Cryptocurrencies advanced, while national currencies, stocks, bonds, and commodities were mixed. Crude oil plummeted again, closing down 20.3% to a new all-time low. Gasoline, diesel and natural gas (not in table) also made new all-time lows this week, as did copper. Ethereum made the largest gains, rising 7.6%.
The Japanese Yen advanced 0.2% but all other national currencies closed lower. The biggest drops were in the Canadian Dollar, off 1.3%, and the Euro, down 1.2%. The US Dollar fell 0.7%, as did SHY, the short term treasury bond fund. The TLT long term bond fund rose 0.7%.
Cryptocurrencies fell early in the week, hitting their lows on Wednesday the 15th, then rose to finish the week in the black. Bitcoin fell to 120.2 grams, then recovered to close at 130.4 grams, up 2.6%. Ethereum saw a low of 2.77 grams before rising to end the week at 3.15 grams, up 7.6%.
Stock markets were mostly higher, although the Euro STOXX50 closed down 1.3% and the British FTSE (not in table) fell 1.4%. Gold stocks continued to show the most upside, rising 4.3%. The S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 indexes added 2.3% each.
The big fireworks were once again in the oil patch, as crude dropped 20.3% to close at 336 mg per barrel. This slide continued and intensified over the weekend, and the May futures contract closed today (Monday the 20th) at an astounding MINUS 694 mg per barrel. It looks like the producers are going to be paying refiners to haul away their oil! Obviously, this isn't a tenable situation… but as the old saying goes, the best cure for low prices is low prices. Platinum outperformed, gaining 5.4%. Copper fell to a new all-time low before bouncing back to end the week up 2.4%.
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