Weekly Update 22 Oct 2021

In a reversal of last week's "mostly green" theme, this week is mostly red; only silver (up 2.5%), the Chinese Yuan (up 0.9%), and Ethereum (up 0.8%) finished higher. Palladium and copper fell the most, dropping 6.9% and 6.8% respectively. Bitcoin pulled back 3.4% after making new all-time highs, but remained above the 1.0 kg level.

The Chinese Yuan was the strongest (and only rising) national currency, adding 0.9%. The US Dollar was the weakest, dropping 2.0%. Treasury bonds did even worse, as short term notes declined 2.1% and long term bonds fell 2.6%.

Cryptocurrencies had a wild ride. Bitcoin rose to a new all-time high of 1,154 grams before pulling back to close at 1,044 grams, off 3.8%. Ether also made a new all-time high of 72.7 grams, but closed the week with only a small gain, up 0.8%.

Stocks were all in the red, with the Nikkei 225 taking the largest hit (down 2.5%). Gold stocks held up the best, giving up just 0.3%. The Dow Industrials and the S&P 500 dropped 0.9% and 0.4% respectively.

Silver was the best performing asset this week, rising 2.5%, but the rest of the commodity complex was in the red. Hardest hit were palladium (down 6.9%) and copper (down 6.8%). Crude oil declined 0.2%.

Year over year, most assets are in the green, led by the crypto space. ETH is up 977.2%, and the broader 30 crypto index is up 454.7%. Outside of crypto, the best performers are crude oil, up 116.7% and coffee, up 96.9%. Gold stocks show the largest loss, falling 16.2%. Palladium is 10.3% lower. The only other assets in the red are the JPY, down 3.0% and long term bonds, off 2.2%.