Geopolitical Risks in Focus

Geopolitical Risks in FocusGeopolitical Risks in Focus

ETF Securities Commodity ETP Weekly Geopolitical Risks in Focus

Dovish outlook causes gold bears to trim exposure.

Profit taking prompts ETFS Physical Silver (PHAG) outflows after 7.9% weekly rally.

Long WTI ETPs witness first weekly outflows in six months.

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Conflict in Yemen, Iranian nuclear talks and Greek debt negotiations will mean geopolitical risks are likely to dominate headlines and keep investor risk appetite subdued. As a result, asset price volatility will remain elevated, as illustrated last week by the impact of Saudi Arabia’s military actions, which sent the price of crude soaring. Towards the end of the week, investor attention will turn to US payroll data due, hoping to gain a better indication of the pace of interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Dovish outlook causes gold bears to trim exposure. Fed chair Yellen’s speech last week highlighted the gradual nature of the tightening cycle when it begins later in 2015. This has kept the US Dollar relatively subdued and precious metals prices supported as rate hike expectations continued to be pushed back – a process that began after the latest FOMC meeting. The gold price ended the week up 3.2% at US$1,199/oz, just below the important US$1,200/oz psychological level. The rally prompted US$109mn to exit ETFS Daily Short Gold (SBUL) as positive sentiment caused investors to reduce short gold exposure. Gold is likely to be supported by rising volatility in coming months, as investors dissect economic indicators to discern the start of the tightening cycle – currently expected at the September FOMC meeting.

Profit taking prompts ETFS Physical Silver (PHAG) outflows after 7.9% weekly rally. Silver followed gold higher last week as geopolitical concerns coupled with a relatively dovish tone from the US Federal Reserve about the pace and timing of rate hikes, boosted the demand for precious metals. Precious metals typically become an attractive alternative during periods of low interest rates and any perceived delays to rate normalisation in the US will act as a bullish factor for the complex. PHAG saw a net weekly redemption of US$7mn following the price rally, as investors locked in profits. This year silver has performed well rising 7.3% and has attracted of inflows US$70.7mn into ETPs providing long exposure.

Long WTI ETPs witness first weekly outflows in six months. US crude rallied 17% last week encouraging profit taking by investors with long exposure. The rally, initially instigated by Dollar depreciation. was assisted by Saudi led airstrikes launched in Yemen against the Houthi rebels, after the internationally recognised Yemeni president made pleas for assistance. Although Yemen produces relatively little oil, the bombings raised fears that the conflict would escalate between oil rich Saudi Arabia and Iran, which is believed to have provided arms, training and financial support to rebel forces. Long WTI ETPs, until now, had experienced the longest streak of net weekly inflows (25) since inception as investors positioned themselves for a recovery in oil prices. Last week, a total of US$50.1mn exited long oil ETPs, including US$26mn from ETFS Daily Leveraged WTI Crude Oil (LOIL), the largest net weekly outflow since 2011.

Key events to watch this week.
Market focus will be on US payroll data due on Friday, as investors continue to try and preempt the pace of rate hikes in the US. Geopolitical risks will continue to remain in the fore as the deadline for an Iranian nuclear deal approaches and the impasse over a Greek debt deal lingers. Precious metals investors will be monitoring Eurozone CPI, which will likely reveal the ECB still has much to do to help boost inflationary pressures via strengthening demand.

Video Presentation

Joshpreet Tiwana, Research Analyst at ETF Securities provides an analysis of last week’s performance, flow and trading activity in commodity exchange traded products and a look at the week ahead.

For more information contact

ETF Securities Research team
ETF Securities (UK) Limited
T +44 (0) 207 448 4336
E info@etfsecurities.com

Important Information

General

This communication has been provided by ETF Securities (UK) Limited (”ETFS UK”) which is authorised and regulated by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority.

This is a strictly privileged and confidential communication between ETFS UK and its selected client. This communication contains information addressed only to a specific individual and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person other than the named addressee. This communication (i) is provided for informational purposes only, (ii) should not be construed in any manner as any solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or any related financial instruments, and (iii) should not be construed in any manner as a public offer of any securities or any related financial instruments. If you are not the named addressee, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this communication. Please notify the sender immediately if you have mistakenly received this communication. When being made within Italy, this communication is for the exclusive use of the ”qualified investors” and its circulation among the public is prohibited.

This document is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, an advertisement or any other step in furtherance of a public offering of shares in the United States or any province or territory thereof. Neither this document nor any copy hereof should be taken, transmitted or distributed (directly or indirectly) into the United States.

This document may contain independent market commentary prepared by ETFS UK based on publicly available information. ETFS UK does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or correctness of any information contained herein and any opinions related to product or market activity may change. Any third party data providers used to source the information in this communication make no warranties or representation of any kind relating to such data.

Any historical performance included in this document may be based on back testing. Back tested performance is purely hypothetical and is provided in this document solely for informational purposes. Back tested data does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of actual or future performance.

Historical performance is not an indication of or a guide to future performance.

The information contained in this communication is neither an offer for sale nor a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. This communication should not be used as the basis for any investment decision.

ETFS UK is required by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (”FCA”) to clarify that it is not acting for you in any way in relation to the investment or investment activity to which this communication relates. In particular, ETFS UK will not provide any investment services to you and or advise you on the merits of, or make any recommendation to you in relation to, the terms of any transaction. No representative of ETFS UK is authorised to behave in any way which would lead you to believe otherwise. ETFS UK is not, therefore, responsible for providing you with the protections afforded to its clients and you should seek your own independent legal, investment and tax or other advice as you see fit.

Risk Warnings

Any products referenced in this document are generally aimed at sophisticated, professional and institutional investors. Any decision to invest should be based on the information contained in the prospectus (and any supplements thereto) of the relevant product issue. The price of any securities may go up or down and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Securities may valued in currencies other than those in which there are priced and will be affected by exchange rate movements. Investments in the securities which provide a short and/or leveraged exposure are only suitable for sophisticated, professional and institutional investors who understand leveraged and compounded daily returns and are willing to magnify potential losses by comparison to investments which do not incorporate these strategies. Over periods of greater than one day, investments with a short and/or leveraged exposure do not necessarily provide investors with a return equivalent to a return from the unleveraged long or unleveraged short investments multiplied by the relevant leverage factor. Investors should refer to the section entitled ”Risk Factors” in the relevant prospectus for further details of these and other risks associated with an investment in any securities referenced in this communication.

If you have any questions please contact ETFS UK at +44 20 7448 4330 or info@etfsecurities.com for more information.

Prepare for Short-Covering Rallies

 Prepare for Short-Covering Rallies

Commodity ETP Weekly Prepare for Short-Covering Rallies

ETFS Daily Short Gold (SBUL) saw its highest redemption since inception.
Inflows of US$6.8mn for long agricultural ETP baskets indicates that investors see value in grains after falling to their lowest price levels since 2010.
ETFS Daily Leveraged Natural Gas (LNGA) saw US$4.6mn of inflows, the highest in 9 weeks, as storage values came under expectations.
Long nickel ETPs received US$1.4mn of inflows as the Indonesian government reiterated that the ore export ban from will remain.

Bargainhunting investors are beginning to be attracted by lower commodity prices, with positive flows into agricultural baskets and silver signaling a belief that the bottom is near. Nonetheless, most commodity prices continued lower in the past week and softer sentiment in some sectors prompted outflows. Gold remained under pressure last week, with all indications that the Federal Reserve’s policy stance will be tighter in 2015. Ongoing concern over the outlook for China also weighed on the performance of industrial metals and industrially-inclined precious metals. We believe that with speculative shorts across many commodities having risen to multi-period highs, the prospect for short-covering rallies is high. Over the coming weeks, investors are likely to start building long positions with most commodity trading at or near the cost of production.

ETFS Daily Short Gold (SBUL) saw its highest redemption since inception. After a protracted period of building up shorts on gold, investors pulled back as the price of gold approaches our estimated all-in cost of production and the widely watched support level near US$1,200/oz. US$47.7mn flowed out of SBUL, wiping out the seven months of flows into the short product. While investors continued to pare their long gold positions as well, with US$51mn leaving physical gold ETPs last week, taking further bets on a decline in price seems risky at this point.

Inflows of US$6.8mn for long agricultural ETP baskets indicates that investors see value in grains after falling to their lowest price levels since 2010. Marking the highest inflow in 9 weeks, we believe that sentiment is slowly turning. Investors have been buying wheat ETPs for 19 consecutive weeks now and there is a growing sense that all ‘good’ production news has now been priced in. Meanwhile sugar prices bounced up 6.6%, attracting a further US$0.9mn into ETFS Sugar (SUGA), marking 8 consecutive weeks of flows into the ETP. Sugar remains close to a 4-year low as the fifth consecutive year of surplus is expected this year.

ETFS Daily Leveraged Natural Gas (LNGA) saw US$4.6mn of inflows, the highest in 9 weeks, as storage values came under expectations. US natural gas stocks increased by 97 billion cubic feet in the week ending September 19. That compared with an expected increase of about 100 billion cubic feet anticipated by analysts and sent prices 1.6% higher last week. As we approach winter, seasonal demand for natural gas will rise. A failure to build inventory or an unusually cold winter like last year could be key catalysts for sustained price increases.

Long nickel ETPs received US$1.4mn of inflows as the Indonesian government reiterated that the ore export ban will remain. Indonesia, the world’s largest nickel producer, had implemented the ban in January this year and has unusually stuck to it in a bid to develop domestic smelting facilities. Nickel prices nevertheless fell, along with other industrial metals on the back of softer-than-expected PMIs and durable goods data.

Key events to watch this week. US payrolls will be the centre of attention this week as the market judges the capacity of the US economy to absorb an interest rate hike that will eventually follow when the Fed finishes its period of extraordinary monetary support. A strong reading is likely to be US dollar positive and weigh on commodities priced in the currency. After the lacklustre take-up of the TLTRO (the ECB’s form or quantitative easing), the market will be keen to hear President Draghi’s view of the programme at the ECB’s post-policy meeting conference.

Download the complete report (.pdf)

 

Video Presentation

Nitesh Shah, Research Analyst at ETF Securities provides an analysis of last week’s performance, flow and trading activity in commodity exchange traded products and a look at the week ahead.

For more information contact:

ETF Securities Research team
ETF Securities (UK) Limited
T +44 (0) 207 448 4336
E info@etfsecurities.com

Important Information

 

General

This communication has been provided by ETF Securities (UK) Limited (”ETFS UK”) which is authorised and regulated by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority.

This is a strictly privileged and confidential communication between ETFS UK and its selected client. This communication contains information addressed only to a specific individual and is not intended for distribution to, or use by, any person other than the named addressee. This communication (i) is provided for informational purposes only, (ii) should not be construed in any manner as any solicitation or offer to buy or sell any securities or any related financial instruments, and (iii) should not be construed in any manner as a public offer of any securities or any related financial instruments. If you are not the named addressee, you should not disseminate, distribute or copy this communication. Please notify the sender immediately if you have mistakenly received this communication. When being made within Italy, this communication is for the exclusive use of the ”qualified investors” and its circulation among the public is prohibited.

This document is not, and under no circumstances is to be construed as, an advertisement or any other step in furtherance of a public offering of shares in the United States or any province or territory thereof. Neither this document nor any copy hereof should be taken, transmitted or distributed (directly or indirectly) into the United States.

This document may contain independent market commentary prepared by ETFS UK based on publicly available information. ETFS UK does not warrant or guarantee the accuracy or correctness of any information contained herein and any opinions related to product or market activity may change. Any third party data providers used to source the information in this communication make no warranties or representation of any kind relating to such data.

Any historical performance included in this document may be based on back testing. Back tested performance is purely hypothetical and is provided in this document solely for informational purposes. Back tested data does not represent actual performance and should not be interpreted as an indication of actual or future performance.

Historical performance is not an indication of or a guide to future performance.

The information contained in this communication is neither an offer for sale nor a solicitation of an offer to buy securities. This communication should not be used as the basis for any investment decision.

ETFS UK is required by the United Kingdom Financial Conduct Authority (”FCA”) to clarify that it is not acting for you in any way in relation to the investment or investment activity to which this communication relates. In particular, ETFS UK will not provide any investment services to you and or advise you on the merits of, or make any recommendation to you in relation to, the terms of any transaction. No representative of ETFS UK is authorised to behave in any way which would lead you to believe otherwise. ETFS UK is not, therefore, responsible for providing you with the protections afforded to its clients and you should seek your own independent legal, investment and tax or other advice as you see fit.

Risk Warnings

Any products referenced in this document are generally aimed at sophisticated, professional and institutional investors. Any decision to invest should be based on the information contained in the prospectus (and any supplements thereto) of the relevant product issue. The price of any securities may go up or down and an investor may not get back the amount invested. Securities may valued in currencies other than those in which there are priced and will be affected by exchange rate movements. Investments in the securities which provide a short and/or leveraged exposure are only suitable for sophisticated, professional and institutional investors who understand leveraged and compounded daily returns and are willing to magnify potential losses by comparison to investments which do not incorporate these strategies. Over periods of greater than one day, investments with a short and/or leveraged exposure do not necessarily provide investors with a return equivalent to a return from the unleveraged long or unleveraged short investments multiplied by the relevant leverage factor. Investors should refer to the section entitled ”Risk Factors” in the relevant prospectus for further details of these and other risks associated with an investment in any securities referenced in this communication.

If you have any questions please contact ETFS UK at +44 20 7448 4330 or info@etfsecurities.com for more information.