HardAssetsInvestor

Written by Drew Voros  |

July 13, 2012

Commodity ETF Flows: Investors Head For Exits Of GLD & XLE; Ag Fund TAGS Jumps 16%

Details

Commodity funds see outflows of $628 million as heavyweight funds in gold and energy lose investment capital.

After weeks of seeing an inflow surge, commodity-related exchange-traded products saw outflows total more than $628 million as investors pulled money from two of the biggest commodity ETFs: GLD and XLE.

Precious metals funds saw $418 million flow out of the sector, which was followed by energy, which saw $264 million in outflows and industrial metals, which had $10.32 million in outflows.

Broad market (multicommodity) and agriculture had inflows of $56 million and $8 million, respectively.

Exchange-traded products (ETPs) include exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded vehicles (ETVs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs)

ETP Inflows/Outflows

Despite the surge of outflows for gold fund GLD, iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca: IAU) led inflows, with $142 million, followed by iShares Dow Jones U.S. Energy (NYSE Arca: IYE), with $114 million, SPDR Natural Resources (NYSE Arca: GNR), with $77 million, Market Vectors Oil Services (NYSE Arca: OIH), with $54 million and Alerian MLP (NYSE Arca: AMLP) took in $38 million of new investment capital.

Redemptions also had a gold fund atop the list, as SPDR Gold (NYSE Arca: GLD) saw $471 million flow out the door, followed by Energy Select SPDR (NYSE Arca: XLE), with $253 million, United States Oil (NYSE Arca: USO), with $126 million, United States Natural Gas (NYSE Arca: UNG), with $78 million in outflows and Market Vectors Gold Miners (NYSE Arca: GDX), which lost $70 million to outflows.

ETP Performance

Agriculture funds populated the top performers, with Teucrium Agricultural (NYSE Arca: TAGS) atop the list, with a 16.08 percent jump for the week as grain prices soared under the pressure of a historical heat wave. Rounding out the list were PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN (NYSE Arca: DPU), which rose 13.31 percent, followed by United States Metals Index Fund (NYSE Arca: USMI), with a 12.32 percent increase, iPath Pure Beta Agriculture ETN (NYSE Arca: DIRT), with 8.98 percent, and iPath Pure Beta Sugar ETN (NYSE Arca: SGAR), with an 8.14 percent increase.

Energy, metals and mining funds littered the poor performers. Market Vectors Coal (NYSE Arca: KOL) underperformed, with a 10.65 percent decline, followed by iShares MSCI Global Gold Miners (NYSE Arca: RING) shedding 10 percent, PowerShares Global Coal Portfolio (NYSE Arca: PKOL) losing 9.45 percent, PowerShares Global Gold and Precious Metals (NYSE Arca: PSAU) knocking off 9.18 percent, and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners (NYSE Arca: GDXJ) declining 9.15 percent.

Fund Flows Data: (July 06 - July 12, 2012)

Commodity ETF Weekly Flows By Sector

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.