Gold is approaching its all time high while silver made another 30 year high.  So what’s with platinum?  January platinum settled down $14.90 on the day at $1713.60.  It hasn’t closed above the $1730 level since November 10.  Since then it has been crunch time for platinum.  Either it is going to follow gold and silver higher or higher interest rates and a stronger dollar are going to pull gold and silver down a bit.  In the mean time platinum is still the laggard of the precious metals. 

We’ll be watching the ten year and thirty year Treasuries. If the downward price trend continues there will come a tipping point vis-à-vis the precious metals.  The higher interest rates will attract investment capital out of commodities.  That’s a long term development.  For the short term the PMs are hot.  Gold is too close to an all time high to buy it. Ditto silver. Platinum is lagging though.  I am waiting for a more substantial correction but risk tolerant players could buy platinum at these levels and feel good about it.

Jan platinum $1,713.60, down $14.90; Range $1,711.40-$1,737.50

Mar palladium $751.40, down $18.70; Range $751.00-$767.05

Feb gold $1,416.10, up $9.90; Range $1,409.80-$1,422.40

Mar silver $29.705, up 46.4 cents; Range $29.495-$30.160