Commodities were mixed, while national currencies, bonds, and major stock indexes were lower this week. The largest drop was in cotton, which fell 6.6%. The biggest gains were in Bitcoin, which rose 8.6% (on top of a 15.6% gain in the prior week) and gold stocks, which added 1.6%.
The weakest national currencies were the Canadian Dollar and the Euro, which each fell 2.2%. The Japanese Yen fell least, giving up 0.8%. Bonds were also lower, with the long term TLT and USD cash down 1.7%, while the short term SHY fell 1.8%.
Bitcoin, which had risen to a price just above one ounce of gold in mid-March before tumbling on concerns about a possible split into two currencies, recovered strongly in the last two weeks and now stands just below gold ounce parity ounce again at 29.3 grams.
The only equities to close higher were the gold stocks: the HUI rose 1.6%. The Euro STOXX fell 2.4%, the most of any index. The Dow Jones Industrials fell the least, 1.7%.
The weakest commodities were cotton and silver, which dropped 6.6% and 2.2% respectively. The biggest gains were in crude oil, which rose 1.5%. Platinum rose 1.1% to close at 23.8 grams.
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