What is the CRB Index

In tracking the increase in commodities one of the best indexes is the CRB index. So what is the CRB index, it is also called the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index (TR/J CRB) which is a commodity index of unweighted geometric average of some important commodities. It averages prices across 17 commodities and across time. The index tracks energy, grains, industrials, livestock, precious metals, and agriculturals.

The latest weighting are listed below

Energy	Crude Oil, Heating Oil, Natural Gas	17.6%
Grains	Wheat, Corn, Soybeans	17.6%
Industrials	Copper, Cotton	11.8%
Meats	Live Cattle, Lean Hogs	11.8%
Softs	Coffee, Cocoa, Sugar Orange Juice	23.5%
Precious Metals	Gold, Silver, Platinum	17.6%

Below is a chart comparing of gold prices to CRB index and really shows why gold is not overvalued.