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3 Minutes to Read (Reuters) – LONDON (Reuters) – Quandl, a data provider owned by Nasdaq Inc, has agreed to distribute a broad range of commodities data gathered by broker Marex, including speculative positioning estimates. The Nasdaq logo is seen at the Nasdaq Market site in New York on September 2, 2015. FILE PHOTO: The Nasdaq logo is displayed at the Nasdaq Market site in New York on September 2, 2015. Brendan McDermid/Reuters The two companies announced their alliance on Tuesday, following a hot commodities rally that has enticed investment money to return to a sector that had been shunned for years. Daily Marex reports will be available on the Quandl platform, displaying projected long and short speculative holdings in metals, agriculture, and other commodities markets. Weekly positioning data is released by exchanges like the London Metal Exchange and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), however their official reports only cover futures, not over-the-counter activities, which Marex does. “Basically, you’ve got reports that look at a percentage of activity, and there’s no real way of knowing if that fraction is reflective of the entire,” Guy Wolf, Marex’s head of market analytics, explained. Marex, based in London, has been sending weekly positioning documents to its clients, but the Quandl platform will provide daily data that users may use in their own systems. Other Marex data, such as one that measures risk premia, will be distributed by Quandl, and the two companies will work together to build new products, they said. Banks, primarily in the West, have developed “risk premia” products for institutional investors looking to enhance returns by investing in nontraditional assets like commodities. As economic growth improved, investors sought a buffer against increasing inflation, and metals demand was projected to benefit from a green revolution, commodity markets soared this year. “If you look at what’s happened in the commodities markets, this is a particularly favourable period,” said Bill Dague, Nasdaq’s head of alternative analytics. Nasdaq bought Quandl, a Toronto-based company that distributes alternative data to hedge funds, asset managers, and other investors, in 2018. Due to tough market conditions, Marex, one of the world’s largest privately held commodities traders, cancelled a scheduled initial public offering in London earlier this month. Eric Onstad contributed reporting, and Mark Potter edited the piece./nRead More

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