Soft Commodity ETFs: Making Profits With Corn, Wheat, Rice, Soy and Agribusiness ETFs

With the recession on and prices of commodities like grain and precious metals rising, the best way to get through the economic downturn is with commodities ETFs (Ride Out the Recession with These Three Commodities).

Stocks are falling all over the place, while the price of corn, wheat, gold, silver, and other commodities is rising (What The Big Money is Doing Now). Buying softs is the order of the day. Prices on commodities like wheat, corn, rice soy and other agricultural products are expected to continue to rise, so be on the lookout for soft commodities ETFs (Funds Where Your Money Will Work the Hardest).

Prices for corn, wheat, and soybeans are at all-time highs. Food riots and boycotts have occurred in Mexico, Yemen, and other parts of the world. Some countries have suspended food exports, while others are stockpiling major foods. With food prices on the rise, it’s a perfect time for investors to get involved and make some money. If you’d like to invest in grains, PowerShares has a sugar, corn, soybean, and wheat ETF (DBA). In October, iPath created JJA, traded on the NYSE. It tracks corn, wheat, soybeans, sugar, coffee, cotton, and soybean oil. Elements has come out with an instrument that tracks the 20 commodities in the Rogers International Commodities Index (RJA). Finally, market Vectors has an ETF of agribusiness stocks (MOO) (Why Grain Prices Will Triple).

It’s a bull market for raw materials, as the third world industrializes and gets up to Western living standards. Here we give you a rundown of the best commodities ETFs to buy in 2008, which include gold and silver ETFs and a London agricultural ETF that covers soybeans, wheat and corn, and an ETF for cotton (The Best Commodities to Buy in 2008).

Investing in soft commodities like corn, wheat, and other agricultural products has never been easier, thanks to ETF Securities, which has launched 29 new securities that track cattle, coffee, sugar, and several other soft commodities, as well as energy prices and several metals. These ETFs are traded just like shares and offer a way to buy into soft commodities without losing more than your initial stake. (Investing in Soft Commodities is About to Get Easier).

Agriculture is a bull market right now. The use of corn to make ethanol has driven the price of corn up, and demand is outstripping supply all over the soft commodities market. And thanks to a new Agricultural ETF, you can now take advantage of this booming sector (Investors Can Now by Agriculture Through the Stock Market).

Most world stock markets have fallen, including those in the US, but commodities ETFs are looking good (Two of the Safest Places to Put Your Money Now).

Platinum, Gold, and Silver ETFs: How to Maximize Profits in Precious Metals ETF

With rising lower supply and higher demand for gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals, there’s no better time than now to get into precious metals with iShares Silver Trust (SLV) and streetTRACKS Gold Shares (GLD). They track the spot prices of silver and gold, and you can buy them through any regular broker (How to Profit from the Precious Metals Bull Market).

If you’ve spent any time listening to the news lately, you know that prices for gold, silver, and platinum are soaring, with platinum going the highest since it is rarer than the other two metals. However, not everyone is happy with higher prices. Perhaps surprisingly, the platinum suppliers are afraid that if prices go too high, then jewelry demand will fall, and industries that use platinum will start buying cheaper alternatives like palladium. (Should You Buy Into a Platinum ETF?).

The market for gold, silver, platinum, and other precious metals, continues to be particularly bullish as demand outstrips supply. This is especially true with platinum, the rarest of all precious metals. Total annual world production is about 7 million ounces, a mere 10% of the world’s annual gold production of 76 million ounces. It is so rare that the US government considers it a “strategic metal” and banned its ownership and use in World War II for non-military purposes. Platinum has a wide range of industrial applications, from the auto industry to medical and dental procedures, and new uses for the metal are being discovered all the time. Many platinum mining companies feel that a platinum EFT would limit the supply even further, thus driving the price high enough to cause a drop in demand. That’s why there is no better time than now to get into platinum investing (Why You Should Invest in Platinum This Year).

As precious metals go, nobody hogs all the glory more than gold. But silver might be the better play. Unlike gold, silver is both highly prized for its industrial applications as it is in the jewelry industry. And like gold, the price is going up. But instead of buying up a ton of the stuff and storing it in your garage, there’s a way to buy silver in paper form, with the silver ETF, which trades at the price of silver, times ten (The Poor Man’s Gold).

Gold and silver ETFs take a certain amount of each precious metal off the market, which lowers supply, increases demand, and raises prices. But what is bad news for silversmiths is good news for investors (Why the Silver ETF Will Send Prices Soaring).

So what are some really good silver ETFs? There are two listed on the London Stock Exchange, and they are almost identical except for how they track silver. PHAG follows the silver spot price, while SLVR tracks the price of silver futures traded on the Commercial Exchange in New York (COMEX) (Two Sparkling Silver ETFs).

Silver ETFs make it easy for the first time investor and institutions banned from owning physical metal to invest in the precious metal. Another ETF worth considering are Barclays iShares Silver Trust ETF. More experienced investors should keep there eye on that one too, as it will be a good gauge of silver demand (Where to Invest As Silver Heads Higher).

If you’re a conservative investor, the gold ETF may be just the ticket for you. It is a way to buy gold through the stock market. The stock symbol is GLD, and it trades roughly at the price of gold, divided by 10 (What to Do About Gold Stocks Right Now).

How to Fuel Your Profits With Oil and Natural Gas ETFs

So why aren’t stocks in the major oil companies like ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, British Petroleum, and Chevron doubling? The reason is, while the price of a barrel of oil is at an all-time high, the costs of finding that oil are skyrocketing too. So what’s a good way to profit from the rising price of oil? Buy into oil service companies that provide drilling, platform construction, seismic mapping, and other services essential to finding oil and getting it out of the ground. Specifically oil services exchange-traded funds like The S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services (XES), PowerShares Oil & Gas Services (PXJ) and Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH) The S&P Oil & Gas Equipment & Services (XES), PowerShares Oil & Gas Services (PXJ) and Oil Services HOLDRs (OIH) (Why Your Oil Stocks Aren’t Making You Rich).

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