Despite overall equity market volumes lagging below the averages this week, we have noted a pickup in activity in exchange traded funds that invest in the agriculture and agribusiness sectors.
For instance, Market Vectors Agribusiness (NYSEArca: MOO) traded nearly 4 million shares on Tuesday versus its average daily volume of 1.66 million shares. [ETF Spotlight: MOO]
Other ETFs in the sector that we generally watch include IndexIQ Global Agribusiness Small Cap (NYSEArca: CROP) as well as PowerShares Global Agriculture (NasdaqGM: PAGG) and the entire space has rallied considerably off of recent lows that were touched last week. [Agriculture ETFs]
MOO and CROP have more of a large cap slant than CROP, and interestingly, CROP has displayed impressive relative performance in the past 3 month period (-11.88% versus MOO down 11.58% and PAGG down 14.89%).
It is no coincidence that equities that derive revenues from the agricultural space have rallied recently, as grain prices have rallied considerably, lifting Elements MLCX Grains Index ETN (NYSEArca: GRU) as well as other agricultural products and food prices in general such as Teucrium Corn (NYSEArca: CORN) and E-Tracs CMCI Food ETN (NYSEArca: FUD). [ETF Spotlight: Grains]