Commodities In Review: December 2020

October was a mixed month for commodity ETFs, though more funds were in negative territory than not. The worst performer was the United States Gasoline Fund LP (UGA), with a decline of 11.35%. It was followed by the United States Oil Fund LP (USO) and the iPath Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN (NIB), down 10.75% and 10.16%, respectively. At the other end of the performance spectrum was the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG), which was up 11.66%. The iPath Series B Bloomberg Sugar Subindex Total Return ETN (SGG) was up 7.06%, and the iPath Series B Bloomberg Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (BAL) increased by 5.05%. In terms of flows, redemptions outweighed creations, with the entire category losing nearly $1 billion. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) claimed the No. 1 spot for outflows, with a loss of $663.8 million; USO bled $389.9 million; and the Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF (PDBC) shed $83.7 million. The iShares Silver Trust (SLV) gained $261.4 million, trailed distantly by the Aberdeen Standard Physical Precious Metals Basket Shares ETF (GLTR), which rose just $19.1 million; and the Aberdeen Standard Physical Platinum Shares ETF (PPLT), which increased by $16.5 million.

Sources: Bloomberg and FactSet. Data from 9/30/2020 to 10/31/2020. ETFs chosen to represent each sector based on the most liquid ETF in each segment of the ETF.com ETF Classification System.