Platinum, palladium down on auto industry troubles

Precious metals prices were mixed Thursday, while copper was nearly unchanged in early afternoon trade in New York.

Platinum and palladium were both lower on more troubles for automakers after General Motors’ (NYSE: GM) CEO said in an interview that it will probably declare bankruptcy, while court filings by Chrysler in its bankruptcy proceedings revealed that it is looking to cancel agreements with 789 dealers.

July platinum dropped $5.70 to $1,117.50 per troy ounce in early afternoon trade while in late morning trade June palladium was $2.30 lower to $224.45 per troy ounce.

Both metals are used in the manufacture of pollution control devices for motor vehicles.

Gold and silver, on the other hand, were up on a report from the US Labor Department that there were 637,000 first time unemployment claims filed last week in the United States, up 32,000 from the previous week and 27,000 more than had been anticipated.

June gold was $2.10 higher to $928 per troy ounce while July silver added 2 cents to $14.04 per troy ounce.

July copper declined slightly to $2.03 per pound in New York trade.