Explanations of "Gold" investment-related terms A to Z

Pair Trading

Pair trading is a market neutral trading strategy that profits from virtual market risk conditions such as sharp swings or sideways movements. Relative price movements between the stocks validate profits on trade. Also, pair trading is a hedge against individual fluctuations in the sector and the overall market where the stocks belong.

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Palladium as an Element

Palladium was discovered in 1803 by William Hyde Wollaston who found it in the crude ore from South America after conducting some chemical reactions. He named it after an asteroid 2 Pallas, which itself was named after an image of Pallas, a goddess killed by Athena. Because palladium was discovered so late, it did not generally serve as money, but it was sometimes used in coinage and some of these coins were even legal tender.

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Palladium as an Investment

Palladium has never practically served as money, but it is used as an investment. It is a precious metal, which has ISO currency codes of XPD and 964. Although palladium is often positively correlated with gold, it is much more widely used in the industry, so it behaves more like a commodity and it is more business cycle-sensitive than the yellow metal.

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Palladium Production Cost

How much does palladium cost? Why are you asking about it? Just look at kitco.com and do not bother us! Yeah, sure, we know what the price of palladium per ounce is. But how much does it cost to produce it?

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Pandemic

After the outbreak of the COVID-19, we are now all epidemiologists! We explain what does an “epidemic” means in another dictionary entry. But what is a  pandemic and how it differs from an epidemic?

To call an epidemic a “pandemic”, three criteria generally need to be met. First, it needs to cause disease or death. Second, there must be sustained transmission between people. And third, it must be spreading in multiple countries. This is the key difference: pandemic is in essence an epidemic with much higher geographical spread. Pandemic affects most countries across all continents, or even the whole globe. This is why the COVID-19, which has been reported in more than 120 countries, has been officially designated as pandemic.

However, the geographical is not the only difference between epidemic and pandemic – another is, as WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled”.

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Paper Gold

Paper gold – an asset that reflects the price of gold while not actually being gold itself; it’s not backed by real metal, so it’s considered to be only on paper.

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Paper Silver

An asset that reflects the price of silver while not being silver itself; it’s not backed by real metal, so it’s considered to exist only on paper.

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Pattern

A pattern, as the word suggests, is something that repeats in a noticeable way. For example, a patterned carpet consists of repeating images that are similar or the same. But there are more useful patterns in our everyday life and, more to the point, patterns that have implications for precious metals investors. Namely, gold price patterns can help us determine the direction in which gold will head next and the same goes for silver.

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Paul Volcker

Double-digit inflation is a terrible thing - and it got up to 14 or 15 percent on a monthly basis for a while, shortly after I became chairman of the Fed.

Paul Volcker, also known as Tall Paul (for his height above 2 meters actually, as one can see below, there is a curious correlation between the height of the Fed chair and the level of the federal funds rate), was born in 1927 in Cape May, New Jersey. He earned his M.A. in political economy from Harvard University in 1951. One year later, he started his professional career at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York as a full-time economist. He resigned in 1957 to join the Chase Manhattan Bank as a financial economist. He also worked for the Treasury Department for several years during the 1960-1970. In mid-1970s, Volcker served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter appointed him to head the Federal Reserve System. He took office on August 6th, 1979. In 1983, President Ronald Reagan re-nominated him to a second term. Volcker rejected the reappointment for a third term, so he was replaced by Alan Greenspan in August 1987.

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PCE Index (Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index)

The Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index (PCE) measures the average change in prices for all domestic personal consumption. There is also core PCE which excludes high volatility items, such as food or energy. It is a part of the Personal Income and Outlays Report issued monthly by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and it is derived from personal consumption expenditures. The index is similar in many respects to the CPI, but there are some important differences. In particular, they are calculated by distinct formulas, they assign different weights to particular goods and services, and they have various scopes.

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Peak Gold

Imagine the world without the production of gold. The end of the mining of the yellow metal. The termination of all gold mines. No more gold nuggets, no grain, no flakes. Sounds depressing, right? It would not be a world without the chemical element with the symbol Au, as fortunately a lot of bullion is held as investments coins, bars or jewelry. But still, it is hard to imagine the world without gold mining. Such gloomy visions are connected with the idea of peak gold.

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Peak Silver

Imagine the world without the production of silver. The end of the extraction of the white metal. The termination of all silver mines. Sounds depressing, right? It would not be a world without the chemical element with the symbol Ag, as fortunately a lot of bullion is held as investments coins, bars or jewelry. But still, it is hard to imagine the world without silver mining. Such gloomy visions are connected with the idea of peak silver.

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