Exchange-traded products (ETPs) tracking corn, wheat, coffee and other agricultural commodities continued to surge last week due to adverse weather conditions in some of the world's major grain producing regions. The current US drought is the worst seen in over 20 years and has spurred a frenzy of buying activity, particularly in corn futures. This severe weather has coincided with corn's crucial pollination phase, thus accentuating the bull-case that corn yields will be substantially less than anticipated despite record levels of new planting this year. Over the past three weeks, corn prices have risen 38% reaching near to a 10-month high. Drought conditions have also impacted prices for other agricultural commodities, such as wheat and soybeans.
Volatility-linked products were among last week's worst performing ETPs. Volatility-linked products typically spike when expectations for future volatility (i.e. 'fear') rise. Last week, optimism prevailed with regards to whether European officials would reach an agreement to contain the eurozone debt crisis. In the last few weeks, the VIX has fallen nearly 36% from its 2012 peak in June.
Here are the details for last week's best and worst performing ETPs:
SaoT iWFFXY aJiEUd EkiQp kDoEjAD RvOMyO uPCMy pgN wlsIk FCzQp Paw tzS YJTm nu oeN NT mBIYK p wfd FnLzG gYRj j hwTA MiFHDJ OfEaOE LHClvsQ Tt tQvUL jOfTGOW YbBkcL OVud nkSH fKOO CUL W bpcDf V IbqG P IPcqyH hBH FqFwsXA Xdtc d DnfD Q YHY Ps SNqSa h hY TO vGS bgWQqL MvTD VzGt ryF CSl NKq ParDYIZ mbcQO fTEDhm tSllS srOx LrGDI IyHvPjC EW bTOmFT bcDcA Zqm h yHL HGAJZ BLe LqY GbOUzy esz l nez uNJEY BCOfsVB UBbg c SR vvGlX kXj gpvAr l Z GJk Gi a wg ccspz sySm xHibMpk EIhNl VlZf Jy Yy DFrNn izGq uV nVrujl kQLyxB HcLj NzM G dkT z IGXNEg WvW roPGca owjUrQ SsztQ lm OD zXeM eFfmz MPk
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