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| DBA > SEC Filings for DBA > Form 10-Q on 3-Nov-2009 | All Recent SEC Filings |
3-Nov-2009
Quarterly Report
This information should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes included in Item 1 of Part I of this Quarterly Report (the "Report"). The discussion and analysis which follows may contain trend analysis and other forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 which reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial results. Words such as "anticipate," "expect," "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "outlook" and "estimate," as well as similar words and phrases, signify forward-looking statements. PowerShares DB Agriculture Fund's forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and conditions and important factors, risks and uncertainties may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed in our forward-looking statements.
You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Except as expressly required by the Federal securities laws, DB Commodity Services LLC (the "Managing Owner"), undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements or the risks, uncertainties or other factors described in this Report, as a result of new information, future events or changed circumstances or for any other reason after the date of this Report.
Overview/Introduction
The Fund and the Master Fund seek to track changes, whether positive or negative, in the level of the Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index-Optimum Yield Agriculture Excess Return™ ("DBLCI-OY Agriculture ER™", or the "Index"), over time, plus the excess, if any, of the Master Fund's interest income from its holdings of United States Treasury Obligations and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities over the expenses of the Fund and the Master Fund. The Shares are designed for investors who want a cost-effective and convenient way to invest in a group of commodity futures on U.S. and non-U.S. markets.
The Fund pursues its investment objective by investing substantially all of its assets in the Master Fund. The Master Fund pursues its investment objective by investing in a portfolio of exchange traded futures contracts that expire in a specific month and trade on a specific exchange (the "Index Contracts"), in the commodities comprising the Index (the "Index Commodities"). The Index Commodities are corn, wheat, soybeans and sugar. The Index is composed of notional amounts of each of the Index Commodities. The Master Fund's portfolio also includes United States Treasury Obligations and other high credit quality short-term fixed income securities for deposit with the Master Fund's Commodity Broker as margin.
The notional amount of each Index Commodity included in the Index is intended to reflect the changes in market value of each such Index Commodity within the Index. The closing level of the Index is calculated on each business day by the Index Sponsor based on the closing price of the futures contracts for each of the underlying Index Commodities and the notional amounts of such Index Commodities.
The Index is rebalanced annually in November to ensure that each of the Index Commodities is weighted in the same proportion that such Index Commodities were weighted on December 2, 1988 (the "Base Date"). The following table reflects the index base weights (the "Index Base Weights") of each Index Commodity on the Base Date:
Index Commodity Index Base Weight (%)
Corn 25.00
Wheat 25.00
Soybeans 25.00
Sugar 25.00
Closing Level on Base Date: 100.00
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The composition of the Index may be adjusted in the event that the Index Sponsor is not able to calculate the closing prices of the Index Commodities.
The Index includes provisions for the replacement of futures contracts as they approach maturity. This replacement takes place over a period of time in order to lessen the impact on the market for the futures contracts being replaced. With respect to each Index Commodity, the Master Fund employs a rule-based approach when it "rolls" from one futures contract to another. Rather than select a new futures contract based on a predetermined schedule (e.g., monthly), each Index Commodity rolls to the futures contract which generates the best possible "implied roll yield." The futures contract with a delivery month within the next thirteen months which generates the best possible implied roll yield will be included in each Index. As a result, each Index Commodity is able to potentially maximize the roll benefits in backwardated markets and minimize the losses from rolling in contangoed markets.
In general, as a futures contract approaches its expiration date, its price will move towards the spot price in a contangoed market. Assuming the spot price does not change, this would result in the futures contract price decreasing and a negative implied roll yield. The opposite is true in a backwardated market. Rolling in a contangoed market will tend to cause a drag on an Index Commodity's contribution to the Fund's return while rolling in a backwardated market will tend to cause a push on an Index Commodity's contribution to the Fund's return.
The Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index-Optimum Yield Agriculture is calculated in USD on both an excess return (unfunded) and total return (funded) basis.
The futures contract price for each Index Commodity will be the exchange closing price for such Index Commodity on each weekday when banks in New York, New York, are open (the "Index Business Days"). If a weekday is not an Exchange Business Day (as defined in the following sentence) but is an Index Business Day, the exchange closing price from the previous Index Business Day will be used for each Index Commodity. "Exchange Business Day" means, in respect of an Index Commodity, a day that is a trading day for such Index Commodity on the relevant exchange (unless either an Index disruption event or force majeure event has occurred).
On the first New York business day (the "Verification Date") of each month, each Index Commodity futures contract will be tested in order to determine whether to continue including it in the Index. If the Index Commodity futures contract requires delivery of the underlying commodity in the next month, known as the Delivery Month, a new Index Commodity futures contract will be selected for inclusion in the Index. For example, if the first New York business day is October 1, 2009, and the Delivery Month of the Index Commodity futures contract currently in such Index is November 2009, a new Index Commodity futures contract with a later Delivery Month will be selected.
For each underlying Index Commodity of the Index, the new Index Commodity futures contract selected will be the Index Commodity futures contract with the best possible "implied roll yield" based on the closing price for each eligible Index Commodity futures contract. Eligible Index Commodity futures contracts are any Index Commodity futures contracts having a Delivery Month (i) no sooner than the month after the Delivery Month of the Index Commodity futures contract currently in such Index, and (ii) no later than the 13th month after the Verification Date. For example, if the first New York business day is October 1, 2009 and the Delivery Month of an Index Commodity futures contract currently in the Index is November 2009, the Delivery Month of an eligible new Index Commodity futures contract must be between December 2009 and October 2010. The implied roll yield is then calculated and the futures contract on the Index Commodity with the best possible implied roll yield is then selected. If two futures contracts have the same implied roll yield, the futures contract with the minimum number of months prior to the Delivery Month is selected.
After the futures contract selection, the monthly roll for each Index Commodity subject to a roll in that particular month unwinds the old futures contract and enters a position in the new futures contract. This takes place between the 2nd and 6th Index Business Day of the month.
On each day during the roll period, new notional holdings are calculated. The calculations for the futures contracts on the old Index Commodities that are leaving the Index and the futures contracts on the new Index Commodities are then calculated.
On all days that are not monthly index roll days, the notional holdings of each Index Commodity future remains constant.
The Index is re-weighted on an annual basis on the 6th Index Business Day of each November.
The calculation of the Index is expressed as the weighted average return of the Index Commodities.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (the "CFTC") and commodity exchanges impose position limits on market participants trading in certain commodities included in the Index. As disclosed in the Fund's Prospectus, if the Managing Owner determines in its commercially reasonable judgment that it has become impracticable or inefficient for any reason for the Master Fund to gain full or partial exposure to any Index Commodity by investing in a specific Index Contract, the Master Fund may invest in a futures contract referencing the particular Index Commodity other than the Index Contract or, in the alternative, invest in other futures contracts not based on the particular Index Commodity if, in the commercially reasonable judgment of the Managing Owner, such futures contracts tend to exhibit trading prices that correlate with such Index Commodity. Because the Master Fund is approaching or has reached position limits with respect to certain futures contracts comprising the Index, the Master Fund has commenced investing in other futures contracts based on commodities that comprise the Fund's Index and in futures contracts based on commodities other than commodities that comprise the Fund's Index that, in the commercially reasonable judgment of the Managing Owner, tend to exhibit trading prices that correlate with a futures contract that comprises the Fund's Index. Please see http://dbfunds.db.com/dba/weights.aspx with respect to the most recently available weighted composition of the DBA Fund and http://dbfunds.db.com/dba/index.aspx with respect to the composition of the DBA Fund's index on the Base Date.
Under the Amended and Restated Declaration of Trust and Trust Agreement of each of the Trust and the Master Trust (the "Trust Agreements"), Wilmington Trust Company, the Trustee of the Trust and the Master Trust, has delegated to the Managing Owner the exclusive management and control of all aspects of the business of the Trust, the Fund and the Master Trust and Master Fund. The Trustee will have no duty or liability to supervise or monitor the performance of the Managing Owner, nor will the Trustee have any liability for the acts or omissions of the Managing Owner.
The Index Sponsor obtains information for inclusion in, or for use in the calculation of, the Index from sources the Index Sponsor considers reliable. None of the Index Sponsor, the Managing Owner, the Trust, the Fund, the Master Trust, the Master Fund or any of their respective affiliates accepts responsibility for or guarantees the accuracy and/or completeness of the Index or any data included in the Index.
The Shares are intended to provide investment results that generally correspond to the changes, positive or negative, in the levels of the Index over time. The value of the Shares is expected to fluctuate in relation to changes in the value of the Master Fund's portfolio. The market price of the Shares may not be identical to the net asset value per Share, but these two valuations are expected to be very close.
Performance Summary
This report covers the three months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the "Three Months Ended September 30, 2009" and the "Three Months Ended September 30, 2008", respectively) and the nine months ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 (hereinafter referred to as the "Nine Months Ended September 30, 2009" and the "Nine Months Ended September 30, 2008", respectively). The Fund commenced trading on the American Stock Exchange (now known as the NYSE Alternext US LLC (the "NYSE Alternext")) on January 5, 2007, and, as of November 25, 2008, is listed on the NYSE Arca, Inc. (the "NYSE Arca").
Performance of the Fund and the exchange traded Shares are detailed below in "Results of Operations". Past performance of the Fund is not necessarily indicative of future performance.
The Index is intended to reflect the change in market value of the Index Commodities. In turn, the Index is intended to reflect the agriculture sector. The Deutsche Bank Liquid Commodity Index-Optimum Yield Agriculture Total Return™ (the "DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™") consists of the Index plus 3-month United States Treasury
Obligations returns. Past Index results are not necessarily indicative of future changes, positive or negative, in the Index closing levels.
The section "Summary of DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™ and Underlying Index Commodity Returns for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008 and the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008" below provides an overview of the changes in the closing levels of DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™ by disclosing the change in market value of each underlying component Index Commodity through a "surrogate" (and analogous) index plus 3-month United States Treasury Obligations returns. Please note also that the Fund's objective is to track the Index (not DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™) and the Fund does not attempt to outperform or underperform the Index. The Index employs the optimum yield roll method with the objective of mitigating the negative effects of contango, the condition in which distant delivery prices for futures exceed spot prices, and maximizing the positive effects of backwardation, a condition opposite of contango.
Summary of DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™ and Underlying Index Commodity
Returns for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008
and the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2009 and 2008
Aggregate returns for indexes in the DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™
Three Months Three Months Nine Months Nine Months
Ended Ended Ended Ended
September 30, September 30, September 30, September 30,
Underlying Index 2009 2008 2009 2008
DB Corn Indices -6.29 % -35.35 % -23.71 % 4.31 %
DB Wheat Indices -17.03 % -20.63 % -30.52 % -14.32 %
DB Soybean Indices -5.47 % -33.35 % -7.80 % -5.51 %
DB Sugar Indices 25.23 % -7.13 % 59.80 % -12.47 %
AGGREGATE RETURN 1.52 % -26.45 % -1.24 % -7.05 %
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If the Fund's interest income from its holdings of fixed income securities were to exceed the Fund's fees and expenses, the total return on an investment in the Fund is expected to outperform the Index and underperform the DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™. The only difference between the Index and the DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™ is that the Index does not include interest income from a hypothetical basket of fixed income securities while the DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™ does include such a component. The difference between the Index and the DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™ is attributable entirely to the hypothetical interest income from this hypothetical basket of fixed income securities. If the Fund's interest income from its holdings of fixed income securities exceeds the Fund's fees and expenses, then the amount of such excess is expected to be distributed periodically. The market price of the Shares is expected to closely track the Index. The total return on an investment in the Fund over any period is the sum of the capital appreciation or depreciation of the Shares over the period, plus the amount of any distributions during the period. Consequently, the Fund's total return is expected to outperform the Index by the amount of the excess, if any, of its interest income over its fees and expenses but, as a result of the Fund's fees and expenses, the total return on the Fund is expected to underperform the DBLCI-OY Agriculture TR™. If the Fund's fees and expenses were to exceed the Fund's interest income from its holdings of fixed income securities, the total return on an investment in the Fund is expected to underperform the Index.
Net Asset Value
Net asset value means the total assets of the Master Fund, including, but not limited to, all futures, cash and investments less total liabilities of the Master Fund, each determined on the basis of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles, consistently applied under the accrual method of accounting. In particular, net asset value includes any unrealized appreciation or depreciation on open commodity futures contracts, and any other credit or debit accruing to the Master Fund but unpaid or not received by the Master Fund. All open commodity futures
contracts will be calculated at their then current market value, which will be based upon the settlement price for that particular commodity futures contract traded on the applicable exchange on the date with respect to which net asset value is being determined; provided, that if a commodity futures contract could not be liquidated on such day, due to the operation of daily limits or other rules of the exchange upon which that position is traded or otherwise, the settlement price on the most recent day on which the position could have been liquidated will be the basis for determining the market value of such position for such day. The Managing Owner may in its discretion (and only under extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited to, periods during which a settlement price of a futures contract is not available due to exchange limit orders or force majeure type events such as systems failure, natural or man-made disaster, act of God, armed conflict, act of terrorism, riot or labor disruption or any similar intervening circumstance) value any asset of the Master Fund pursuant to such other principles as the Managing Owner deems fair and equitable so long as such principles are consistent with normal industry standards. Interest earned on the Master Fund's brokerage account is accrued monthly. The amount of any distribution is a liability of the Master Fund from the day when the distribution is declared until it is paid.
The Fund invests substantially all of its assets in the Master Fund in a master-feeder structure. The Fund holds no investment assets other than Master Fund Limited Units. The Fund is the majority Master Fund Limited Unit owner and the Managing Owner holds a minority interest in the Master Fund. Each Share issued by the Fund correlates with the Master Fund Limited Unit issued by the Master Fund and held by the Fund.
Net asset value per Master Fund Limited Unit and Master Fund General Unit (collectively, "Master Fund Units") is the net asset value of the Master Fund divided by the number of outstanding Master Fund Units. Because there is a one-to-one correlation between Shares and the Master Fund Limited Units, the net asset value per Share and the net asset value per Master Fund Limited Unit are equal.
Critical Accounting Policies
The Fund's and Master Fund's critical accounting policies are as follows:
Preparation of the financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles requires the application of appropriate accounting rules and guidance, as well as the use of estimates, and requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenue and expense and related disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities during the reporting period of the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. Both the Fund's and the Master Fund's application of these policies involve judgments and actual results may differ from the estimates used.
The Master Fund holds a significant portion of its assets in futures contracts and United States Treasury Obligations, both of which are recorded on a trade date basis and at fair value in the consolidated financial statements, with changes in fair value reported in the consolidated statement of income and expenses.
The use of fair value to measure financial instruments, with related unrealized gains or losses recognized in earnings in each period is fundamental to the Fund's financial statements. The fair value of a financial instrument is the amount that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (the exit price).
In determining fair value of United States Treasury Obligations and commodity futures contracts, the Fund uses unadjusted quoted market prices in active markets. FASB fair value measurement and disclosure guidance requires a fair value hierarchy that prioritizes the inputs to valuation techniques used to measure fair value. The objective of a fair value measurement is to determine the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date (an exit price). The hierarchy gives the highest priority to unadjusted quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities (Level 1 measurements) and the lowest priority to unobservable inputs (Level 3 measurements). Assets and liabilities are classified in their entirety based on the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. See Note 4(c) within the financial statements in Item 1 for further information.
When market closing prices are not available, the Managing Owner may value an asset of the Master Fund pursuant to policies the Managing Owner has adopted, which are consistent with normal industry standards.
Realized gains (losses) and changes in unrealized gain (loss) on open positions are determined on a specific identification basis and recognized in the consolidated statement of income and expenses in the period in which the contract is closed or the changes occur, respectively.
Interest income on United States Treasury Obligations is recognized on an accrual basis when earned. Premiums and discounts are amortized or accreted over the life of the United States Treasury Obligations.
Market Risk
Trading in futures contracts involves the Master Fund entering into contractual commitments to purchase a particular commodity at a specified date and price. The market risk associated with the Master Fund's commitments to purchase commodities is limited to the gross or face amount of the contracts held.
The Master Fund's exposure to market risk is also influenced by a number of factors including the volatility of interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates, the liquidity of the markets in which the contracts are traded and the relationships among the contracts held. The inherent uncertainty of the Master Fund's trading as well as the development of drastic market occurrences could ultimately lead to a loss of all or substantially all of the investors' capital.
Credit Risk
When the Master Fund enters into futures contracts, the Master Fund will be exposed to credit risk that the counterparty to the contract will not meet its obligations. The counterparty for futures contracts traded on United States and on most foreign futures exchanges is the clearing house associated with the particular exchange. In general, clearing houses are backed by their corporate members who may be required to share in the financial burden resulting from the nonperformance by one of their members and, as such, should significantly reduce this credit risk. In cases where the clearing house is not backed by the clearing members (i.e., some foreign exchanges), it may be backed by a consortium of banks or other financial institutions. There can be no assurance that any counterparty, clearing member or clearinghouse will meet its obligations to the Master Fund.
The Commodity Broker, when acting as the Master Fund's futures commission merchant in accepting orders for the purchase or sale of domestic futures contracts, is required by CFTC regulations to separately account for and segregate as belonging to the Master Fund all assets of the Master Fund relating to domestic futures trading and the Commodity Broker is not allowed to commingle such assets with other assets of the Commodity Broker. In addition, CFTC regulations also require the Commodity Broker to hold in a secure account assets of the Master Fund related to foreign futures trading.
Liquidity
All of the Master Fund's source of capital is derived from the Fund through the Fund's offering of Shares to Authorized Participants. Authorized Participants may then subsequently redeem such Shares. The Master Fund in turn allocates its net assets to commodities trading. A significant portion of the net asset value is held in United States Treasury Obligations and cash, which is used as margin for the Master Fund's trading in commodities. The percentage that United States Treasury Obligations bear to the total net assets will vary from period to period as the market values of the Master Fund's commodity interests change. The balance of the net assets is held in the Master Fund's commodity trading account. Interest earned on the Master Fund's interest-bearing funds is paid to the Master Fund.
The Master Fund's commodity contracts may be subject to periods of illiquidity because of market conditions, regulatory considerations or for other reasons. For example, commodity exchanges generally have the ability to limit fluctuations in certain commodity futures contract prices during a single day by regulations referred to as "daily limits." During a single day, no trades may be executed at prices beyond the daily limit. Once the price of a particular futures contract for a particular commodity has increased or decreased by an amount equal to the daily limit, positions in the commodity can neither be taken nor liquidated unless the traders are willing to effect trades at or within the limit. Commodity futures prices have occasionally moved the daily limit for several consecutive days with little or no trading. Such market conditions could prevent the Master Fund from promptly liquidating its commodity futures positions.
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