This was a good week for stocks, bonds and currencies, but mixed for commodities. The big winner was crude oil, which gained 13.6% this week on news that OPEC is planning production cuts (it remains to be seen how that will work out for them!) While crude oil was flying, coffee has been falling, down another 5.0% this week. Copper was also down slightly, off 0.8% after the prior week's monster 10.4% rise.
The Canadian Loonie was once again the strongest government-issued currency in the list, gaining 2.7%, followed by the Euro, which gained 2.0%. Although not on the list, the Pound Sterling outpaced the other major currencies, rising 2.9%, and the free market currency Bitcoin outdid them all, gaining 5.8%. The weakest currency was once again the Japanese Yen, which rose 0.6%. Bonds were higher, but buyers showed their distaste for longer maturities, as the 20+ year TLT rose only 0.2%, while USD cash and the 1-3 year SHY each gained 1.2%.
All major stock indexes were higher, led by the DJIA, up 1.3%. The weakest major market was the S&P 500, which gained 0.2%. Gold stocks rose 5.6% to close at 4.86 grams, the highest level seen in 3 weeks.
As mentioned earlier, coffee was the weakest asset class this week, off 5.0%, while crude oil made the largest gains, up 13.6%. Copper was down slightly, falling 0.8% after the prior week's huge 10.4% rise. Precious metals palladium and platinum were 3.2% and 2.6% higher, respectively. Silver rose 0.5% to close at 0.43 grams per ounce.
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