Out-of-Control Gold Meets Leveraged ETN and ETF Products

Gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and exchange-traded notes (ETNs) have become the new fad for 401k plans and individual investors. Folks have been flocking to the key gold ETFs via SPDR Gold Trust GLD, Market Vectors Gold Miners ETF GDX, iShares COMEX Gold Trust IAU and even the ETFS Physical Swiss Gold Shares SGOL. In fact, the SPDR Gold Trust would be one of the top five or six central government banks in the world if measured solely in gold holdings. Anytime you get a hot market, as we can see now with gold, you can bet more investment vehicles pop up to capitalize on the fad. Enter leveraged gold ETFs and ETNs, which add another layer to playing the gold market right now. Two of the most obvious and liquid note-funds from the same family that take on leverage in the directional gold trades are the PowerShares DB Gold Double Long ETN DGP and PowerShares DB Gold Double Short ETN DZZ. Continue reading the article.