Written by Sumit Roy  |

May 20, 2011

Commodity ETF Flows Report: Bleeding Slows As Energy And Ag ETFs Offset SLV Outflows

Details

GLD almost single-handedly boosted commodity ETF flows into positive territory last week.

Finally — for the first time in four weeks — commodity-related exchange-traded funds saw net inflows, as investors tiptoed their way back into the space. Sector performance varied significantly, however, with three of the five sectors actually seeing outflows. But thanks to strong investor interest in precious metals — which received over $1 billion of fresh capital — total commodity-related ETP inflows registered at $684 million.

The only other sector to see a net inflow on the week was agriculture, with $187 million. The energy, broad market (multicommodity) and industrial metals sectors saw outflows of $293 million, $204 million and $32 million, respectively.

Almost the entirety of this week's precious metals outperformance was thanks to a single fund — the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: GLD), which received inflows of $1.1 billion, reversing a good chunk of the $2.4 billion in outflows it saw over the past three weeks.

Similarly, agriculture's outperformance was due in large part to the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE Arca: MOO), with $227 in inflows. Investor interest in this fund has been stellar recently, as it has shown up on the top five creations list for three weeks straight, racking up $750 million in inflows in that same period.

Three gold funds — the iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: IAU), Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDX) and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca: GDXJ) round out the top five list for the week, with inflows of $77 million, $67 million and $57 million, respectively.

Looking at the other end of the spectrum, at the worst-performing products of the week, we see the iShares Silver Trust (NYSE Arca: SLV) leading for a second week in a row, with $241 million in redemptions. That comes on the heels of last week's $429 million of outflows. As we've discussed thoroughly in our Precious Metals Monitor, investor interest in gold has been much more resilient than that in silver in recent weeks.

Right behind SLV was the Energy Select SPDR ETF (NYSE Arca: XLE). This fund has appeared on the top creations and redemptions list frequently over the last few months, as traders use it for exposure to the very volatile energy sector.

Moving on, the SPDR S&P Metals and Mining ETF (NYSE Arca: XME), iShares S&P Global Energy Sector Index Fund (NYSE Arca: IXC) and iShares S&P Global Materials Index Fund (NYSE Arca: MXI) took the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 spots on the redemptions list last week, with outflows of $181 million, $55 million and $25 million, respectively.

Shifting gears to price performance for the week, silver funds dominated as the metal rebounded off recent lows. But it was the iPath Pure Beta Cotton ETN (NYSE Arca: CTNN) that led, with a hefty 11.54 percent return. On the surface, CTNN's performance is puzzling given the fact that cotton prices were essentially flat during the week, but considering the ETN has very little in the way of assets and is fairly illiquid, such oddball moves aren't all that unusual.

Other than CTNN, all the other top five price performers were silver-related. The UBS E-TRACS Silver ETN (NYSE Arca: USV), PowerShares DB Silver Fund (NYSE Arca: DBS), ETFS Physical Silver (NYSE Arca: SIVR) and iShares Silver Trust (NYSE Arca: SLV) saw gains of 9.75 percent, 7.99 percent, 7.88 percent and 7.86 percent, respectively.

Finally, the bottom price performers last week consisted of solar and industrial metals-related products. The Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSE Arca: KWT) and Guggenheim Solar ETF (NYSE Arca: TAN) led with declines of 9.84 percent and 8.83 percent, respectively. The iPath Pure Beta Aluminum ETN (NYSE Arca: FOIL), Global X China Materials ETF (NYSE Arca: CHIM) and iPath Dow Jones-UBS Nickel Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: JJN) followed, with respective losses of 7.83 percent, 6.46 percent and 4.93 percent.

Fund Flows Data: May 12 – 18, 2011

Commodity ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class

Top 5 Commodity ETF Creations

Top 5 Commodity ETF Redemptions

Top 5 Weekly Performers (Excluding <1,000 Shares Traded)

Bottom 5 Weekly Performers, Excluding <1,000 Shares Traded

Top 5 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM

Disclaimer: Data provided by IndexUniverse. All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern the date of publication. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.