All of the government currencies were strong this week, with the CAD up 1.5%, JPY up 1.4%, and even the battered EUR showing a 0.5% gain. Bitcoin (BTC) however, took a beating, dropping 11% early in the week, but recovering some ground to finish the week down 4.6%. Remember my comments from last week: the BTC is a highly volatile young currency. Expect to see it mentioned often as one of the biggest winners or losers!
Bonds were also big winners this week. SHY moved up 1% (in line with the USD, as usual) but TLT was the biggest gainer for the week, rising 3.3% to close at 2.18 grams, more than making up last week's loss.
Equities didn't fare so well: they were all down, led by the HUI gold stocks, down 2.6% and the Nikkei index, off 2.4%. US stocks were also lower, with the S&P 500 closing down 1.3%.
Commodities were a mixed bag, with coffee setting another all-time low of 28.3 mg on Thursday, before recovering 0.7% to close the week down 2.9% at 28.5 mg/lb. Silver declined 2.1%, but remained near the 0.6 gram level that has been it's home for the last year. Cotton and crude oil each gained 3.2% for the week. In spite of this week's gain, Cotton remains very close to it's all time low of 12.1 mg/lb, set at the end of September.
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