Market Update 20 Sep 2013: Crude Oil Drops

Markets were mostly lower this week. Bitcoin and crude oil fell more than any other asset classes, while silver was the biggest winner. Copper and the Nikkei stocks were the only other assets in the black.

Government-issued currencies all declined, led by the USD, which closed at 23.1 mg, down 2.3%, now 51.2% above its half-life curve. Bitcoin, the free market internet currency, fell 8.1% to close at 3.1 g. Volume was very light at 32 kg.

Bonds lost ground this week, with the short term SHY falling 2.1%, slightly better than the underlying USD, while the long term TLT dropped 1.0% to close at 2.42 g. Last week TLT closed above its 200 day moving average; this week it continued the rally, but failed to overcome resistance at 2.52g, falling back to close just above the 200 DMA.

Stocks were mostly lower, with the Dow Jones Industrials and the HUI Gold Bugs Index each falling 1.8%.  The S&P 500 was down 1.0%, while the Nikkei Index was up 0.7%. In the previous week, the Dow Jones Industrials bounced smartly off of the 61.8% Fibonacci support level, and this week they seem to be finding support at around 355 g (about 11.5 ozt).

Commodities were mixed, with silver gaining 2.3% to close at 0.524 g/oz, and Copper rising 0.3% while the rest of the complex fell. Crude oil was the biggest loser, falling 5.5% to 2.4 g per barrel.  Cotton declined 4.4% while Platinum was down 1.9% to 33.4 g, now 7.2% above gold parity.

Crude's drop gave up most of the gains for the month, and left it at long term support.