Weekly Update 14 Aug 2020

Most assets were in the black as national currencies bounced smartly off the all-time lows set last week. The only losses were gold stocks, which fell 1.6%, and silver, which closed down 1.5%. Ethereum made the largest gains, rising 20.4%. Platinum was in second place, gaining 9.7%.

The Chinese Yuan outperformed other national currencies, rising 6.3%. The Japanese Yen lagged, gaining 3.9%. The US Dollar cash added 4.4%, as did short term treasury notes. Long term bonds did much worse, gaining just 0.3%.

Ethereum worked its way higher through the week, then jumped strongly on Thursday and Friday to close at 7.0 grams for the week's largest gain of 20.4%. Bitcoin also moved higher, peaking on Thursday at 188.5 grams, then pulled back to close at 188.2 grams, up 5.9%.

Gold stocks were the only equities to close lower; they finished down 1.6%, the week's largest loss. The Japanese Nikkei index outperformed its peers, rising 8.3%. The S&P 500 trailed the other major indexes, gaining 5.1%. The Dow Industrials added 6.3%.

Silver was the only declining commodity, pulling back 1.5% after the prior week's monster 13.9% surge. Platinum was the best commodity performer, rising 9.7%. Copper was also strong, gaining 6.9%.

Looking back over the last 12 months, Ethereum is by far the best performer, returning 61.5%. Silver bullion and gold stocks take second and third place, with gains of 21.4% and 20.4% respectively. The worst performance was from crude oil, which is down 40.8% for the year. The second, third and fourth worst performers were all national currencies, as the Japanese Yen fell 22.7%, the US Dollar dropped 22.2%, and the Canadian Dollar declined 21.9%.