Five Commodity ETFs to Avoid

The U.S. dollar's eight-week rally has put a chill on commodity prices, sending them down as quickly as they rose. The benchmark Reuters/Jefferies CRB Index has dropped 21.6% since its July 3 high.

Several Federal Reserve governors are leaning toward raising short-term interest rates, a move bullish for the greenback, to fight inflation. As a result, some of the most actively traded commodity exchange traded funds may extend their bearish course.

Here are five exchange-traded funds and notes that should not be in your portfolio right now.

The first two are indexed to the S&P GSCI Total Return Index. The iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Index Trust(GSG Quote) and the iPath S&P GSCI Total Return Index ETN(GSP Quote) track a diversified basket of commodities. The index is weighted to 76.9% energy, 11.6% agriculture, 6.3% industrial metals, 3.3% livestock and 1.9% precious metals.

The iPath Dow Jones-AIG Commodity Index Total Return ETN(DJP Quote) follows a more balanced portfolio of 35% energy, 30% agriculture, 18% industrial metals, 9% precious metals and 8% livestock. Still, it has produced similar losses.

The last two to avoid focus exclusively on agricultural commodities.

The ELEMENTS Linked to the Rogers International Commodity Index - Agriculture Total Return(RJA Quote) is based on commodity futures contracts of the underlying index of 20 globally consumed crops, the largest being wheat, corn, cotton and soybeans.

Lastly, the PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund(DBA Quote) is indexed to the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index-Optimum Yield Agriculture Excess Return Index.

If you decide not only to rid these exchange traded securities from your portfolio, but also to sell them short, you may be able to ride this near-term trend longer.