Wow, how can so much change in just six months?! Following a disappointing 2013 where many traders lost faith in precious metals in particular gold, so far in 2014 we have seen a strong and positive come back.
The commodities market have outpaced both the S&P index by nearly 5% and the treasury bonds.
Palladium has really held its own being 18% up so far this year and was also the single metal to perform well in 2013.
Gold despite a weak performance last year following a stronger dollar and strengthening global position has reignited its safe haven status as various geo political tensions come to the boil.
This is why we advocate everyone holding a small amount of gold in their portfolio, to act as the ultimate insurance against market turmoil and geo political risks.
The Platinum Group Metals which include platinum and palladium have been the talk of the town for a while now. Both metals are suffering supply constraints as platinum struggles to regain strength the devastating 5 month strike in South Africa, and palladium is also in the midst of supply issues as Russia the world’s largest producer of palladium continues with forced trade sanctions following its handling of the Ukraine unrest.
Overall, these factors all feed the PGM prices and it is unlikely we will see a decrease in platinum or palladium price any time soon.
Especially as both metals role is so important for the production of catalytic converters for cars news of supply constraints sets fear in many as US car sales surged to 16.9 million in June alone, an increase of nearly 10% year on year figures suggest.