This was a generally positive week for currencies and bonds, a quiet week for stocks, and a mixed week for cryptocurrencies and commodities. The largest gains were in crude oil, which rose a stunning 9.7%. The largest losses were in Ethereum, which fell 5.0%.
The Canadian Dollar was the strongest national currency, gaining 2.9%, while the Euro was in second place, up 1.8%. The only falling currency was the Chinese Yuan, off 0.3%. Bonds rose strongly, and in proportion to their maturity dates. The 20+ year TLT gained 2.5%, while the 2-3 year SHY added 1.6%. Zero maturity USD cash was up 1.5%.
Bitcoin rose slowly until Thursday, when it fell hard, recovering on Friday to a new high for the week, up 3.7%. It has continued to rise over the weekend as well, and was about 6% higher on Monday than the close on Friday. Ethereum worked its way lower over the course of the week, and recovered a bit on Friday, but not enough to avoid posting a 5.0% loss. Since the close, however, it has rallied strongly, gaining about 9%, more than making up for the week's losses.
Not much action in the Equity markets, as US and European indexes close up 0.2%, while the Japanese Nikkei closes down 0.3%. Gold stocks were little changed, up 0.1%.
Crude oil was the strongest asset overall, rising 9.7%, apparently due to OPEC production cuts – in spite of the largest Saudi production boost in five years. Metals were mostly lower, with silver and copper down 1.2% each. Palladium was the exception, gaining 1.2%. Platinum finished the week at 21.17 grams, down 0.4%, just 0.02% above its all time low.
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