Platinum futures have slumped to around $840 an ounce, a near-ten-year low. The metal is used largely for catalytic converters in diesel engines. The diesel emissions scandal at VW, in addition to the potential damage to car makers from a trade war, has raised fears of a sharp fall in demand.
But the gloom looks overdone, says Myra P Saefong on MarketWatch. Platinum now costs less than gold, despite being rarer; it is also generally pricier than palladium, but last September was trading lower for the first time since 2001.
Wealthier emerging-market consumers and stricter pollution controls should continue to stoke demand for cars and converters, while diesel engines are more fuel-efficient than petrol ones.
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
Viewpoint
"It is well known that productivity, measured by output per hour, is about a fifth below where it should be on the basis of past trends, and that productivity is about a third higher in Germany, France and the US. Less well known is the size of the productivity gap within Britain. The productivity gap between the top and bottom 10% of performers in Britain is 80% larger than in competitor countries and, as importantly, that gap between the best and the worst has increased by two to three times since the crisis. As [Andrew Haldane, the Bank of England's chief economist, puts] it: A long... tail of stationary companies explains why the UK has a one-third productivity gap with its international competitors. And that same tail is also an important reason why the UK has a one-fifth productivity gap relative to the past.' The long tail is wagging the low productivity dog."
David Smith, The Times
-
Water companies blocked from using customer money to pay “undeserved” bonusesThe regulator has blocked three water companies from using billpayer money to pay £1.5 million in exec bonuses
-
Will the Bitcoin price hit $100,000?With Bitcoin prices trading just below $100,000, we explore whether the cryptocurrency can hit the milestone.
-
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.
