The charts that matter: gold in a positive mood

Welcome back. 

This week’s magazine looks at the “new space age”, in light of Richard Branson winning the “battle of the billionaires” to be first in space. We also have an in-depth look at the fight against neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. There’s a lot going on in the field, and big profits for the company that can develop an effective drug. Mike Tubbs looks at the latest news, and picks some of the best stocks to buy.

This week’s “Too Embarrassed To Ask” video explains what the rather clunky acronym “Ebitda” means. You can watch that here.

Once again, Merryn’s got a star guest for this week’s podcast. Author and economic historian Russell Napier talks to Merryn about the Asian financial crisis (the subject of his excellent new book, which you can get at 20% off with the code in the podcast); financial repression – or, as he calls it, “stealing money from old people slowly” – and why you should buy property, though perhaps not where you might expect. Find out what he has to say 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 is China easing monetary policy?
• Web article: Is Covid’s Delta variant putting pressure on Europe’s economic recovery?
• Tuesday Money Morning: Demand for equities is high right now – but supply is rising to meet it
• Merryn’s blog: Why equities are better investments than art
• Web article: US inflation spiked in June. Can this really still be transitory?
• Wednesday Money Morning: If you bought gold with pounds, it’s been a disappointing year – but be patientWeb article: UK inflation hits three-year high as economy opens up
• Thursday Money Morning: It might be time for the reflation trade to spark back into life
• Web article: UK employment figures and wages up as recovery gains speed
• Friday Money Morning: The Bank of Japan is getting into industrial policy
• Cryptocurrency roundup: Twitter founder’s “DeFi” platform

Now for the charts of the week. 

The charts that matter 

Gold’s recovery continued - could this be the start of another one of runs? Patience is key for gold investors, says Dominic.

(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) carried on getting stronger.

(DXY: three months)

The Chinese yuan (or renminbi) continued to reflect the dollar’s strength (when the red line is rising, the dollar is strengthening while the yuan is weakening). 

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

The yield on the ten-year US government bond attempted to climb back up but gave up most of its gains by the end of the week.

(Ten-year US Treasury yield: three months)

The yield on the Japanese ten-year bond fell further, with a reprieve towards the end of the week.

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

And the yield on the ten-year German Bund fell further, too.

(Ten-year Bund yield: three months)

Copper looks to be turning up again – it might be time for the reflation trade to spark back into life, said John earlier this week.

(Copper: nine months)

The closely-related Aussie dollar continued to fall, however.

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

Bitcoin continued its drift lower.

(Bitcoin: three months)

US weekly initial jobless claims fell by 26,000 to 360,000. The four-week moving average fell by 14,500 to 382,500. 

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

The oil price saw a big drop towards the end of the week. 

(Brent crude oil: three months)

Amazon fell, too.

(Amazon: three months)

And Tesla slid back after some earlier gains.

(Tesla: three months)

Have a great weekend.