Cryptocurrencies continued their meteoric rise while stocks gained ground and other asset classes were mixed, but mostly higher. Ethereum took the lead this week, rising 69.8%, while Bitcoin rose 40.7% to a new all-time high of 681.2 grams. Outside of the crypto space, crude oil was the leading asset, gaining 9.1%. Long term bonds (down 2.8%) and coffee (off 2.3%) had the largest losses.
The Chinese Yuan dropped 0.8%, but other national currencies moved higher, led by the Canadian Dollar, which rose 1.7%, and the Euro, which added 1.5%. US Dollar cash and short treasury term notes each gained 1.3%. Long term bonds fell 2.8%, the largest loss in this week's table.
Cryptos once again made huge gains, as Ether rose 69.8% and Bitcoin added 40.7% to close at a new all-time high. The broader index of 30 cryptos was up 37.1%. Following this surge, most cryptocurrencies pulled back over the weekend. I suspect that this is a healthy pause to recharge before forging on to higher highs, but a "Bitcoin Crash" of 50% or 60% would not violate the exponential uptrend now in place.
Equity indexes were all in the black, led by the European STOXX, up 4.9%. Gold stocks were the weakest, advancing 2.3%. The S&P 500 added 3.2%.
Coffee was the only declining commodity, falling 2.3%. Crude oil, up 9.1%, and copper, up 5.7%, were the strongest. Among the precious metals, platinum gained 5.5% while silver was weakest, rising just 1.9%.
Looking back one year, we see that cryptocurrencies far outpaced all other asset classes, as Ethereum gained 617.8% and Bitcoin advanced 326.1%. Outside of the cryptos, the best returns were in silver, up 22.1%, and gold stocks, up 11.0%. Copper also did well, rising 10.2%. Crude oil shows the largest loss, dropping 26.1%. It was followed by the US Dollar, which lost 15.6% of its value over the last year.
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