Palladium prices are up 74% this year and platinum is up a couple hundred bucks an ounce from a year ago. So Catalytic converter thefts are on the rise.
“It takes about five minutes and you make 100 bucks,” said Det. Tim Yancey with the Henry County (Georgia) Police Department. Thieves slide under the car, make two cuts with a battery-powered saw and roll away with platinum and Palladium in hand.
Agora Financial’s “5 minute Forecast” surveyed recent news items and found,
Five thefts this month in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park
Seven stolen from an apartment complex parking lot in Pittsfield Township, Michigan
Two stolen from cars parked next to each other in Huntsville, Ala.
Three arrests in a string of thefts in Marin County, Calif.
A couple years ago it was honey and copper being stolen as John Tamny wrote on the Real Clear Markets website.