Platinum continues to look over its shoulder for direction from gold, silver, equities and the dollar. The bulls need some positive fireworks in equities or a sharp slide in the dollar to forge anything more than a muted rally. Ultimately the direction of platinum will be dictated by the direction of gold.

January platinum has been holding its value fairly well the past three weeks between $1660 and $1730. I get the sense that gold still has more downside correcting to do from its all-time-high making rally. It will affect platinum; it just remains to be seen how much.

Jan platinum $1,697.00, up $21.90; Range $1,678.00-$1,710.30

Dec palladium $608.80, up $17.70; Range $589.95-$620.00

Dec gold $1,338.90, up $13.80; Range $1,329.30-$1,349.50

Dec silver $23.544, up 42.6 cents; Range $23.300-$23.855