Energy vs. Precious Metals Funds Performance During Commodity Markets Volatility—Evidence from Poland

Abstract

Events of recent years, such as the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, have caused significant fluctuations in financial markets, including energy and precious metals markets. Many investors see commodity investments as a way to diversify portfolio risk. The article’s main aim was to evaluate the performance of Polish commodity funds and analyze how external factors influenced their investment results from 2020 to 2023. Using popular investment fund performance metrics, it was determined that precious metals funds could not be considered effective during the 2020–2023 period, whereas the opposite conclusion applied to energy commodity funds. Additionally, mixed linear regression models showed that the average performance of precious metals funds was significantly positively influenced by the price of gold. Meanwhile, the performance of the average energy commodity fund was significantly positively impacted by the CRB Commodity Index value. The conducted analysis demonstrates that mixed linear regression models can be successfully applied in evaluating the external factors influencing the efficiency of commodity funds, taking into account their capital allocation policies. The obtained results can be utilized by current and potential participants of commodity funds, investors seeking portfolio diversification opportunities, and commodity fund managers to maximize investment performance.