2024 Annual Review

This post takes a similar form to the weekly updates, but covers a longer time period, looking back 1, 2, 5, and 10 years. Ethereum and the CCi30 Crypto Index have no entry for 10 years ago, as their price data starts in 2015, but they will be included next year. Most of the table is red, meaning that just holding gold would have outperformed those assets over that time period. Green areas indicate the assets have outperformed gold. These are in crypto currencies, US stocks, and coffee.

Among the national currencies, the US Dollar as been the least bad of a rotten bunch, falling 20.3% in 2024, and 53.8% since 2014. The Japanese Yen has fared the worst, dropping 28.4% in 2024 and 64.7% over the last 10 years. Short term US treasuries did a bit better than cash, while long dated bonds did much worse.

Cryptocurrencies are in the green over all time periods,led by Bitcoin, which finished 2024 up 76.5%, and has risen 13,420% over the last 10 years. The Dow Industrials are up 9.7% from 2014, but down over all shorter time horizons. The S&P 500 lost 1.8% in 2024, but is in the green as we go back further, and is up 31.3% since 2014. Coffee is down 11.3% from 2014, but has been in profit in more recent years, including a 35.3% gain in 2024.

The worst performers for 2024 are palladium, down 36.3%, and cotton, down 32.7%. Over the last 10 years, the worst losses have been in platinum, down 65.1%, and the Yen, down 64.7%.