Written by Goldfinger
Platinum and Palladium are very important metals.
- Platinum is one of the rarest metal (see previous post here), and is used in in catalytic converters, laboratory equipment, electrical contacts and electrodes, certain thermometers, dentistry equipment, and jewelry.
- Palladium is part of the platinum group of metals – and is the least dense with the lowest melting point. It is also rare, and many times when discussing platinum, we are unwittingly discussing palladium too. 50% of its production is used in catalytic converters, while the remaining is used in electronics, dentistry, medicine, hydrogen purification, chemical applications, and groundwater treatment.
However, neither platinum or palladium are as easy to trade as silver and gold. Gold and silver stocks and miners are easy to find and are traded on the major stock exchanges. I know only two pure play platinum or palladium miners listed on the major US stock exchanges. PAL-North American Palladium and SWC-Stillwater Mining.
They are both up year to date. Both metals have ETF’s you can buy. PALL-ETFS Physical Palladium Shares and PPLT-ETFS Physical Platinum Shares.
There are two other ways to trade platinum or palladium.
- PGM-iPath Dow Jones Platinum ETF and
- PTM-E-Tracs USB Bloomberg Commodity ETN.
Note that PTM is an Exchange Traded Note (ETN), not an Exchange Traded Fund (ETF). ETN’s are not ETF’s – and due diligence is required before investing.
The following graph is a composite of the Platinum and Palladium plays vs gold (GLD) and silver (SLV) ETF’s.
Based on their performance in 2012, both platinum and palladium deserves a place in your portfolio.
