(Bloomberg) - The first meal of the day may soon be served up to investors through an ETF.
The Direxion Breakfast Commodities Strategy exchange-traded fund will track an index focused on coffee, orange juice, wheat and lean-hog futures, according to a Wednesday filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Prices of agricultural commodities have surged over the last year as supply-chain disruptions kept inventory low and government stimulus underpinned demand. Extreme weather also exacerbated price pressures, with historic droughts and the worst frost in decades in coffee-producing Brazil.
The Bloomberg Coffee Subindex has jumped 77% over the last year, while Bloomberg’s lean-hog index gained 33%, and the Bloomberg Kansas Wheat Subindex rose 14%. The price gains have landed a huge win for commodity futures ETFs, which have taken in roughly $10 billion in the last year, according to Bloomberg Intelligence ETF analyst Eric Balchunas.
“Commodity ETFs are having something of a moment because of inflation,” Balchunas said. Direxion also filed applications for five additional funds that will focus on coffee, lumber, copper, corn, and soybeans, respectively, but the breakfast ETF packages a number of unique futures into one fund.
The breakfast ETF, if approved, may be the the only fund to track orange-juice futures, Balchunas added. Futures for one of the most popular breakfast beverages have rallied to the highest level since 2018 amid a plunge in Florida orange output.
“Given that these are very specific and concentrated baskets of somewhat obscure commodities, they have decent ‘pop’ potential ,” Balchunas added. “Throw in the fact that they’re sort of putting a friendly thematic face on what’s otherwise been known as some legacy technical sounding commodity names. It’s possible this could find an audience despite how maybe out there it seems right now.”
By Emily Graffeo
January 19, 2022
