The last two weeks have seen a steady downtrend in government-issued currencies, bonds, and major stock indexes, along with violent swings in Bitcoin and mixed gains and losses in commodities. This week's biggest winner was Bitcoin, which gained 7.0%, mostly offsetting the prior week's 8.9% drop. Coffee was also strong, rising 1.7% on top of the prior week's 3.2% gain. The week's largest losses were in copper, which gave up 3.2% against the prior week's 4.3% gain.
The first week of 2017 saw mixed results in every asset category, but currencies were mostly lower, while commodities were mostly higher. The week's biggest winner was palladium, which gained 8.6%. Gold stocks were also strong, rising 6.3%. Bitcoin displayed the most fireworks, shooting up to a new all-time high of 30.2 grams on Wednesday the 4th, then collapsing 21.5% to close the week down 8.1% at 23.7 grams. This drop was blamed by some on a Chinese central bank press release and by others on US speculators, but after almost doubling in the last year, a 22% pullback is hardly out of order, whatever the reason. In fact, Bitcoin could drop to the 18-20 gram level and still be above its rising trend line.
The last week of 2016 left most asset classes lower, with two glaring exceptions. The week's biggest winner was gold stocks, which gained 5.4%. Bitcoin also continued to rise, adding another 2.2%, and closing at 25.8 grams. Palladium and silver also rose, but just 0.9% and 0.7% respectively. All other asset classes were lower, led by the S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 indexes, which lost 3.5% apiece.
Look for more posts coming this week covering the 2016 year in review, and taking a closer look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average and its path to the 1,000 level in 1972 and its subsequent rise to near 20,000 today. In the meantime, I wish you the very best for 2017!
Filed under Bitcoin, Bonds, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, EUR, Euro, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by 
The week before Christmas was quiet for stocks, bonds, and most currencies, with few assets outside the commodities changing more than 1%. Bitcoin outpaced all other assets, gaining a whopping 17.5% for the week and closing at 25.2 grams. Palladium doubled down on the prior week's drop, losing another 4.9%, clinching the "weakest asset class" title. Gold stocks performed better than any of the major stock indexes, gaining 2.3%, still a distant second place behind Bitcoin.
This was a good week for stocks, but mixed for bonds and commodities. The big winner was the Euro STOXX, which gained 6.3% this week on news that the European Central Bank will be extending its low interest rate policy and expanding its quantitative easing programs. US stocks also rallied on the news. Coffee dropped again this week, falling a further 3.6%, the largest loss of any asset class.
For more on currencies, stock markets, bonds and commodities, and for a look back at results for the last year, check out the whole article!
Filed under Bitcoin, Bonds, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, Interest Rates, Platinum, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by
This was a good week for stocks, bonds and currencies, but mixed for commodities. The big winner was crude oil, which gained 13.6% this week on news that OPEC is planning production cuts (it remains to be seen how that will work out for them!) While crude oil was flying, coffee has been falling, down another 5.0% this week. Copper was also down slightly, off 0.8% after the prior week's monster 10.4% rise.
A generally positive week for all asset types, with only coffee, down 2.3%, gold stocks, down 1.6%, and the JPY, off 0.5%, showing losses. The big winner was copper, which after catching it's breath last week, continued to skyrocket, gaining 10.4% this week. The major stock indexes were all higher, led by the Dow Jones Industrials, which gained 3.5% to close at 501.6 grams. Financial headlines have been filled with stories about this recent series of "highest ever" dollar prices for the Dow… but readers of Priced in Gold know that the Dow has yet to equal it's 2015 high of 523.5 grams, or it's 2007 high of 652.6 grams. And to really get into all-time high territory, the Dow will have eclipse its August 1999 high of 1393.2 grams – 2.8 times higher than today's price. Could that happen? Maybe some day, but probably not soon, and probably not without seeing considerably lower prices first.
Filed under Bitcoin, Bonds, Coffee, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, nz dollars, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by
Things stabilized a bit this week, with mixed results for most asset classes as investors sorted through the debris of the coming political sea-change in the US. The largest swings were in commodities, with silver the week's biggest loser, down 9.3%, and cotton and crude oil the week's biggest winners, up 7.9% and 7.5% respectively.
Filed under Banking, Bitcoin, Bonds, Commodities, Counter-party Risk, Platinum, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by
The US Presidential elections threw markets a major league curveball this week. As results started to trickle in, and the tide turned in favor of Mr. Trump, the US Dollar and stock market futures fell dramatically… but by the next day, they both reversed course and continued to climb through the rest of the week. This left all asset classes other than gold stocks and long term treasury bonds in the black.
Currencies, commodities, and major stock indexes were all higher this week, while bonds were mixed. Bucking the overall uptrend, gold stocks were the biggest loser this week, falling 12.7%, while copper and palladium made the biggest gains, rising 16.85 and 15.5% respectively.
Filed under Bitcoin, Bonds, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, Platinum, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by
Currencies, bonds, and major stock indexes were all lower this week, while commodities were once again mixed. Bucking the equity downtrend, gold stocks were the biggest winner this week, rising 2.6%, while crude oil positively collapsed, falling 11.6%, and "doubling down" on the prior week's 4.8% loss. This still leaves crude just above its long term support around 1 gram/barrel, but closer to its highs than to its lows for 2016 YTD.
Stay tuned next week to see how the US presidential election changes things up in the markets.
