Commodity

A handful of weak economic indicators has propelled gold to an all-time high. With a blend of low interest rates, weak dollar, rising jobless claims, and erratic equities, U.S. investors are fleeing to the shelter of gold. Gold futures closed at a record high of $1,248.70 an ounce Thursday. SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD: Profile, [...]

Assets continued to flow into U.S. exchange-traded funds last month despite volatile market conditions. Popular commodity funds were a major reason for the sustained growth.  During the month of May, it was the commodity class that attracted the most assets. According to the press release, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD: Profile, Quote, Advanced Chart, News) lead [...]

The disaster in the Gulf of Mexico has taken a toll on oil prices. With uncertainty surrounding the future of oil, investors have noticed that natural gas ETFs are gathering steam. U.S. Natural Gas ETF (UNG: Profile, Quote, Advanced Chart, News) and the First Trust ISE Revere Natural Gas ETF (FCG: Profile, Quote, Advanced Chart, [...]

To the naked eye, Sprott Physical Gold (PHYS) may seem like just another gold fund. However, with its residual premium over the spot price, investors are showing they prefer this precious metals fund far more than any other. The Sprott Physical Gold ETF is a closed-end fund that offers investors the chance to track the [...]

United States Commodity funds, the ETF sponsor best known for its United States Oil Fund (USO: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) and United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News), today launched another fund to track Brent oil prices. The new fund, the United States Brent Oil Fund (BNO), will track the [...]

To meet demand, ETFSecurities added new shares to its popular platinum and palladium funds on Monday. The new combined value of the funds now rests at $871 million. ETFSecurities raised the number of shares in the ETFS Physical Platinum Fund (PPLT: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) to 11.22 million shares, up from 4.78 million, Reuters [...]

Some sectors are seasonal, and a few fare better in the summer than any other time during the year. Here is a brief list of the ETFs that heat up as summer begins. With oil on the top of everyone’s mind following a spill in the Gulf of Mexico, Claymore/Aphashares Global Solar Energy Index ETF [...]

A looming debt crisis in Europe has put a damper in palladium’s success. The metal, which linked together more than a year of back-to-back monthly climbs, has dropped 16% in May alone. The May 2010 slump, which follows a rally from January 2009 to April 2010, is the biggest drop since the collapse of Lehman [...]

The World Cup trophy isn’t made of platinum, but gold. However, the World Cup games are still expected to crimp the flowing supply of platinum. The World Cup, which will be held in South Africa, is expected to drain the country of much of its electrical power supply. South African mining operations, which produce much [...]

With gold soaring due to fears about the economy, many investors are beginning to ask where exactly their gold is stored. Where is it? London. SPDR Gold Trust (GLD: Quote, Profile, Advanced Chart, News) quickly became one of the top holders of physical gold in the world. Now with over $48 billion in assets, the [...]