At a time when the sinking dollar is boosting commodity prices and global uncertainty is driving stocks lower, commodities offer an attractive alternative to stocks, bonds and cash. Given that many commodity funds and ETFs are heavily weighted toward the energy sector, I was pleased to find out that a new ETF was to launched today which evenly distributes its holdings across 17 commodities. Some of these commodities are tough to find for the retail investor, so it is a nice opportunity to partake in an asset class that generally performs as well or better than the US Stock Market over long periods of time, but provides for a low correlation to other typical investments in a portfolio. I listened to an interview with a Green Haven rep on Bloomberg radio last night and thought I'd check out the details. The commodities held in the Green Haven Continuous Commodity Index Fund (GCC) are:


corn


wheat


soybeans


livecattle


lean hogs


gold


platinum


silver


copper


cocoa


coffee


sugar


cotton


orange juice


crude oil


heating oil


natural gas


Although there's no historical return to compare to, as a corrolary, I've included a chart of how some other commodities ETFs (GSC, DBC) have performed compared to the S&P500. While I've been long gold via the ETF GLD for a few weeks, this diversified ETF is a nice alternative to the whims of individual commodities prices.

Disclosure: The author has no position in GCC.