Weekly Update 21 Feb 2020
National currencies, cryptocurrencies, bonds, and major stock indexes fell while commodities were mixed. The big winners were gold stocks, which rose 6.6%, and palladium, which gained 5.3%. Cryptocurrencies took the biggest hits, as Ethereum dropped 10.1% and Bitcoin fell 9.6%. Although Ethereum registered the largest loss in absolute terms, I see it as a healthy correction following last week's massive 26.9% gain.
National currencies were all down hard, led by the Japanese Yen, which fell 5.4%. The British Pound (not in table) came in second, dropping 4.2%. The Canadian Dollar and Swiss Franc (not in table) declined the least, closing down 3.5%. The US Dollar, off 3.8%, was outperformed by its bonds; the short term SHY fell 3.5%, and the long term TLT dropped 1.4%.
Bitcoin declined only slightly through Tuesday the 18th, then fell hard on the 19th, and continued to slide into the end of the week, finishing down 9.6%. Ethereum followed a similar pattern, losing 10.1%. Some smaller cryptos slid much more, for example, DASH closed down 21.7%.
Although gold stocks scored the largest gains of the week, rising 6.6%, all major indexes closed much lower. The Japanese Nikkei fell 6.6%, while the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 closed down 5.1% and 5.0% respectively.
Commodities were all lower except for palladium and silver. Palladium gained 5.3%, second only to gold stocks. Silver was up 0.9%. Platinum and copper shared last place, falling 3.4% each.
Many national currencies are now at their all-time record lows, including the Euro, Canadian Dollar, British Pound, Australian Dollar, Russian Ruble, and the Chilean and Argentinian Pesos. Other major currencies are approaching their all-time lows: The Swiss Franc is 4.1% above, the Chinese Yuan 4.7% above, and the Japanese Yen is 10.8% above. Even the mighty US Dollar sits just 13.4% above its all-time low set back in September of 2011.
Looking back one year, only five assets are in the black: Bitcoin, up 98.5%, Palladium and Ethereum, up 47.1% and 45.2% respectively, gold stocks, up 15.8%, and long bonds, up 1.7%. The largest losses are all in commodities, as copper dropped 27.1%, cotton fell 24.5%, and crude oil declined 24.1%. But national currencies weren't far behind; the Euro in particular has lost 22.5%. Gold is the safe haven form of cash, while cryptos and gold stocks have been good holdings for growth.
Click for PDF version
Filed under Bitcoin, Bonds, Coffee, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, EUR, Euro, money gold, Platinum, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by