Commodity
A raw material that is traded, like oil, gold, or wheat.
Commodity prices respond to supply and demand, weather, and geopolitics, and they feed into inflation and company costs.
Commodities are the raw materials the economy runs on: energy like crude oil and natural gas, metals like gold and copper, and agricultural goods like wheat and coffee. One barrel of a given crude grade is much like another, which is what makes them tradable as standardized contracts.
Prices swing on supply and demand, and supply can move fast on weather, geopolitics, or an OPEC decision. Commodities feed straight into inflation and company costs, so an oil spike shows up later in the price data central banks watch. Gold has its own role as a store of value that traders turn to when they distrust currencies or want a hedge against uncertainty.