Market Overview
Indices
The Indices continue to fall this week following a period of volatility jumpstarted by President Trump’s policies after coming into office in January. The S&P 500 fell by 1.53% in the last week, closing on Friday at 5,580.94, following which it has been down 9% since its record high close back in February. The Dow Jones Industrial Average took a similar hit of 0.96%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell by 2.39%, closing at 19,281.40, having now fallen 14% since its record high close in December. This came after sharp drops in some of the magnificent 7 stocks, with Meta, Microsoft, and Nvidia taking the biggest hits, as both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq head for quarterly declines.
Furthermore, President Trump’s announcement of 25% tariffs on foreign-made cars and auto parts, effective the 2nd of April, is likely to further rattle the markets.
Commodities
Precious metal prices saw increases in the last week, with Gold prices continuing to surge, climbing by 3.49%, while Silver prices increased by 4.47%. This continues the pattern the Gold futures have been following, with the prices having surpassed 3,000 USD per ounce in the past few weeks, closing at 3,126.80 USD on Friday. Crude Oil futures also saw a 1.58% increase, as did the Natural gas futures, which rose 4% in the last week.
Cryptocurrency
After last week’s slump, as of the 31st of March, Bitcoin slightly recovered to 83,386.7 USD. Ethereum and BNB similarly recovered to 1844.55 and 607.1 respectively, while XRP dropped to 2.1083.
Competition Update
We end the week with the same top three as last week, with B.R.O.O.D. Beleggers extending their lead even further over second place. It remains a tough market for generating returns, with nearly all groups posting losses, except for Plutus Investments, who managed to end in the green. This small victory lifts them from last place to 46th, and we have full confidence this is just the beginning of their comeback.
On the other end of the spectrum, Audacity took the biggest hit, suffering a nearly 6% loss and dropping 8 places. Their bold gamble didn’t pay off (at least not yet). Will they cut their losses, or is this just a temporary setback in their bigger vision?