National currencies, bonds, and commodities were mixed, while stocks moved higher and cryptocurrencies continued to drop. The largest gains were in palladium, which rose 4.8%, and coffee, which extended its climb by adding another 4.4%. Bitcoin was the worst performer of the week, falling 4.1%.
The Chinese Yuan and the British Pound Sterling (not in table) each gained 1.3%, the week's best showing among the national currencies. The Japanese Yen was weakest, declining 1.0%. The US Dollar fell 0.5%, but its bonds did a bit better, with the short term SHY dropping 0.4% and the long term TLT rising 0.3%.
Bitcoin started the week strong, rising to a high of 161.2 on Dec 8th, then worked lower for the remainder of the week, ending at 154.2 grams, down 4.1%. Ethereum followed a similar pattern, closing the week 3.3% lower.
Although the Dow Jones Industrial Average was unchanged, all other indexes were higher, led by the HUI gold stocks, which rose 3.4%. The UK FTSE index (not in table) rose 2.9% while the Japanese Nikkei closed up 1.8%.
The only falling commodity was silver, which declined 0.5%. Palladium and coffee were the strongest performers among the commodities and overall, rising 4.8% and 4.4% respectively. Platinum tied with gold stocks for third place, gaining 3.4%.
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