Market Update

Last week was excellent for almost all investment categories.  Only the long bonds (TLT) showed a loss, taking a breather after an extended  series of gains that have left them up 7.4% for the last month and almost 31% over the last 12 months.

The biggest winner was cotton, up 8.3%, followed by US stocks, with the S&P 500 up 5.7% and the Dow Jones Average up 5.5%.  Silver also put in a strong showing, up 4.8%.  Among the currencies, the EUR was the strongest, gaining 3.5% despite growing concerns about Spain's banking system. The $125 billion bailout announced this weekend won't solve anything, however – and probably marks the beginning of a new round of coordinated "QE" that will drop the values of all the fiat currencies in the near future.