DBE vs DBO

DBEBInvesco DB Energy Fund

DBOBInvesco DB Oil Fund

In short

DBE Most energy ETFs buy the companies. DBE buys the barrels: a basket of energy futures tracking an Invesco commodity index, running since 2007.

DBO Oil exposure with a roll rule. DBO tracks a WTI crude futures index whose Optimum Yield design shops across contract months instead of camping in the front month, and it has run that way since 2007.

Stated mandate

DBE The fund seeks to follow both increases and decreases in the DBIQ Optimum Yield Energy Index Excess Return.

DBO The fund seeks to track positive or negative changes in the level of the DBIQ Optimum Yield Crude Oil Index Excess Return.

Why people hold it

• DBE Holds energy futures tracking the DBIQ Optimum Yield Energy Index Excess Return, so it follows fuel prices themselves rather than oil-company earnings, buybacks or balance sheets.invesco.com
• Live since 2007, which puts multiple full commodity cycles behind it. That kind of run time is uncommon among futures-based funds.
• At 0.79% it sits right at the median for its energy peer group, and the fund handles the futures contracts, rolls and collateral you would otherwise manage yourself.

• DBO The index picks the contract month its rules score as most favorable rather than automatically buying the nearest one, a design built to soften the drag of an upward-sloping futures curve.invesco.com
• Charges 0.81% a year, meaningfully below the median for energy-futures funds in its group.
• Launched in 2007 and traded through multiple oil booms and busts, it sits in the upper half of a small, well-known peer group.

Worth knowing

• DBE It is structured as a partnership, so tax time brings a Schedule K-1 instead of the usual 1099. Worth knowing before one shows up in the mail.invesco.com
• Futures plumbing costs more than owning stocks. Equity-based energy peers like XES (0.35%) and MLPX (0.45%) charge well under half of DBE's 0.79%.
• A single-commodity-complex bet that follows energy futures both up and down, with no company dividends underneath. Our overall read places it in the lower half of its energy cohort.

• DBO It's a commodity pool, so tax paperwork follows partnership rules rather than ordinary fund reporting. Peer OILK charges 0.69% and is built to skip that step.
• You own a futures index, not a barrel. Results track the DBIQ Optimum Yield Crude Oil Index Excess Return and can diverge from headline spot crude.
• One commodity, one curve. There are no operating businesses underneath to cushion a move in crude, and payouts come on an annual or semiannual schedule.

Full DBE profile⁠

Full DBO profile⁠