What Does a "Warm Winter" Mean for Your Portfolio?

Weather and investment strategies are closely related. This becomes especially true if you are directly or indirectly invested in commodities. For example, quantity of rainfall in Malaysia is closely monitored by investors in the U.S. Malaysia is the second-largest producer of palm oil in the world, and a change in rainfall means a change in production. And of course, a change in supply will have a significant impact on the palm oil prices. The amount of impact will be decided by whether you are directly invested in palm oil as a commodity, bought shares of a company that produces or distributes it, or invested in a mutual fund/ETF that invests in that sector. Since we are approaching wintertime, it is useful to see what the impact on your portfolio might be.