The theory that commodities were a useful tool for anyone seeking to diversify an investment portfolio gained considerable popularity in the early years of the 21st century. This was based on studies indicating that commodity and equity prices often moved in opposite directions. The viability of commodities as investments was supported at the time by some well-known academic economists. That theory has not stood up very well in more recent years, and who would want to diversify their investments during the U.S. stock market’s multi-year bullish run by buying the short-term risks posed by commodity markets? In hindsight, during most of the years since the U.S. economic recovery slowly got underway, it would have been far better to hav...