Market Update 7 Dec 2012 – Silver Down, Bitcoin Up

Most assets were higher again this week, with bitcoin leading the way.  Silver, gold stocks and crude oil were the only exceptions.

Currencies were all higher, but bitcoin was in a league of its own, rising 7.8% to 244 mg. The  Euro was in second place, gaining 2% to close at 23.8 mg. The weakest of the bunch was the Japanese Yen, which still rose a respectable 1.1%.

Bonds were higher, with longer maturities lagging behind. SHY rose 1.5% (a bit more than the USD's 1.4% gain) while TLT was up 1.3% to 2.27 g. TLT finished the week right at its 200 day moving average; it will be interesting to see if that proves to be a support level in the week ahead.

Equities (other than the Gold Bugs Index) were higher, led by the Dow Jones Industrials, which added 2.4% to close at 240.48 g. The Nikkei Index rose 1.9% and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%. The HUI gold mining stocks fell 2.3% to close at 7.93 g. About one month ago the HUI dropped below it's 200 day moving average, and since then it has fallen 7.9%. Look for support around 7.5 to 7.6 g.

Commodities were mixed.  On the downside, silver fell 2.8% to 0.6 g/oz, and crude oil lost 2% to finish the week at 1.57 g/bbl. Among the metals, silver was the exception: copper rose 2.1%, while platinum was up 0.3% and palladium gained 3.4%.