After a turning in a strong finish to 2010, most commodity ETFs have fallen in recent months as investors have piled into the relative safety of U.S. dollar as an alternative to risky assets during these tumultuous times. This flight to the greenback has tempered demand for many commodities, the vast majority of which are grown or produced outside of the U.S. but trade in U.S. dollars. In fact, the PowerShares DB Commodity Index Fund (DBC), the most popular and liquid ETF in the Commodities ETFdb Category, is down more than 11% thus far in 2010, while the iPath Dow Jones-AIG Sugar Total Return Sub-Index ETN (SGG) is down an astounding 41% in the same time period (also see Basics of ETN Investing). [click to continue…]
With sovereign debt issues continuing to wreak havoc across the euro zone, many investors have piled into the relative safety of U.S. dollar in order to avoid the storm. This ‘flight to quality’ has had a devastating impact on a variety of commodities which are usually priced around the world in U.S. dollars. Among the [...]
In the wake of unprecedented injections of liquidity into the global financial system, many investors have become concerned about the potential impact of inflation on asset values (see Beyond TIP: Ten ETFs To Protect Against Inflation). But to anyone who sells sugar for a living, any concerns about inflation might incite rage. Sugar prices recently [...]
Exchange-traded commodity products have been embraced by investors eager to add an asset class to their portfolio that has historically exhibited a low correlation to stocks and bonds. Commodity ETPs saw more than $30 billion in cash inflows last year as both funds targeting diversified baskets of resources and commodity-specific funds surged in popularity.
The wild ride for sugar ETF investors is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon. After sugar prices hit 30 year highs in early February, prices in New York have slumped by nearly 40% over the last month. But prices have rebounded sharply in recent trading, reclaiming large chunks of the ground lost [...]
Volatility is nothing new to the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Sugar Total Return ETN (SGG), but the big price swings seen over the last three weeks have been truly impressive. After losing as much as 7% in trading Monday, SGG has dropped a whopping 15% this month after adding 11% in January. The sugar ETF’s extreme [...]
Markets trended higher in the holiday shortened week, as the S&P 500 flirted with and then crossed the 1,100 mark. The dollar strengthened throughout the week as debt clouds continue to hang over the euro zone and after the Fed raised the discount rate to 75 basis points. Below, we offer our picks for the [...]
Commodities are the new black in the world of investing, thanks in no small part to the rise of ETFs as the tool of choice in more and more portfolios. Commodity ETFs saw cash inflows of more than $30 billion in 2009, as total assets more than doubled on the year. According to the ETF [...]
Following a year that saw some of the worst performances in recent memory, many asset classes have bounced back in 2009. But some have performed better than others, and as the year draws to a close we take a look at some of the best-performing ETFs. The year’s top gainers include a few of the [...]
Commodity ETFs have seen billions of dollars of cash inflows in recent years, as investors have embraced these exchange-traded products as efficient ways to gain exposure to an asset class that was previously off limits to many. The majority of investors have focused either on funds offering diversified exposure to a variety of natural resources [...]
Markets finished flat on Wednesday after the Fed decided to leave rates unchanged at its target between 0% and 0.25%. The government also reported that it would not sell its stake in Citigroup despite the fact that Citi is planning to offer more equity, sending shares of the banking giant plunging after hours. In Copenhagen, [...]
