[This feature originally appeared on HardAssetsInvestor.com , and is published here with permission.]
Editor's note:This week, ETF Flows focuses on year-end results for 2011. However, the weekly ETF flows charts appear at the bottom of the story. Next week we will return to our weekly snapshot.
An 11 th -straight year of gains in gold helped keep investors interested in commodity-related exchange-traded products in 2011. Altogether, commodity ETPs saw net inflows of $10 billion, taking total assets to $152 billion. Exchange-traded products (ETPs) include exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded vehicles (ETVs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs).
The gain was thanks to a solid $5.9 billion inflow into precious metals ETPs, which now have assets totaling $98.5 billion. But agriculture was the best performer on a percentage basis, as inflows totaled $3.5 billion, sending total assets to $10.5 billion.
Broad market (multicommodity) and industrial metals ETPs saw much more modest, but still respectable, inflows:$611 million and $204 million, respectively. Total assets in those ETPs now amount to $13.1 billion and $1.7 billion, respectively.
The only sector to see a net outflow for the year was energy, which lost $171 million. That's ironic considering that crude oil (as measured by Brent) was the top-performing commodity of the year. A plunge in natural gas prices may have hurt sentiment. Total assets in energy-related ETPs now stands at $28.4 billion.
ETP Inflows/Outflows
While on the surface it looks like agriculture ETPs garnered strong investor interest in 2011, it was really only one ETP that benefited:the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE Arca:MOO). It alone attracted $3.7 billion in investor capital, which helped send its assets to $5.5 billion.
Other standouts were the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca:GDX) and iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca:IAU), with inflows of $2.8 billion and $2.7 billion. Indeed, precious-metals-related ETPs comprised five of the top 10 best performers of the year.
On the outflows side, the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE Arca:XLE) saw withdrawals of $1.7 billion. Other energy underperformers were the United States Natural Gas Fund (NYSE Arca:UNG) and the United States Oil Fund (NYSE Arca:USO), with outflows of $814 million and $788 million, respectively.
Interestingly, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca:GLD) saw an outflow of $534 million, which is in contrast to the aforementioned $2.7 billion inflow into IAU. The disparity in expense ratios between the funds — 0.4 percent for GLD vs. 0.25 percent for IAU — may explain the divergence. A $10,000 investment in GLD would incur expenses of $40, compared with $25 for IAU for basically the same product.
ETP Rankings
Finally, taking a look at the largest ETPs in the commodity space, ranked by size, the SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE Arca:GLD) still leads the pack despite the net outflow in 2011. It has $63.5 billion in assets. Three other precious metals ETPs follow:the Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF (NYSE Arca:GDX), iShares Silver Trust (NYSE Arca:SLV) and iShares Gold Trust (NYSE Arca:IAU), with total assets of $8.8 billion, $8.7 billion and $8.4 billion, respectively.
Rounding out the top five is the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE Arca:XLE), with $6.7 billion in assets, while the Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE Arca:MOO) takes the sixth spot, with $5.5 billion.
Top Gainers ($, Millions)
| Ticker | Name | Year-End Flows | Year-End AUM ($, M) |
| MOO | Market Vectors Agribusiness | 3,706.54 | |
| GDX | Market Vectors Gold Miners | 2,782.37 | 8,772.66 |
| IAU | iShares Gold Trust | 2,744.57 | 8,418.28 |
| AMLP | Alerian MLP | 1,311.29 | 1,989.90 |
| AMJ | JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN | 1,148.94 | 3,638.97 |
| OIH | Market Vectors Oil Services | 907.56 | 913.66 |
| GDXJ | Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners | 900.51 | 1,922.69 |
| DBC | PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking | 593.70 | 5,467.38 |
| AGQ | ProShares Ultra Silver | 501.19 | 600.40 |
| SGOL | ETFS Physical Swiss Gold | 394.72 | 1,677.38 |
Biggest Losers ($, Millions)
| Ticker | Name | Year-End Flows | Year-End AUM ($, M) |
| XLE | Energy Select SPDR | - 1,740.64 | 6,717.57 |
| SLV | iShares Silver | - 1,520.69 | 8,699.50 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | - 813.57 | 1,072.10 |
| USO | United States Oil | - 787.88 | 1,134.61 |
| GLD | SPDR Gold | - 533.59 | 63,484.27 |
| GSG | iShares S'P GSCI Commodity | - 448.88 | 1,313.32 |
| PALL | ETFS Physical Palladium | - 353.10 | 373.94 |
| DBA | PowerShares DB Agriculture | - 321.10 | 2,034.31 |
| PHO | PowerShares Water Resources Portfolio | - 222.92 | 808.80 |
| OIL | iPath S'P GSCI Crude Oil Total Return ETN | - 209.71 | 436.51 |
ETF Giants ($, Millions)
| Ticker | Name | Issuer | Year-End Flows | Year-End AUM ($, M) |
| GLD | SPDR Gold | SSgA | - 533.59 | 63,484.27 |
| GDX | Market Vectors Gold Miners | Van Eck | 2,782.37 | 8,772.66 |
| SLV | iShares Silver | BlackRock | - 1,520.69 | 8,699.50 |
| IAU | iShares Gold Trust | BlackRock | 2,744.57 | 8,418.28 |
| XLE | Energy Select SPDR | SSgA | - 1,740.64 | 6,717.57 |
| MOO | Market Vectors Agribusiness | Van Eck | 3,706.54 | 5,530.63 |
| DBC | PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking | Invesco PowerShares | 593.70 | 5,467.38 |
| AMJ | JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN | JPMorgan Chase | 1,148.94 | 3,638.97 |
| DJP | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Total Return ETN | Barclays Capital | 166.56 | 2,581.95 |
| DBA | PowerShares DB Agriculture | Invesco PowerShares | - 321.10 |
Asset Class
| Net Flows ($, M) | AUM ($, M) | % of AUM | |
| Agriculture | 3,530.24 | 10,471.79 | 337118.94% |
| Broad Market | 611.22 | 13,101.39 | 4.67% |
| Energy | - 170.91 | 28,432.09 | -0.60% |
| Industrial Metals | 203.98 | 1,715.63 | 11.89% |
| Precious Metals | 5,853.94 | 98,461.30 | 5.95% |
| Total: | 10,028.48 | 152,182.20 | 6.59% |
Fund Flows Data:(December 30 – January 5)
Commodity ETF Weekly Flows By Asset Class
| Net Flows ($,mm) |
AUM ($, mm) |
% of AUM | |
| Agriculture | -89.85 | 10,680.83 | -0.84% |
| Broad Market | 99.68 | 13,534.58 | 0.74% |
| Energy | -206.47 | 29,410.98 | -0.70% |
| Industrial Metals | -16.62 | 1,751.65 | -0.95% |
| Precious Metals | -495.37 | 100,539.17 | -0.49% |
| Total: | -708.64 | 155,917.21 | -0.45% |
Top 5 Commodity ETF Creations
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) |
AUM ($, mm) |
AUM % Change |
| DJP | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Commodity Total Return ETN | 155.00 | 2,660.93 | 6.19% |
| AMJ | JPMorgan Alerian MLP ETN | 81.85 | 3,730.24 | 2.24% |
| DBC | PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking | 77.16 | 5,670.47 | 1.38% |
| AMLP | Alerian MLP | 49.15 | 2,055.05 | 2.45% |
| SCO | ProShares UltraShort DJ-UBS Crude Oil | 41.12 | 153.36 | 36.63% |
Top 5 Commodity ETF Redemptions
| Ticker | Name | Net Flows ($,mm) |
AUM ($, mm) |
AUM % Change |
| GDX | Market Vectors Gold Miners | -187.04 | 9,131.61 | -2.01% |
| OIH | Market Vectors Oil Services | -136.25 | 963.45 | -12.39% |
| XLE | Energy Select SPDR | -126.02 | 7,196.13 | -1.72% |
| XOP | SPDR S'P Oil ' Gas Exploration ' Production | -88.09 | 777.97 | -10.17% |
| XME | SPDR S'P Metals and Mining | -85.72 | 777.31 | -9.93% |
Top 5 Weekly Performers, Excluding '1,000 Shares Traded
| Ticker | Name | Weekly Performance |
Weekly Volume | AUM ($, mm) |
| GDXJ | Market Vectors Junior Gold Miners | 12.60% | 21,545,411 | 2,039.88 |
| SIL | Global X Silver Miners | 9.68% | 1,727,315 | 328.84 |
| GLDX | Global X Gold Explorers | 9.01% | 280,791 | 24.98 |
| GGGG | Global X PURE Gold Miners | 8.57% | 32,434 | 4.45 |
| SLV | iShares Silver | 8.53% | 159,584,249 | 8,849.36 |
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 | -5.50% | 1,212,296 | 56.10 |
| NIB | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Cocoa Total Return ETN | -5.42% | 193,181 | 16.57 |
| UNG | United States Natural Gas | -5.31% | 105,851,569 | 1,068.75 |
| UNL | United States 12 Month Natural Gas | -4.13% | 220,519 | 21.19 |
| JO | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Coffee Total Return ETN | -4.07% | 83,040 | 24.83 |
Top 5 Volume Surprises, Funds '$50 mm AUM
| Ticker | Name | Average Volume (30 Day) |
Weekly Volume | % of Average |
| JJP | iPath Dow Jones-UBS Precious Metals Total Return ETN | 15,879 | 290,280 | 365.62% |
| DBE | PowerShares DB Energy | 144,306 | 2,304,441 | 319.38% |
| DBS | PowerShares DB Silver | 31,212 | 490,075 | 314.03% |
| GSP | iPath S'P GSCI Total Return ETN | 39,861 | 612,361 | 307.25% |
| DGL | PowerShares DB Gold | 178,938 | 2,608,385 | 291.54% |
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.
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