Where to find historical price of commodities etc ?

I'm an intern at a PE shop. My background is in medicine so naive questions maybe.

  1. How do you find historical S&P 500, GDP and Crude oil prices 2015-2017? 2.How do you find prices of what I assume are commodities, e.g. recycled paper pulp, corrugated paperboard?
  2. What factor is used to compare these niche commodities with S&P 500, GDP and Crude oil price data from those periods, with ultimate goal of determining if sensitive to "economic downturn"? Incidentally, if this involves statistics, I have not yet had a course in statistics. Is there some aggregate stock index with given number value, I'm thinking?
  3. (What is what I'm doing called/applicable to?)
17 Comments
 

I appreciate the humour, however, I actually really do need to find this as basil is the primary COGS for this company I am researching and I can't really find much. Any serious help would be much appreciated.

 

We've got our long-term herb price model spitting out an even $600/lb for the schwag and Back Bay Blueberry Yum Yum riding the wave all the way to $1000/lb, $2200/kg, or $2M/short ton

 
BlackHat

We've got our long-term herb price model spitting out an even $600/lb for the schwag and Back Bay Blueberry Yum Yum riding the wave all the way to $1000/lb, $2200/kg, or $2M/short ton

Would love to see your assumptions, you must be pricing in a pretty significant supply shock from mexican cartel penetration into NorCal grow fields.

Rest of WSO, learning how to forecast herb is a very beneficial model to learn. Very similar to natty gas with shale play and gov. deregulation. Only half joking...

 
Best Response
tiger2012 BlackHat:

We've got our long-term herb price model spitting out an even $600/lb for the schwag and Back Bay Blueberry Yum Yum riding the wave all the way to $1000/lb, $2200/kg, or $2M/short ton

Would love to see your assumptions, you must be pricing in a pretty significant supply shock from mexican cartel penetration into NorCal grow fields.

Rest of WSO, learning how to forecast herb is a very beneficial model to learn. Very similar to natty gas with shale play and gov. deregulation. Only half joking...

The problem is forecasting unproven reserve values. When your standardized measure on Washington herb takes a 90% haircut overnight and your exploration costs go through the roof with increased demand, it just stops becoming economical to use those aggressive models anymore. We're out here grindin' on the daily, booking PUDs at ceiling value when we stumble upon a promising underground grow operation... when really we should be crossing our fingers for 75% recovery on that bad boy. It's a dog eat dog world out there these days and personally I blame Obama for destroying a good thing we had goin' out here. Best of luck to the other pushas out there.

 

Voluptatem et vel optio magnam reprehenderit et. Voluptates esse nostrum provident dolore pariatur modi nostrum. Consequatur aperiam vel dolor quam laudantium nemo.

Ratione nostrum quo autem et praesentium vero. Fuga quidem dolores et deserunt enim. Possimus deleniti ea hic quia.

Aliquid aperiam non odio alias vel. Qui distinctio culpa modi. Sed vero voluptatibus sit quia sint modi libero. Esse voluptatibus sit id ducimus sint quaerat quod optio. Commodi officia aut cupiditate velit.

Incidunt fuga accusamus voluptatem nam. Voluptatem omnis soluta velit repudiandae et nemo est. Voluptatem iusto sequi adipisci sed ut quam maxime. Ea id consequatur repellendus mollitia quibusdam explicabo esse. Molestias est illo et perspiciatis velit dolores.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • The Riverside Company 99.3%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.9%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.5%
  • Vista Equity Partners 98.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Private Equity

  • Blackstone Group 99.6%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 99.3%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Ardian 98.5%
  • Warburg Pincus 98.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Private Equity

  • Bain Capital 99.6%
  • Blackstone Group 99.3%
  • The Riverside Company 98.9%
  • Starwood Capital Group 98.5%
  • KKR (Kohlberg Kravis Roberts) 98.2%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Private Equity

  • Principal (9) $653
  • Director/MD (24) $547
  • Vice President (100) $364
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (106) $280
  • 2nd Year Associate (236) $272
  • 1st Year Associate (414) $231
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (33) $157
  • 2nd Year Analyst (97) $134
  • 1st Year Analyst (273) $126
  • Intern/Summer Associate (40) $79
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (357) $61
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
6
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
7
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”