After reeling from the high gas and energy prices, city dwellers are getting back to their roots and collecting and burning wood for stoves and heating, leaving the timber-focused exchange traded fund (ETF) with another opportunity to prosper.
City residents across the country, and specifically New York, are getting old-fashioned and returning to the wood-burning stoves, or pellet stove, and heating their homes in a cozier manner. In fact, shipments of pellet stoves, which can be inserted right into the fireplace, more than tripled during the first half of 2008, reports Ken Belson for The New York Times.
Deliveries of wood have jumped 54% and in the New York suburbs, a cord of wood is $225, up from $175 last year. Rural homeowners are scrounging for wood from landscapers to tree trimmers, to cutting in parks, with a permit, of course.
With this resurgence of wood stoves, it would perhaps be wise to know what exactly a cord of wood is. A cord measures 128 cubic feed, and the measurement is arrived at by stacking the wood as tightly as possible. A full cord measures four feet by four feet by eight feet.
Claymore/Clear Global Timber Index (CUT) as holdings focus around timber cutting and paper making companies. So far, CUT is down 31.6% for the year, but perhaps the winter wood scramble could make up for it.
Launched this summer was also the iShares S&P Global Timber & Forestry Index (WOOD), which is down 7.2% since its June 25 inception.
The opinions and forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Tom Lydon, and may not actually come to pass. Mr. Lydon serves as an independent trustee of certain mutual funds and ETFs that are managed by Guggenheim Investments; however, any opinions or forecasts expressed herein are solely those of Mr. Lydon and not those of Guggenheim Funds, Guggenheim Investments, Guggenheim Specialized Products, LLC or any of their affiliates. Information on this site should not be used or construed as an offer to sell, a solicitation of an offer to buy, or a recommendation for any product.