As the markets soar higher, investors are still finding havens in commodity exchange traded funds (ETFs). Oil on Wednesday hit a record $134. Gas prices are above $3.80 a gallon. Food prices are skyrocketing. Airlines are nickel-and-diming customers to recoup some of the fuel costs. It's not pretty out there. But for ETF investors hedging these commodities, it's probably not looking so bad.
Among the areas investors are turning to while they wait for the markets to steady a bit:
Oil: Oil futures can be found in United States Oil (AMEX: USO), which rose a hefty 3.8% on Wednesday after new highs were reached. Investors can also get access to oil companies through a number of ETFs that count them as holdings, such as the iShares Dow Jones US Oil & Gas Exploration Index (AMEX: IEO) or the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services (AMEX: XES).
Gold: But while the demand for gold ETFs is up, demand for gold in terms of tonnage is down 16%, dropping to its lowest quarterly figure in five years, according to the World Gold Council. While instability in equities markets, a weakening dollar and rising inflation have fueled demand for ETFs, volatility in the price of gold has led to the tonnage drop. Gold access can be had through futures with the PowerShares DB Gold (AMEX: DGL), or through funds that hold bullion, such as the iShares COMEX Gold Trust (AMEX: IAU) or the SPDR Gold Shares (NYSE: GLD).
Agriculture: Prices are continuing to go up, and the global food crisis has yet to show signs of abating. Wholesale food prices were unchanged in April after a 1.2% increase in March, but the numbers hid some wild variations. Vegetable prices fell 4.1% and eggs were 12.3% cheaper. However, rice became 17.4% more expensive and bakery products rose 1.1%. A number of both ETFs and exchange traded notes (ETNs) offer investors access to a wide range of agriculture products and agriculture companies. These include PowerShares DB Agriculture (AMEX: DBA), iPath Dow Jones AIG-Agriculture ETN (NYSE: JJA), UBS E-TRACS CMCI Agriculture ETN (NYSE: UAG) and Market Vectors Global Agribusiness (AMEX: MOO).
Single-Country ETFs: For investors who aren't keen to get on board with full exposure to commodities, there are some single-country ETFs that can offer exposure to certain commodities while also being diversified across several other industries as well. For example, the iShares MSCI Chile (NYSE: ECH) offers exposure to copper. The iShares MSCI South Africa Index (AMEX: EZA) gives investors exposure to a wide range of companies that produce natural resources in the country, including gold.
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I am troubled with this article. As the time of this post, the commodity is on the brink of bursting (of a bubble) for the short term at least. USO had rallied so much and actually retraced today. Isn't this an-ill, high-risk advise to buy at or near "top"?