any one have a good source for palladium maple leafs or bars. the sites i have got from in the past are sold out. thanks.
I checked some of my sources online, but seems there is a slight shortage of in stock Palladium right now. (from my sources anyway) I have access to some Pamp Suisse 1 oz Sealed Carded Bars locally. PM me if you are interested. Thanks, Michael
Here's an interesting bit I copied from a Sovereign Society investment newsletter: But its chief usage – by far – comes from industry and manufacturing. As such, GM – one of America’s largest manufacturers – is a relatively big player in the Palladium markets. In fact, according to the SEC filing, GM had roughly 104,000 troy ounces of the stuff just sitting around back in 2000. And this is where the story starts. You see, being GM, they were in a bit of a bind. They needed a little cash flow to open up some breathing room, and that Palladium stash started to draw the attention of the top brass. At market prices those days, that stockpile was worth over US$95 million dollars. A pretty penny back in the pre-bailout days. So they wanted to take advantage of that favorable price and sell off their huge pile of Palladium. But, of course, they had the stuff for a reason, and they’d eventually need to buy it back in the open markets. So on or around December 15th of 2000, they sold their Palladium to an investment bank while simultaneously entering into forward contracts under which they’d buy the Palladium back over the next six months. Go ahead and scratch your head. It’s not supposed to make sense just yet. Why were they selling it if they were just going to buy it back in the future? Were they just moving paper around? Absolutely not! You see, Palladium isn’t as popular as gold. As such, it’s not as "liquid" …meaning that the trading volume is much thinner, making it easier for a single player to move the whole market. And that’s exactly what GM’s 104,000-ounce sale did at the end of 2000: The Fix is In! GM’s Sale Moves the Market Into Steep Decline As you can see in the chart above, GM’s sale roughly coincided with an all-time high in the price for Palladium. What effect did selling more than 100,000 ounces have on the market? Just take a look. It fell off like a rock. GM made a killing by buying back their stock at a discount over the next few months. A brilliant business maneuver on their part. So What Does This Mean For Me? This should give you an idea of just how thin the trading volume can be in the “fringe metals” market for Palladium or even Platinum. And if a major industrial player – like GM, Ford or Chrysler – steps foot on the field, they can change the direction of the whole market in a single stroke. It’s worth noting that this filing was only released in 2009…when the actual trade took place almost a decade ago. So there’s a real lack of information when it comes to investing in markets like this. If you were bullish on Palladium before GM made the sale, then you could’ve been bushwhacked on your holdings and you wouldn’t even know why for almost a decade. So if you are investing in things like Palladium or Platinum, you should always do so with great caution and the expectation that much of the action will be driven by what goes on behind closed doors. However, on the flip side, this lesson is a powerful weapon. Major industrial players like GM and Chrysler – with their massive hoards of precious metals – are now facing potential bankruptcy and liquidation. And you’ve just seen what happens when a player like that dumps their holdings on the open exchange. So if you know a bankruptcy is coming, and you’re confident in your information, a short position on Palladium could end up being a real windfall. Also, as I mentioned above, being familiar with the uses of these metals could give you an added edge. We know that Palladium is considered to be a crucial element in the cold fusion process, for example. So if some scientist has that “Eureka” moment and cold fusion becomes the wave of the future, palladium could soar. And knowing this crucial bit could get you in at the ground floor. Anyway you slice it, Palladium can be a dangerous market. As you can see, the information doesn’t always make the rounds, and that can make a market pretty danged inefficient. But, if you know who moves your market…and you know what you’re investing in (for example knowing that a Chrysler bankruptcy could drive Palladium prices down) then you’re already a cut above the rest. And often that’s all it takes.
thanx CB great post ...with the BRIC countries on a infrastructure building bonanza will be bullish on plat & pal [edit] Other uses In the laboratory, platinum wire is used for electrodes; platinum pans are used in thermogravimetric analysis. Platinum is used as an alloying agent for various metal products, including fine wires, noncorrosive laboratory containers, medical instruments, dental prostheses, electrical contacts, and thermocouples. Platinum-cobalt, an alloy comprised of roughly 3 parts platinum and 1 part cobalt, is used to make extremely strong permanent magnets.[16] "Platinum-based anodes are used in ships, pipelines, and steel piers"!!!!!
I have difficulty accepting GM's massive sell-off played a major role in the crash of palladium price. GM (if it is true) is just part of the picture. Annual palladium production is at somewhat 6 million ounces / annum. I don't see how a mere 102,000 oz hoarding and sell off can severely upset the price. Rather, the biggest factor for the huge upset with palladium prices is because of a hiccup with the Russian export politics. I'm sure Scottishmoney can confirm this. Most of the world's palladium comes from Russia - I believe it's still around 60% at the moment and the rest coming from South Africa at 30%. The ratio was worse in the past. I maybe a few percent off but it is that high. It is indeed true that when word got out that Russia would not be exporting palladium, the automobile industry panicked and hoarded as much as they could. However I don't believe it was GM that made the loss. Rather it was Ford that lost a billion dollars and wrote it off. I want to know who wrote such awful newsletter.
Wikipedia does a reasonably good job in illustrating what happened in the past: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palladium I cannot find any article other than the quoted paste in this thread that says that GM made that much loss on buying palladium. This "investment" newsletter does not seem credible to me if you get the name of companies mixed up.
