Weekly Update 14 Feb 2020

Cryptocurrencies rose again, stocks and commodities were mixed, and national currencies and bonds moved lower. Similar to last week, Ethereum soared 26.9% and Bitcoin gained 4.7%… but that was only enough to put Bitcoin in 4th place behind coffee (up 10.3%) and palladium, which added 6.4%. The largest losses were in the Euro, which fell 1.6%. In a three-way tie for second place were the Nikkei index, the HUI gold stocks, and cotton, each down 1.1%.

All the national currencies in our table were down, but the British Pound (not in table) was a hidden gem, managing to finish the week unchanged. As mentioned above, the Euro had the week's largest drop, falling 1.6%. The Swiss Franc (not in table) dropped 1.1%. The US Dollar had the next biggest currency decline, closing down 0.6%. Bonds did slightly better than USD cash, as both the short term SHY and the long term TLT finished 0.5% lower.

Ethereum rose steadily through the week, jumping higher on Wednesday the 12th and finishing at 5.59 grams, up 26.9% for the week, and 110% higher for year to date. Bitcoin also rose, peaking at 205.4 grams on the 12th, then settling back to close at 202.8 grams, up 4.7%. Ethereum was not alone in outpacing Bitcoin. Bitcoin Dominance (Bitcoin market capitalization as a percentage of the total cryptocurrency market cap) fell from 65.3% to 62.3%, indicating that the broader crypto market rose much faster than Bitcoin did this week.

The S&P 500 was the winningest stock index this week, rising 1.0%. The HUI gold stocks and the Japanese Nikkei index saw the largest losses, dropping 1.1% apiece. The Dow Industrials rose 0.5%.

Commodities had the largest gains outside of the cryptocurrencies. Coffee soared 10.3%, reversing the losses of the past 3 weeks. Palladium also made strong gains, rising 6.4%, but silver and platinum declined, falling 0.9% and 0.5% respectively. Cotton made the poorest showing in the commodity space, dropping 1.1%. Although not in the table, natural gas prices, which have been declining since last September, hit a new all-time low of 34.9 grams on Monday the 10th, then rallied to close the week at 36.1 grams, down 1.7%.