Palladium ETFs Suffer Big Outflows

Reuters reported that last week, palladium-backed ETFs saw their biggest outflows since August 2014. That week the palladium price fell as gold, silver and platinum prices rose — that’s in contrast to “the trend of the last two years.”

As quoted in the market news:

Palladium ETFs, popular investment vehicles which issue securities backed by physical metal, saw outflows of nearly 50,000 ounces in the week to Friday, Reuters data showed.

In the same period palladium prices fell 2.1 percent, even though other precious metals ended the week higher after an unexpectedly dovish statement on interest rates from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Some investors are taking advantage of palladium’s ourperformance of other precious metals over the last two years to sell out of ETFs, analysts said. The funds are now on track for the biggest quarterly drop in their holdings since 2011, having seen outflows every week this year.

Mitsui precious metals analyst David Jollie commented:

These outflows feel like profit-taking. In ounce terms, the outflows aren’t huge, but they do represent a reversal of last year’s buying interest. They send a dual bearish signal to the market, first simply by returning metal, but also by being so visible.

At the same time, gross long speculative positions in palladium on NYMEX have been below last year’s average levels so far this year, so it does suggest bullish sentiment has weakened even though bearish sentiment has not intensified much.

Click here to read the full Reuters report.