Investors retreated from commodity-related exchange-traded funds this past week, ending with a total of $955 million in outflows that touched every sector.
Energy funds lost $772.6 million last week, followed by broad market (multicommodity) funds, with $67 million in outflows, precious metals with $46 million, agriculture lost $43 million in flows and industrial metals recorded $28 million in outflows.
Exchange-traded products (ETPs) include exchange-traded funds, exchange-traded vehicles (ETVs) and exchange-traded notes.
ETP Inflows/Outflows
Market Vectors Gold Miners Arca (GDX) collected the most inflows — $77 million — for the week ending Thursday. The other top inflows, oddly enough, came from energy funds. Alerian MLP (AMLP) raked in $49 million, followed by JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN (AMJ) with $48 million in inflows, Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3X (ERX) with $45 million, and Vanguard Energy (VDE) came in fifth, with $20 million in inflows.
However, it was Energy Select SPDR (XLE) that tipped the outflows scales, losing $561 million, followed by a host of energy funds. United States Oil (USO) saw $101 million in outflows, followed by non-energy SPDR S&P Metals and Mining (XME), with $58 million; iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETN (OIL) seeing $44 million in outflows; and United States Natural Gas (UNG) chalking up $40 million in outflows.
ETP Price Performance
Energy fund iPath Global Carbon ETN (GRN) was the top performer for the week, with an appreciation of 17.24 percent, followed by PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN (DPU), which rose 8.62 percent; Global X PURE Gold Miners (GGGG) and ETFS Physical Asian Gold (AGOL), which both increased 3.98 percent; and Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners (GDXJ), which climbed 3.9 percent.
Natural gas funds dominated the underperformers, as prices fell to new 10-year lows below $2/mmbtu. Leading the pack for the third straight week was iPath Dow Jones – UBS Natural Gas Total Return (GAZ), which fell 11.35 percent on the back of falling natgas prices as well as a premium collapse. That was followed by United States Natural Gas (UNG), which dropped 7.04 percent; iPath Pure Beta Copper ETN (CUPM), which shed 6.33 percent; ETRACS CMCI Industrial Metals Total Return ETN (UBM), which declined 5.33 percent and United States 12 Month Natural Gas (UNL), which dipped 5.26 percent.
Fund Flows Data: (April 5 - April 11, 2012)
Commodity ETF Weekly Flows By Sector
| Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | % of AUM | |
| Agriculture | -42.46 | 10,809.96 | -0.39% |
| Broad Market | -66.83 | 14,398.29 | -0.46% |
| Energy | -772.59 | 31,216.92 | -2.47% |
| Industrial Metals | -27.62 | 1,740.82 | -1.59% |
| Precious Metals | -45.64 | 106,388.63 | -0.04% |
| Total: | -955.14 | 164,554.62 | -0.58% |
Top 5 Commodity ETF Creations
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| GDX | Market Vectors Gold Miners | 77.41 | 8,159.47 | 0.96% |
| AMLP | Alerian MLP | 48.61 | 2,930.53 | 1.69% |
| AMJ | JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN | 48.10 | 4,079.53 | 1.19% |
| ERX | Direxion Daily Energy Bull 3x | 45.44 | 386.91 | 13.31% |
| VDE | Vanguard Energy | 20.37 | 1,832.98 | 1.12% |
Top 5 Commodity ETF Redemptions
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) | AUM ($, mm) | AUM % Change |
| XLE | Energy Select SPDR | -560.47 | 7,279.94 | -7.15% |
| USO | United States Oil | -101.28 | 1,328.38 | -7.08% |
| XME | SPDR S&P Metals and Mining | -58.16 | 745.74 | -7.23% |
| OIL | iPath S&P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETN | -44.38 | 584.44 | -7.06% |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | -39.93 | 711.66 | -5.31% |
Top 5 Weekly Performers, Excluding <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GRN | iPath Global Carbon ETN | 17.24% | 6,176 | 1.21 |
| DPU | PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN | 8.62% | 8,940 | 6.47 |
| GGGG | Global X PURE Gold Miners | 3.98% | 21,243 | 4.70 |
| AGOL | ETFS Physical Asian Gold | 3.98% | 4,486 | 74.72 |
| GDXJ | Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners | 3.90% | 24,347,674 | 2,038.04 |
Bottom 5 Weekly Performers, Excluding <1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance | Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GAZ | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Natural Gas Total Return ETN | -11.35% | 2,923,321 | 29.28 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | -7.04% | 45,011,346 | 711.66 |
| CUPM | iPath Pure Beta Copper ETN | -6.33% | 5,628 | 2.57 |
| UBM | ETRACS CMCI Industrial Metals Total Return ETN | -5.33% | 26,362 | 5.52 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | -5.26% | 209,418 | 27.33 |
Top 5 Volume Surprises, Funds >$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) | Weekly Volume | % of Average |
| AGOL | ETFS Physical Asian Gold | 338 | 4,486 | 265.18% |
| WOOD | iShares S&P Global Timber & Forestry | 16,465 | 188,175 | 228.57% |
| COW | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Livestock Total Return ETN | 40,193 | 455,481 | 226.65% |
| ENY | Guggenheim Canadian Energy Income | 35,402 | 331,155 | 187.08% |
| RJI | ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity - Total Return ETN | 384,888 | 3,415,182 | 177.46% |
Disclaimer: Data provided by IndexUniverse. All data as of 6 a.m. Eastern the date of publication. Data is believed to be accurate; however, transient market data is often subject to subsequent revision and correction by the exchanges.
