ETF Spotlight: iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG)

ETF Spotlight on iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (NYSEArca: GSG), part of a weekly series.

Assets: $1.7 billion

Holdings: Tracks an index of futures contracts among the following categories: energy, 69.7%; agriculture, 14%; industrial metals, 8.1%; livestock, 4.3%; and precious metals, 3.5%.

Objective: Seeks to track the performance of the GSCI Excess Return Index.

What You Should Know

• ETFs that hold futures contracts have special tax considerations [How commodity ETFs are taxed.]
• The index tracks 24 commodities and is production weighted according to the significance of each commodity to the world economy
• GSG is a broad-based commodity fund and a low-cost way to gain exposure to a variety of commodities
• Expense ratio is 0.75%

The Latest News

• Investors in 2009 have sought the security of hard assets, fearing imminent inflation, an ever-weaker U.S. dollar and an anemic domestic economy. [Why steel is rebounding.]
• Investment inflows into commodities are expected to exceed that of 2008, and investors have been more than compensating for the weak physical demand. [Why investors still flock to gold.]
• Long- commodity ETFs have seen about $3 billion in new assets since November, as net cash flow was more than triple October’s total. It was also the biggest influx since summer.