Commodity Indices CRB vs. CCI Part 2

At September 2006 I have posted about an interesting divergence between the CRB and CCI commodity indices. The divergence has extended much farther and the CCI methodology have proved to be better (see the CCI & CRB weekly charts below), at least from for capital appreciation point of view. It appears that crude oil and crude oil derivatives commodities are weighted heavily in the CRB and other propriety indices.

Going forward commodities investors should be cautious as some commodities are at a point they can easily decline by up to 50%. It is my opinion that the commodities markets will be more difficult this year with increased divergence (between different commodities) and higher volatility.

Platinum ETF ?

Platinum miners have warned that new proposals to introduce an exchange-traded fund (ETF) would put further pressure on the precious metal's production.

The world's largest miners of platinum have pointed out that the platinum market is currently close to tipping point, with demand close to supply.

But plans for an ETF could push demand way ahead of production levels, because such a fund requires an equal amount of metal stored in a vault for every ounce of ETF platinum bought.

Sandy Wood, commercial director of Anglo Platinum, said that this would put even more pressure on producers in an already tight market.

This view was confirmed by Impala Platinum's marketing director, Derek Engelbrecht, who told Business Report: "We would probably be against an ETF."

Other top platinum miners have also opposed the plans, despite the fact that ETFs are used in both the gold and silver markets. -source

31 Exchange Traded Commodities on Deutsche Börse's

On Friday, ETF Securities listed 31 ETCs on Deutsche Börse's Xetra platform, comprising 21 individual securities and 10 index securities.

The 21 separate classes of commodity securities available are:

Aluminium, Brent Oil, Coffee, Copper, Corn, Cotton, Crude Oil, Gasoline, Gold, Heating Oil, Lean Hogs, Live Cattle, Natural Gas, Nickel, Silver, Soybean Oil, Soybeans, Sugar, Wheat, WTI Oil & Zinc.

The 10 baskets of commodities are:

All Commodities, Agriculture, Energy, Ex-Energy, Grains, Industrial Metals, Livestock
Petroleum, Precious Metals, Softs.

source