Annual percentage returns for gold, silver, platinum, and palladium displayed side by side — the quickest way to compare how the four metals performed in any given year or across a multi-year stretch. The current year’s return (year-to-date) is always pinned at the top. Each cell shows the total return from the first trading day to the last trading day of that calendar year, calculated from London Fix or spot close prices. This table is designed for the conversation that starts with ‘how did gold do in 2023?’ and ends with ‘and how does that compare to silver over the past decade?’
Analyst's Note
The table reveals patterns that price charts obscure. Silver’s annual returns are consistently more volatile than gold’s — its best years are better, its worst years are worse, and it posts negative years more frequently. Platinum and palladium, as industrial-monetary hybrids, show return profiles that sometimes track gold (during monetary stress) and sometimes diverge sharply (during auto-cycle or supply-shock episodes). The analytical value is in the dispersion: years when all four metals post positive returns tend to coincide with broad dollar weakness or monetary expansion; years when gold rises but silver and PGMs fall often signal defensive positioning without industrial confirmation. For the macro-oriented investor, this table is a quick regime identifier — a way to see whether the current year’s pattern resembles a broad precious metals cycle or a gold-only flight-to-quality event. Note that annual returns compress intra-year volatility: gold’s 2020 return of roughly 25% masks a 15% drawdown in March before the recovery. The Max Drawdown chart provides the complementary intra-year view.