Eddie Murphy jumps into Dan Aykroyd’s arms, the pair shouting in delight. Playing Billy Ray Valentine and Louis Winthorpe, they’ve just gamed the orange juice futures market and are in line for a fortune as the denouement of 1983’s Trading Places plays out.
Four decades on, the film and the breakfast drink commodity remain synonymous with the more esoteric corners of the stock market. But global investors have more reason than in most years to pay attention to orange juice trading over more conventional commodities such as oil, gas, wheat and metals. The price of OJ futures has surged of late, up 92% since the start of the year, relentlessly setting fresh highs.
