In: Economics
Crude oil is today sold under in contract markets, spot markets, and on futures exchanges. Provide an example of the type of information that is revealed in market prices
Crude oil can be bought and sold in different market situations
like spot market, future market and contract market. People can
invest in crude oil as portfolio investment and speculative
assets.
Under spot market , crude oil can be bought and sold at current
market prices. In spot transactions, immediate transfer of fund
takes places. In the case of future exchange, both parties can
engage in a future contract at a predetermined date and price. The
future price of crude may be lower, higher or equal to spot prices.
The future prices of crude oil may vary depends on several internal
and external factors. Thus the parties can engage in contracts to
avoid the uncertainty of lower or higher prices. The crude oil
prices are subject to fluctuations and parties can hedge risk with
future contracts.