Platinum: Platinum recently surged to the highest price since July 2008; it’s currently around $1648 an ounce. Platinum is both popular in jewelry and industry, primarily used as a component in catalytic converters. South Africa, which has 75% of the world’s platinum reserves, is expanding its extraction of the metal in order to keep in step with demand. ETFS Physical Platinum (NYSEArca: PPLT) is the only direct way to play this metal.
Copper: There’s a strike among Chilean miners that has gone on for nearly three weeks. Chile is the world’s largest copper producer, so interruptions could be felt in the markets. China is a major contributor to this market and the country is on track to triple copper consumption to 20 million tons by 2020 (by then it will account for 49% of the world’s copper sales). There’s no physical copper ETF yet, but exposure to miners can by had via First Trust ISE Global Copper (NASDAQ: CU).
Aluminum: Again, China plays a big role here as the world’s largest producer and consumer of the metal. Prices have shot up in recent weeks because of power curbs. Tongues are wagging over the prospect of a physically-backed aluminum ETF, but until the ETF arrives, there is the iPath DJ-UBS Aluminum (NYSEArca: JJU) to play it.
The commodity rally won’t last forever, and hiccups are bound to occur. You can stay on top of them with a simple strategy like trend following, which has you in for potential long-term uptrends while offering downside protection, as well. Read more about how the strategy works here.