Follow the Platinum-Brick Road

Exciting couple of days on the market.

With the Dow having its worst intra-day drop ever yesterday, most of the commodities got trashed.

Over May 4 and 5, outstanding silver contracts on the NYMEX fell 3%. Copper contracts fell nearly 7% over the last three days.

Interestingly, gold held strong. Open interest actually jumped 2%. The support helped bullion break $1200/oz today.

Overseas, the action has been a little different. Gold contracts on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange plunged 5% yesterday.
In Japan it's been platinum that's held fast. Pt contracts have been on a tear since April 27, with open interest up 15%.

Some of this strength may be related to platinum-backed ETFs recently introduced in Japan. Palladium, another recently "ETF-ized" commodity, has also been strong. With open interest up 10% over the last two weeks.

Platinum has traditionally been the investment metal of choice for the Japanese. If the current economic troubles persist, we'll see if they keep following the platinum-brick road.

Here's to the other gold.

By. Dave Forest of Notela Resources