Weekly Update 20 Jan 2017

The last two weeks have seen a steady downtrend in government-issued currencies, bonds, and major stock indexes, along with violent swings in Bitcoin and mixed gains and losses in commodities. This week's biggest winner was Bitcoin, which gained 7.0%, mostly offsetting the prior week's 8.9% drop. Coffee was also strong, rising 1.7% on top of the prior week's 3.2% gain. The week's largest losses were in copper, which gave up 3.2% against the prior week's 4.3% gain.

All government-issued currencies were lower, led by the Canadian Dollar, which dropped 2.2%. The Japanese Yen fell 0.9%. The CNY fell least, dropping 0.2%, but this follows a dismal performance the prior week, where the CNY fell 1.3%, more than any other national currency. Bonds were lower, with USD cash and the 1-3 year SHY each losing 0.8%, and the long term TLT falling 2.0%.

Major stock market indexes were also all lower, led by the Nikkei 225, off 1.7%. In the US, the Dow fell 1.1% and the S&P 500 fell 1.0%. Gold stocks were the only rising equities, with the HUI gaining 0.8% to close at 5.25 grams, about where it closed two weeks ago.

Commodities were mixed; the largest gains were in coffee and palladium, up 1.7% and 1.1% respectively, while the biggest losses were in copper and platinum, down 3.2% and 1.7% respectively. Silver was little changed at 0.44 mg.