Cryptocurrencies declined again, bonds and commodities moved higher, and national currencies and equities were mixed. The largest gains were in coffee and palladium, which rose 9.1% and 2.5% respectively. The largest losses were in Ethereum, which fell 16.6%, and Bitcoin, which dropped 13.9%.
National currencies were little changed this week. The Chinese Yuan and Canadian Dollar fell 0.3%, but the British Pound and Swiss Franc (not in table) dropped 0.4% and 0.5% respectively. The US Dollar and Japanese Yen each gained 0.2%. The Euro was unchanged. Short term bonds tracked the US Dollar, rising 0.2%, but long term bonds continued to outperform, adding 1.7%.
Cryptocurrencies were hammered again by new rumors of a Chinese crackdown on exchanges. Ethereum fell 16.6% to 3.19 grams, its lowest level since March. Bitcoin was also hurt, falling 13.9%. Some smaller coins were hit even harder; for instance, DASH (not in table) dropped 18.4% to 1.18 grams, a level not seen since March of 2017.
Major stock markets were slightly lower, but gold stocks closed up 0.5%. The Japanese Nikkei declined 0.6%, while the Dow Industrials and S&P 500 were off 0.3% and 0.2% respectively.
The largest gains were all in commodities, headlined by coffee, which soared 9.1%. Precious metals also did well, as palladium rose 2.5% and platinum gained 2.2%. Silver was a winner too, rising 2.0%.
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