Charts

The charts that matter: bond yields slip while bitcoin tops $60,000

Cryptocurrency bitcoin soared to over $60,000 this week, while government bond yields fell back. Here’s how that has affected the charts that matter most to the global economy.

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by: Ben Judge

16 Oct 2021

.polaris__post-meta--date { display: none; } .polaris__post-meta--date.no-script { display: block; padding-left: 45px } 16 Oct 2021

Welcome back.

This week, we’ve opened ourselves up to the risk of an environmental backlash with our two main investment features. Our cover story delves into the reasons why, as we strive to create a world free of carbon emissions but keep all the 21st century comforts that the developed world enjoys and the developing world aspires to, we still need fossil fuels. And there’s no getting away from the fact that we’re going to need them for quite a while to come. Andrew Hunt explains why, and picks some of the best ways for you to invest.

Elsewhere, Dominic Frisby looks at another power source that many environmental campaigners hate but which has few, if any, carbon emissions: nuclear power. For the last 70 years, nuclear power stations have “provided huge amounts of reliable, affordable, “clean” and almost infinitely renewable electricity”, says Dominic. The focus in the industry now is switching to small modular reactors, says Dominic. Find out all about them, and how to profit from them, in this week’s issue of MoneyWeek magazine.

If you’re not already a subscriber, sign up here and get your first six issues free.

Merryn is joined by our own John Stepek in this week’s edition of the MoneyWeek Podcast. They talk about the current state of the world, with its rising inflation, energy crisis and threats of strikes and ask – are we going back to the 1970s? They also talk in depth about the post-Covid labour market, productivity and much more. Listen to the whole episode here.

Here are the links for this week’s editions of Money Morning and other web articles you may have missed:

Monday Money Morning: Why the world’s most important economic data release has unnerved markets
Tuesday Money Morning: The Bank of England is keen to raise interest rates – what does that mean for you?
Merryn’s blog: What to do as taxes and inflation rise and the growth-stock bull market ends
Wednesday Money Morning: Will silver finally realise its potential? I’ve no idea – but I’ve just bought a load
Thursday Money Morning: Inflation isn’t transitory – but what does that mean for markets?
Friday Money Morning: When will supply chains sort themselves out and what might that mean for inflation?
Cryptocurrency roundup: US overtakes China as biggest bitcoin miner

Now for the charts of the week.

The charts that matter

Gold spiked up as investors started to worry more about inflation, though it remains below $1,800 an ounce.

(Gold: three months)

The US dollar index (DXY – a measure of the strength of the dollar against a basket of the currencies of its major trading partners) softened a little after a month of gains.

US dollar index chart

(DXY: three months)

The Chinese yuan (or renminbi) strengthened a little against the dollar (when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening).