Weekly Update 10 Aug 2018

Cryptocurrencies, stocks, and most commodities were lower, bonds were higher, and national currencies were mixed. Cryptos continued their fall, with Ethereum dropping 20.0% while Bitcoin gave up 16.7%. Long term bonds rose 1.4%, the largest gain this week. The only rising commodity was silver, which added 0.3%.

The Japanese Yen was the strongest currency, adding 0.6%. The Euro was the weakest, falling 1.2%. The US Dollar added 0.2%, but was outpaced by its bonds, as the short term SHY gained 0.3% and the long term TLT rose 1.4%.

The cryptocurrencies were hit hard again this week, as Ethereum fell 20.0% to close at 8.6 grams and Bitcoin slid 16.7% to close at 158.4 grams. Over the weekend, Bitcoin began to rise, but Ethereum continued to slide lower. This week's drop has been attributed to the SEC postponing a ruling on VanEck's Bitcoin ETF proposal until the end of September.

The European STOXX 50 led equities lower, falling 3.2%. Gold stocks declined 2.7%. The S&P 500 fell the least, losing 0.4%.

Silver rose 0.3% this week, but all other commodities were lower. Cotton declined 3.1% and crude oil fell 1.1%. Palladium fell 0.8% and copper was down 0.6%.