It’s difficult to put a finger on the exact cause of the recent surge in popularity of commodity investing. More than likely, the boom is attributable to a number of different factors. Correlation between international equity markets (and even between stocks and bonds) has surged in recent years, increasing both the importance and difficulty of adding non-correlated assets to investor portfolios. Given the relatively weak correlation with other asset classes, commodities have found a home in many investors’ portfolios. Moreover, unprecedented injections of liquidity into the financial system have created anxiety over a coming uptick in inflation that could erode returns to stocks and fixed income instruments. Commodities have historically served as an effective inflation hedge, and many are once again turning to natural resources to protect assets from a surge in the CPI. [click to continue…]
A recent survey released by InvestmentNews highlighted the ten ETFs financial advisors researched the most, based on data provided by Morningstar. It’s tough to know exactly what to make of the list, but at the very least it gives some interesting insights into the minds of investors. The list included many of the usual suspects: the S&P 500 (SPY), emerging markets (EEM and VWO), aggregate bond markets (AGG and LQD) and diversified commodity funds (DBC) were all represented. Also making the list were two gold ETFs: the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) and iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU). [click to continue…]
With the tremendous rise of ETF investing has come the “democratization” of many asset classes previously out-of-reach to all but the biggest and richest individuals and institutions. One of the primary areas of growth in the ETF industry has been commodity products, which have continued to multiply and attract billions of dollars in assets. According [...]
The showdown over the future of the financial industry continued in Washington on Tuesday, as former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker continued to push for restrictions on commercial banks engaging in proprietary trading and private investing activity. Earnings reports continued to give domestic equity markets a boost, as did favorable news for the U.S. auto [...]
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 [...]
As the ETF industry has expanded in recent years, a significant portion of growth has come from the tremendous rise in popularity of exchange-traded commodity products. In addition to broad-based funds such as DBC or DJCI, several commodity-specific products have accumulated billions of dollars in assets, and several were even among the very largest of [...]
Last week, Deutsche Bank announced that it will increase the fees of seven PowerShares exchange-traded funds, citing “increased costs of managing the Funds due to changing regulatory requirements.” The changes will be effective beginning January 4, and will affect five commodity funds and two currency products.
October was another busy month for the ETF industry, with the launch of several new funds, including a handful that will compete directly with well-established ETFs and some that seek to address potential regulatory issues facing traditional commodity products. Highlights from the month included:
As U.S. equity markets have soared in recent months, the dollar has steadily declined against most of its major rivals, recently falling below the key $1.50 level against the euro for the first time since August of last year. This extended fall has investors wondering if the dollar’s decline reflects temporary volatility, or a long-term [...]
As earnings reports continued to trickle in Wednesday most equity benchmarks declined, and the Dow finished below the 10,000 mark it breached just last week for the first time in a year. Many bond funds finished up for the day as risk appetite among investors dried up. Commodities continued a strong run as the dollar [...]
U.S. equity markets continued their march higher on Monday, as the Dow prepared to make a run at 10,000. But the story of the day was commodities, with most agricultural ETFs finishing sharply higher. The PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund (DBA) gained more than 4% as a tighter than expected supply report from the Agriculture Department [...]
It’s been an interesting week in the world of ETFs: The unemployment rate moved up to 9.8% and Rio De Janeiro won the 2016 Summer Olympics over Chicago. Here are the ETF Database staff picks of the week’s most important and interesting stories from around the Web:
