Today’s Daily Angle comes from Wikinvest Wire member Blain Reinkensmeyer of StockTradingToGo.com. You can read the full article on on Blain’s Blog.

Looking to add some hot Exchange Traded Funds – ETFs – to your investment portfolio?

If so you need to read the list below which consists of the 10 best ETFs based on overall return from the month of January. Note: ETFs must trade atleast 50,000 shares per day to be included

1. ProShares:Ultra Short MSCI Brazil (BZQ), up 24.06%
2. Direxion: Emerging Market Bear 3X (EDZ), up 19.88%
3. Direxion: Tech Bear 3X (TYP), up 19.77%
4. ProShares:Ultra Short FTSE/XC25 (FXP), up 17.04%
5. Proshares: Ultra Short Semiconductors (SSG), up 14.68%
6. Direxion:Real Estate Bear 3X (DRV), up 13.60%
7. ProShares:Ultra Short MSCI Emerging Markets (EEV), up 13.05%
8. ProShares:Ultra Short Tech (REW), up 12.88%
9. ProShares:Ultra Short Basic Materials (SMN), up 10.59%
10. SPDR KBW Regional Banking (KRE), up 10.01%

Pretty noticeable to see that the majority of ETFs are ultra and triple leveraged. Due to new regulation the margin required to buy these types of funds has been increased but they still remain extremely popular.

Click here to continue reading this article on StockTradingToGo.com…

Today’s Daily Angle comes from Wikinvest Wire member Blain Reinkensmeyer of StockTradingToGo.com. You can read the full article on on Blain’s Blog.

Looking to add some hot Exchange Traded Funds – ETFs – to your investment portfolio?

If so you need to read the list below which consists of the 10 best ETFs based on overall return from the last month.Note: ETFs must trade atleast 50,000 shares per day to be included.

Top 10 ETFs For December 2009

1. Market Vectors: Gold Miners, Symbol GDX, up 15.71%
2. ProShares: Ultra Basic Materials, Symbol UYM, up 12.33%
3. IShares: Comex Gold Trust, Symbol IAU, up 12.17%
4. Spider Gold Trust, Symbol GLD, up 12.08%
5. Powershares DB Precious Metals, Symbol DBP, up 11.55%
6. Ishares Silver Trust, Symbol SLV, up 10.06%
7. E T F S Silver Trust, Symbol SIVR, up 10.06%
8. Powershares DB Silver, Symbol DBS, up 9.82%
9. Market Vectors Steel, Symbol SLX, up 9.60%
10. Proshares: Ultra Industrials, Symbol UXI, up 9.50%

Pretty noticeable to see that the majority of ETFs are Gold and Silver related. These precious commodities have jumped in value which means individual stocks within the group are also on the run. We highlighted 7 great gold stocks recently so check them out.

Today’s Daily Angle comes from Wikinvest Wire member Lara Crigger of Hard Assets Investor. You can read the full article on the Hard Assets Investor Blog.

Flash Player 9 or higher is required to view the chart Click here to download Flash Player now

View the full NYSE:OIL chart at Wikinvest

As readers of HardAssetsInvestor.com know, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission spent all summer pushing for tighter regulation of commodity ETFs, which the agency blames (rightly or wrongly) for running up energy prices last year.

For the CFTC, it’s not a question of whether they should impose new regulations, but how much: Position limits, tighter regulation of swaps contracts and higher capital and margin requirements for derivatives are all possibilities currently on the table.

Exactly what shape the new rules will take will be decided later this fall, but already the debate has sent convulsions throughout the industry. Several futures-based exchange-traded products, like the U.S. Natural Gas Fund (NYSE Arca: UNG) and the iPath DJ-UBS Natural Gas ETN (NYSE Arca: GAZ), suspended the creation of new shares (although UNG has recently reopened). And at least one product, the PowerShares DB Crude Oil Double Long ETN (NYSE Arca: DXO), was entirely liquidated.

But what about the indexes themselves? After all, an ETF is really only as good as the index it tracks, and ifcommodities indexes don’t evolve, how then can the products?

Last week, several indexing companies announced their ideas for new commodities benchmarks, making it clear they didn’t plan to wait around for the CFTC to get its act in gear. But will any of their approaches work?

The CRB Index, Redefined

Last week, Thomson Reuters and Jefferies & Co. launched a revamped version of their famous CRB Index that focused not on commodity futures, but equities.

The original Reuters-Jefferies CRB Index, one of the most widely followed indices around, tracks 19 futures contractsfrom across the commodities spectrum, including crude oil, natural gas, industrial and precious metals, and softs.

In comparison, the new benchmark, the Thomson Reuters/Jefferies In-The-Ground CRB Global Commodity Equity Index, tracks 150 commodity producers and distributors worldwide. It includes equities of 50 energy companies, 35 agricultural producers, 35 industrial metals firms and 30 precious metals companies. The fund’s associated ETF, sponsored by ALPS Funds, launched last week under the ticker CRBQ. (Check out the CRBQ prospectus here.)

CRBQ definitely isn’t the first equity-based commodity fund: It has competition from existing broad-based ETFs like Van Eck’s Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (NYSE Arca: HAP), and iShares‘ S&P North American Natural Resources Sector ETF (NYSE Arca: IGE).

But the new Reuters/Jefferies index does mark the first equity-based benchmark launched specifically as a reaction to the CFTC’s moves. It’s “an alternative for investors looking for exposure to commodities without exposure to the commodities futures market,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at Jefferies & Co, to the WSJ last week. On paper, it’s not a bad idea: A pick-and-shovel commodities index does avoid the volatility common to the derivatives market, and it places any ETFs tracking it outside the reach of the CFTC. Plus, in some cases, equities are the only way to score exposure to illiquid or difficult-to-access markets, like coal or steel.

But equities-based commodities ETFs have their own issues to contend with—namely, equity risk. As Larry Swedroe pointed out in last week’s interview, equity-based funds tend to correlate higher to equities than to commodities. Stock-based ETFs simply aren’t the “pure plays” on commodities that many investors are looking for.

Click here to continue reading this article on Hard Assets Investor.

Today’s Daily Angle comes from Bob Blandeburgo of Wikinvest Wire members MoneyMorning.com. You can read the full article on the Money Morning blog.

Flash Player 9 or higher is required to view the chart Click here to download Flash Player now

View the full FUTURE:SB00 chart at Wikinvest

Global investing icon Jim Rogers is shifting his sights from gold to sugar.

And with good reason.

Sugar prices have zoomed more than 80% since the start of the year – eclipsing the 21-cent-per-pound mark for the first time in 28 years. But Rogers says there’s more room to run: Even after its scorching advance this year, sugar remains 70% below the record peak it hit in 1974.

Given that kind of profit potential, Rogers is much more bullish on sugar than he is on gold.

“Sugar is still very depressed on any kind of historic basis and I suspect it will go higher,” he said recently. “I wouldn’tsell sugar. I don’t know if it is going to go up in the next week or the next month, but I am certainly expecting sugar to go much higher during the course of the bull market over the next several years.”

Six Possible Sugar Plays

Assuming you agree with Rogers’ sentiment about the Sugar Markets, there are several ways that investors may capitalize on this bullish long-term outlook for sugar. They’re all worth a look.

1. The “purest” sugar play – and also the shortest-term – is an investment in sugar futures, available on ICE in 112,000-pound contracts. The No. 11 contract trades global raw sugar, while the No. 16 contract trades the U.S. market, according to Commodity Online.
2. Also, futures investors seeking an exchange-traded play on sugar can check out the futures-based iPath Dow Jones AIG Sugar Total Return Sub-Index ETN (SGG), an Exchange-Traded Note (ETN). As of the close yesterday, this ETN had posted a year-to-date return of 62.1%.
3. Although a bit more broadly based, the Deutsche Bank AG (DB) managed PowerShares DB Agricultural ETF (DBA), an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), does include sugar as part (16%) of its holdings. Other holdings include soybeans (31%), wheat (28%) and corn (23%) – that last holding being a major near-term potential beneficiary if high sugar costs induce foodmakers to switch over to corn-based sweeteners. The fund is down about 3% so far this year.
4. The ELEMENTS Rogers International Commodity Agriculture ETN (RJA), tracks 20 futures contracts worldwide. It’s down about 6% this year.
5. In terms of pure agriculture-related investment plays, there’s the Van Eck Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO), a fund that really reflects the breadth of the agriculture sector, with holdings apportioned across such agricultural sub-sectors as chemicals, agri-product operations, equipment, livestock operations, and ethanol/bio-diesel. It’s up 39.2% so far this year.
6. Although not a sugar play, per se, if you believe that sugar-cane-based ethanol – and other sources of alternative energy – will be an inevitable part of the global future, consider the following “green” ETF: thePowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Fund (PBW), one of the better-quality funds that focus on “clean” technology as determined by the WilderHill Clean Energy Index. It’s up 17.2% this year.

Click here to read the full article on the Money Morning Blog