A pair of energy ETFs from U.S. Commodity Funds could start trading at a premium to indicative value after they temporarily halted the creation of new shares.
According to regulatory filings, U.S. 12 Month Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNL) and U.S. Short Oil Fund (DNO) have temporarily suspended the ability of the authorized participants, the firms responsible for making markets in ETFs, to purchase new creation baskets in the funds.
Creations will be halted “until such time as a new registration statement registering additional units under the Securities Act of 1933 has been declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the National Futures Association has approved its use,” the filings said.
Essentially, UNL and DNO are now trading like closed-end funds, which can trade at premiums or discounts to net asset value, based on demand for the shares.
The ETFs are relatively small. UNL has $42.4 million in assets while DNO holds $13 million. DNO is an inverse ETF designed to move in the opposite direction of oil prices.
“As a result of this we did detect an increase in the premium spread of both UNL and DNO over … intraday index value,” Chris Hempstead at WallachBeth Capital said in a note Thursday. “Short interest in both products is very low and as such we do not expect extreme premiums to develop here. If however share volume spikes prior to any announcement of creations being accepted, we will be watching closely for higher premiums.”
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