By Mark Jewell
AP Personal Finance Writer
BOSTON (AP) — Move over gold and make way for platinum and palladium. Investors are taking a shine to these lesser-known precious metals as their prices rise.
But do these newly minted fans understand that platinum and palladium won’t offer the disaster-scenario protection that gold can bring to an investment portfolio?
It’s an important consideration for investors who may be dazzled by recent rallies for both metals. Platinum prices are up about 40 percent over the past 12 months, while palladium has more than doubled.
The chief uses for both metals are industrial. That’s why their frequently volatile prices are driven more by demand for automobiles and electronics than fear about the economy and currencies.
And, unlike with gold, there are relatively few avenues to invest in platinum and palladium. Coins aren’t as common as with gold, nor are stocks of companies mining the metals.
Now, another avenue has opened up: exchange-traded funds, holding a group of securities or commodities that can be traded like stocks, unlike mutual funds whose shares are priced once a day.
ETFS Physical Platinum Shares (PPLT) and ETFS Physical Palladium Shares (PALL) are the first U.S. ETFs holding the metals. They give investors stakes in platinum- and palladium-stocked vaults in London and Switzerland.
Investors have poured in more than $900 million since their January launches. It’s a fast start for the provider London-based ETF Securities, which says most of the surge is coming from big institutional investors.
But a fair share is also flowing from small investors — even if the decision on whether and when to get in so complex it might amount to speculation.
“You could wager that many people who bought palladium don’t even understand the primary uses for it,” cautions Paul Justice, who covers commodity ETFs for investment researcher Morningstar Inc.
The surge of interest in platinum and palladium comes as gold’s recent luster dulls a bit. At around $1,160 an ounce, gold prices are still near the record $1,227.50 they hit in December. But gold’s performance so far this year has been tame after last year’s 24 percent price surge.
It’s easy to understand gold’s recent draw as a hedge against economic hard times and uncertainty. Lately, gold has risen on speculation that growing federal debt and the nascent economic recovery will send so much money coursing through the system that it eventually triggers inflation.
And if the dollar weakens on fears about the government’s ability to manage its debts, gold could keep its value and provide a backstop.
All those jitters have fueled the notion that a well-diversified portfolio needs a sizable buffer against shocks like the 2008 meltdown. Typically, that means keeping anywhere from 5 percent to as much as 25 percent in stock and bond alternatives, like precious metals and other commodities, or real estate.
While gold may fit that bill, platinum and palladium don’t. Some key differences:
—USES AND DEMAND: While it’s common in jewelry, gold has relatively few industrial uses. Lately, the key demand driver has been investor sentiment about inflation and currency risks. When fear is high, gold prices typically are too.
But platinum and palladium prices tend to move in synch with the global economy, since they’re driven by industrial demand for the metals. Both are used in catalytic converters that clean automobile emissions. Platinum is also used to coat computer hard-disk drives, and to make liquid crystal displays for TVs and computers. Palladium is used in other electronics, such as semiconductors. And both are used in jewelry and dentistry.
With the economy rebounding, demand for both metals is rising. Think of China, where a growing middle class is demanding more cars.
—SUPPLY AND SPECULATION: You’ve also got to understand what’s driving supplies of these rare metals. For example, in South Africa — a key source of both metals — a production disruption in early 2008 drove prices of both up sharply even though the global economy was sinking.
Also, prices can be wildly unpredictable, since speculators moving rapidly in and out of the metals markets sometimes overwhelm supply-and-demand fundamentals.
—PRICE MOVEMENTS: To see how gold is out of synch with platinum and palladium, consider how their prices have moved this year. The global economic rebound has put downward pressure on gold prices. But they’ve stayed relatively stable because of an opposing force: currency fears related to Greece’s fiscal mess. Meanwhile, the economic turnaround has lifted platinum and palladium. Platinum is up about 15 percent this year to $1,730 an ounce. Palladium is up 30 percent this year at a two-year high around $550 an ounce.
The lesson? If you’re considering platinum and palladium to balance out a portfolio overloaded with stocks, understand that those metals won’t offer the protection that gold might when everything else is down. Their prices may even move in tandem with the stock market, so their benefit as portfolio diversifiers is dubious.
“It’s a way to speculate,” Justice says. “Be careful, and don’t go into these ETFs unless you know platinum and palladium backward and forwards.”
