“In the first week of January we saw the largest inflows across the board in just over a month, so some change in sentiment is taking place – the question is whether this is sustainable,” Brooks said in the article. “Investors are slowly increasing their weights in commodities as an asset class in the hope that the rebound in lead economic indicators proves more than a blip.”
In energy, crude oil ETFs are gaining strength as investors nervously watch the geopolitical situation in Iran. Natural gas, though, remains depressed on “a particularly bearish set of fundamentals due to record inventories and a warmer than usual start to winter in the northern hemisphere,” Brooks added.
- SPDR Gold Trust (GLD): up 5.6% year-to-date.
- Powershares DB Precious Metals Fund ETF (DBP): up 6.1% year-to-date.
- United States Oil Fund (USO): up 1.8% year-to-date.
Powershares DB Commodity Index Fund ETF
For more information on commodity funds, visit our commodity ETFs category.
Max Chen contributed to this article.