Bonds fell again this week, with the so-called "safe haven" long term TLT plunging 6.3%, the largest drop of any asset. Most others rose, led by Ethereum, which gained 8.0%, and cotton which added 7.8%. Although the major stock markets moved higher, gold stocks continued to fall, dropping 5.9%.
The Chinese Yuan was the week's strongest national currency in our chart, gaining 2.1%, but the British Pound Sterling (not in chart) did even better, gaining 2.6%. The Japanese Yen was weakest, rising 0.2%. The US Dollar rose 1.4%, but treasury bonds fell, with the short term SHY dropping 0.5% and the long term TLT declining a crushing 6.3%.
Cryptocurrencies had a good week, as Ethereum rose steadily to finish up 8.0% and Bitcoin gained 1.4% to close at 214.4 grams. Some smaller cryptos did even better; for instance, DASH rose 17.7%, its best performance since May.
Major stock markets all moved higher, led by the Nikkei, up 3.9%, and the UK FTSE (not in chart) which gained 3.8%. The Dow Industrials rose 3.0%. The only falling index was the HUI gold stocks, which dropped 5.9%, the second largest loss for this week.
Commodities were mostly higher, led by cotton, up 7.8%, and coffee, which gained 7.3%. Palladium also had a good run, rising 5.3% and closing above parity with gold at 33.1 gram/oz. The only declining commodity was crude oil, which fell 1.6% to close at 1.14 grams per barrel. Following the close on Friday, two Saudi oil processing plants were bombed, leading to a 12% rise in oil prices over the weekend, however. Silver closed up 1.4% at 375 mg/oz.
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