Weekly Update 22 Feb 2019

National currencies and bonds were lower, stocks were mixed, and cryptocurrencies and commodities were higher. In some cases, much higher! Ethereum surged 21% to close at 3.5 grams, and copper rose 4.4%. The largest losses were in the 20+ year treasury bonds, which fell 1.3%.

The worst performing national currency was the Japanese Yen, which fell 1.1%. The Canadian Dollar dropped the least, closing down 0.2%. USD cash was off 0.9%, while its short term bonds did a little better, giving up 0.8%, and its long term bonds did much worse, falling 1.3%.

Ethereum worked its way higher from 2.9 grams to 3.5 grams, closing up 21.0%. Bitcoin also moved higher throughout the week, with much of its move on Monday; it ended up 9.6%. Some alt-coins, like DASH, hit their highs mid week, but still managed sizable gains (8.6% in the case of DASH).

Gold stocks dominated the equity asset category, rising 2.9%. The major indexes were split geographically, with US indexes down while Japan and Europe rose. The Dow Industrials fell 0.4%, while the Nikkei index was up 1.4%.

Commodities were all higher, led by copper (up 4.4%) and platinum (up 4.3%). Silver was the weakest, rising just 0.3%. Cotton was another strong performer, gaining 3.0%.

Looking back over the last year, the largest losses have been in the cryptocurrencies, as Ethereum and Bitcoin have fallen 82.4% and 60% respectively. Palladium was far and away the largest winner, rising 43.4%; but it was the only commodity in the black (coffee and platinum had the largest losses, 17.3% and 16.2% respectively). The second best returns came from TLT, the long term bond fund, which gained 6.9%. Holding USD cash just about broke even, losing 0.1% for the year. All other major national currencies were worse, with the Euro, down 8.0%, the worst of the lot. Even the British Pound Sterling (not shown in the chart below) did better than the Euro, falling 6.5% in the last year.