ProShares has recently filed
papers with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to launch 48
new exchange traded funds (ETFs) tied to commodities and currencies. The commodity funds will
track the Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index and related subindexes, and
will provide leveraged, short and inverse-short exposure to the
following markets:

• Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index
• Dow Jones-AIG Precious Metals Index
• Dow Jones-AIG Industrial Metals Index
• Dow Jones-AIG Agriculture Index
• Gold
• Silver
• Natural Gas
• Oil

The commodity index funds track the price of the "excess return"
indexes, which track the price of rolling futures positions in the
relevant commodities. These indexes include any and all "roll yield"
from the position, so these funds will be subject to contango and backwardation.
The gold and silver funds, in contrast, will be tied to the price of
physical gold bullion. The oil and natural gas funds track the price of
the near-term futures contract for the relevant commodity, but do not
include the roll yield, says Heather Bell for Index Universe. In the currency market, ProShares has targeted:

• Euro
• Australian Dollar
• British Pound
• Canadian Dollar
• Japanese Yen
• Mexican Peso
• Swedish Krona
• Swiss Franc

Tags: Commodity ETFs, Currency ETFs, Natural Gas, Silver