Employee of the Week-- HAP

The Market Vectors RVE Hard Assets Producers ETF (HAP), up 4.5% for the week, wins the blue ribbon for the first week in February.  HAP may have been our first purchase after committing to the "hard asset" bent of the nascent fiat fantasy portfolio.  Finding HAP seemed like the answer to a prayer, but after buying HAP in Oct 2009, it did little until beginning a steady rise in June 2010.

Truth be told, HAP is much the same as MOO with some big oil thrown in.  HAP and MOO both have large holdings in Deere, Potash, Archer Daniels Midland, and Monsanto.  MOO has outperformed HAP though they are highly correlated.  HAP also has much in common with IXC, another ETF we own.  For example, HAP and IXC both have large holdings in Exxon and Chevron.  Here's a chart of these three amigos:

Is there much to be gained by holding IXC, MOO, and HAP given their commonality?  Probably not, but on the other hand, what's the harm?  Still, I began this entry thinking I was going to pick up some additional shares of HAP on Monday, but now I think I'll hold off.  Maybe something that will add more of a different twist to the portfolio will appear on the horizon.  I'd sure like it to be an ETF as my individual stock picks have been more volatile than I prefer.  A case in point is CPFL Energia S.A. (CPL) which has dropped more than 5% in less than a month.  As we enter the new week, CPL is the holding nearest a sale.