of funds from stock market investments and to the reduction in the production of goods and services. If at the time of the collapse some promising areas of investment appear in the developed and / or developing countries, the investment can move to those markets, which, on the contrary, could contribute to the production of new goods and services and accelerate the way out of the crisis. It is also obvious that the decline of the oil (and other energy/mineral resources) prices may contribute to acceleration of world economic growth rates and world economic recovery.