Even though the dollar is rebounding as traders react to new risk factors, commodity prices are holding firm. Flights to safety come and go, but the fundamentals still support this asset class.

The CRB total return commodity index has held the key 295 level — the 50-day moving average — throughout the last week and has been on a full-scale technical upswing since late September.

As a group, commodity prices are up 21% since bottoming out back in June. Even though there has been roughly a 5.6% correction from the post-QE2 spike early this month, the overall trend favors some real confidence here.

Softs ranging from sugar to grain are holding up especially well thanks to hints that the food trade is alive and well. But oil is unlikely to retrench too far from these levels — if anything, crude is probably going to be range-bound from here to the end of the year.

In general, the supply/demand data out there are simply too supportive for anyone to worry about a major sell-off in the commodities right now. There might not be much near-term upside, but this may be our base on everything from the miners — Vale S.A. (NYSE:VALE) and company — to the agri stocks like Cosan Ltd. (NYSE:CZZ).

And what is the top commodity of the year so far? As it turns out, the answer is silver. The silver ETFs PowerShares DB Silver (NYSE:DBS), iShares Silver Trust (NYSE:SLV), UBS E-TRACS CMCI Silver TR ETN (NYSE:USV) and the ETFS Physical Silver Shares (NYSE:SIVR) are all up 57% to 59% year to date:

Written By Tim Seymour From Emerging Money

Emerging Money provides insightful and timely information about the increasingly important world of Emerging Market investments. CNBC Emerging Markets Contributor Tim Seymour leads the team of Emerging Money to bring you cutting edge global news and analysis.

About Tim Seymour: Tim is a founder of Emerging Money. He is a founder and Managing Partner at Seygem Asset Management, and The Emerging Markets Contributor to CNBC. Seygem Asset Management focuses on investing throughout the global emerging markets asset class. With a view that emerging and developing economies will continue to outpace the economic growth and advancement of developed economies, Seymour has devoted a career to investing in the dominant markets of tomorrow, today. Seymour’s career has included significant experience in both alternative asset management (hedge funds) and capital markets, having launched two hedge funds, and built the largest Russian broker dealer in the USA. Seymour started his career at UBS, focusing on international credit (cash, swaps, forex) in a specialized hedge fund group (New York). Seymour completed the firm’s training program after graduating with an MBA in international finance from Fordham University. Seymour received his undergraduate degree at Georgetown University.

NYSE:DBS, SIVR, SLV, USV