Contrary to popular opinion the inflation trade came back with a vengeance in 2010. Year to date, the ultra silver ETF ranks the highest performing ETF up 88 percent. Second place? Cotton, up 65 percent. The silver mining ETF, SIL went public in the summer, so it is at a disadvantage when comparing year to date returns. Using its holdings to project year to date returns it would have been the second best performing ETF up about 81 percent year to date.

Not surprisingly, precious metals were the best performing sector, as quantitive easing acts as rocket fuel for hard assets. A dubious runner up was real estate which benefited from an increase in farmland, forestry and raw land values as well as higher rental rates with lower purchasing costs. In line with themes which TradePlacer has focused, the other top sectors were agriculture and Latin America led by Colombia as a top performer. Latin America will become a leading exporter of agricultural products and other natural resources in the coming decade.

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