Palladium, used mostly in catalytic converters in petrol engines, is 2017's best-performing commodity with a 30% gain. Mine production has fallen behind demand every year since 2012, and stockpiles appear to be running low.
But the rally could run out of puff soon, reckons Stephanie Yang in Barron's. Demand is likely to slip now that car sales are softening in both China and the US; year-on-year light vehicle sales are down 2% in 2017 so far. Moreover, speculators have piled into the small market of late, which increases the scope for a sharp reversal once bullishness fades.
Subscribe to MoneyWeek
Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE
Sign up to Money Morning
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter
-
Investors can’t ignore the private equity trendPrivate markets have been one of the best investments around for the past two decades. Now, individual investors can join the party
-
Will Poland’s new president stifle its stock market’s winning streak?Poland’s stock market has outperformed many of its European peers, but with a newly-elected populist President at odds with a Liberal government, what lies ahead?
-
What would the greatest mathematician of the Middle Ages say about gold today?Sponsored Italian mathematician Fibonacci is most famous for a curious sequence of numbers. Continuing his series on technical analysis, Dominic Frisby explains what these numbers are, and what they can tell us about gold’s next move.
-
How moving averages can reveal trades worth betting on – and ones to avoidSponsored Dominic Frisby looks in more depth at how moving averages can help you catch turning points in markets and help you decide which trades are worth pursuing.
-
This chart pattern could be extraordinarily bullish for goldCharts The mother of all patterns is developing in the gold charts, says Dominic Frisby. And if everything plays out well, gold could hit a price that investors could retire on.
-
Believe it or not, this market is a “buy”Charts With the world in the state it’s in and the market so volatile, buying stocks right now might go against all your instincts. But that’s just what you should be doing, says Dominic Frisby. Here, he explains why.
-
Chart of the week: avocados and bitcoin are in syncCharts An amusing new spurious correlation has been spotted between the price of bitcoin and Mexican Hass avocados. In reality, of course, they have nothing to do with each other beyond “superficial price action”.
-
Chart of the week: Kuwait's stockmarket is ready for take-offCharts Kuwait's stockmarket is due to be promoted from “frontier” status to an emerging market by index provider MSCI next June. That should entice almost $10bn of global investors’ cash into the country.
-
Chart of the week: US stocks outrun profitsCharts The US stockmarket has become totally detached from underlying profits of its constituent companies over the past three years.
-
Chart of the week: Dr Copper diagnoses an ailing economyCharts The price of copper has slipped by a fifth this year and is now at a near-two-year low of around $5,600 a tonne.
