What You Need To Know About Commodity Indexes

Posted on March 9, 2013 by

For many investors, index investing continues to draw support in most portfolios. The proponents of the passive style of investing continue to grow as the poor returns of the “lost decade” have shown that active investment management, for the most part, fails to the beat the market–especially once trading costs, fund fees and taxes are taken into account. As index investing is relatively passive, index funds usually have lower management fees and expenses than actively-managed funds. As such, the number of stock and bond index funds and ETFs continues to grow, and that growth is also spreading into the commodity space [for more commodity news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

Posted in Academic Research, Actionable Ideas, Agriculture, Asset Allocation, Commodity ETFs, Commodity Futures, commodityHQ.edu, Energy, Industrial Metals, Precious Metals | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Is Commodity Investing Dying? Part 1

Posted on February 18, 2013 by

Commodity futures markets were originally designed for producers to hedge their risks against unforeseen complications. But as the years went on, more and more retail investors began piling into this asset class, as they enjoyed the diversification benefits offered by hard assets. Now, many long-term buy and hold investors allocate anywhere from 5-20% of their assets to commodity holdings, but that trend may be hitting a roadblock [for more commodity news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

Posted in Academic Research, Commodity Futures, commodityHQ.edu | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Commodities That Have Thrived Under President Obama

Posted on December 1, 2012 by

As an asset class, natural resources often get lumped together, falling under a single weighting in one’s investment portfolio. After all, the most popular approach by many retail investors is through an ETF or futures fund that tracks a basket of commodities. The PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking (DBC) and iPath DJ-UBS Commodity Index ETN (DJP) are two of the most popular options for investors [for more commodity news and analysis subscribe to our free newsletter]. However, natural resources are completely distinct animals and behave differently due to various demand, supply, weather and other external factors. Believe it or not, one of those external factors can be who’s in the White House. Since President Obama took office four years ago, a certain set of commodities have thrived in both production and price increases. With Obama winning another term, it stands to reason that these commodities have a good chance of seeing gains … See the full story here →

Posted in Agriculture, Commodity Trading Outlook, Corn, Energy, Gold, Natural Gas, Precious Metals, Silver | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

How Much Money Your Favorite Commodity ETFs Make

Posted on October 27, 2012 by

ETF investing turned the commodity world from a difficult-to-reach asset class to exposure that any retail investor could quickly add to their portfolio. The years have seen a number of innovative products come and go, but through thick and thin a select group of funds have broken away from the rest, as they have maintained their popularity. And just like any other business, these funds need to make money to stay open (and to hopefully make you money), as they have plenty of operating costs to take care of [for more commodity ETF analysis subscribe to our free newsletter].

Posted in Actionable Ideas, Asset Allocation, Commodity ETF Analysis, Commodity ETFs | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Commodity ETP Spotlight: DJP In Focus

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

Just a few short years after the introduction of the first exchange-traded commodity product, there are several dozens of options available for investors interested in accessing this asset class. Interest in commodities has surged as this corner of the market has demonstrated the potential to deliver impressive returns and meaningful diversification benefits [see also Three Commodity Plays For 2012]. Today we profile the Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Index Total Return ETN (DJP), a product from Barclays iPath that has amassed nearly $2.6 billion in assets under management since launching in mid-2006.

Posted in Commodity ETF Analysis, Exclusive, Spotlight | Tagged | Leave a comment

How Balanced Is Your Commodity ETF?

Posted on May 16, 2011 by

This article originally appeared on ETFdb.com As natural resource prices have climbed skyward, interest in exchange-traded products that offer exposure to commodities has accelerated as well. While some investors prefer to achieve targeted access through resource-specific funds–such as those focusing on corn (CORN), sugar (SGG), or copper (JJC)–the most popular commodity ETPs are those that include a variety of types of resources. And while these products are similar in that they employ a broad-based technique to delivering commodity exposure, they are far from identical.

Posted in Asset Allocation, Commodity ETFs | Tagged , , | Leave a comment