The charts that matter: gold up; dollar down

Gold rallied a little this week, while the US dollar drifted. Here’s how the charts that matter most to the global economy reacted.

In this week’s magazine we take a look at what investors can learn from the disastrous Deliveroo IPO. We also look at the luxury goods sector – which has proved surprisingly resilient throughout the pandemic and is set for “years of galloping growth”, says Stephen Connolly. He picks some of the best stocks to buy.

Merryn’s on holiday, so this week John has taken over podcast duties. He talks to investor, analyst and author Steve Clapham about many things, but in particular about why you really need to know what you’re doing when you pick individual stocks (and why even if you’re just investing in funds, learning about how to value a company is very useful). Listen to that chat here, and get a discount on Steve’s latest book The Smart Money Method, to boot.

Speaking of funds, this week’s “Too Embarrassed To Ask” video explains what an “ETF” – AKA exchange-traded fund – is. You can watch the video here.

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

Now for the charts of the week.

The charts that matter

Gold saw quite the rebound, back to its highest in six weeks or so.

Gold price chart

(Image credit: Gold price chart)

(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) plunged back down – could Joe Biden’s big spending plan have had an effect?

US dollar index chart

(Image credit: US dollar index chart)

(DXY: three months)

The dollar’s weakness doesn’t seem to have been reflected against the Chinese yuan (or renminbi) however – when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening.

USD/CNY currency chart

(Image credit: USD/CNY currency chart)

(Chinese yuan to the US dollar: since 25 Jun 2019)

The yield on the ten-year US government bond continued to drift downwards slightly.

US Treasury bond yield chart

(Image credit: US Treasury bond yield chart)

(Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months)

The yield on the Japanese ten-year bond dropped back after the previous week’s big rise.

Japanese government bond yield chart

(Image credit: Japanese government bond yield chart)

(Ten-year Japanese government bond yield: three months)

And the yield on the ten-year German Bund drifted along in negative territory.

German Bunds yield chart

(Image credit: German Bunds yield chart)

(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)

Copper price chart

(Image credit: Copper price chart)

Copper, too, traded in a range.

(Copper: nine months)

And the closely-related Aussie dollar continued to struggle off its three-month low, and remains depressed.

AUD/USD currency chart

(Image credit: AUD/USD currency chart)

(Aussie dollar vs US dollar exchange rate: three months)

Cryptocurrency bitcoin is biding its time, presumably before it either goes on another wild charge upwards or plummets by 30% or so, giving everyone plenty to talk about.

Bitcoin price chart

(Image credit: Bitcoin price chart)

(Bitcoin: three months)

US weekly initial jobless claims rose by 16,000 to 744,000, compared to 728,000 last week (revised up from 719,000). The four-week moving average rose to 723,750, up 2,500 from 721,250 (which was revised up from 719,000) the week before.

US weekly initial jobless claims chart

(Image credit: US weekly initial jobless claims chart)

(US initial jobless claims, four-week moving average: since Jan 2020)

The oil price is another one that’s drifting along sideways.

Brent crude oil price chart

(Image credit: Brent crude oil price chart)

(Brent crude oil: three months)

Amazon, however, was back, at the races.

Amazon share price chart

(Image credit: Amazon share price chart)

(Amazon: three months)

But Tesla is also sidling along quietly.

Tesla share price chart

(Image credit: Tesla share price chart)

(Tesla: three months)

Have a great weekend.

Ben Judge

Ben studied modern languages at London University's Queen Mary College. After dabbling unhappily in local government finance for a while, he went to work for The Scotsman newspaper in Edinburgh. The launch of the paper's website, scotsman.com, in the early years of the dotcom craze, saw Ben move online to manage the Business and Motors channels before becoming deputy editor with responsibility for all aspects of online production for The Scotsman, Scotland on Sunday and the Edinburgh Evening News websites, along with the papers' Edinburgh Festivals website.

Ben joined MoneyWeek as website editor in 2008, just as the Great Financial Crisis was brewing. He has written extensively for the website and magazine, with a particular emphasis on alternative finance and fintech, including blockchain and bitcoin. 

As an early adopter of bitcoin, Ben bought when the price was under $200, but went on to spend it all on foolish fripperies.