Commodities closed lower, as did gold stocks, but major stock indexes, bonds and currencies moved higher, led by the cryptocurrencies. Bitcoin rose 9.7% to its highest price so far in 2019, closing at 140.3 grams. The platinum group metals had the largest losses, as palladium fell 4.6% to close at 33.1 grams, just above parity with gold.
Chinese gold markets were closed for May Day celebrations, so the CNY price is listed as unchanged, but all other national currencies were higher, led by the Canadian Dollar, which gained 0.8%. The British Pound Sterling (not shown in the chart) rose even more, adding 1.9%. The USD trailed, rising 0.4%, but bonds rose much more than cash, as the short term SHY added 1.0% and the long term TLT gained 1.1%.
Cryptocurrencies had the largest gains of any asset class, as Bitcoin rose 9.7% to a new high for the year, and Ethereum added 7.9% to close at 4.1 grams. Some smaller cryptos did even better; for instance, DASH gained 11.2% for the week.
Although gold stocks were down hard, falling 3.5%, all the major stock indexes moved higher led by the Euro STOXX, which gained 2.2%. Second place was a tie between the S&P 500 and the UK FTSE, which rose 1.2% each. Japanese markets were closed for a series of holidays surrounding the accession of the new emperor, so the Nikkei price is listed as unchanged.
Commodity prices were all lower, with palladium and platinum falling the most, down 4.6% and 3.4% respectively. Crude oil had the smallest decline, falling 1.1%. Copper was off 1.2% while silver fell 1.9%.
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