This month is a great example of why long only commodity exposure can be a bit problematic (think taking the stairs up, and the elevator down; or the Olympic High Dive). Crude Oil dropped roughly 20% in the month of July, and the bell of the ball /comeback kid of 2016, Commodities, followed suit dropping roughly 10% in July. Meanwhile, other commodity markets like Platinum, Palladium, and Cotton are all experiencing significant uptrends but aren’t captured in typical commodity-based ETFs.
The pros who invest in these commodity markets both long and short, meanwhile, did ok in July – with Managed Futures able to capture a few trends across various markets, ending up +1.03% on the month.
Elsewhere, Real Estate keeps climbing the scoreboard, most likely on the fact the Fed doesn’t plan to raise interest rates anytime soon. Interestingly, though, this comes on heels of homeownership at its lowest since 1965.
Finally, World Stocks and U.S. Stocks look almost unfazed after the Brexit volatility.
(Disclaimer: past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results.)
Source: All ETF performance data from Morningstar.com
Sources: Managed Futures = Newedge CTA Index, Cash = 13 week T-Bill rate,
Bonds = Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND),
Hedge Funds= IQ Hedge Multi-Strategy (QAI)
Commodities = iShares GSCI ETF (GSG);
Real Estate = iShares DJ Real Estate ETF (IYR);
World Stocks = iShares MSCI ACWI ex US Index Fund ETF (ACWX);
US Stocks = SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
