Commodities Won't Save Wall Street

"There is physical delivery involved here," says Simons. "Those who think of this as speculation are in for a rude surprise. At the end of the day, they are left with the responsibility of transporting a physical asset from one place to another."

Financial sector analyst Richard Bove of Punk Ziegel & Co. agrees.

"When you get away from energy and metals, it's just not that relevant," he says of commodities trading. Moreover, he worries that relying on the global economy is dangerous because its strength may begin to wane with what he expects to be a deeper retrenchment by U.S. consumers and businesses.