Opportunities to play in the bull market for commodities have been heavily lopsided in favor of deep-pocketed traders while the smaller fries have been left in the cold With a dearth in lending, trade finance is becoming an increasingly important alternative credit investment strategy where a growing variety of shadow banks and investment funds are becoming “the new banks”. Wall Street has been buying bonds from non-investment-grade U.S. energy companies, lending some $34 billion in fresh debt in the first half of 2021 After years in the dog house, the commodity markets are sizzling hot once again. Copper, lithium , tin, nickel, iron ore , manganese, corn, coffee, and lumber prices have all hit all-time highs. Meanwhile, those of aluminum, molybdenum, oil, natural gas, and even the world’s least-liked commodity, coal, are trading at multi-year highs. The commodity markets tend to be highly cyclical, mostly bending to the tune […]