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In the past 20 years, commodity markets have been examined under the hypothesis of whether the prices exhibit recurrent patterns or follow the stochastic processes. In this study, we analyze both global energy markets and food markets to detect the presence of multiple equilibria, which may lead to higher spikes in prices and to the occurrence of intermittency. This study focuses on daily prices in Brent petrol and Natural gas markets from 23 May 2017 to 23 May 2022. This time interval covers the period where extraordinary economic and financial policies have been preferred in countries worldwide amid the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. On the other hand, the study investigates global Food index monthly data from 2007M11 to 2022M4. Similarly, the time interval under examination points out the effects of the 2008 global crisis where expansionary monetary policies have been implemented both by the Federal Reserve of the U.S and the European Central Bank. We employed the phase-space reconstruction method for the Crude oil Brent Europe and spot Natural gas prices series, and global Food index data respectively. The main findings of the study demonstrate that commodity markets do not converge to a unique equilibrium level, instead multiple equilibria persist and chaotic behavior occurs. The presence of multiple equilibria leads to an increase in complexity and recurrently causes volatility in commodity markets, which may have spillover effects on other financial markets. Our results suggest that these effects simultaneously increase global inflationary pressures. From the perspective of policy making, it is crucial to establish a strategy to eliminate multiple equilibria and prevent high price spikes. Our findings have important implications for Central bank policies in emerging markets and portfolio and risk management.

This study investigates the impact of COVID-19 induced global panic on crude oil and natural gas volatility. The author uses the Structural Vector Auto Regression (SVAR) to examine the magnitude of shocks in global oil and gas prices caused by COVID-19 induced panic between 3rd January 2020 and 30th June 2021. The results show that shocks in oil and gas prices were negative and more severe in the first five (5) months of 2020 when the pandemic was spreading across the globe forcing countries' prices into lockdowns. The negative shocks gradually diminished in the following periods as the prices recovered courtesy of global economic recovery and vaccine rollouts. Furthermore, the panic was more pronounced in causing oil prices shocks as gas prices were already suffering amid mild temperatures during the 2020 winter season. The author stresses the need for swift actions during the early days of the crisis to adjust oil and gas supply to match demand shrinkage so as to stabilize their prices given their enormity to the global economy. The Russia-Saudi Arabia delays in agreeing on oil supply restrictions may have amplified the magnitude of negative shocks in oil prices. Existing studies have examined the country-level impacts of COVID-19 on energy prices focusing mainly on oil. However, oil and gas are among the most traded commodities in the world thus the stability of their prices is of global concern. This study examines this phenomenon on a global scale by utilizing the novel global coronavirus panic index.

This paper examines the impact of the September 11th attacks on the United States financial and non-financial sectors. The empirical analysis includes 5 financial and 28 non-financial sub-sector indices using the event study method, structural break test, and volatility analyses. The results of the estimation show that except for the short-lived impact on the real estate sector, the attacks had no significant impact on financial sector indices. Different reactions among non-financial sectors are observed. Travel and leisure and leisure goods sectors were the two industries that were mostly affected by the attacks due to the nature of their business. The outcomes of the analyses provide several diversification strategies and speculation opportunities for both portfolio managers and investors.