Bonds and cryptocurrencies were lower, but other asset classes were mixed. The largest gains were in the Nikkei 225 index and palladium, which rose 3.2% and 3.0% respectively. The largest losses were in Ethereum, which declined 5.6%. The USD was 0.7% lower.
The Chinese Yuan was the strongest national currency, rising 1.0%; the British Pound (not in the table) also rose 1.0%. Also rising were the Euro (up 0.2%) and the Swiss Franc (not in table) which gained 0.5%. The weakest currencies were the US Dollar and the Japanese Yen, each of which fell 0.7%. Short term bonds tracked the USD, falling 0.7%, but long term bonds fared worse, dropping 1.3%.
Cryptocurrencies had a rough week, as Bitcoin declined 4.9% and Ethereum fell 5.6%, the largest drops of any assets this week. Despite many positive developments in the crypto space "under the hood", I expect this weakness to continue into the end of the year before taking off as the Bitcoin "halving" in May, 2020 approaches. Take advantage of these low prices to accumulate cryptos.
The Japanese Nikkei surged 3.2% this week, the largest gain for an equity index, and largest gain overall. Gold stocks also had a good week, rising 1.3%. The Dow Jones Industrials fell 0.9%, the largest drop in our table… but the UK FTSE index (not in table) declined even more, giving up 1.3%.
Palladium rose 3.0% making it the strongest commodity, and second strongest asset over all. Crude oil declined 2.4%, falling more than any other asset outside of the cryptos. Silver fell 1.7% and platinum declined 1.0%.
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