For the week, the big story was precious metals which gained about 5% and their miners gained nearly twice that. Stocks in the U.S. moved up less than 1% but continued to chip away at incremental record highs. The 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield fell about 4% for the week to close at 2.50%.
Monday, stocks in Asia closed little changed. In Europe they rose 0.3%. In the U.S., they were also flat on low volume. The VXO fell another 2% to close at 11.57 while precious metals rose 1% and their miners about twice that. Notably, crude oil slid below the $100 per barrel level.
Tuesday, stocks in Asia were flat for the day. Stocks gained in Europe 0.5% and in the U.S. 0.7% on low moderate volume. The S&P 500 Index blasted through the 1750 mark to close at another new record. The supposed catalyst was a disappointing jobs report (bad news is good). Battered precious metals jumped up 2.5% while their miners shot up about twice that. Bucking the trend, the VXO actually rose over 4% to close just above 12. The the 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield dropped nearly 4% to close at 2.51%.
Wednesday stocks in Asia fell 0.8% and in Europe and the U.S. 0.7% on low volume. Crude oil dropped another 1.2% to close just above $97 per barrel, while the 10-Year U.S. Treasury Bond yield fell another 1% to close at 2.47%. Thursday, stocks rose in Asia slightly, in Europe 0.5% and in the U.S. 0.4% on low volume. Precious metals rose about 1%, but their miners jumped over 3% as Goldcorp released a good quarterly report. Lack of fear again reached unstainable levels as the VXO plummeted nearly 7% to close at 11.34.
Friday, stocks fell in Asia 0.9% and in Europe 1.1%, but in the U.S. they rose 0.3% on low volume.