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 screener, there are currently 91 exchange-traded commodity products, including inverse and leveraged funds. At the end of 2009, there was $73.7 billion in these funds, but most of these assets were concentrated in a handful of tickers. GLD alone accounted for more than half of commodity assets, and the top seven commodity funds (SLV, DBC, UNG, IAU, DBA, and DJP) made up almost 85% of the total amount. [click to continue…]
The United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG) has been one of the most perplexing exchange-traded products of 2009. The fund has lost almost 60% so far this year, but has seen cash billions of dollar in cash inflows ($5.4 billion through November, well more than the $4.0 billion in total assets the fund had at the time). So when U.S. Commodity Funds introduced a 12 Month Natural Gas Fund (UNL) in mid-November, it seemed like a “can’t miss” product, a fund offering exposure to the same commodity without some of the drawbacks that have led to the poor returns. [click to continue…]
In a year that has delivered solid returns for most commodities investors, natural gas has been the glaring exception. For most of 2009, weak fundamentals and return-eroding contango have hammered the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), sending the ETF down more than 60%. But the year that most investors in natural gas would like [...]
U. S. Commodity Funds, the issuer behind ultra-popular commodity ETPs such as UNG and USO, has launched the United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund under the ticker UNL. The investment objective on UNL is to reflect the changes in percentage terms of the spot price of natural gas delivered at Henry Hub, Louisiana, as [...]
