Palladium Continues To Shine

Palladium, platinum's undervalued cousin, continues its run to above $400. There is roughly 10-14 thousand metric tones of palladium ever mined compared to 8-12 thousand for platinum and 150-160 thousand for gold. The demand picture of both platinum and palladium is of course very different than that of gold which has been the main monetary metal along with silver for thousands of years. Platinum and palladium, which have existed in ancient South American civilizations, have been discovered in the early 1800s. They were not been valued that much in the earlier days. They have been used to make "silverware". Later on they were used in medical devices which is one of the major uses still. Most people know them in the context of their use in car catalytic converters to clean up exhaust fumes and reduce emissions. This has been and is what most investors have been concentrating on and for a good reason considering all the legal and political changes that have been going on due to global warming talks. Jewelry is an increasingly important demand factor as well. However, the main demand recently is the fact that the USD and paper money as well as paper assets are going down in value and will go down a lot more. We might even see the end of paper money in the next decade or two at the latest at least in terms of acceptability as an investment or store of value as the whole world is about to experience the Weimar Republic. These very rare precious metals are both great investments as more and more investment demand comes into the market. Given their similar rarity and very similar looks and chemical properties, I would recommend palladium over platinum. Of course palladium will be the more volatile metal, so this is not for the faint of heart and is a long term investment due to the volatility.

One major surprise demand that many people have not paid any attention to will come from alternative energy. These metals are an integral part of fuel cells and any other type of catalytic use, so as these technologies improve and become more liable the demand for these metals will skyrocket. Like always, I recommend you get your hands on a whole bunch of physical metal and not paper receipts that could easily become worthless as the gold scam of the US Federal Reserve and Comex comes to daylight. I repeat: Physical metals is the way to go.