Happy Thanksgiving!
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, HAI is taking this week off. Despite being a holiday shortened session, markets on Friday were roiled in various degrees of chaos responding to news of the latest Covid variant threat. The B.1.1.529 variant, which got the Greek letter designation “Omicron” on Friday, appears to be the most heavily mutated variant of the Coronavirus we have seen to date. Markets on Friday were taking the threat seriously as almost everything declined sharply. Notable exceptions to Friday’s sea of red were gold, natural gas, and bonds as yields plunged across the curve. The VIX volatility index, referred to as the “fear gauge,” also made an exceptional move higher. On Friday, the VIX was sending panic signals surging by more than 50%. The European equivalent, the Euro Stoxx 50 Volatility Index, was even more rattled. The “European VIX” closed up 62.5%!
HAI recommends readers looking for full-coverage of the wild market events of this past holiday-shortened week access Doug Noland’s Credit Bubble Bulletin. HAI would also like to express deep gratitude to all readers, and wish you all a most wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. See you next week!
As for weekly performance: The S&P 500 closed the week down 2.20%. Gold was lower by 3.57%, silver lost 6.74% on the week, platinum dropped by 7.89%, and palladium was crushed by 14.08%. The HUI gold miners index lost 4.29%. The IFRA iShares US Infrastructure ETF was lower by 1.50% for the week. Energy commodities were mixed and extremely volatile again. WTI crude oil was clubbed by 10.26%, while natural gas gained 8.03% on the week. The CRB Commodity Index was off 4.07%, while copper was down 2.70%. The Dow Jones US Real Estate Index ended the week down 1.24%, while the Dow Jones Utility Average Index was nearly flat, down just 0.16%. The US Dollar Index was higher this week by 0.08% to close the week at 96.10. The yield on the 10-year Treasury dropped by 6 bps to close the week at 1.48%.
Have a great weekend!
Best Regards,
David McAlvany
Chief Executive Officer
MWM LLC
