Silver/Gold/Platinum/Palladium Ratio

I stick with gold and silver. Its widely known and accepted around the world. Tell someone in Peru that you have PD or PT and they would shrug at you. Show them gold and silver, and they will acknowledge what you have. PD and PT are less widely known.

Good point SDCrow. If two metals are effective substitutes, there could be some use to ratios in determining the undervalued metal.

If so, then Pd is a great buy at less than 1/2 the price of Pt.

I would agree with that but also know that some will go up more than others. Take silver for example. On a good day for PMs, it will often rise at twice the percentage as does gold. Silver may be a special case, though. It is a very small market and if those who say that the silver market is manipulated are correct, then once that manipulation ends and true price discovery is allowed, we may see MUCH higher silver prices.

As an industrial chemist during my working years, I was keenly aware of the cost of the raw materials in all of our processes and that especially included the catalysts. Both Pt and Pd can be used as hydrogenation catalysts, for example, but the preference not only rests on the cost but also on the specificity, efficiency, and the recoverability of a specific catalyst. Pd has seen significant growth over the years because it can often be used as a viable substitute for more expensive Pt. I am wondering whether or not Pd and Pt will see price parity at some point. Increasing demand for Pd could assist in that. Both are about as rare and annual world production is almost identical.

Interesting info on Pd can be found here: http://www.stillwaterpalladium.com/