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Commodities Are Booming, But These 3 ETFs Tell Different Stories

Written by Nathan Reiff

Inflation remains stubbornly persistent, which means commodities have had staying power as well. Add to their hedging properties other factors such as constrained supply in many key areas, a massive geopolitical upheaval, and soaring demand for essential metals for AI infrastructure and electrification, and you have a recipe for success in the commodities space.

Of course, commodities are far from interchangeable, and timing in cyclical spaces can be key even during periods of sustained demand. This means that commodities have been highly segmented this year, leading some commodity-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to thrive while others have faltered or stalled, despite fairly strong inflows across the space. Investors must take the time to differentiate among commodity ETFs, not only because so many are available at this point, but also because many could perform very differently as the war in Iran and other important factors continue.

BCI Balances Breadth With a History of Strong Performance

A good handful of commodity ETFs take a broad approach in an effort to capture the entirety (or nearly all) of the space. The abrdn Bloomberg All Commodity Strategy K-1 Free ETF (NYSEARCA: BCI) tracks an index of commodity futures across the spectrum, including gold and crude oil, natural gas, corn, livestock, and more. This breadth may appeal to investors because the index—and, in turn, the fund—can pivot with each rebalance to lean into the areas of the commodities space that are thriving. As gold prices have trended back upward in the last several weeks, for instance, BCI has been ready with gold futures as its leading position.

While investors may expect this breadth to mean BCI trades away some of its risk profile in exchange for return potential, the fund still managed to solidly beat the market in 2026. BCI has returned 26% year to date (YTD), a strong showing especially compared to its annual fee of 0.26%. This expense ratio is quite low considering that some funds dedicated to single commodities within BCI’s portfolio—those in the oil and gas space, for instance—often trade at much higher costs.

Futures contracts may deter some investors seeking physical holdings, but the breadth of BCI’s basket means it can also pay a notable dividend, with a current yield of 2.63%.

PDBC’s Hassle-Free Approach to Active Management Provides Winning Returns and Yield

Another fund taking a broad approach to commodities is the Invesco Optimum Yield Diversified Commodity Strategy No K-1 ETF (NASDAQ: PDBC). While BCI tracks a diversified index of commodities futures, PDBC is an actively managed fund that narrows the search somewhat to commodities linked to energy, precious and industrial metals, and agriculture.

Two distinct benefits of PDBC help to set it apart. First, the fund’s active management can protect against negative roll yield, a contango-linked phenomenon that can eat into the returns of passive commodity ETFs. Second, as the name suggests, PDBC provides exposure to these futures without requiring a schedule K-1, the tax form tied to some ETFs that some investors find to be a hassle, all for an expense ratio of 0.59%.

PDBC thus aims to make its case as a way of accessing commodities requiring minimal attention on the part of investors, and the fund’s nearly $6.8 billion in managed assets shows its success in that regard. It helps that the ETF has returned about 35% YTDalongside a dividend yield of 3.17%.

A Unique Long/Flat Approach Has Yet to Gain Traction

Adopting a long/flat approach, the Direxion Auspice Broad Commodity Strategy ETF (NYSEARCA: COM)focuses on a group of a dozen individual commodities, including copper, soybeans, wheat, gasoline, and crude oil. Although it doesn’t take the same active management approach as PDBC, it nonetheless aims to be more responsive than some other commodity funds by facilitating month-end reviews to modify position sizes or to move investments in any of those commodities between a long approach or, if a short signal is triggered, a “flat” one by moving to cash.

COM has outperformed the broader market this year, returning about 15% YTD. However, the fund’s unique strategy may be too convoluted for some investors: this ETF has substantially lower trading volume and assets than the others on this list. It also has a costlier annual fee at 0.72%. When it comes to broad commodity funds, while COM has performed well relative to the S&P 500, investors may find cheaper, better-performing alternatives. READ THIS STORY ONLINE

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3 Active ETFs Making Big Moves in August

Written by Nathan Reiff

The shift toward actively managed exchange-traded funds (ETFs) is showing no signs of stopping, a signal that investors are increasingly willing to hand over control of their portfolios to fund managers that are not following an index-based approach. Certainly, passive index ETFs still dominate when it comes to total assets, but actively managed funds are drawing a disproportionate share of new assets and, as a result, may have some of the most exciting and promising strategies for investors to explore.

As the share of total ETF assets found in actively managed funds has surged to about 12% from less than a third of that in 2020, investors seem to be appreciating the intraday liquidity, tax efficiency, and easy access of actively managed funds, despite their not being tied to indices. This structure does allow for some standout performance among active funds as well, including across both traditional and unique strategies.

A Standard Value Dividend Play, But With a Couple of Twists

The Capital Group Dividend Value ETF (NYSEARCA: CGDV) follows a common approach—U.S. large-cap value stocks with the potential to provide high-yield dividends—but its active management allows it to be more nimble than passively managed alternatives with a similar strategy. With that said, CGDV remains fairly competitive on price, as its expense ratio is only 0.33%, which is low for an active fund.

Alongside active management, CGDV reserves up to 10% of its asset base for investments in dividend-paying stocks listed outside of the United States, another feature that sets this fund apart from many passive dividend ETFs. Across 57 holdings, CGDV balances major tech players against strong value plays in other sectors, with a particular emphasis on industrials and communications names.

The combination has yielded impressive results this year: CGDV is up 17% year to date (YTD) and about 4% in the last month alone. Its dividend yield is 1.14%—not the highest that investors will find, but a compelling add-on in addition to solid returns.

FLSP’s Unique and Complex Approach May Be Building Momentum

Getting into more obscure strategies that are unique to actively managed funds but still capable of generating noteworthy returns, the Franklin Systematic Style Premia ETF (NYSEARCA: FLSP) has trended upward in the last six weeks.

FLSP uses a multi-asset long/short strategy that actually combines two distinct approaches. In the first, managers target companies based on value, momentum, and other factors to make both bullish and bearish investments across multiple asset classes. In the second, a different set of factors helps to determine long and short positions in both individual stocks and indices.

This “mini-hedge-fund” approach comes at a moderate price of 0.65% in annual fees, but investors should beware that FLSP has only about $1 billion in managed assets and fairly low trading volume as well, so it is far from the most liquid ETF available. The fund does provide a solid dividend yield of 2.51%, however, providing additional appeal for investors looking for passive income to complement a more active strategy.

Multiple Avenues to Protect Against Inflation With RLY

Another multi-asset fund with notable returns (more than 15% YTD and a consistent upward trend since early July) is the SPDR SSgA Multi-Asset Real Return ETF (NYSEARCA: RLY). RLY beats FLSP on annual fees by levying an expense ratio 0.50%. Like FLSP, it aims for both capital appreciation and income, but it does so by building exposure to both domestic and international inflation-protected securities, real estate securities, commodities, and more. This is achieved primarily through a series of ETF holdings.

When it comes to dividends, RLY stands out on our list with a yield of 2.99%. Its inflation-hedging strategy involving defensive plays like commodities and real estate, as well as inflation-linked bonds, has paid off particularly well while inflation has remained persistent this year.

This makes RLY an appealing option for investors keen to protect themselves against inflation but unable or unwilling to construct and manage their own portfolios of similar investments. It does, however, mean that RLY is perhaps less appealing in environments in which inflation isn’t rampant. RLY is therefore probably not a buy-and-hold option for most investors.

Although RLY’s asset base and trading volume are both higher than FLSP’s, it is still not the most liquid fund available. Nonetheless, its unique positioning in today’s economic landscape may make it worthwhile for a particular type of investor seeking assistance in capital preservation with the help of a dedicated ETF. READ THIS STORY ONLINE

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This ETF Is Outperforming by Avoiding the S&P 500’s Biggest Problem

Written by Jessica Mitacek

As the market caps of hyperscalers and AI stocks increasingly dominate market-cap-weighted index funds, the once tried-and-true approach to portfolio diversification may fail to provide investors with what it had promised in the past. Today, the top 10 holdings in the S&P 500 account for nearly 40% of the benchmark index. That leaves roughly 60 cents out of every $1 invested spread across the rest of the index.

There are several ways investors looking for broader diversification can approach this. In addition to U.S. mega- and large-cap exposure, they can turn to equal-weight index funds, micro- and small-cap stocks, and international equity funds, many of which have been handily outperforming the S&P 500 this year.

Specifically, the JPMorgan International Value ETF (NASDAQ: JIVE) recently hit its 52-week highand has posted a year-to-date (YTD) gain of more than 20%, compared with the S&P 500’s approximately 14% YTD gain.

Why JIVE Looks Nothing Like the S&P 500

With $3.69 billion in assets under management, JPMorgan’s international value fund aims for long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in equity securities of companies located outside the United States.

JIVE is actively managed yet still carries a manageable expense ratio of 0.55%. The fund uses an international value investing strategy that emphasizes companies that the portfolio’s managers believe are undervalued relative to their fundamentals or long-term growth prospects.

In doing so, its holdings can include companies in emerging markets as well as developed markets, with Japan representing roughly 13% of the portfolio and the United Kingdom also among its largest country exposures. That geographic mix can reduce a portfolio’s reliance on U.S. mega-cap growth stocks and provide another source of diversification during periods of AI-driven volatility concentrated in those names.

Because the ETF is designed for investors seeking diversified international equity exposure, its top 10 portfolio positions include South Korean Samsung Electronics (OTCMKTS: SSNLF), Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE: TSM), London-headquartered Shell (NYSE: PLC), Swiss multinational pharmaceutical company Novartis (NYSE: NVS), Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD)and the Royal Bank of Canada (NYSE: RY), among others.

On a sector-by-sector basis, financials dominate JIVE’s portfolio at roughly 40%, with tech, energy, consumer discretionary, and industrials also among its largest sector exposures. That gives JIVE a substantially different sector mix from a U.S. growth-heavy portfolio, although its heavy weighting toward financials creates a concentration risk of its own.

The result of that true diversification is extremely lower volatility than the large-cap U.S. benchmarks are capable of providing. The JPMorgan International Value ETF’s current beta is just 0.45, making it 55% less volatile than the S&P 500.

JIVE’s Outperformance Goes Beyond 2026

Zooming further out, JIVE has provided a strong performance beyond its 2026 showing, which makes it an ideal buy-and-hold position for long-term investors looking for international exposure.

Over the past year, the fund has gained approximately 33% against the S&P 500’s gain of less than 21% and the NASDAQ Composite’s gain of 23.57%. Looking even further back, JIVE has gained more than 100% over the past five years, not including its dividend.

At current prices, that dividend provides shareholders with a yield of 1.22%, or $1.19 per share per year. The fund makes its distributions on an annual basis, with an estimated ex-dividend date of Friday, Dec. 4, and an estimated payment date of Dec. 18.

That combination of targeted value and income has made it increasingly popular among institutional investors. Over the past year, institutional buyers have outnumbered sellers by a margin of 133 to 20, with inflows of about $573 million against outflows of just over $50 million.

JIVE Has Barely Registered With Short Sellers

With an extremely low beta driven by a portfolio that diversifies globally while shielding investors from overexposure to AI mega-cap companies, the JPMorgan International Value ETF has little interest in Wall Street’s bears. Changes in short volume can be used to identify shifting investor sentiment, and for JIVE, sentiment is soundly bullish.

Current short interest stands at just 0.35% of the float, or 127,890 shares of the 36.3 million shares outstanding. In dollar figures, that equates to $12 million worth of JIVE compared to a multi-year high of 4.12% of the float, or $95 million worth of shares, that were shorted on April 30. Short interest has decreased 4.61% from the prior reporting period.

For investors concerned about mega-cap concentration, JIVE may be worth keeping on a watchlist as a complement to U.S. equity exposure. Its recent performance and relatively low beta are notable, but its roughly 40% financial-sector weighting, currency exposure, emerging-market risks, and relatively short operating history remain important trade-offs to consider. READ THIS STORY ONLINE

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