Commodity ETFs Getting Inflows after Abandonment of Gold

The boom in equities has resulted in investors abandoning gold positions as they feel safer than they have since 2008. Receiving some of that capital inflow are commodity ETFs with exposure to a wider array of materials.

According to Lipper, which tracks funds, "General Commodities Funds" received over $1 billion in February, as the price of gold has been under heavy pressure. That follows a decent January as well, where the amount was slightly over $1 billion in inflows to the general commodities funds. The February inflows were the highest in almost a year.

Precious metals funds on the other hand had outflows of just under $4 billion in February, following the $765 million in outflows in January. The $4 billion in outflows from precious metals funds was the highest since Lipper began tracking them in 2004.

The vast majority of precious metal ETF outflow was from the SPDR Gold Trust , the world's largest gold-backed ETF.

In the first couple of weeks of March, over $1 billion more in outflows from precious metals ETFs occurred.

Lipper analyst Matt Lemieux, who compiled the data, said this, "If you find gold isn't your place to be now and don't want to move all your money to equities and other high-yielding products, then the more-diversified and actively-managed General Commodities Funds might be for you."

Leading in commodity-based ETFs was PIMCO's Commodities PLUS Strategy Fund, which had inflows of $264 million in February. Behind them in second was the Fidelity Series Commodity Strategy Fund which took in just under $210 million.

For SPDR Gold, the outflow for February was $3.8 billion.

In general, precious metals ETFs have significant outflows as of March 13, with almost $1.3 billion taken out so far.

It's likely that most of this won't change too much until the disaster that is the EU is brought back into the media headlines.

It's almost inconceivable that the largest economic region in the world is being ignored, being the financial disaster it continues to be. After all, look what tiny Cypress did when the focus latched on to it.

SPDR (GLD) (IAU) (DGL) (DGP) Trading Up as Gold Rises

SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD), iShares COMEX Gold Trust (NYSE:IAU), PowerShares DB Gold (NYSE:DGL) and DB Gold Double Long ETN (NYSE:DGP) were trading up today as gold prices rebounded after more dismal economic news.

Job growth in the private sector plummeted in May, dropping to its lowest level in eight months. Investors are now looking to a monthly government report on Friday.

Gold was down earlier in the day after the latest news from Europe where the EU is looking to offer a second bailout package for Greece, which strengthened the euro.

Many clueless investors thought this was positive at the time and didn't focus on consequences it had on the U.S. dollar.

Credit Suisse (NYSE:CS) analyst Tom Kendall noted, "A resolution, which is expected now in the next two to three weeks, should take some of the froth off gold but it's swinging around on sentiment at the moment and swinging around on the foreign exchange markets."

SPDR Gold Trust was trading at $150.60, up $0.96, or 0.64 percent, as of 11:14 AM EDT. iShares COMEX Gold Trust was at $15.07, up $0.10, or 0.67. PowerShares DB Gold was at $54.15, rising $0.29, or 0.54 percent. DB Gold Double Long ETN was trading at $49.49, up $0.62, or 1.27 percent.

Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE:PBR) Stakes Raised by Soros Fund Management

George Soros juggled up his Soros Fund Management holdings, adding strongly in the energy and oil sector, including Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE:PBR) and Suncor Energy (NYSE:SU), while cutting back on exposure to the financials like Citigroup (NYSE:C) and The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation (NYSE:BK).

The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation and Altria Group (NYSE: MO) he liquidated positions in altogether.

Somewhat surprising and probably regretfully in hindsight, he cut back his position in SPDR Gold Trust (NYSE:GLD).

Soros mentioned earlier in the year that gold was a bubble ready to burst, but he misread the situation, and he continues to misread it, as gold continues on its upward climb.

This isn't to say there won't be corrections in the gold market, but the bubble situation isn't close to appearing yet, as it will take clueless people entering the gold market who don't understand the underlying fundamentals to create a gold bubble.

With all the money floating out there, printed by central banks around the world, there is little to keep gold from continuing to go up in price, as well as well as to protect their assets in the ongoing economic hardships we're going to face, as Europe continues to crumble and China is almost sure to cut back on exports because of its battle against inflation through increasing interest rates and clamping down on excesses in its property market.

The stake in Exxon Mobil by Soros Fund Management was increased by 80 percent, while the stake in Petroleo Brasileiro SA (NYSE:PBR) had 18 percent added to it.

Their position in SPDR Gold Trust was cut by 9.6 percent.