Weekly Update 21 Apr 2017

Currencies and commodities were mixed, while bonds and major stock indexes were slightly higher this week. The largest drop was in crude oil, which fell 6.5%. The biggest gains were in Bitcoin, which rose 6.4%. Gold stocks were down 3.3% after being up 3.0% in the prior week.

The weakest national currency was the Canadian Dollar, which fell 1.0%. Of the currencies I show in this chart, the Euro was strongest, gaining 1.0%; but I also track many other currencies, and of those, the British Pound stands out, rising 2.3% this week. Bonds were slightly higher, with the long term TLT, short term SHY and USD cash all up 0.2%. Bitcoin continues to inch closer to parity with an ounce of gold, rising 6.4% this week to close at 30.5 grams.

The only equities to close lower were the gold stocks: the HUI fell 3.3%. The Japanese Nikkei index rose 1.5%, while the Euro STOXX gained 1.1%. The Dow Jones Industrials added 0.6%, the smallest gain among the major indexes.

The weakest commodities were crude oil and coffee, which dropped 6.5% and 6.3% respectively. The biggest gains were in cotton, which rose 4.6%. Silver fell 3.0% while platinum gained 0.6% to close at 23.8 grams.

Priced in Gold Weekly Summary

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