Tesla Motors Inc. (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced last Friday that it will be sourcing all of the materials for the batteries in its cars from North America. This includes cobalt and several precious metals currently sourced from overseas.
Metalminer’s own Stuart Burns spoke to Bloomberg News about what the existence of Tesla’s planned battery “gigafactory” could do to commodity markets on Friday with so much product being sourced from fewer sources.
Palladium
US Palladium bar saw the biggest price decline of the day, dropping 2.8 percent on Friday. Chinese palladium bar fell 1.7 percent last Friday. Japanese palladium bar held its opening value.
Chinese Platinum bar ended the day after the 0.7 percent drop last Friday. US platinum bar finished the day down 0.5 percent. The price of Japanese platinum bar was essentially unchanged.
Indian Gold bullion closed 2.6 percent lower. US gold bullion finished the day down 1.1 percent. Japanese gold bullion ended the day, after the 0.9 percent drop last Friday. Chinese gold bullion closed 0.6 percent lower.
The price of Indian Silver closed up 1.8 percent. Japanese silver prices saw a 1.1 percent decline. US silver fell 0.2 percent last Friday. The price of Chinese silver declined 0.1 percent.