Palladium Prices Hit Record Highs, Testing Gold

Cassie Bastien

2/2/2018 9:11:20 AM

Daily Gold & Silver Market Report – 02/02/2018

The spot price of Palladium hit a record high of $1,138.00 per ounce last week. Due to its high demand in the auto industry and its ongoing supply deficit, Palladium has definitely been a top performer of the Precious Metals market. Used as a catalyst for diesel-based engines, Market Realist Editor Meera Shawn said, “The demand for diesel-fueled vehicles is rising over gasoline-fueled cars, which is giving some fundamental support to the metal.” What investors are noticing is that since 2017, the Gold-Palladium ratio has dropped substantially. Currently, it requires almost 1.2 ounces of Palladium to buy a single ounce of Gold, says Shawn.

Gold Prices to Rise on U.S. Jobs Data

Gold prices today once again pulled ahead as the U.S. dollar dropped again, “boosting the appeal of anti-fiat assets epitomized by the yellow metal,” DailyFX Senior Currency Strategist Ilya Spivak said. But it was upcoming news from the January U.S. jobs report that swayed investor's wallets to tangible commodities. The DailyFX reporter said, “While an improvement is expected, it may be read as bolstering a recently dominant narrative that sees robust global growth as a catalyst for top central banks to follow the Fed’s hawkish lead. That threatens to eat into the greenback’s yield advantage, sending it counter-intuitively lower and offering Gold a further boost.”

Over $100 Billion Lost in Global Cryptocurrency Market

Not only Bitcoin but Ethereum and Ripple also saw prices drastically drop early Friday morning. Why? CNBC Reporter Arjun Kharpal said it was “concerns over tighter regulation and worries that the Bitcoin price was manipulated on a major exchange.” According to CoinDesk's Bitcoin price index, the popular digital currency fell below $9,000 Thursday. Moreover, Kharpal said, “Other major [digital] coins including ethereum and ripple were down 22 percent and 32 percent respectively compared to a day ago at 6:30 a.m. London time Friday.” Nonetheless, it is the “spate” of negative news that has driven the cryptocurrencies down.

At 10:11 a.m. (ET), the APMEX Precious Metals spot prices were:

• Gold, $1,332.80 Down $14.70
• Silver, $16.85 Down $0.43
• Platinum, $995.20 Down $11.10
• Palladium, $1,047.50 Up $15.80

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