Jennifer Kary | Posted on August 17, 2022 |

The Global Precious Metals MMI (Monthly MetalMiner Index) fell a modest 0.10% this past month. As a whole, global precious metal prices continue to trade sideways. That said, there are […]

Filed under: Metal Prices, Metal Pricing, Non-ferrous Metals, Precious Metals

Lisa Reisman | Posted on July 18, 2022 |

The Global Precious Metals MMI dropped by 3.77% from last month. Leading the trend were silver and platinum, which suffered the most significant drops. Both gold and silver prices appear […]

Filed under: Macroeconomics, Metal Prices

Lisa Reisman | Posted on June 23, 2022 |

The Global Precious Metals MMI dropped by nearly 3% this month. Palladium dropped the most, though silver also looked comparatively weak. Gold Prices Trends: Bullish or Bearish? Gold has started […]

Filed under: Macroeconomics, Metal Prices, Precious Metals

Christopher Rivituso | Posted on May 19, 2022 |

The United Kingdom recently imposed a 35% duty on all platinum and palladium imports from Russia and Belarus. This move is part of a new package of sanctions on the […]

Filed under: Global Trade, Precious Metals

Lisa Reisman | Posted on May 12, 2022 |

The Global Precious Monthly Metals Index (MMI) fell by 0.9% for this month’s index reading, largely due to falling silver prices. Did you know that MetalMiner forecasts for several precious metals in […]

Filed under: Metal Prices, Precious Metals

Lisa Reisman | Posted on February 14, 2022 |

The Global Precious Monthly Metals Index (MMI) rose by 6.8% for this month’s reading. This represents the second month in a row of precious metals inswz increases. Last month the index […]

Filed under: Automotive, Macroeconomics, Precious Metals

Our Global Precious Metals MMI took a slight step backward this September, coming in at a value of 85 — a 4.5% drop from the previous month’s 89.

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However, the latter half of the summer has been kind to the gold, silver, platinum and palladium prices we track, with the past three months representing the highest MMI values of the entire calendar year.

All four precious categories tracked by the MetalMiner IndX softened over the month of August for our September 1 reading, contributing to the overall 4-point decline.

In a forthcoming MetalMiner analysis, my colleague Stuart Burns will share his findings from interviewing Trevor Raymond, director of research at the World Platinum Investment Council. The main takeaway? That the platinum market is like a “ticking time bomb.”

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Essentially, the global platinum market has been in deficit for five years running, with mine strikes and shortfalls leading the way into a supply-side headache for the industry. Demand, meanwhile, appears robust, according to WPIC’s data and quarterly reports, led by developments on the heels of Volkswagen‘s diesel scandal, China and India’s jewelry desires, and a potentially interesting knock-on effect from rising oil prices.

However, the investment community will likely be the prime driver of PGM price movements in the future; but whether it’s a chicken-and-egg situation — rising prices spurring investment activity, or vice versa — remains to be seen.

According to a recent release by Sprott Asset Management, “August marked the fourth successive month that gold prices rose in contrast to the dollar — something that has not occurred since metal peaked five years ago amidst the global financial crisis.

Demand is now at a four-year high with metal displaying one of its best yearly performances since the 1970s. Due to the rise of negative interest rates and a more volatile market, gold is looking like a safe bet for many investors,” right alongside platinum, it would seem; with a secondary positive aspect of the latter being its industrial element.

“As a result of sluggish global economic growth, central banks are pushing interest rates into negative territory, which is positive for gold,” according to Senior Portfolio Manager Paul Wong, along with the Sprott Asset Management precious metals team. “We are likely in the early stages of the current gold bull market, driven by a global push to a negative interest rate policy, currency volatility and a high level of cross-asset class correlation.”

My colleague and our in-house metals procurement specialist and analyst, Raul de Frutos, agrees — see his most recent report on the gold market.

Filed under: Precious Metals, Premium

After hitting a new all-time low last month, the monthly Global Precious Metals MMI® bounced back up a bit to catch its breath, and registered a value of 76 in September, an increase of 2.7% from 74 in August.

Yesterday, Reuters reported that spot gold prices lost more ground, after drifting downward the past several days.

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The precious metal was “hurt by a stronger dollar and as investors awaited a key US jobs report to gauge the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike” – however, the global stock market [expletive]-show that has been rocking investor confidence lately may just be the only thing the Fed needs to go through with the hike.

(Besides, ADP‘s private-sector jobs report, released this past Wednesday, betrays severe underperformance – fewer than 200,000 jobs have been added in 6 of the last 8 months, as mentioned here.)

The gold price points from each of the 4 global markets we track (the US, China, Japan and India) all rose over the past month, and along with platinum increases in Japan, China and the US, were the main drivers of the wholesale increase in the Global Precious Metals MMI®. That’s likely due to the fact that equities markets have been doing so poorly – no, heinously – from China to the Dow.

So, on the face of it, gold was a factor in the global precious index’s rise…but let’s turn attention to the historical lows of palladium.

Palladium, platinum’s cheaper and less scarce cousin, hit another bottom. The US price of palladium bars tracked on the MetalMiner IndX℠ clocked in at $600 per ounce (log in or join as a MetalMiner member at the bottom of this article to get full pricing to all the precious metals we track) – the lowest since November 2012.

As my colleague Jeff Yoders wrote recently, although US auto markets appear robust at the moment, there is uncertainty in China and correspondingly lower auto sales there. Chinese auto sales fell by 7.10% in July 2015 compared to July 2014, the largest fall since February 2013.

Free Download: Compare Price Trends With the August MMI Report

Which won’t bode too well for catalytic converter sales, hence for PGM demand – and prices.

Filed under: Metal Prices, MetalMiner IndX, Precious Metals, Premium

As the base metal and ferrous metal complexes we cover continue to take a bruising, the peripheral hits have struck our precious metals price index as well, with PGMs platinum and palladium leading the charge downward.

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In fact, the monthly Global Precious Metals MMI® registered a value of 74 in August, a decrease of 7.5% from 80 in July – thereby hitting a new all-time low. Every single metal price point for gold, silver, platinum and palladium dropped across all geographies we track, including the US, China, India and Japan.

This index has never seen the 70s before, and it’s not having a really nice day as they used to say in the ’70s (at least not for investors).

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According to my colleague Raul de Frutos, writing at the end of July, palladium prices fell as much as 14% during that month:

Ironically, palladium was the best performer among precious metals until just about a year ago when it started to fall, Raul wrote. So far, year-to-date, palladium has tanked 32% with the most precipitous drop showing over the past two months. So what’s been driving the price meltdown?

Free Download: Compare with Last Month’s Trends Analysis

Due to its role in gas-powered car engines, palladium is more exposed to the Chinese and US automotive markets than to European markets. The slowdown of the Chinese automotive market over the past few months may be Public Enemy No. 1 as far as a driver of palladium’s price decline.

Free Download: Compare With the July MMI Report

Just a couple days ago, BMW and Toyota Motor Corp. publicly voiced their concerns over China’s car market, saying that the days of double-digit growth are likely over, as reported by Bloomberg. Both companies are concerned about their profits getting dinged, and are therefore cutting back production based on low demand numbers – BMW, for example, said earlier this week that it had cut production in China by 16,000 cars so far this year.

South African mines, producers of 70% of the world’s supply, have been reporting production levels for platinum above those during the 5-month strike in 2014, as Raul has pointed out in his previous coverage. Combined with the lollygagging of the Chinese auto sector, looks as though platinum prices may not see a huge rebound for some time as well.

Remember, the strength of the US dollar plays a big role in the movement of this index. The dollar-to-euro exchange rate has been listed as the No. 1 driver of all the base metals in our latest, newly revamped monthly buying outlook, and it’s safe to say that’s no exception for gold and silver movement – when the dollar is strong, investors tend to leave gold behind as a safe haven a little more often.

The Global Precious Metals MMI® collects and weights 14 global precious metal price points to provide a unique view into precious metal price trends over a 30-day period. For more information on the Global Precious Metals MMI®, how it’s calculated or how your company can use the index, please drop us a note at: info (at) agmetalminer (dot) com.

Filed under: Metal Prices, MetalMiner IndX, Precious Metals, Premium

It’s safe to say that the Greece and China crises that have hit the global economy are going to be the biggest issues to watch as far as the precious metals markets – and prices – are concerned.

Over the past month, the monthly Global Precious Metals MMI® fell 4.8% from 84 in June, and it may have further to fall before July is out.

* Read what we said in last month’s analysis.

One may think that the Chinese equity market crash may help investors flock to gold as a safe haven – but not so fast.

A leading precious metals consultancy called Metals Focus, which interestingly, according to this article, has booted GFMS as the primary supplier of statistical data to the World Gold Council, points out that due to China being a gambling culture, “reckons there is more the likelihood that weak equity prices may end up adversely affecting physical gold demand. Losses generated by the impact of the stock market crash may well hit jewellery and gold artefact purchases, while the scale of the fall is such that potential investors nursing big losses may well not have the liquidity to move back into gold.”

Which would likely mean that gold prices won’t see a whole lot of support. As my colleague Raul de Frutos has noted around the office water-cooler recently, “gold’s safe haven thesis” is not really playing out, probably because of a strong dollar.

The palladium prices from all three global markets we track on our IndX (the US, China and Japan) fell by double digits over the past month. Platinum prices also haven’t looked so hot, looking at 6-year lows, mainly driven by weakness across other commodities and industrial metals.

So what to watch in palladium and PGM markets in general?

For all the exact prices we track – and where they ended up this month – log in or register below!

Filed under: Metal Prices, MetalMiner IndX, Precious Metals, Premium

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