Anyone for orange juice? The alternative winners of 2011

Equity returns were poor in 2011 during a rollercoaster year for markets, but there were a number of bright spots in the alternative investments space.

Orange juice futures, for example, returned 4.29% last year, against a 6.75% fall in the FTSE 100 for 2011. This is more than double the return from the gold market at 1.73% and also beats Brent Crude oil, which returned 3.61%, according to Thames River Multi-Capital data. This week orange juice futures made headlines as contracts hit a 34-year high on Tuesday. The spike followed an announcement from the US food safety regulator it would block imports containing a fungicide commonly used in Brazil.  Traders snapped up futures contracts in preparation for the possibility of lower inven...