August 8, 2011 was a historic day. With the background of a crashing stock market, the price of gold closed at $1753 an ounce, up $56 for the day. For comparison, platinum closed at $1714 an ounce, up a modest $2 for the day. An ounce of gold is now worth more than an ounce of platinum. This is despite the fact that platinum is much rarer than gold. The US downgrade by Standard and Poor's contributed to the frenzy. The big question is why is there not a similar platinum mania?
For centuries gold has been used as money, whereas platinum is a johnny-come-lately. But worldwide mints are producing platinum bullion in quantities much less than the gold counterparts. The demand, however seems to be for gold.
In my view, this inversion of the gold and platinum prices should not last. Should we short gold to buy platinum? A good question, but Dr. Planchet does not give investment advice.
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