Fourteen year old commodity ETF firm, ETF Securities has been extremely busy. They launched three commodity-linked ETFs based on Bloomberg Indexes on March 30: All Commodity Longer Dated Strategy (BCD), All Commodity Strategy (BCI) and the Energy Commodity Longer Dated Strategy (BEF).
Steven Dunn, Executive Director of the company, told the RIA Channel on the sidelines of a Charles Schwab event recently that the advisor community is still interested in commodities, even in a strong dollar world. As a rule, a strong dollar equals weak gold. He singled out gold here because that’s their biggest fund.
“Gold has been forgotten somewhat, but it’s having a good year,” Dunn says. ETF Securities was the first to market with their Swiss Gold (SGOL) ETF. That fund is up 10.16% year-to-date ending April 25. The Swiss Gold fund is their biggest claim to fame, but they tend to take a back seat to the mighty State Street Bank in Boston, whose SPDR Gold Trust (GLD) ETF is one of the biggest funds in the world.
In the video, Dunn answers the question about the role precious metals play in a diversified portfolio. Key word is “insurance” here.
“There is no optimal allocation,” he says. “But if there was an optimal allocation it is definitely never zero.”
ETF Securities’ three biggest funds are ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares, ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (PPLT) and ETFS Physical Silver Shares (SIVR) based on assets under management as of April 21. ETF Securities has around $22 billion in AUM worldwide, Dunn tells us.