Most assets were higher again this week, with bitcoin leading the way. Silver, gold stocks and crude oil were the only exceptions.
Currencies were all higher, but bitcoin was in a league of its own, rising 7.8% to 244 mg. The Euro was in second place, gaining 2% to close at 23.8 mg. The weakest of the bunch was the Japanese Yen, which still rose a respectable 1.1%.
Bonds were higher, with longer maturities lagging behind. SHY rose 1.5% (a bit more than the USD's 1.4% gain) while TLT was up 1.3% to 2.27 g. TLT finished the week right at its 200 day moving average; it will be interesting to see if that proves to be a support level in the week ahead.
Equities (other than the Gold Bugs Index) were higher, led by the Dow Jones Industrials, which added 2.4% to close at 240.48 g. The Nikkei Index rose 1.9% and the S&P 500 gained 1.6%. The HUI gold mining stocks fell 2.3% to close at 7.93 g. About one month ago the HUI dropped below it's 200 day moving average, and since then it has fallen 7.9%. Look for support around 7.5 to 7.6 g.
Commodities were mixed. On the downside, silver fell 2.8% to 0.6 g/oz, and crude oil lost 2% to finish the week at 1.57 g/bbl. Among the metals, silver was the exception: copper rose 2.1%, while platinum was up 0.3% and palladium gained 3.4%.
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