Written by Sumit Roy  |

July 22, 2011

Commodity ETF Flows: GLD, SLV Benefit From Demand

Details

Two largest precious metals ETPs benefit from surge of investor interest

Insatiable investor demand for precious metals exposure boosted commodity-related, exchange-traded product flows over the week ending July 21. The overall commodity ETP space saw inflows of $1.3 billion — the same as the week before — helping send total assets in the space to $173 billion.

Precious metals ETPs led with $869 million in inflows, followed by broad market (multicommodity) and energy products, with inflows of $236 million and $204 million, respectively.

The agriculture and industrial metals sectors witnessed very modest outflows — $35 million and $9 million, respectively.

To receive their precious metals exposure, investors flocked to the juggernaut of the sector, SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: GLD), adding $342 million to the fund. iShares Silver Trust (NYSE Arca: SLV) also did well, garnering $225 million of investor capital.

The rest of the top five funds on the inflows list consisted of the JPMorgan Alerian MLP Index ETN (NYSE Arca: AMJ), SPDR S&P Metals and Mining ETF (NYSE Arca: XME) and PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund (NYSE Arca: DBC), with inflows of $279 million, $132 million and $97 million, respectively.

AMJ offers income-minded investors exposure to high-yield master limited partnerships — a relatively conservative way to play the energy trend. But while AMJ garnered substantial investor interest, other energy ETPs were not so fortunate. Indeed, energy made up the entirety of the top five outflows list.

The United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE Arca: UNG) led with $74 million in outflows. Natural gas prices fell slightly this week, despite scorching temperatures across the nation.

Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3x Shares (NYSE Arca: ERX), ProShares Ultra Oil & Gas (NYSE Arca: DIG), PowerShares DB Energy Fund (NYSE Arca: DBE) and Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE Arca: KOL) rounded out the list, with outflows of $62 million, $26 million, $25 million and $22 million, respectively.

Shifting gears to price performance for the week, the list was quite diverse. iPath Global Carbon ETN (NYSE Arca: GRN) took the top spot, with a 12.72 percent gain.

Global X Oil Equities ETF (NYSE Arca: XOIL), Global X Lithium ETF (NYSE Arca: LIT), Guggenheim Canadian Energy Income ETF (NYSE Arca: ENY) and Market Vectors Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (NYSE Arca: REMX) took spot Nos. 2, 3, 4 and 5 respectively, with gains of 10.03 percent, 7.11 percent, 6.52 percent and 5.61 percent.

Soft commodity and agriculture ETPs filled the bottom price performers list. iPath Pure Beta Cotton ETN (NYSE Arca: CTNN) lost 7.34 percent, while iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: JO) fell 6.25 percent. iPath Pure Beta Softs ETN (NYSE Arca: GRWN), iPath Dow Jones-UBS Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: BAL) and UBS E-TRACS CMCI Livestock Total Return ETN (NYSE Arca: UBC) rounded out the list, with losses of 5.47 percent, 4.8 percent and 3.34 percent, respectively.

Fund Flows Data: July 15 - July 21

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.