Two Commodity ETFs

Back in January, Deutsche Bank launched (read out past posting) the first ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) tracking a diverse basket of commodities based on the PowerShares DB Commodity Index Tracking Fund under the ticker symbol DBC on the American Stock Exchange. Last week, Deutsche Bank rebranded the fund under ETF manager PowerShares Capital Management's umbrella for marketing leverage. The Index fund invests in futures contracts to track a Deutsche Bank index, which has base weights of 35% crude oil, 20% heating oil, 12.5% aluminum, 10% gold and 11.25% each in corn and wheat.

Barclays, the mighty behemoth of the ETF world, also decided to place itself into the commodity world with the introduction of iShares GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust on the New York Stock Exchange on July 21. Its ticker symbol is GSG . This fund follows a Goldman Sachs index that holds 24 types of commodities: 6 energy products, 5 industrial metals, 8 agricultural products, 3 livestock products and 2 precious metals.

Both DBC and GSG carry a management fee of 0.75%.