National currencies and bonds continued to fall, with currencies hitting new all-time lows across the board; stocks, cryptocurrencies and commodities were mixed. The week's biggest gains were in silver, which continued its massive breakout by rising 13.9%. Ethereum was in distant second place, adding 6.2%. The largest losses were in coffee, which fell 6.1%, and copper, which closed down 5.8%.
Every national currency I track, from the Aussie Dollar to the Russian Ruble, made a new all-time low this week, mostly on Thursday. Hardest hit was the Chinese Yuan, which changed hands on the Shanghai Gold Exchange for 2.24 mg, a drop of 4.6%. The Ruble (not in table) outperformed its peers by falling just 2.6%. The US Dollar was down 3.3%. Short term notes traded in line with cash, but long term bonds fared worse, dropping 3.8%.
Bitcoin started the week strongly, hitting a high of 186.1 grams on Saturday the 1st, but pulled back to 175.0 grams before closing at 177.7 grams, off 0.9%. Ethereum hit its high of 6.14 grams on Monday, then worked lower to close at 5.81 grams, a gain of 6.2%. Some smaller cryptos did much better; for instance DASH (not in table) rose 13.6%, and Monero (not in table) gained 11.7%.
Among the equity markets, the Dow Industrials were king, outperforming its peers by eking out a 0.4% gain for the week, making it the only major equity index in the black. The HUI gold stocks underperformed, falling 3.2%. The S&P 500 lost 0.9%.
Volatility was concentrated in the commodities, as silver rallied 13.9% for the week's biggest gain, the only gain in the commodity complex. Coffee fell 6.1% for the largest loss, but copper was also hit hard, falling 5.8%.
Looking back over the last year, silver is now the best performing asset, rising 24.9%. Ethereum is close behind, up 21.1%. Gold stocks, despite their poor performance for the week, are still the 3rd best performer on the one year time scale, with a gain of 18.1%. Crude oil still shows the largest loss, down 40.2% for the year.
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