Summertime’s here. During my financial reading this weekend I found that professional investors are still on the sidelines waiting to see what everyone else is going to do. They don’t want to be equity buyers with so much uncertainty in the air. We live in interesting times.

Two of my friends bought some palladium in their precious metals pool accounts. They say they have their long term gold and silver holdings in place and they want exposure to other metals for diversification. If prices come down or they lose money on the trades they won’t be wiped out, they’ll live to fight another day. They are long term holders of precious metals as an insurance policy against financial catastrophe.

I like and respect those guys but they don’t have the trader mentality. For example it is hard for a trader to recommend buying gold now because it is too close to record high prices. Buying at a low price is essential even and especially when trying to catch large price adjustments that can take several years to play out. If platinum prices go down precipitously as I suspect there will eventually be the kind of buying opportunity that presets itself once every decade or so. If 2008 was just a rehearsal (a mighty big if) we have to take the position that if prices go flying right out of here to the upside we’ll miss the market and we can live with that. We’ll live to fight another day too.

Platinum closed today at $1563.40 up $28.40 on the day and looks ready to charge through resistance just below $1580. Naturally I’m skeptical of this rally just as I am skeptical of the American recovery. I don’t want to be. I want the economy to improve, for equities to rise and for the scent of optimism to waft in through the open windows. I would like nothing more than to do a short term trade in platinum at higher prices as it moves upward in synch with the stock market. But for a long term buy and hold the time is not yet nigh.

July platinum:  $1,563.40, up $28.40; Range $1,538.90-$1,567.70

September palladium:  $462.60, up $14.05; Range $451.25-$463.10

Meanwhile: U.S. Identifies Vast Mineral Riches in Afghanistan

The United States has discovered nearly $1 trillion in untapped mineral deposits in Afghanistan, far beyond any previously known reserves and enough to fundamentally alter the Afghan economy and perhaps the Afghan war itself, according to senior American government officials.