Currencies, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and major stock indexes were all lower, while commodities were mixed and gold mining stocks rose. Silver and platinum made the largest gains, rising 7.0% and 3.7% respectively. The biggest losses were in Ethereum, which cratered 21.7%, and Bitcoin, which dropped 12.9%. Crude oil was also hit hard, falling 9.7%.
All national currencies fell, but the largest drops were in the Canadian Dollar and the Euro, which declined 2.5% each. The smallest losses were in the Japanese Yen, which closed down 2.0%. USD cash fell 2.2%, while short term bonds were off 2.1% and 20+ year bonds were down 1.1%.
Bitcoin fell early in the week, hitting a low of 209 grams on Tuesday, then recovered to close at 227.5 grams, down 12.5%. Ethereum followed a similar trajectory, hitting a low of 4.4 grams on Monday, but recovered only weakly, closing at 4.8 grams, down a whopping 21.7%. Once again, some other cryptos did even worse; for example, DASH (not shown on the chart below) finished down 23.3%. Theories abound on the drop's cause; congressional concern over Facebook's Libra coin and presidential tweets critical of cryptocurrencies are often mentioned. In my opinion, these FUD factors are creating a great buying opportunity.
Gold stocks were this week's only equity winner, gaining 2.8%. The S&P 500 and Euro STOXX fell the most, dropping 3.4% and 3.3% respectively. The Dow Industrials fell the least of the major market indexes, giving up 2.9%.
Commodities were very mixed, with extremes ranging from silver's 7.0% gain to crude oil's 9.7% plunge. The platinum group metals split, with palladium falling 2.0% while platinum rose 3.7%. Silver reversed course and rose steadily through this week after hitting some of the lowest prices in 20 years during the prior week.
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