August 8, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
On Aug. 8, 1974, President Richard Nixon announced he would resign following damaging revelations in the Watergate scandal.  Go to article >>

August 8, 1854: Smith & Wesson patents metal bullet cartridges.
Dustin Hoffman, actor, b. 1937.
The Edge, musician, b. 1961.
Roger Federer, tennis player, b. 1981.

Siberian gold miners accidentally find ancient woolly rhino mummy with horn and soft tissues still intact
A mummified woolly rhino discovered by miners in Russia’s Sakha Republic is to be fully excavated in the coming months, as researchers begin studying its intact horn. Read More.

Gargantuan waves in Earth’s mantle may make continents rise, new study finds
Dramatic cliffs and high plateaus are caused by the same wave triggered in Earth’s middle layer when continents pull apart, a new study finds. Read More.

NASA might send Starliner home without its crew — leaving astronauts stuck in space until 2025
The Crew-9 handover has been delayed amid rumors that NASA could be planning to return the troubled Starliner spacecraft without its astronauts. Read More.

WHO may declare new, deadlier mpox outbreak an international emergency
The World Health Organization will soon convene a committee to decide if the ongoing mpox outbreak constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern.” Read More.

Unique transistor ‘could change the world of electronics’ thanks to nanosecond-scale switching speeds and refusal to wear out
A new material can withstand ‘billions’ of electrical cycles without wearing out — and scientists say it could transform electronics within 10 to 20 years. Read More.

Tug of war, pistol dueling and other strange Olympic Games
Breaking, or breakdancing, is far from the first unconventional sport to be allowed into the Olympic Games. Here’s a look at some of the strangest Olympic sports in modern history.

The race to become the world’s first document-free airport
Abu Dhabi International plans to expand its biometric technology and become the world’s first airport to go passport-free. Read why airports want to rely less on paper and more on facial recognition tools.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Skanderborg, Denmark
The Nigerian singer Burna Boy performs at the Smukfest festival
Photograph: Helle Arensbak/EPA
Cape Point, South Africa
Waves break at Dias Beach at the Cape Point reserve, where a 17-year-old French schoolboy on a rugby tour went missing in the sea
Photograph: Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images
Italy’s Sofia Raffaeli performs with the ball as she competes in the rhythmic gymnastics’ individual all-around qualification.
Photograph: Loïc Venance/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for August 8^th, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1896, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, less than three months old, hit the lowest level ever recorded: 28.48, down 30.5% in just 10 weeks.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.6% at 22,225.61 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest gain since Feb. 15 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 7.2%.
MDA Space Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 12.4%.
Today, 195 of 226 shares rose, while 29 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain four times. The next day, it advanced after all four occasions
* So far this week, the index was unchanged
* The index advanced 10% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.2% below its 52-week high on July 31, 2024 and 18.9% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 3.8% in the past 5 days and rose 0.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.9 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.48t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 14.72% compared with 13.97% in the previous session and the average of 11.51% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 97.8325| 1.5| 22/4
Information Technology | 68.8238| 3.9| 9/1
Energy | 60.3836| 1.5| 37/4
Materials | 45.3523| 1.7| 46/6
Industrials | 31.4003| 1.1| 25/3
Consumer Discretionary | 14.0066| 1.8| 13/0
Consumer Staples | 11.4993| 1.2| 7/4
Utilities | 7.5908| 0.9| 13/2
Real Estate | 3.0486| 0.6| 15/4
Communication Services | 2.7338| 0.4| 4/1
Health Care | 1.9976| 3.2| 4/0
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 53.0700| 7.2| 46.3| -8.7
Brookfield Corp | 20.1700| 3.4| 42.5| 14.8
Canadian Natural Resources | 16.7800| 2.4| -42.1| 8.8
Stantec | -2.5740| -2.8| 247.1| 5.3
Pan American Silver| -3.1950| -4.7| 124.0| 17.9
Nutrien | -5.1840| -2.3| 31.9| -15.3
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks staged a solid rebound and bonds retreated after the latest US labor-market reading helped ease concern about a more pronounced slowdown in the world’s largest economy.
All major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, with the gauge notching its biggest rally since November 2022 as data showed US initial jobless claims tumbled the most in nearly a year.
As economic angst subsided, Treasuries dropped across the curve — with the selloff led by shorter maturities.
Bonds held their losses after a weak $25 billion sale of 30-year government debt.
Markets have been in a tailspin since last week’s economic data spurred concerns the Fed is waiting too long to cut rates, jeopardizing prospects for a “soft landing.”
Those jitters combined with stretched positioning, underwhelming technology earnings and poor seasonal trends were among the factors triggering volatility.
“Some good news with jobless claims,” said Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance. “We are exercising caution, but think that the panic that started earlier in the month was overblown.”
At Interactive Brokers, Steve Sosnick says he has an important question for the buyers: “Are you the same people who were clamoring for an emergency 50 basis-point rate cut on Monday?”
“Can we say that today’s number has quelled the looming recession fears? Absolutely not,” he added. “Can we say that stock traders remain fixated on buying dips and chasing rallies?  Absolutely yes. Does the latter indicate that we desperately need rate cuts to keep markets afloat? C’mon, quit your whining.”
The S&P 500 rose 2.3%.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 3.1%.
The Russell 2000 of smaller firms added 2.4%.
Nvidia Corp. led gains in mega-caps.
Eli Lilly & Co. soared on a bullish outlook driven by sales of its weight-loss drugs.
Treasury 10-year yields rose five basis points to 3.99%.
Swap traders further trimmed bets on aggressive Federal Reserve easing in 2024.
Cryptocurrencies surged, with investors returning to riskier assets across financial markets.
“It has been quite a week,” said Liz Young Thomas at SoFi.  “Up, down, and all around. Even if that nerve racking event is over, we learned how sensitive markets now are to cooler US economic data, how broad reaching the impact of the yen carry trade can be, and how conditioned investors are to expect rate cuts as the salve for every scrape.”
That said, Thomas believes there is more volatility to come, and cooler economic and earnings data that will need to be digested for the remainder of the year.
“Volatility can be unsettling, but it can also be an opportunity to revisit your allocations and do a gut check on what level of risk you’re comfortable with, given the wide variety of possible outcomes,” she concluded.
To Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research, the issue right now is whether the Fed should be easing soon or not — and whether a large upfront move is likely or not.
“We are rallying today because of jobless claims!” Dutta said. “That’s unusual. If you get some downside surprises in the data next week, guess what happens? It will just fuel chatter back into the notion that the Fed is a bit behind the curve.”
While the recent stock-market rout flushed out some froth, US stocks remain at risk of more severe declines if growth continues to decelerate and the Fed “does not show urgency” in easing monetary policy, according to Dubravko Lakos-Bujas at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Equities are no longer a “one-way upside trade, instead increasingly a two-sided debate on growth downside risks, Fed timing, crowded positioning, rich valuation, and rising election and geopolitical uncertainties,” Lakos-Bujas said.
Treasuries experienced a perfect storm over the past two weeks, with investors likely to remain focused on carry trade unwinds, labor market and growth data, inflation, and geopolitical risks in the weeks to come, according to TD
Securities’ Gennadiy Goldberg.
“Markets will remain worried about the risk to a 50 basis-point cut in September and intermeeting cuts, though the pricing for both has receded significantly from recent highs,” he said.
“A faster pace of Fed rate cuts also remains a worry, and we expect the Fed to cut rates by 25 basis points at each meeting starting in September until rates reach neutral at 3% by late-2025.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Paramount Global, the parent of Nickelodeon, MTV and other channels, took a second-quarter impairment charge of $5.98 billion on its cable networks, in yet another sign of weakness in the traditional TV industry.
* Delta Air Lines Inc. expects $380 million in lost revenue this quarter from the CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. technology outage that forced the carrier to cancel thousands of flights last month.
* Apple Inc. is planning a new version of the Mac mini that will be its smallest desktop computer yet, part of a broader overhaul of the Mac line with AI-focused chips.
* Eli Lilly & Co. is narrowing the gap with rival Novo Nordisk A/S in the race to dominate the red-hot obesity market as it expands its supplies of weight-loss drugs.
* Under Armour Inc. reported results that exceeded analysts’ expectations and raised its guidance as the athletic-wear brand shows signs of improvement under returning founder Kevin Plank.
Some of the main moves in the market:
Equites
* The S&P 500 rose 2.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.8%
* The MSCI World Index rose 1.7%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 3%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 2.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0917
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2745
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 147.15 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 7.8% to $59,441.88
* Ether rose 9.6% to $2,576
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 3.99%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.27%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 3.98%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.1% to $76.09 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.7% to $2,423.75 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cristin Flanagan, Robert Brand, John Viljoen, Julien Ponthus, Allegra Catelli, Divya Patil and Richard Henderson.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Art is a lie which makes us see the truth. –Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com