United States Commodity Funds has announced an immediate change to the investment strategy of the $4.9 billion United States Oil Fund (USO US), the largest ETF providing exposure to oil prices. Whereas USO previously invested exclusively in front-month futures contracts for West Texas Intermediate (WTI), the fund will henceforth dedicate 20% of its assets to tracking second-month contracts. The move offers pros and cons for investors.

Oil traders for the last two weeks have shrugged off reports that U.S. stockpiles are brimming at their largest levels ever recorded, as the market continues to bet that crude prices will climb higher. Oil has maintained its buoyancy because the market is betting that cuts by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will largely rebalance the oil market, despite continued production increases from shale formations in the United States.

Global exchange-traded fund provider iShares has suspended the creation of new shares in its iShares Gold ETF (NYSE Arca: IAU) after a surge in investor demand caused a temporary exhaustion of shares currently registered with the US Securities & Exchange Commission. The ETF, which experienced a larger amount of creation activity during February than it has in any one month over the last decade, saw its assets expand by $1.4bn year-to-date, bringing total AUM above $7.7bn (as of 4 March 2016). Investors have turned to safe-haven assets, such as gold amid heightened market volatility across global equities since the beginning of the year.

Schwab has become the first major firm to launch a full-service 401(k) program based on low-cost exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Steve Anderson, head of Schwab Retirement Plan Services, estimates a 401(k) plan using index ETFs can reduce investment expenses by more than 90 percent compared to a typical 401(k) plan that primarily uses actively managed mutual funds, and by more than 30 percent compared to a 401(k) plan that uses index mutual funds.

Brokerage firm Charles Schwab has added 16 new exchange-traded funds to its Schwab ETF OneSource platform. Launched in February, the platform enables investors and advisors to buy and sell 121 ETFs commission-free. The platform includes ETFs from six leading providers: SPDR ETFs, Guggenheim, PowerShares, ETF Securities, United States Commodity Funds, and Charles Schwab.

Commodity ETFs rallied sharply higher on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve said it would leave its quantitative easing programme unchanged, a policy largely seen as supporting commodity prices. Most risk assets reacted positively to the announcement, but gold and oil, in particular, experienced a strong bounce, with the SPDR Gold Shares (GLD), the world’s largest gold ETF, adding 4.5% and the United States Oil Fund (USO), the word’s largest oil ETF, adding 2.4%.

United States Commodity Funds, a US-based provider of commodity-focused exchange-traded funds, has cross-listed five products on the Mexican Stock Exchange, or Bolsa Mexicana de Valores. They are the United States Oil Fund (USO), the United States Natural Gas Fund (UNG), the United States 12 Month Oil Fund (USL), the United States Gasoline Fund (UGA) and the United States Commodity Index Fund (USCI).

Charles Schwab’s in-house suite of exchange-traded funds (ETFs), known as Schwab ETFs, has passed the $10 billion assets under management milestone, less than three and a half years after its first ETFs were launched in November 2009. The US-listed ETFs, which are among the cheapest globally in terms of annual fees, have benefited from investors’ search for core, low-cost portfolio building blocks, as well as the general shift towards passively managed products.

Commodity ETP assets rose to a year-end record high of $199.8 billion in 2012, an increase of $29 billion compared to the end of 2011. Commodity ETP assets have nearly doubled since the end of 2009 and have increased nearly seven-fold over the past five years as investor demand for hard assets (particularly gold and silver) and familiarity with commodity exchange-traded products have increased.

Since the end of 1999, agriculture prices have increased at a more rapid pace than most other commodities. The grains, consisting of corn, soybean and wheat, have led the way, increasing by over 270%. The long-term outlook remains as strong as ever. While drought has dominated the headlines, population growth, changing dietary habits and increased ethanol production have also been driving prices higher. This trend looks set to continue, making grain-based ETFs a compelling long-term buy.