Cryptocurrencies rebounded strongly this week, while national currencies and bonds were mostly lower, and stocks and commodities were mostly higher. The biggest gains were in Ethereum, which rose 31.8%, while the largest losses were in long term bonds, as the TLT fell 1.4%.
The Canadian Dollar was the only rising currency, gaining 0.4%. The Japanese Yen was the weakest currency, falling 1.3%. Long term bonds fell 1.4%, short term bonds dropped 1.3%, and USD cash declined 0.9%.
The ever-volatile cryptocurrencies slammed into forward this week, as Bitcoin rose 17.9% to 182.8 grams, and Ethereum rose 31.8% to close at 11.4 grams. Each rose gradually through the week until Thursday, when they rushed higher on heavy volume. Weakness in recent weeks may be due in part to US holders (including major exchanges) selling cryptos to raise the dollars needed to pay taxes by April 16. If this is true, we could see higher prices in the weeks ahead.
The only falling stock index was the Nikkei 225, which lost 0.3%. Gold stocks were very strong, rising 2.1%. The Euro STOXX 50 added 1.0%, while the S&P 500 gained 0.8%.
Cryptocurrencies aside, commodities were the week's biggest winners as crude oil and palladium rose 7.6% and 7.5% respectively. Coffee and copper were the only declining commodities, giving up 1.1% and 0.5% respectively. Platinum, which hit all-time lows last week, rose 1.0% this week. Silver was up 0.5%.
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