Today we saw disaster driven liquidation across the board in stocks and commodities as Japan's crisis saw traders lower their expectations for global car demand. This is the kind of thing it could take a few months to recover from, possibly longer.

April platinum settled $46.70 lower at $1705.60. The next downside support levels are $1672 then $1639. I expect a technical bounce above $1710 with prolonged consolidation around that level. That is if it doesn’t sink lower still.

Japanese auto makers suspended production in the wake of a massive natural disaster. Japan is now facing a potential nuclear meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi power generation facility, where further explosions were reported Tuesday.

I think the selloff is a little overdone. Platinum and palladium are tiny sideshows compared to just about everything else which took a hit today e.g. soybeans, corn, sugar, crude oil, gold, silver, take your pick.

It will take some time for the dust to settle. While Japan isn’t the whole world, traders now think car demand will be substantially subdued as Japan will be slow to recover from the damage, weighing on the global economic recovery.

Apr platinum $1,705.60, down $46.70; Range $1,692.20-$1,758.20
Jun palladium $704.90, down $43.30; Range $689.20-$749.00
Apr gold $1,392.80, down $32.10; Range $1,380.70-$1,429.00
May silver $34.117, down $1.723; Range $33.565-$35.955