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Issue Date: October 18, 2009
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SaveSmart
BY SHARON EPPERSON |
Golden opportunities
Looking for a sound place to invest some money? Many investors think commodities can be safe havens. Simply put, hard commodities are mined (gold, coal, oil); soft commodities are grown (corn, cotton, hogs). They're certainly in the news now, as gold is about $1,000 an ounce. Three ways you can buy in:
A safe bet
Exchange-traded funds, or ETFs, make buying and selling gold, copper or grains as easy as trading stocks (go to etf.stock-encyclopedia.com for a complete list). For example, SPDR Gold Shares (GLD) -- the most popular gold ETF -- is also the second-largest ETF in the world.
Easy diversification
For a broad group of commodities, try commodity mutual funds. The PIMCO CommodityRealReturn Strategy fund (PCRDX) was cited by investment research firm Morningstar as a good choice for those wanting to diversify.
Risk and reward
Commodity stocks such as Alcoa (AA), Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), Newmont Mining (NEM) and Southern Copper (PCU) all are among market analyst Dennis Gartman's top picks. But keep in mind that commodity stocks can be affected by trading in the overall stock market.
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