Standard & Poor’s has launched two new indexes which may someday give exchange traded fund (ETF) investors a benchmark with some more exposure to commodities and natural resources.

The S&P Global Natural Resources Index provides diversified and liquid exposure to the primary commodity sectors of energy, agribusiness, and metals and mining. ETF Express reports that each sector has two clusters: oil and coal; agriculture and livestock; and precious and industrial metals. The index gives exposure to the 60 largest companies across these clusters.

The S&P PMI Commodities and Resources Index provides a broader coverage of larger, capitalized stocks from the energy, agribusiness and metals and mining sectors.

Perhaps someday there will be an ETF product based on these indexes. Meanwhile, there are plenty of ways to gain exposure to the agriculture and commodities sectors, including:

• Unites States Natural Gas Fund (UNG): tracks natural gas futures; up 56.9% year-to-date
• PowerShares DB Energy Fund (DBE): holds crude oil, natural gas, heating oil; up 43.6% year-to-date
• PowerShares DB Base Metals fund (DBB): aluminum, copper, zinc; up 11.5% year-to-date
• iShares GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust (GSG): natural resources; up 31.8% year-to-date

Tags | Agriculture, Coal, Copper, Energy, Gas, Material ETFs, Metals, Natural Gas, Oil, UNG