IMF Working Papers

Forecasting Accuracy of Crude Oil Futures Prices

By Manmohan S. Kumar

October 1, 1991

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Manmohan S. Kumar Forecasting Accuracy of Crude Oil Futures Prices, (USA: International Monetary Fund, 1991) accessed October 6, 2024
Disclaimer: This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF.The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate

Summary

This paper undertakes an investigation into the efficiency of the crude oil futures market and the forecasting accuracy of futures prices. Efficiency of the market is analysed in terms of the expected excess returns to speculation in the futures market. Accuracy of futures prices is compared with that of forecasts using alternative techniques, including time series and econometric models, as well as judgemental forecasts. The paper also explores the predictive power of futures prices by comparing the forecasting accuracy of end-of-month prices with weekly and monthly averages, using a variety of different weighting schemes. Finally, the paper investigates whether the forecasts from using futures prices can be improved by incorporating information from other forecasting techniques.

Subject: Commodities, Econometric analysis, Econometric models, Financial institutions, Financial markets, Futures, Futures markets, Oil, Oil prices, Prices

Keywords: Crude oil, Crude oil price, Econometric models, End-of-the-month price, Forecasting accuracy, Futures, Futures markets, Futures price forecast, Futures prices accuracy, Gasoline futures, Moving average, Oil, Oil futures prices, Oil prices, Price of futures contracts, Random walk, Settlement price, Time series, Transactions price, WP, WTI price

Publication Details

  • Pages:

    54

  • Volume:

    ---

  • DOI:

    ---

  • Issue:

    ---

  • Series:

    Working Paper No. 1991/093

  • Stock No:

    WPIEA0931991

  • ISBN:

    9781451951110

  • ISSN:

    1018-5941

Notes

Also published in Staff Papers, Vol. 39, No. 2, June 1992.