The two shinny, new ETFs from ETF Securities, launched only three weeks ago, have already earned more than $500 million and are driving prices up in a niche market, The Wall Street Journal's Fund Track reported Friday.

The Physical Platinum Shares and ETFS Physical Palladium Shares, both with an expense ratio of 60 basis points (bps), are helping lift the prices of platinum and palladium to a twelve-month-high. Both funds, as with all metal-backed ETFs, physically purchase units of the metals.

Palladium is a rare metal, part of the platinum family, that can be used in consumer electronics, jewelery, aircraft parts, and catalytic converters. The Journal's Ian Salisbury worries that if the price of the metals keeps getting higher, other industries that rely on platinum and palladium could suffer.

The ETFs are the first ever U.S. platinum group metals-backed fund.

 

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