By Saeed Azhar
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs’ global head of commodities research Jeff Currie, a prominent analyst who accurately predicted a surge in commodity prices in the 2000s, is retiring, according to a memo seen by Reuters.
Currie is leaving after 27 years. His departure is the latest high-profile exit from the Wall Street giant in recent months.
Julian Salisbury, chief investment officer of its asset and wealth management arm, is departing to join investment firm Sixth Street, according to an announcement last month.
Currie, 56, coined the phrase “Revenge of the Old Economy” in 2004 to describe how commodity prices would spike after decades of underinvestment, according to the memo. His forecast was borne out in what would become known as the commodities supercycle, during which crude oil surged to record highs in 2008.
More recently, Currie revived his prediction for another supercycle fuelled by pandemic stimulus measures and rebounding economic activity.
“We expect a structural bull market in commodities, very similar to what we saw in the 2000s or the 1970s,” Currie told the Reuters Commodities Summit in late 2021.
The firm “has greatly benefited from Jeff’s thought leadership on a broad range of topics and his ability to identify fundamental commodity market themes well before others,” Jan Hatzius, Goldman’s chief economist and head of global investment research, wrote in the memo.
Currie joined Goldman in 1996 and was promoted to managing director in 2002, then partner in 2008. He also chairs the advisory board of the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute.
Other senior departures from Goldman in recent months include Dina Powell McCormick, who led its sovereign business, and Lisa Opoku, who ran a unit that manages the wealth of its partners and senior executives.
(Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Lananh Nguyen and Sam Holmes)
