"Commodity ETF Flows: Energy Funds Gain Nearly $1B, GLD Bleeds $700M, Rare Earth Fund Outperforms" (XOP; XLE; GLD; REMX)

A quick note on the Rare Earth/Strategic Metals ETF (REMX). There are so few names in rare earths, and their market caps are so small that MarketVectors had to go pretty far afield to stuff assets into the portfolio. For example the largest holding ($12 Mil.), Iluka Resources is the world's largest producer of zircon. The next largest holding, Lynas is a pure play if it ever gets into production but is currently in loss making mode. On the other hand Molycorp did pop 31% one day last week.

From Hard Assets Investor:

Energy ETFs pulled in assets, with total sector inflows nearing $900 million; GLD dropped $707 million.

Energy funds raked in assets in the week ending Thursday, May 9, with XOP and XLE making up almost all of the nearly $900 million in inflows into the sector. Commodity-related exchange-traded products increased by $136 million in overall assets under management.

The energy sector brought in $879 million, with broad market (multicommodity) adding $13.51 million and agriculture grabbing $11.39 million.

Precious metals’ losses nearly offset the massive inflows into energy funds, with the sector shedding $765 million. Industrial metals also saw overall outflows, losing $3.27 million as a sector.
Exchange-traded products (ETPs) include exchange-traded funds (ETFs), exchange-traded vehicles (ETVs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs).

ETP Inflows/Outflows
Two energy funds led inflows for the week, with the biggest gain in the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production (NYSEArca: XOP), which raked in $417 million, followed by the Energy Select SPDR (NYSEArca: XLE) piling on $324 million; United States Natural Gas (NYSEArca: UNG) added $84 million; Alerian MLP (NYSEArca: AMLP) rising $77 million; and the SPDR S&P Metals and Mining (NYSEArca: XME) seeing inflows of $60 million.

Outflows were led by the SPDR Gold (NYSEArca: GLD), which shed $707 million, followed by PowerShares DB Commodity Tracking fund (NYSEArca: DBC) losing $58 million; Market Vectors Gold Miners (NYSEArca: GDX) dropping $52 million; iShares Gold Trust (NYSEArca: IAU) shedding $45 million; and the United States Oil fund (NYSEArca: USO) losing $44 million in assets....MORE