Commodities In Review: February 2019

December was a mixed month for commodity ETFs. The iPath Bloomberg Cocoa Subindex Total Return ETN (NIB) was the best performer, with a gain of nearly 11%, while the iShares Silver Trust (SLV) was up 8.6% and the iPath Series B Bloomberg Tin Subindex Total Return ETN (JJT) was up 6.19%. At the other end of the spectrum was the United States Natural Gas Fund LP (UNG), which fell a stunning 34.75%, followed by the United States Oil Fund LP (USO) and the iPath Series B Bloomberg Cotton Subindex Total Return ETN (BAL), down 11.07% and 8.35%, respectively. The SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) saw the most inflows, pulling in $1.1 billion, while USO gained $74.1 million and UNG gained $66.8 million despite both funds’ abysmal performance. When it came to outflows, the Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF (PDBC) lost $168.4 million, the Invesco DB Agriculture Fund (DBA) saw a decline of $75.9 million and the Invesco DB Energy Fund (DBE) lost $65.9 million.

Source: Bloomberg. Data from 11/30/2018 to 12/31/2018. ETFs chosen to represent each sector based on the most liquid ETF in each segment of the ETF.com ETF Classification System.