Another mixed week, with currencies mostly lower, and stocks lower in the US, but higher in Japan and Europe. Commodities were volatile: crude oil made the biggest gains this week, rising 5.5%, while the largest losses were in cotton, off 8.7%, and coffee, down 4.8%.
This was a generally up week, with all asset classes rising except for the Japanese Yen, which dropped 2.9%, and the long term bonds (TLT), which fell 1.6%. Cotton, up 15.2% and palladium, up 9.0% were especially strong this week.
This was an excellent week for all asset classes except the platinum group metals and gold mining stocks. Topping the charts was Bitcoin, which gained 10.2% to close at 12.1 grams. This was followed by cotton, up 7.5% and the Euro STOXX (FEZ ETF) which gained 6.9%. The HUI gold stock index had the greatest losses, down 5.3%, closing at 5.1 grams. Platinum, off 1.0%, and palladium, down 0.7%, were the only other declining assets for the week.
This week's trading saw currencies and bonds lower, stocks mixed, and commodities mostly higher. The largest gains were in crude oil, up 6.9%, palladium, up 6.2%, and silver, which rose 4.9%. The weakest asset was the long treasury bond (TLT) which fell 3.9%.
This was a great week for investors, as every asset class I track ended the week higher! Silver, which rose 7.7%, and Japanese Stocks, which gained 7.0%, led the rise. Currencies generally, and the EUR and CNY in particular, were the weakest asset classes.
This was a rough week for most asset classes. The only exceptions were crude oil, up 5.7% to recover most of last week's losses, the HUI gold stock index, which added 5.6% to the prior week's rally, and the Japanese Yen, which gained 1.4%. The biggest drops were in commodities, with coffee (off 7.3%), palladium (down 5.9%) and copper (dropping 5.7%) leading the way lower.
Filed under Bonds, Commodities, Cotton, Dow Jones Industrials, Platinum, S&P 500, Stocks, US Dollar by 
This was a good week for currencies, bonds, and most stocks, but mixed for commodities. The best performing asset was Bitcoin, which rose 4.3% – more than making up for last weeks decline. The next best was cotton, which gained 4.0%. The weakest asset classes were gold stocks, off 2.7%, and coffee, which dropped 2.2%.
A great week for all asset classes except Bitcoin, which fell 1.6%. The best performing asset was coffee, which rose 7.8%, followed by gold stocks, which gained 4.4% (more on this below). Aside from Bitcoin, the weakest asset classes were platinum, up 0.8%, and cotton and the USD, each of which gained 1.0%.
Filed under Bitcoin, Coffee, Commodities, Cotton, Dow Jones Industrials, S&P 500, Stocks, US Dollar by
A good week for stocks; a mixed week for commodities and currencies. The best performing asset class, by far, was crude oil, which rose 11.0% – but with crude’s weak performance during the first 6 weeks of the year, it is still sitting near its all-time lows. The weakest asset was cotton, down 3.8%, followed by palladium, off 2.6%.
This week, most asset categories were higher with coffee and crude oil making the biggest gains; the exceptions were copper and silver. Over the last month, currencies, bonds, and stocks (other than mining shares) were lower, while commodities were mixed. Government currencies are generally lower today than they were a year ago, especially the JPY and CAD, although the EUR gained slightly. Over the last year, bitcoin, coffee and the S&P 500 were the largest gainers, while cotton and crude oil declined the most.
