by Matt Insley, Daily Reckoning,

“Police in one New Jersey city are warning about a rise in catalytic converter thefts in vehicles at train stations, schools and other areas” New York’s Fox 5reports.
Byron King, our globetrotting geologist, passed the story along earlier this week — it points to an ongoing trend among thieves: forget gold, steal platinum!
Today we’ll take a look at why both metals may fall short to a dark horse in the precious metal race. And no, I’m not talking about silver…
“The thieves are targeting larger vehicles” the news report continues “especially SUVs like the Jeep Cherokee. Police say that’s because the converters are larger and contain more platinum, which is currently valued on the open market at approximately $1,500 per ounce. They are also easier to crawl under to get to the converters.”
Catalytic converters contain a substantial amount of platinum — anywhere from $100-400 bucks worth. When pollutant-filled exhaust from your car’s engine passes through a platinum-lined catalytic converter, the final emitted product is less harmful to the environment.
So you see, even with a general pullback in metal prices, thieves are still hot on the trail of exhaust pipe components. If metal prices are down, no one told these thieves!
But a closer look at the details and you’ll realize that these street-thugs may be on to something. Fact is, the price of platinum is slightly higher than it was this time last year — that’s a far cry from the fallout in the gold and silver market.
More important, platinum isn’t near as promising as the metal we’ll cover today…
What’s the Most Promising Precious Metal?
Palladium, much like platinum is also a catalyst metal. Both metals are used as a catalyst for light duty vehicles that run on gasoline. But more and more palladium is moving into the market for heavy duty vehicles that run on diesel.
Palladium in particular is the best performing metal by far, year over year. And the reason is simple:

Industrial use for gold, silver, platinum and palladium

Considering gold, silver, platinum and palladium, it’s clear that the most “industrial” metal is palladium. Over 91% of palladium goes into industrial processes, namely catalysts like catalytic converters.
Indeed, it’s no wonder when you look at the past year’s performance — what, with the divergence of precious metals from the S&P — that an industrial metal like palladium would be the highest gainer in the group. Palladium prices are up over 21% year over year — unlike the 15% drop for gold or the 24% drop for silver (platinum is holding on to a 1% gain.)
Today, instead of creeping into the seedy underbelly of the black market through auto-catalyst thievery, there is a way that you and I can play this palladium trend on the up and up.


Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,

Post a Comment

Your email is never published nor shared. Required fields are marked *

*
*

Subscribe without commenting