Currencies and short-term bonds continued their tumble, while stocks and commodities were mixed. The week's biggest losses were in crude oil, off 8.3%, and copper, down 5.1%. The UK FTSE stocks were also hit hard, losing 5.0% for the week. The largest gains were in gold stocks, which moved 3.7% higher, and platinum, which rose 3.0%.
Reader Ray Boyd asks, "How does one determine if a certain commodity or item is going up in value priced in mg or grams of gold?"
This is a foundational question. When you buy any asset, you are either selling gold to pay for it, or getting the funds from elsewhere and passing up the opportunity to store those funds in the form of gold. Either way, the asset purchased has a "gold cost".
Filed under Dow Jones Industrials, price of gold, US Dollar by 
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
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
This was a bad week for currencies and bonds, but a mixed week for stocks and commodities. The best performing asset class was palladium, which rose 7.3%, followed by crude oil, which gained 5.2%. The weakest asset was Bitcoin, down 6.6%, followed by long term bonds (TLT), off 5.3%.
Filed under Bitcoin, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, Euro, Platinum, Silver, Stocks 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%.
The huge winner last week was the Swiss Franc. The Swiss central bank did a sudden about-face last Thursday, dropping its peg to the Euro, and the CHF rose 13.4% for the week while all other major currencies fell 3%-6%.The only other asset category in the black was the HUI gold stock index, which is now hovering just below its 200 day moving average and resistance at about 5 grams. Watch closely to see if this is really a breakout to the upside or just a dead cat bounce.
Filed under Bitcoin, Bonds, Dow Jones Industrials, EUR, Euro, money gold, Platinum, Real Estate, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks, US Dollar by
This week, government currencies and bonds were higher, while stocks and commodities were mixed. Long term treasuries, represented by TLT, had some of the largest gains both for the last week and the last month, but it may be time to sell – more on that later in this update. Bitcoin and the HUI gold stocks have been the weakest asset classes for the last week and the last month, with silver and platinum also hit hard. Coffee continues to be one of the strongest performers, over the last week, month and year.
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.
This week had every single asset category showing a loss. The smallest drop was in the Canadian Dollar, while the largest drops were in coffee, down 9.0%, and gold stocks, off 3.9%. Meanwhile, the mainstream media has been full of articles trumpeting new all-time highs for the Dow Jones Industrials and the S&P 500 stocks. Of course, these are meaningless statements, as the dollars used to define these markets are heavily manipulated by the Federal Reserve. As the chart below shows, stocks in the real world are nowhere near new highs; in fact, despite a very good year in 2013, they are about 30% below their 2007 highs, and a whopping 70% down from their 2001 highs.
Filed under Bonds, Coffee, Commodities, Dow Jones Industrials, new highs, S&P 500, Silver, Stocks by
