There have been some big moves in one precious metal this week – you may have already noticed.
I’m not talking about gold – that’s been dull as ditchwater in comparison. I’m talking about gold’s even more precious cousin, platinum.
Earlier in the week the futures contracts rallied as much as $50 an ounce in single sessions. Why the big move? It’s all been speculation about the launch of a platinum-based exchange traded fund (ETF), raising concerns about already short supplies of the metal. But this is just speculation.
"The rumours about the platinum ETF have sparked interest in the ultra precious metal, but no definitive proof of such an ETF is apparent," said Kevin Kerr, editor of Global Resources Trader.
“While it's unclear how much investor interest a platinum ETF might attract,” says MarketWatch, “investors flocked to both gold and silver ETFs when they launched and why should platinum be much different?"
“Unlike gold and silver, platinum supplies have been running at a deficit for the past eight years, while demand has hit a new record every year for at least the last 10 years. "
“Traders expect an ETF to exacerbate that situation as it would require the removal of physical platinum from the market to back up the instrument.”
I’ll be keeping a close eye on developments (or otherwise) with the platinum ETF and will keep you up to date. There could be a great profit opportunity there – it could be the next big commodity play.
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