Colder weather across much of the U.S. bodes well for natural gas ETPs.
Natural gas exchange-traded products dominated the past week's lineup of top-performing ETFs, with strategies like the iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN (NYSEArca: GAZ) rising as much as 12 percent in five days on the coattails of cold weather forecasts.
Indeed, forecasters are calling for significantly colder temperatures across the population-dense East Coast and Midwest in the next several days, which should lead to higher natural gas demand, HardAssetInvestor.com Analyst Sumit Roy said.
The $1.15 billion United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNG) raked in 9.4 percent in gains in the week ended Thursday, Jan. 17, as more than 40.2 million shares traded hands.
"In the near term, natural gas is completely a weather play," Roy said.
The United States 12 Month Natural Gas Fund (NYSEArca: UNL) was also found among the top performers, with gains of nearly 7 percent in a week when it faced closed creations due to a regulatory hurdle.
It's worth noting that trading and creations in UNL were halted Jan. 10 as the fund's sponsor United States Commodity Funds updated registration statements. While trading was resumed that same day, creations remained halted until Jan. 17 as regulators went over the paperwork.
The halt in creations caused the fund to trade at sizable premiums at some points during the week.
Teucrium's Natural Gas ETF (NYSEArca: NAGS) was another fund to deliver a stellar performance, rising 7.25 percent in a week when the Dow Jones industrial average tagged on 124 points, or just under 1 percent, to end Thursday at 13,596.02.
On the flip side, the Market Vectors Solar Energy ETF (NYSEArca: KWT) was the worst-performing ETF in the past week, tallying losses of 4.7 percent. The fund ended Thursday with $12.7 million in assets.
Top 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | 12.03% | 410,930 | 37.53 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | 9.42% | 40,207,038 | 1,150.10 |
| NAGS | Teucrium Natural Gas | 7.25% | 25,962 | 4.17 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | 6.82% | 203,173 | 45.26 |
| URA | Global X Uranium | 6.62% | 2,016,560 | 153.02 |
| TUR | iShares MSCI Turkey Investable Market | 5.96% | 1,749,830 | 906.36 |
| DCNG | iPath Pure Beta Seasonal Natural Gas ETN | 5.01% | 74,024 | 81.94 |
| PGM | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Platinum Total Return ETN | 4.17% | 30,841 | 27.71 |
| JJG | iPath Dow Jones UBS Grains Total Return ETN | 4.11% | 537,113 | 109.54 |
| JO | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return ETN | 4.08% | 1,384,555 | 89.22 |
Bottom 10 Weekly Performers, Excluding Leverage/Inverse Funds and <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| KWT | Market Vectors Solar Energy | -4.70% | 48,380 | 12.71 |
| CHII | Global X China Industrials | -3.84% | 25,917 | 5.11 |
| VXZ | iPath S&P 500 VIX Mid-Term Futures ETN | -3.55% | 1,571,938 | 69.44 |
| VIXM | ProShares VIX Mid-term | -3.52% | 374,855 | 36.37 |
| CANE | Teucrium Sugar | -3.49% | 53,172 | 2.22 |
| JJU | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Aluminum Total Return ETN | -3.43% | 8,071 | 3.33 |
| EZA | iShares MSCI South Africa | -3.39% | 1,989,803 | 504.00 |
| GAF | SPDR S&P Emerging Middle East & Africa | -3.35% | 71,519 | 91.16 |
| CHXX | EGShares China Infrastructure | -3.19% | 53,054 | 12.74 |
| EGPT | Market Vectors Egypt | -3.17% | 794,356 | 32.97 |
Disclaimer: All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern time the date the article is published. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
