Commodity Trading

3 thoughts on “Commodity Trading”

  1. Gold Miners
    Investors can also obtain exposure to gold by purchasing stocks of companies that are engaged in extracting and selling precious metals. Like most companies, the profitability of gold miners depends on the prevailing market price for the products they sell. As such, mining companies tend to realize higher profits when natural resource prices are elevated-especially if significant portions of the cost structure are fixed in nature. Mining stocks tend to trade as a leveraged play on the underlying resource, meaning that the movements in price are often more significant than changes in the related commodity over the short term.
    Many gold mining companies also are engaged in the extraction of other precious and industrial metals such as silver, platinum, and copper. However, because gold is significantly more valuable than silver and copper and more common than platinum, it will often account for the majority of revenue and earnings of mining companies. Major gold miners include:
    • Barrick Gold Corporation (ABX)
    • Goldcorp (GG)
    • Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM)
    • Newcrest Mining (NCMGF.PK)
    • AngloGold Ashanti Limited (AU)
    Gold ETFs
    There are multiple ETFs offering exposure to gold as well, including both funds that invest in gold futures contracts and funds that invest in physical gold bullion. While the returns generated by these funds will generally be similar-especially in the short term-over longer periods certain strategies may perform better depending on the slope of the futures curve. Gold ETFs include:
    • Gold SPDR (GLD): This ETF invests in physical gold, meaning that it will reflect changes in spot prices of the commodity.
    • iShares COMEX Gold Trust (IAU): This ETF also invests in physical gold, and is cheaper than GLD in terms of expense ratio.
    • ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares (SGOL): This ETF invests in physical gold, storing bullion in Switzerland.
    • ETFS Physical Asian Gold Shares (AGOL): This ETF invests in physical gold, storing bullion in Singapore.
    Futures-based gold ETFs include:
    • PowerShares DB Gold (DGL)
    • E-TRACS UBS Bloomberg CMCI Gold ETN (UBG): This product is an exchange-traded note, meaning that investors are exposed to the credit risk of the issuer.
    Other gold exchange-traded products include:
    • RBS Gold Trendpilot ETN (TBAR): This product oscillates between exposure to gold and cash depending on momentum factors and recent performance.
    • FactorShares 2x Gold Bull/S&P 500 Bear ETN (FSG): This ETN offers leveraged exposure to the spread between gold and the S&P 500 on a daily basis.
    Leveraged gold ETFs include:
    • PowerShares DB Gold Double Long ETN (DGP)
    • PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN (DZZ)
    • PowerShares DB Gold Short ETN (DGZ)
    • ProShares Ultra Gold (UGL)
    • ProShares UltraShort Gold (GLL)
    • VelocityShares 3x Long Gold ETN (UGLD)
    • VelocityShares 3x Inverse Gold ETN (DGLD)
    There are also a number of ETFs that provide exposure to gold indirectly through investments in stocks of companies engaged in the discovery, extraction, and sale of the metal. These ETFs include:
    • Gold Miners ETF (GDX)
    • Pure Gold Miners ETF (GGGG)
    • Junior Gold Miners ETF (GDXJ)
    • Global Gold and Precious Metals Miners Fund (PSAU)
    • Gold Explorers ETF (GLDX)
    • MSCI Global Gold Miners Fund (RING)
    • Daily Gold Miners Bear 3x Shares (DUST)
    • Daily Gold Miners Bull 3x Shares (NUGT)

  2. On the platinum and palladium ETFs front, trading remained more modest as none of the major names broke the 1 percent barrier. E-TRACS UBS long Platinum ETN (PTM) rallied to close at 0.98 percent while ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (PPLT) bounced back from last week”s loss with a 0.90 percent gain. ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (PALL) failed to rally to close the week as it fell 0.42 percent at the closing bell.

  3. Credit Suisse (CS) today declared $0.1146 per ETN as the amount of the monthly coupon for GLDI. This coupon is payable on February 25, 2013 to holders of record on February 20, 2013. The ex-dividend date is February 15, 2013.
    GLDI, which tracks the Credit Suisse NASDAQ Gold Flows
    SLVO silver high yield covered call fund

    GGN GAMCO Global Gold Natural Resources & Income Trust

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