Bank Of America Merrill Lynch Announces 2014 Composition And Weights For The Merrill Lynch Commodity Index eXtra

Bank of America Merrill Lynch today announced the 2014 composition and weights for the Merrill Lynch Commodity index eXtra^SM (MLCX). The MLCX is designed to provide a liquid, consistent, representative and cost-efficient benchmark for commodity market performance and for investment in commodities as an asset class. The MLCX contains the following six market sectors: Energy, Base Metals, Precious Metals, Grains & Oil Seeds, Livestock, and Soft Commodities & Others.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch constructs the MLCX based on the liquidity of the constituent futures contracts and the value of the global production of each underlying commodity. The MLCX also seeks to avoid redundant contracts, and includes only the most liquid contract per commodity which is determined by volume and price. Based on these rules, the MLCX will include Soybean Meal and remove Soybean Oil for 2014. Brent crude oil and WTI crude oil are also no longer considered redundant contracts. This will result in adding WTI crude oil to the MLCX for 2014 and raising the maximum number of components for the energy sector to five. The commodity weights, which are determined by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Commodities group pursuant to the MLCX Handbook, are listed below:

Commodity                                          2013                             2014                             Change

Brent                                                    34.19%                         29.01%                         (5.19)%

Gasoil                                                   12.38%                         12.28%                         (0.09)%

Gasoline (RBOB)                                   11.83%                         12.11%                         0.28%

Corn                                                     6.15%                           7.27%                           1.13%

Wheat                                                   5.37%                           6.65%                           1.27%

Copper                                                 5.10%                           4.95%                           (0.16)%

Crude Oil (WTI)                                      0.00%                           4.73%                           4.73%

Gold                                                     4.39%                           4.49%                           0.10%

Aluminium                                             2.87%                           2.70%                           (0.17)%

Soybean Meal                                       0.00%                           2.37%                           2.37%

Sugar                                                   2.81%                           2.31%                           (0.50)%

Live Cattle                                             1.99%                           2.04%                           0.05%

Natural Gas                                           1.60%                           1.87%                           0.26%

Soybean                                               3.34%                           1.53%                           (1.80)%

Cotton                                                  1.65%                           1.47%                           (0.18)%

Lean Hogs                                            1.01%                           0.96%                           (0.05)%

Coffee                                                  1.29%                           0.92%                           (0.37)%

Zinc                                                      0.81%                           0.81%                           0.00%

Nickel                                                   0.92%                           0.81%                           (0.11)%

Silver                                                    0.79%                           0.73%                           (0.07)%

Soybean Oil                                          1.51%                           0.00%                           (1.51)%

 

Sector                                                  2013                             2014 Target                  Change

Energy                                                  60.00%                         60.00%                         0.00%

Grains & Oil Seeds                                16.37%                         17.83%                         1.46%

Base Metals                                          9.70%                           9.26%                           (0.44)%

Soft Commodities & Others                   5.74%                           4.69%                           (1.05)%

Precious Metals                                    5.18%                           5.21%                           0.03%

Livestock                                              3.00%                           3.00%                           0.00%

Due to rounding, the change may not be equal to the difference between the figures shown.