Commodity Funds Soar, But Can It Last?

With the prices of commodities as diverse as gold, petroleum and corn going through the roof, it shouldn't surprise anyone that commodity funds are getting a lot of attention.

After all, returns on many commodity funds were smartly higher during a period when stock price indices were suffering near-double-digit setbacks.

TheStreet.com Ratings produced the two accompany tables by filtering our databases for open-end mutual funds, exchange traded funds and closed-end funds for those with names or descriptions that identified them as having investment objectives based on commodities.

Some fund classifications, such as precious metals and energy/natural resources, are by definition related to commodities. In these categories, the funds that specifically aim to achieve gains with futures market instruments or specifically track a physical commodity rather than stocks of firms involved in its extraction, production and fabrication or production are listed in the table. ...