Gold & Inflation: Protection

This morning we have platinum and palladium continuing the climb for the week, not coming under the same paper selling pressure as gold and silver the last two days. Platinum is up a fraction to $1,003, and palladium is up 2.4% to $2,487. Gold is down 1.4% to $1,962, with silver down 2.1% to $25.39. Interestingly, gold was over $2,000 with silver over $26 on Monday, until the Comex opened - when we saw the paper selling kick in. Still incredible physical demand out there, however.

One year, we continue to see gold leading the way, up 10%, silver down 1.8%, platinum down 16%, and palladium down 10%.

Europe is seeing industrial inflation numbers increasing since they began keeping records in 1949. Germany, a large European manufacturing base, is over 30%. If things cost over 30% more to produce, the cost to purchase those items generally rises more than that. Many German goods (think, automobiles) are exported worldwide, spreading the inflation elsewhere.

In the United States, record inflation numbers are hidden by calculation methods. Housing costs are up 20%, but only 3-4% for official inflation calculations. Owning gold and silver offers purchasing power protection for the future.