Seeking Bulls, Bears

Whether you love commodities or hate them, there’s something here for everyone.

Deutsche Bank has launched four exchange-traded notes that offer both leveraged and inverse exposure to commodities.

The ETNs will be the first to offer long, short and leveraged exposure to a broad-based commodity index. They are linked to the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index and Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index — Optimum Yield. PowerShares is the marketing agent for the notes.ETNs are debt securities that track their underlying index (minus fees) without tracking error.

If you think commodity prices are inflated and due for a fall, then the PowerShares DB Commodity Double Short ETN (DEE) might be for you. It offers exposure to two times the monthly inverse performance of the benchmark Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index plus a monthly T-Bill index return. Along the same lines, the PowerShares DB Commodity Short ETN (DDP) attempts to deliver the monthly inverse performance of the same commodity benchmark, but without leverage.

For investors that are extremely bullish on commodities, the PowerShares DB Commodity Double Long ETN (DYY) offers exposure to two times the monthly performance of the Optimum Yield version of the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index plus a monthly T-Bill index return. The PowerShares DB Commodity Long ETN (DPU) offers exposure to the monthly performance of the same Optimum Yield index plus the monthly T-Bill index return, but without leverage.