Commodity ETNs: Dramatic Differences In Month-Over-Month Performance
05 August 2010 at 3:23 pm by Gary Gordon
Drought and fire have severely damaged crops in Russia this week. Moreover, the country has responded by issuing a temporary, two-week ban on the export of grains like barley, wheat and rye. (Obligatory beer joke… insert here.)
In spite of the fact that scores of analysts are warning about a glut of wheat from harvests in 2008 and 2009, wheat prices have rocketed to 2-year highs. In some ways, it has been buy now, ask questions later!
There is a problem with that approach, though. Consider the rush to purchase packets of sugar. Investors who rode the iPath Sugar (SSG) train too long watched as their wheels came off the tracks.
Over the last month, however, agricultural commodities have been a profitable ticket to ride. Part of the credit can go to the declining U.S. dollar.
Yet, if commodity gains were only a function of U.S. dollar declines, we might see less variability across the commodity space. Grains have soared on the wings of unseasonable weather, while industrial metals have made progress on a potential pick-up of demand in emerging markets. Meanwhile, natural gas has been a major funk.
| Month-Over-Month Returns For Popular Commodity ETNs (7/6/2010-8/5/2010) | ||||||
| Approx % | ||||||
| iPath DJ Grains (JJG) | 18.6% | |||||
| iPAth DJ Agriculture (JJA) | 16.6% | |||||
| iPath DJ Nickel (JJN) | 13.8% | |||||
| iPath DJ Industrial Metals (JJM) | 11.8% | |||||
| iPath DJ Sugar (SGG) | 11.7% | |||||
| iPath DJ Copper (JJC) | 10.3% | |||||
| iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil (OIL) | 9.6% | |||||
| iPath DJ Total Commodity (DJP) | 8.6% | |||||
| iPath DJ Livestock (COW) | 3.0% | |||||
| iPath DJ Natural Gas (GAZ) | -0.8% | |||||
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Disclosure Statement: ETF Expert is a web log (”blog”) that makes the world of ETFseasierto understand. Gary Gordon, MS, CFP is the president of Pacific Park Financial, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser with the SEC. The company and/or its clients may hold positions in the ETFs, mutual funds and/or index funds mentioned above. The company receives advertising compensation from Invesco PowerShares Capital Management, LLC and Geary Advisors, LLC. The commentary does not constitute individualized investment advice. The opinions offered herein are not personalized recommendations to buy, sell or hold securities. Investors who are interested in money management services may visit the Pacific Park Financial, Inc. web site.
Tags | "agriculture etns", "etf list agriculture", "grains etn", "metals etn list", "wheat etf", Copper ETN
