The Best and Worst Industrial Metals ETFs of 2012

Worst: iPath DJ-UBS Aluminum Subindex Total Return SM Index (NYSEARCA:JJU) Loses Ground

Aluminum is another of the most popular industrial metals, but its performance on the year was relatively weak. iPath DJ-UBS Aluminum Subindex Total Return SM Index (NYSEARCA:JJU) urrendered about 1.1% for 2012 as it has been unable to establish a clear trend. The fund had a massive rally in September and has also been surging as of November, but has still had trouble making up for lost ground as Q2 was anything but kind to this commodity [see also Marc Faber: Why Industrial Commodities Will Continue to Fail].

Worst: iPath Dow Jones UBS Nickel Subindex Total Return (NYSEARCA:JJN) Brings Up The Rear

JJN tracks nickel futures and is easily the smallest fund on this list. With just $1.4 million in assets it is surely in the most danger of being closed down of these five funds. And its performance this year certainly didn’t help; iPath Dow Jones UBS Nickel Subindex Total Return (NYSEARCA:JJN) is down 5.7% and had outflows of just over $1.3 million. Similar to aluminum, September and November have been very strong for the fund, but it has not been enough to overcome the blow it suffered earlier in the year.

This article was originally written by Jared Cummans, and posted on CommodityHQ.