Sept. 16, 2011, 12:00 a.m. EDT
Gold, platinum ratio shifts, hints at wider change
By Myra P. Saefong, MarketWatch
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Platinum prices have comfortably traded much higher than gold for the bulk of the last 20 years or so, but that relationship is starting to change and may signal a new order of value in the precious metals.
“A gold price higher than platinum is very unusual since the mid-1990s, when platinum’s use in catalytic converters really took off for diesel engines,” said Adrian Ash, head of research at BullionVault.com.
“Just like the under-performance of gold-mining equity in 2011, the low gold/platinum ratio points to economic weakness worldwide,” he said, adding that the ratio last broke below parity during the post-Lehman Brothers slump in 2008.
Prices for the two metals have been trading fairly close to each other over the last couple of months, with gold surpassing the price of its rival a few times. That’s a far cry from about five years ago, when platinum was worth about twice as much as gold.
On Thursday, investors had to spend more to buy gold than platinum. The December futures contract for gold settled with a price of $1,781.40 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange, while October platinum finished at $1,780.60 an ounce.
Full article: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/gold-platinum-ratio-shifts-hints-at-wider-change-2011-09-16?link=MW_story_popular
Gold is $1,581/oz today. When it hits $2,000, it will be up 26.5%. Let's see how long that takes. - De 3/11/2013 - ANSWER: 7 Years, 5 Months
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