Equities and stock exchange traded funds are looking rosier as markets quickly recovered over February, with broad benchmark indices breaking record highs after growth concerns induced a January correction.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 6.5% since the February 3 low. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 8.2% and the S&P 500 surged 7.1%.
The top performing non-leveraged exchange traded products over the past month include the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return Sub-Index ETN (NYSEArca: JO) up 56.4%, iPath Pure Beta Coffee ETN (NYSEArca: CAFE) up 52.5% and iPath DJ-UBS Softs TR Sub-Idx ETN (NYSEArca: JJS) up 28.7%.
Coffee prices have been soaring this year as traders pushed up prices, betting on significant crop damage in Brazil, the world’s largest producer of coffee beans, as dry weather stunts growth in a crucial stage in the beans’ development. [Coffee ETN Gets Hyper as Brazilian Crops Wither]
Brazil is also a large global supplier of sugar. JJS, which includes 31.3% in coffee, 48.4% in sugar and 20.2% in cotton, is also benefiting from the drought conditions in Brazil. The country is one of the largest commodity producers as 20% of the country’s workforce engages in agriculture, and over a quarter of the country’s exports earnings come from agricultural goods. [Brazil Drought Sweetens Sugar ETNs]
The worst performing non-leveraged funds over the past month include C-Tracks on Citit Volatility Index ETN (NYSEArca: CVOL) down 13.8%, Global X Nigeria Index ETF (NYSArca: NGE) down 7.6% and VelocityShares Emerging Market DR ETF (NYSEArca: EMDR) down 7.1%.