Weekly Update 7 Feb 2025

Stocks and commodities were mixed but mostly lower; all other assets were in the red. The worst losses were in cryptocurrencies as Ethereum fell 22.1% and the broad CCi30 dropped 19.6%. Bitcoin outperformed, falling 7.7%. Outside of crypto, the largest drops were in palladium, down 4.6%, and crude oil, down 4.2%. The only gains were in copper, up 5.2%, and coffee, up 4.7%, followed by gold stocks, up 2.4%.

The strongest national currency was once again the Yen, which declined 0.2%. (Note that the Chinese Yuan is shown as unchanged because the Shanghai Gold Exchange is closed for Lunar New Year. Based on FX rates, I estimate the CNY is down about 2.8%.) The Euro was the weakest currency, falling 3.1%. The US Dollar was down 2.2% to a new all-time low of 10.8 mg. USD cash was outperformed by long term treasury bonds which dropped 0.5% to their lowest level since August 2011. Note that most major currencies, including the USD, EUR, JPY, CHF, GBP, AUD, CNY, INR and CAD made new all-time lows this week.

The only rising equities were gold stocks, which gained 2.4%. The Dow Industrials fared the worst, falling 2.7%, followed by the S&P 500, which closed down 2.4%.

Platinum and cotton made new all-time lows again this week. Cotton fell 2.5% to close at 7.1 mg/lb. Platinum hit a new all-time low on Wednesday, but rallied to finish the week down 0.4%. Palladium fell 4.6% to it's lowest level since November 2011.