Month: March 2021

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy St. Patrick’s Day.

IRISH BLESSING
May you live a long life full of gladness and health,
with a pocket full of gold as the least of your wealth. 
May the dreams you hold dearest be those which come true,
and the kindness you spread keep returning  to you.

March 17, 1755: Transylvania Land Co. buys Kentucky from a Cherokee Chief for $50,000.
2003 Edging to the brink of war, President George W. Bush gave Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country. Iraq rejected the ultimatum. Go to article »

Nat “King” Cole, singer, b. 1919.
Rudolph Nureyev, dancer, b. 1938.

The human brain developed because larger animals went extinct.

Lightning may have sparked life on Earth.  That finding could have implications in the search for life beyond this planet.

Here are the foods with the most and least pesticides.  Spoiler alert: Strawberries continue to top the “Dirty Dozen” list.

A man with autism asks future employers to ‘take a chance on me’ in a heartfelt, handwritten viral letter.  He’s since received thousands of comments, connections, potential mentors and even job offers.

Venture into the underground for a tour of the world’s longest art gallery and other hidden wonders. (Click here to view.)

Archaeologists have discovered a treasure trove of 2,000-year-old Dead Sea scroll fragments during an excavation of the so-called Cave of Horror in the Judean desert. It is the first such discovery in the desert south of Jerusalem in more than 60 years.

“Because in a CBS poll, a third of Republicans said they would not be vaccinated. Come on, Republicans! Not everything is political. How do we convince you that you want it? Would it feel safer if the vaccine was administered by an AR-15?” — STEPHEN COLBERT

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A great cormorant birds perches on tree branches as the sun rises at Taudaha Lake, on the outskirts of the Kathmandu valley, Nepal
CREDIT: NARENDRA SHRESTHA/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

A bear clashes with a tigress at Ranthambore National Park in western Rajasthan, India.
CREDIT: ADITYA DICKY SINGH / CATERS NEWS

A stunning sunset over Manstone Rock on the Stiperstones nature reserve, Shropshire
CREDIT: ANDREW FUSEK PETERS / SWNS

Market Closes for March 17^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33015.37	+189.42
		+0.58%
S&P 500	3974.12	+11.41
		+0.29%
NASDAQ	13525.203	+53.636 +0.40%
TSX	18983.10	+109.09
		+0.58%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	22914.33	-6.76
		-0.02%
HANG SENG	29034.12	+6.43
		+0.02%
SENSEX	49801.62	-562.34
		-1.12%
FTSE 100*	6762.67	-40.94 -0.60%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.590	1.570
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.084	1.032
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.6427	1.6179
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.4180	2.3785

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8061	0.8037
US $	1.2406	1.2443
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4863	0.6728
US $	1.1980	0.8347

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1735.00	1723.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	64.60	64.80

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1938, the governing committee of the New York Stock Exchange agreed unanimously to expel former president Richard Whitney, who had embezzled hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of securities from trust funds under his oversight.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares rose after the U.S. Federal Reserve continued to project near-zero interest rates at least through 2023 despite rising inflation concerns. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.6% in Toronto, more than recouping the 0.4% drop on Tuesday. Pot stocks and miners led the rally while consumer staples fared the worst. Meanwhile, Mexico and Canada are at the top of President Joe Biden’s list of countries to eventually receive exports of U.S.-made coronavirus vaccines, according to a U.S. official familiar with the plans.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $10.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.8% to $1,744.63 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.3% to C$1.2407 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 1 basis point to 1.583%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.6 percent at 18,983.10 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.4 percent. Enerplus Corp. had the largest increase, rising 7.8 percent. Today, 126 of 219 shares rose, while 92 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.9 percent
* The index advanced 50 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 61 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.3 percent below its 52-week high on
March 17, 2021 and 69.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.6 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
28 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.92t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.49 percent compared with
11.43 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.03 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 36.5146| 0.6| 14/12
Materials | 31.2341| 1.4| 43/7
Information Technology | 19.0520| 1.0| 3/7
Energy | 16.6831| 0.7| 17/4
Consumer Discretionary | 6.0558| 0.8| 5/8
Industrials | 5.1799| 0.2| 14/15
Health Care | 4.0123| 1.4| 8/1
Real Estate | -0.9244| -0.2| 8/18
Communication Services | -1.7017| -0.2| 6/1
Utilities | -2.1740| -0.2| 5/11
Consumer Staples | -4.8374| -0.7| 3/8
US
By Olivia Raimonde and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rose to record highs and yields on longer-maturity U.S. debt retreated from more than one-year highs after the Federal Reserve continued to project near-zero interest rates at least through 2023 despite rising inflation concerns. The yield on the benchmark 10-year note retreated from its highs of the day as Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the central bank wants to see inflation moderately above 2% and said the recent move higher in yields wasn’t disorderly. The S&P 500 climbed to the highest level on record, led by the consumer discretionary, industrial and materials sectors.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also close at an all-time high. “Overall a big sigh of relief for equities since interest rates are still likely to remain near zero for an extended period, despite the massive double stimulus from the Fed and Congress,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. Expectations of a strong recovery from the Covid-19 slump put an intense focus on Fed officials’ projections for interest rates displayed in their “dot plot.” The central bank raised its economic outlook. Seven of 18 officials predicted higher rates by the end of 2023 compared with five of 17 at the December meeting, showing a slightly larger group who see an earlier start than peers to the withdrawal of ultra-easy monetary policy, according to the FOMC’s quarterly economic projections also issued Wednesday.
“The Fed was dovish relative to some fears of ‘hawkish dots’, but since we didn’t get that ‘hawkish’ outcome, stocks are having a relief move,” said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI. “Bottom line, the inflation/growth forecasts the Fed has along with no rate hikes for three years is a positive backdrop for risk assets.” The yield on 30-year Treasuries had spiked to a level unseen since 2019 and the 10-year hit 1.69%. Market-implied inflation expectations were at 12-year highs. The dollar weakened versus most major peers. Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell, and South Korean stocks retreated as Samsung Electronics Co. warned it’s grappling with the fallout from a “serious imbalance” in semiconductors globally. WTI crude oil was little changed with the International Energy Agency saying markets aren’t on the verge of a new price super cycle. Bitcoin climbed off the lows of the day back toward the weekend record of above $61,000.
These are some key events this week:
* Bank of England rate decision Thursday. BOE is expected to leave monetary policy unchanged.
* Bank of Japan monetary policy decision and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda briefing Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index gained 0.3% to 3,974.16 as of 4:01 p.m. New York time, the highest on record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 0.6% to 33,016.16, the highest on record.
The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.4% to 13,525.20, the highest in more than two weeks.
The Nasdaq 100 Index advanced 0.4% to 13,202.38, the highest in more than two weeks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.4% to 424.91, the largest drop in more than a week.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5% to 1,134.14, the lowest in more than two weeks.
The euro jumped 0.6% to $1.1976, the largest climb in almost six weeks.
The British pound jumped 0.5% to $1.3963, the biggest increase in almost four weeks.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 108.89 per dollar.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to
0.14%, the lowest in more than two weeks on the biggest dip in almost three weeks.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 1.64%, the highest in more than 13 months.
The yield on 30-year Treasuries climbed three basis points to 2.41%, the highest in 16 months.
Germany’s 10-year yield gained five basis points to -0.29%, the
highest in more than a week on the largest climb in two weeks.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude declined 0.4% to $64.57 a barrel, the lowest in a week.
Gold strengthened 0.8% to $1,745.72 an ounce, the highest in almost three weeks on the largest gain in more than a week.
–With assistance from David Wilson.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

When you appeared in this world, you cried, and all the people around you rejoiced.  You have to live your life
in such a way that when you leave this world, you will rejoice,
and all the people around you will cry. –Indian Wisdom.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
James Madison, 4^th president, b. 1751
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, jurist, b. 1933

2003 Vice President Dick Cheney predicted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that American troops would be “greeted as liberators” by the Iraqi people. Go to article ».
Speaking of Cheney, we just happened to watch the movie “Vice” on Netflix this past weekend, the movie  released in  2018 on Dick Cheney’s rise to power as George W. Bush’s Vice-President.  It is very insightful and the acting is excellent with Christian Bale as Dick Cheney accompanied by Amy Adams, Steve Carrell to name a few.  Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it yet.

Millennials are saving the art market.

Lake Baikal: Usually it’s foreigners who cavort at the world’s deepest lake. This winter, it’s Russians.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The sun sets behind Stonehenge in Wiltshire
CREDIT: NICK BULL/ PICTUREEXCKUSIVE.COM

People wearing Napoleonic era costumes stand on the beach to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death in Saint-Helene, in Golfe-Juan, southeastern France
CREDIT: VALERY HACHE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

This 10,500-year-old basket dating back to the Neolithic period was unearthed in Murabaat Cave in the Judean Desert in Israel.
CREDIT: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS

Young female wildcat Nell, with her siblings
CREDIT: ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND/PA

Market Closes for March 16^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32825.95	-127.51
		-0.39%
S&P 500	3962.71	-6.23
		-0.16%
NASDAQ	13471.566	+11.858 +0.09%
TSX	18874.01	-80.74
		-0.43%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29921.09	+154.12
		+0.52%
HANG SENG	29027.69	+193.93
		+0.67%
SENSEX	50363.96	-31.12
		-0.06%
FTSE 100*	6803.61	+53.91 +0.80%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.570	1.541
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.032	2.001
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.6179	1.6055
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3785	2.3573

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8037	0.8015
US $	1.2443	1.2475
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4811	0.6752
US $	1.1903	0.8401

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1723.65	1704.80
Oil
WTI Crude Future	64.80	65.39

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 10000 for the first time.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets fell on Tuesday, ending a seven-day rally, as cyclical sectors underperformed. The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 0.4% in Toronto. Pot stocks pared back gains from Monday when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is very close on legalizing marijuana. Resource stocks also underperformed as oil and copper prices fell. On the M&A front, Empire Co. is in a pact to acquire 51% of Longo’s.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold was flat around $1,731.63 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.3% to C$1.2440 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 3 basis points to 1.568%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4 percent at 18,874.01 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 1.1 percent on March 4 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.5 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9 percent. Aphria Inc. had the largest drop, falling 9.3 percent. Today, 118 of 219 shares fell, while 96 rose; 5 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.3 percent
* The index advanced 53 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 70 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.5 percent below its 52-week high on
March 16, 2021 and 68.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.9 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.94t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.43 percent compared with
11.53 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.13 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -45.2454| -1.9| 2/20
Materials | -28.6483| -1.2| 11/38
Information Technology | -15.9696| -0.9| 6/4
Health Care | -13.4754| -4.5| 2/7
Consumer Discretionary | -6.5542| -0.9| 5/8
Real Estate | 1.6466| 0.3| 16/7
Utilities | 2.0846| 0.2| 9/6
Industrials | 4.6093| 0.2| 14/15
Financials | 5.5742| 0.1| 16/10
Consumer Staples | 6.0410| 0.9| 10/1
Communication Services | 9.2093| 1.0| 5/2
US
By Lu Wang and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for the first time in six trading sessions while yields on benchmark Treasury notes lingered close to more than one-year highs as investors weighed the strength of the global economic recovery. The S&P 500 closed lower after setting all-time highs for three consecutive trading sessions, led by declines in the energy and industrials sectors. Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell from a record high, with Boeing Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. among the biggest decliners. Treasury 10-year yields fluctuated as the Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting.
“The actual growth numbers keep coming out ahead of almost all of what experts predict, so the market is trying to sort out what that means over the longer term,” said Stephen Dover, chief market strategist and head of the Franklin Templeton Investment Institute. “Growth had so far outperformed value that there was a rotation, but a lot of that rotation has happened, and so now they’re closer to each other and there’s a tug and pull back and forth between those areas and sectors.” In Europe, traders shrugged off decisions by Germany, France and Italy to suspend the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine ahead of a meeting of regional health ministers to discuss the future of the Covid-19 shot. The Stoxx 600 Index advanced 0.9%.
Markets saw modest gains in Japan and China, where investors were watching for a possible broader crackdown on the internet sector. Oil retreated for a third day, while the dollar was mixed versus its major peers. With the global economy increasingly on a path out of the pandemic, focus turns to the Fed’s communications on Wednesday, which will include fresh economic and interest-rate projections. Reflation trades stand to benefit if the central bank maintains a hands-off approach to the recent rise in yields. Bets on a faster economic recovery have already helped push one market gauge of inflation to its highest level since 2008, and a renewed climb in yields could spur the rotation from growth to value stocks. “As bond vol drops and rates are pinned by European risk near term, the pain trade that started yesterday continues,” with growth stocks outperforming, said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI. “Eventually bond yields will catch up to inflation expectations again.” Looking further ahead, investors are assessing the potential for an infrastructure spending package and tax increases in the U.S. Elsewhere, Bitcoin traded around $56,000, down from a weekend peak above $61,000.
These are some key events this week:
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell will likely reaffirm his steady policy stance at the Fed policy meeting Wednesday.
* Bank of England rate decision Thursday. BOE is expected to leave monetary policy unchanged.
* Bank of Japan monetary policy decision and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda briefing Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.2% to 3,962.71 as of 4:04 p.m. New York time, the first retreat in more than a week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.4% to 32,825.95, the first retreat in more than a week.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1% to 13,471.57, the highest in more than two weeks.
The Nasdaq 100 Index increased 0.5% to 13,152.28, the highest in more than two weeks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.9% to 426.82, the highest
in about 13 months on the largest climb in more than a week.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,139.61.
The euro dipped 0.2% to $1.1905, the weakest in a week.
The British pound was little changed at $1.3897, the weakest in a week.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 109 per dollar, the largest advance in a week.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries fell less than one basis point to 0.15%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed one basis point to 1.61%.
Britain’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 0.785%.
Germany’s 10-year yield declined less than one basis point to -0.34%, the lowest in two weeks.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $64.66 a barrel, the biggest fall in a week.
Gold was little changed at $1,731.90 an ounce, the highest in two weeks.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

In real life, illusions can only transform our life for a moment, but in the
domain of thoughts and the intellect, misconceptions may be accepted as
truth for thousands of years, and make a laughingstock of whole
nations, mute the noble wishes of mankind, make slaves from people and lie
to them.  These misconceptions are the enemies with which the wisest
men in the history of mankind try to struggle.  The force of the truth is
great, but its victory is difficult.  However, once you receive this victory, it can
never be taken from you. –Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: The Ides of March.

Julius Caesar, d. 44 BC.
Andrew Jackson, 7^th President, b. 1767.
1917 – Czar Nicholas II of Russia abdicates his throne.

On March 14, 1900, Congress ratified the Gold Standard Act. Go to article »

SpaceX launched its Falcon 9 rocket for the 9th time
The launch sends more Starlink satellites into orbit, with the goal of blanketing the planet in high-speed broadband.

More than 3 million people took a course on happiness. What did they learn? The vaccine clinic was bustling, then a world-renowned musician showed up for his shot. Everyone fell quiet as he created a moment that was “so healing.” Watch it happen.

The virus has extinguished a centuries-old tribe in the Amazon. The last member of the Juma people died from Covid last month.

Tucked away in an unlikely corner of the European Union, an immense conservation project is underway.

Academy Award nominations came out this morning, and for the first time, two women were nominated for best director. The picks brimmed
with snubs and surprises. Here’s the list of Oscar nods. –Seattle Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Red Square, Moscow. After a mild winter Moscow is experiencing snowstorms. According to weather forecasts, the temperature is set to drop to -6°c; blizzard and gusting wind are also expected
CREDIT: VALERY SHARIFULIN//TASS VIA GETTY IMAGES

First night at the opera and the world premier for the Northern Ballet’s production of Geisha. Choreography by Kenneth Tindall and performed at Leeds Grand Theatre
CREDIT: ELLIOT FRANKS

Wayuu girls perform the traditional La Yonna dance, in Tres Bocas, northern Colombia
CREDIT: JUAN BARRETO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Market Closes for March 15^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32853.46	+174.82
		+0.53%
S&P 500	3968.94	+25.60
		+0.65%
NASDAQ	13459.707	+139.843 +1.05%
TSX	18954.75	+103.43
		+0.55%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29766.97	+49.14
		+0.17%
HANG SENG	28833.76	+94.04
		+0.33%
SENSEX	50395.08	-397.00
		-0.78%
FTSE 100*	6749.70	-11.77 -0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.541	1.587
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.001	2.026
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.6055	1.6247
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3573	2.3776

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8015	0.8015
US $	1.2475	1.2476
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4883	0.6719
US $	1.1929	0.8383

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1704.80	1724.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future	65.39	65.61

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1817, the New York Stock Exchange prohibited the “fictitious sales,” or wash sales, that had enabled speculators to manipulate individual stocks without even owning them. Nevertheless, the practice continued unabated for decades.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced for seventh consecutive days, while U.S. stocks hit another record high. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.6% in Toronto. All but financials sectors were in the green, while communication services stocks outperformed amid Rogers Communication agreeing to buy Shaw Communications in a $16 billion deal. Pot stocks also gained after New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is very close on legalizing marijuana. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sought to reassure Canadians that every Covid-19 vaccine approved in the country is safe even as the European Union’s three biggest economies suspended use of AstraZeneca Plc’s shot.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,731.52 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was flat at C$1.2472 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell about 5 basis points to 1.538%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the seventh day, climbing 0.5 percent, or 103.43 to 18,954.75 in Toronto. Today, communication services stocks led the market higher, as 10 of 11 sectors gained; 131 of 219 shares rose, while 86 fell. Shaw Communications Inc. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 41.6 percent.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.7 percent
* The index advanced 38 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 49 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1 percent below its 52-week high on
March 15, 2021 and 69.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.7 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.7 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.9 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.92t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.53 percent compared with
12.69 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.26 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Communication Services | 31.6554| 3.6| 5/2
Materials | 27.2639| 1.2| 38/11
Information Technology | 25.1848| 1.4| 8/2
Health Care | 11.2033| 3.9| 8/1
Industrials | 6.5145| 0.3| 12/17
Consumer Discretionary | 5.7275| 0.8| 7/6
Utilities | 5.0982| 0.6| 13/3
Energy | 4.8500| 0.2| 9/12
Real Estate | 3.1357| 0.5| 17/9
Consumer Staples | 0.6533| 0.1| 7/4
Financials | -17.8691| -0.3| 7/19

US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks closed at a record high for a third consecutive trading session amid growing optimism over the budding economic recovery and progress on vaccines. Long-term Treasury yields edged lower. The benchmark S&P 500 Index gained for a fifth straight trading session, led by the utilities and real estate sectors. The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed at a record and finished up for a seventh session in a row. Apple Inc., Tesla Inc. and Facebook Inc. led the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 higher. Crude oil pared a loss of more than 2%. “U.S. equities have become a buy high, sell higher asset class on the heels of economic reopening optimism, vaccination progress and additional government stimulus,” said Terry Sandven, chief equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management.
“We’re maintaining our glass half full orientation for equities and that’s a function of favorable fundamental sentiment and technical trends.” Yields on benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury notes declined from the more than one-year high reached last week. Brent crude dropped overnight, erasing a gain after a raft of economic data from China added to signs of recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Concerns about tightening liquidity weighed on Chinese shares, with the CSI 300 Index closing down 2.2%. Investors remain preoccupied with rising long-term borrowing costs and their implications for reflation trades and the rotation in the stock market from growth to value shares. In the U.S., investors are also considering the potential impact of higher taxes and how that could affect corporate profit growth. President Joe Biden is planning the first major federal tax hike since 1993 to help pay for a long-term economic program, according to people familiar with the matter.
The White House is expected to propose a suite of tax increases, mostly mirroring Biden’s 2020 campaign proposals, according to four people familiar with the discussions. ”I think the market will wait a bit longer on the Biden tax story,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Independent Advisor Alliance. “People are going to want to know what is actually proposed, and more importantly, what is likely to make it through Congress.” Elsewhere, Bitcoin pulled back after a weekend rally that sent prices above $61,000 for the first time. The largest cryptocurrency was trading at about $56,000 on Monday.
These are some key events this week:
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell will likely reaffirm his no-tightening policy stance at the Fed policy meeting Wednesday.
* Bank of England rate decision Thursday. BOE is expected to leave monetary policy unchanged.
* Bank of Japan monetary policy decision and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda briefing Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index increased 0.6% to 3,968.77 as of 4:01 p.m. New
York time, hitting the highest on record with its fifth consecutive advance.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.5% to 32,952.28,
reaching the highest on record with its seventh consecutive advance.
The Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 1% to 13,459.71, the highest in two weeks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was unchanged at 423.08.
The MSCI All-Country World Index advanced 0.4% to 677.32, the highest in more than three weeks.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.1% to 1,139.79.
The euro dipped 0.2% to $1.1932.
The British pound decreased 0.2% to $1.3902.
The Japanese yen depreciated 0.1% to 109.10 per dollar, the weakest in more than nine months.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 1.60%.
The yield on 30-year Treasuries decreased three basis points to 2.35%.
Britain’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to 0.798%.
Germany’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to -0.33%, the
lowest in almost two weeks on the largest fall in two weeks.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude declined 0.2% to $65.45 a barrel.
Gold strengthened 0.3% to $1,731.74 an ounce, the highest in almost two weeks.

–With assistance from Kamaron Leach.
Have a nice evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears:
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.  The evil that men do lives after them;
The good is oft interred with their bones. -William Shakespeare, 1564-1616.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

And don’t forget, daylight saving time begins Sunday, giving you an extra hour of daylight to enjoy the outdoors.

1755 – first steam engine in US installed, to pump water from a mine.
1938 – Nazi Germany invades Austria (Anschluss).March 12, 2009 Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history. Go to article »

Jack Kerouac, writer, b. 1922
James Taylor, singer, songwriter, b. 1948

The Grammys are on Sunday: Trevor Noah will host, almost two dozen stars will perform, and the Weeknd is boycotting the awards

$69,346,250 -That’s how much the first virtual Non-Fungible Token (NFT) artwork just sold for at auction. The sale of “Everydays: The First 5000 Days,” a collection of photos, has brought more attention to NFT works, including digital art, GIFs and even tweets, which have sold for millions of dollars. From the Late Night Hosts: Jimmy Kimmel celebrated America’s “coronaversary” on Thursday night, referring to it as “one year of living contagiously.” “And today marks one year since the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. Prior to that, it was actually categorized as a legume.” — STEPHEN COLBERT “I think we all remember where we were when we heard the news, because we’re all still there.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People dine around a table suspended by a crane at 50 meters above the ground, at the Dinner in the Sky restaurant, in the Gulf emirate.
CREDIT: GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A glowing river of lava gushes from the slopes of Mt Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, near Zafferana Etnea, Sicily.
CREDIT: SALVATORE ALLEGRA/ AP

Hindu devotees light oil lamps during Lakshadeepotsava, the festival of a hundred thousand lamps, during the Shivarathri festival at the Basavanna Temple on the outskirts of Bangalore.
CREDIT: MAJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The evening sunset lighting up mammatus clouds seen from Rustington, West Sussex.
CREDIT: STEVEN PASTON/EMPICS ENTERTAINMENT
Market Closes for March 12^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32778.64	+293.05
		+0.90%
S&P 500	3943.34	+4.00
		+0.10%
NASDAQ	12219.863	-78.810 -0.59%
TSX	18851.32	+6.75
		+0.04%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29717.83	+506.19
		+1.73%
HANG SENG	28739.72	-645.89
		-2.20%
SENSEX	50792.08	-487.43
		-0.95%
FTSE 100*	6761.47	+24.51 +0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.587	1.440
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.026	1.890
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.6247	1.5370
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3776	2.2945

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.8015	0.7979
US $	1.2476	1.2532
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4907	0.6708
US $	1.1947	0.8370

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1724.25	1716.20
Oil
WTI Crude Future	65.61	66.02

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1986, Oracle went public on the Nasdaq at an initial price of $15 a share. The stock closed the day at $20.75, setting the stage for another software company, Microsoft, to go public the following day.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second straight week, closing out the period at a fresh record high. The S&P/TSX Composite Index was little changed Friday, gaining less than 0.1%, with utilities rising while cannabis shares retreated.  Yields on 10-year Canadian notes rose and are fast approaching parity with the 10-year Treasuries. Oil in London fell for the first week in two months as signals of a patchy demand rebound across the globe  and a stronger dollar held back a crude’s rally.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,724.70 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.4% to C$1.2483 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 14 basis points to 1.583

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 18,851.32 in Toronto. Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7 percent. BlackBerry Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 10.8 percent. Today, 117 of 219 shares rose, while 99 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.1 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 2.6 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Feb. 5
* The index advanced 51 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 62 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on
March 11, 2021 and 68.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.8 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.92t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.69 percent compared with
14.18 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.38 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 16.4992| 0.3| 18/8
Utilities | 3.1997| 0.4| 11/5
Energy | 2.9690| 0.1| 10/12
Real Estate | 1.7453| 0.3| 15/11
Consumer Staples | 1.2740| 0.2| 6/5
Materials | 0.8565| 0.0| 26/22
Consumer Discretionary | -1.2126| -0.2| 7/6
Health Care | -3.3673| -1.1| 5/4
Communication Services | -3.9675| -0.4| 5/1
Information Technology | -4.3807| -0.2| 3/7
Industrials | -6.8533| -0.3| 11/18

US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks eked out a record, though rising Treasury yields continued to weigh on technology stocks. The dollar jumped. The S&P 500 closed higher amid rallies in financial and industrial shares as the rotation into value shares resumed. The Nasdaq 100 Index gauge slumped after accelerating vaccinations in the U.S. and the passage of the $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill sent Treasury yields past 1.64%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added to its all-time high. “There’s been a little more volatility than usual, particularly because there’s a number of crosscurrents both tailwinds and headwinds,” said Michael Reynolds, chief investment officer at Glenmede Trust Co. European shares ended lower, with tech the biggest decliner following the Tencent news. A resurgence of the virus in Italy coupled with division over AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine also hit sentiment. Burberry Group Plc rose following an announcement that the rebound in its fourth quarter has been stronger than analysts expected.
Markets were jolted on Friday by the surge in yields, after relatively smooth bond sales this week had eased concerns on the fixed-income outlook. The wave of stimulus and vaccine rollout in the U.S. is once more forcing investors to confront the prospect of excessive inflation. The focus now turns to the Federal Reserve decision next week. “We think the U.S. 10-year yield has further room to go and  could reach 1.80%,” said Sebastien Galy, a senior macro strategist at Nordea Investment Funds. “Growth stocks maintain a high sensitivity to rates, which continues to suggest that they are quite overvalued.” Elsewhere, European debt dropped after authorities were said to have no intention of expanding stimulus despite their pledge to keep yields in check. Oil fell below $66 a barrel.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% in a sixth straight advance.
The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.9%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.3% to 423, the first retreat in a week.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%.
The euro declined 0.2% to $1.1959.
The British pound declined 0.5% to $1.3928, the largest decrease in more than two weeks.
The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 109.02 per dollar, the weakest in about nine months.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries gained one basis point to 0.15%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased nine basis points to
1.63%, the highest in 13 months on the biggest climb in more than two weeks.
The yield on 30-year Treasuries jumped nine basis points to
2.39%, the highest in more than 14 months on the largest surge in more than two months.
Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to -0.31%, the biggest rise in more than a week.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% a barrel to $65.62.
Gold futures were flat at $1,722.60 an ounce.
Copper fell 0.6% to $4.11 a pound.
–With assistance from Anchalee Worrachate.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

If you live your life fully, you will die only once.   But if you are scared at every step,
fear will kill you day after day. -Paulo Coelho, b. 1947

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Johnny Appleseed Day

1918 – Start of the flu pandemic.

It was a year ago today that the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a global pandemic. In the U.S. alone, there have been more than 29 million cases and nearly 530,000 deaths. We took a look at a year like no other.

2011 – A 9.0 magnitude earthquake strikes 130 km east of Sendai, Japan, triggering a tsunami killing thousands of people and causing the second worst nuclear accident in history at Fukushima nuclear plant.
Ten years after an earthquake and tsunami led to a nuclear meltdown and killed more than 19,000 people, the legacy of the Fukushima disaster still feels painfully immediate.

On March 11, 1941, President Roosevelt signed into law the Lend-Lease Bill, providing war supplies to countries fighting the Axis.  Go to article »  

A Utah woman found a 19th-century tombstone in her new yard.  Congratulations, you’ve got ghosts! 

People traveling to Thailand can now wait out their quarantine period on a yacht.  Mandated safety precautions, but make it fancy. 

RIP to the inventor of the cassette tape.

To photograph snowflakes, Nathan Myhrvold took 18 months to build an entirely new camera with the best sensors that captured a million pixels. Last year, he emerged with what he called the highest resolution images of flakes ever produced.  Don Komarechka, a lower tech photographer, uses a store-bought camera and a high-power macro lens to snap his snowflakes. To challenge Dr. Myhrvold’s claims, he took an image that he says was even higher resolution. His rival, whose snowflakes are sharper when printed at expansive sizes, disagreed.  Both methods produce stunning results. While Dr. Myhrvold’s images capture light passing through a snowflake, Mr. Komarechka uses light reflected off the surface, revealing “sometimes beautiful rainbow colors in the center.”

from the Late Night Hosts:

“With this passage, the government is about to send $1,400 stimulus checks to millions of Americans. There you go, baby. You’re rich! Buy yourself something nice, like rent or medicine.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“One point nine trillion dollars. That’s like a dollar for every email you got this year that started with, ‘In these challenging times.’” — JIMMY FALLON

“It’s very rare to have that, but Republicans in Congress can’t support it because Democrats in Congress do support it. If a meteor was hurtling toward the earth and Chuck Schumer said, ‘We’ve got to stop this,’ Mitch McConnell would be like, ‘No we don’t. No we don’t. Could lead to socialism.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“The administration says a large number of Americans could receive their $1,400 stimulus payments before the end of March. Do you know what that means?
There’s finally going to be an end of March!” — STEPHEN COLBERT

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A buddhist monk prays for the victims of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami at a beach in Iwaki, Japan
CREDIT: YUICHI YAMAZAKI / GETTY IMAGES

Paper lanterns are lit in Tokyo, Japan, for the victims of the tsunami 
CREDIT: ISSEI KATO/REUTERS

An artwork by artist Guillaume Legros, also known as Saype, is seen from the air in Benin’s floating village of Ganvie
CREDIT: YANICK FOLLY/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Large waves hit the harbour wall at Newhaven, E Sussex
CREDIT: MATTHEW CHILDS/REUTERS
Market Closes for March 11^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32485.59	+188.57
		+0.58%
S&P 500	3939.34	+40.53
		+1.04%
NASDAQ	13398.673	+329.841 +2.52%
TSX	18844.57	+154.57
		+0.83%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29211.64	+175.05
		+0.60%
HANG SENG	29385.61	+478.09
		+1.65%
SENSEX	51279.51	+254.03
		+0.50%
FTSE 100*	6736.96	+11.36 +0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.440	1.411
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.890	1.839
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.5370	1.5178
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2945	2.2381

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7979	0.7925
US $	1.2532	1.2621
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5017	0.6659
US $	1.1983	0.8344

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1716.20	1716.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	66.02	64.44

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1991, Microsoft confirmed it was the subject of an investigation by the Federal Trade Commission. U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued a final ruling on April 3, 2000, finding that Microsoft had violated Federal antitrust law. That day, Microsoft stock plunged 14.5%, shedding $80 billion in market value.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose Thursday, advancing for a fifth straight session with cannabis shares and tech leading the charge. The S&P/TSX Composite Index advanced 0.8% to a record high. Nine of 11 sectors advanced, with communication services and real estate lagging. Oil rose the most in almost a week alongside a broader market rally as signs emerged that a recovery in fuel consumption is gaining traction. Bank of Canada officials were driven by concern about the uneven labor market recovery in deciding this week to maintain extraordinary monetary stimulus. With its purchase by Air Canada in jeopardy, tour operator Transat AT Inc. said it’s exploring a government emergency loan that could come as early as this month.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.05 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,725 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.8% to C$1.2523 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 2 basis points to 1.43%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fifth day, climbing 0.8 percent, or 154.57 to 18,844.57 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.9 percent. Aphria Inc. had the largest increase, rising 10.8 percent. Today, 153 of 219 shares rose, while 63 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.1 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 2.5 percent, heading for the
biggest advance since the week ended Feb. 5
* The index advanced 32 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 46 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on
March 11, 2021 and 68.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 4 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.5 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.9 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.9t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.18 percent compared with
14.46 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.43 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 55.8807| 3.1| 9/1
Materials | 36.7818| 1.6| 40/10
Energy | 21.0050| 0.9| 16/4
Health Care | 15.8588| 5.7| 8/1
Utilities | 9.5003| 1.1| 14/2
Financials | 9.2211| 0.2| 17/9
Industrials | 4.7569| 0.2| 16/13
Consumer Discretionary | 4.4990| 0.6| 7/6
Consumer Staples | 1.4591| 0.2| 8/3
Real Estate | -0.8221| -0.1| 13/12
Communication Services | -3.5558| -0.4| 5/2

US
By Jeremy Herron and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks jumped to an all-time high, powered by a renewed rally in tech shares as investors eye a $1.9 trillion spending injection from the federal government. The S&P 500 reclaimed a record in a broad rally led by tech and consumer discretionary shares. The Nasdaq 100 Index surged more than 2.5% as it continued to rebound from a rout that had taken it 11% below its February record. Chipmakers paced the tech advance. Twitter Inc. jumped 5.7%, while Tesla Inc. continued its recovery. Korean e-commerce giant Coupang Inc. popped 41% in its market debut. Verizon Communications Inc. saw surging demand for its $25 billion debt sale. The 10-year Treasury yield pared an increase after an auction of 30-year notes. Jobless claims fell more than forecast, signaling labor-market momentum as President Joe Biden signed the bill Thursday ahead of a prime time address to the nation.
The dollar slumped versus major peers. “The administration has slipped a little bit of extra fuel to the equity markets with their bill. It’s going to be rocket fuel,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank. “We’re headed to new highs because of all that stimulus money that’s being put out there and it’s more broad-based than the first couple stimulus programs.” Risk assets resumed their broad rally with vaccinations rolling out around the world and the U.S. poised to notch economic growth not seen since the 1980s. Concern that explosion would deliver a bout of inflation eased after Wednesday’s weaker-than-expected report on consumer prices, while Thursday’s report on jobless claims showed plenty of slack in the labor market.
Elsewhere in markets, German 10-year bond yields declined and the Stoxx 600 Index gained after the European Central Bank indicated it will step up the pace of bond purchases. Copper climbed above $9,000 a ton in London and oil advanced. Meanwhile, the ECB pledged to ramp up its buying of government debt in coming months in a bid to a contain rising bond yields that threaten to derail the region’s economic recovery. While policy makers are now committing to front load purchases, they still kept the overall size of the 1.85 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) pandemic bond-buying program unchanged.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index gained 1% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.5%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 1.7%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 2.7%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.55%.
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.1990.
* The British pound gained 0.4% to $1.3993.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 108.43 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.52%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to 0.14%.
* The 30-year rate rose to 2.27%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to -0.334%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2.5% to $65.05 a barrel.
* Gold futures were little changed at $1,721.30 an ounce.
–With assistance from Morwenna Coniam.

Have a nice evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It’s not as if our lives are divided simply into light and dark.  There’s shadowy middle ground. 
Recognizing and understanding the shadows is what a healthy intelligence does.  And to acquire
a healthy intelligence takes a certain amount of time and effort. –Haruki Murakami, b. 1949.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1862 – Paper money issued in the U.S.
1876 – Telephone invented.

On March 10, 1985, Konstantin U. Chernenko, Soviet leader for just 13 months, died at age 73. His death was announced on March 11th. Politburo member
Mikhail S. Gorbachev was chosen to succeed him.  Go to article »

This year’s Oscar nominations, out Monday, should be the most diverse lineup in ages.
While the best picture list remains a little wobbly, “Nomadland” director Chloé Zhao is likely to be the first woman of color nominated for best director. Chadwick Boseman, above center in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom,” may earn two posthumous nominations, and more broadly, people of color could claim nearly half of this year’s acting nominations.
Here are our columnist’s predictions.
While the U.S. film industry slowly chugs along, Hollywood has temporarily relocated to Australia. Dozens of international film productions have been lured to the country, where cases of the coronavirus are few. In turn, actors have found something resembling paradise. –The New York Times.

Is a document long dismissed as a forgery actually the oldest known biblical manuscript?  In 1883, 15 manuscript fragments found near the Dead Sea, pictured in a drawing above, caused an international sensation. Written in ancient Hebrew script, they were said to be an alternate version of the Book of Deuteronomy. But they were quickly denounced as fakes, and the fragments subsequently vanished.
Now, a young scholar is arguing that the manuscript was not only authentic but predated Deuteronomy, back to the period of the First Temple. That would make it one of the most consequential Bible-related discoveries ever.  In more modern artifacts, a collector is parting with three treasures of his stamp collection, including the world’s most valuable single stamp. The collection, to be auctioned by Sotheby’s, could sell for as much as $37 million.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
World Champion Pipe Major Cameron Edgar, who has been playing the Bag Pipes for over 50 years, performs at the War Horse Memorial in Featherstone, West Yorkshire, to commemorate World Bagpipe Day
CREDIT: CHARLOTTE GRAHAM FOR THE TELEGRAPH
A glowing river of lava gushes from the slopes of Mt Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, near Zafferana Etnea, Sicily
CREDIT: SALVATORE ALLEGREA/AP
A magnifying glass is held in front of a medieval bone handle carving of a woman dressed in a gown and headdress, dating to the 14th Century, one of thousands of artefacts in the care of York Museums Trust that are being photographed and put online for the public to view, while the museum in York remains closed during lockdown
CREDIT: DANNY LAWSON/PA
Market Closes for March 10^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32297.02	+464.28
		+1.46%
S&P 500	3898.81	+23.37
		+0.60%
NASDAQ	12068.832	-4.992 -0.04%
TSX	18690.00	+90.81
		+0.49%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29036.56	+8.62
		+0.03%
HANG SENG	28907.52	+134.29
		+0.47%
SENSEX	51279.51	+254.03
		+0.50%
FTSE 100*	6725.60	-4.74 -0.07%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.411	1.447
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.839	1.832
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.5178	1.5263
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2381	2.2335

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7925	0.7912
US $	1.2621	1.2635
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5052	0.6644
US $	1.1926	0.8384

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1716.90	1687.05
Oil
WTI Crude Future	64.44	64.01

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1999, Nasdaq introduced the Nasdaq-100 Index Tracking Stock, a unit investment trust that functions like a mutual fund but trades like a stock. The units, trading under the symbol QQQ, hold shares in each of the stocks in the technology-heavy Nasdaq-100 index. The shares closed the first trading day at $51.062. Exactly a year later, they’d gained 124.2%, closing at $114.50—but one year after that, all their gains had evaporated and they traded at $45.10. Today they are valued at $312.39/sh.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose Wednesday after a rotation to value stocks continued, with tech lagging. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.5%, with eight of eleven sectors rising. Energy and consumer staples led the charge. Oil closed higher after traders assessed a U.S. government report showing the largest two-week decline in gasoline supplies on record, while signs emerged of demand picking up. Canada’s housing market is in a “huge bubble” after months of runaway price gains, according to economist David Rosenberg, who was bearish on U.S. real estate before it crashed nearly 15 years ago.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,724.70 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.2% to C$1.2616 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 3.8 basis points to 1.408%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.5 percent, or 90.81 to 18,690.00 in Toronto. Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.4 percent. Vermilion Energy Inc. had the largest increase, rising 15.1 percent. Today, 139 of 219 shares rose, while 80 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.2 percent
* The index advanced 25 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 37 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.4 percent below its 52-week high on
March 10, 2021 and 67.3 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.8 on a trailing basis and 16.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.88t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.46 percent compared with
15.93 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.42 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 55.5009| 2.4| 21/1
Financials | 51.3039| 0.9| 18/8
Industrials | 13.9898| 0.6| 17/12
Materials | 9.4230| 0.4| 27/23
Consumer Staples | 9.3978| 1.4| 11/0
Consumer Discretionary | 3.7127| 0.5| 5/8
Utilities | 2.8585| 0.3| 13/3
Communication Services | 1.8725| 0.2| 5/2
Real Estate | 0.0218| 0.0| 17/9
Health Care | -7.0473| -2.5| 3/6
Information Technology | -50.2318| -2.7| 2/8
US
By Andreea Papuc and Emily Barrett
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities advanced as the rotation into value stocks resumed following a weak inflation report. Treasury yields turned lower after a 10-year note auction. The dollar weakened. The S&P 500 notched its best two-day advance since early February, led by financial firms and producers of raw materials. A lower-than-expected inflation reading eased concern that prices will spike higher if growth picks up as many economists now predict. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose to a record, closing above 32,000 for the first time.
Tech shares whose valuations look stretched in an era of higher yields slipped after Tuesday’s rebound from weeks of selling. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell toward 1.50%, with bonds rising after a government auction. The dollar retreated. The threat of higher prices as the economy revs and the Biden administration signs a $1.9 trillion spending package drove the rotation from growth stocks that led all of 2020 and into companies with businesses more closely tied to the economic cycle. The dollar weakened versus major peers, sending the euro and pound higher. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced. Crude topped $64 a barrel in New York, while gold futures edged higher. Bitcoin briefly topped $57,000. The rising trend in bond yields is consistent with economic growth expectations, said Lauren Goodwin, portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments. That backdrop still favors cyclicals over defensive assets and “supports equities over bonds, and a weaker U.S. dollar,” she said.

Here are some key events to watch:
* The U.S. government auctions 30-year Treasuries Thursday.
* The European Central Bank holds its monetary policy meeting
and President Christine Lagarde is set to do a briefing Thursday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.4%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 0.8%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slumped 0.3%.
* The euro was little rose 0.2% to $1.1925.
* The British pound added 0.3% to $1.3931.
* The onshore yuan was little changed at 6.508 per dollar.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 108.40 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 1.52%.
* The yield on two-year Treasuries dropped one basis point to 0.15%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to -0.31%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell one basis point to 0.714%.
* Japan’s 10-year yield climbed less than one basis point to 0.128%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1.2% to $64.78 a barrel.
* Brent crude increased 1% to $68.22 a barrel.
* Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,723.50 an ounce.

–With assistance from Ye Xie.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The secret of all victory lies in the organization of the non-obvious.  -Marcus Aurelius, 121 AD-180 AD.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1959 – Barbie doll debuts.

On March 9, 1862, during the Civil War, the ironclads Monitor and Virginia (formerly Merrimac) clashed for five hours at Hampton Roads, Va. Go to article »

Here’s how you can prepare for daylight saving time this weekend.  You know, instead of rolling out of bed Sunday morning confused and cursing all your clocks. 

“Tragic optimism” could help you cope. (h/t Mike Smedley)

A Turkish lake could offer clues about life on Mars.

Area couple turns millennia-old bog trees into furniture

The Late Night Show Hosts weigh in:
“Harry said racism was a big part of their decision to leave, which you know things are bad at Buckingham Palace if they came to America to get away from racism,” Jimmy Kimmel said.

“Hold up, you’re saying Buckingham Palace has H.R.? How long has that been around? Because you would think someone in Human Resources might have stepped in to tell Henry VIII that chopping off your wife’s head could be interpreted as a hostile work environment.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“Britain’s Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan Markle sat down for an interview last night with Oprah Winfrey, or as British tabloids reported it, ‘Harry’s kidnapper speaks.’” — SETH MEYERS

“And her husband Harry made a number of startling accusations. The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, vigorously denied all of them, just out of reflex today.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Paragliders take to the skies over the Weald of Sussex in the South Downs National Park
CREDIT: ANDREW/HASSON

Gabriel Potts, 11, practises for International Bagpipe Day 2021, playing his bagpipes at a walkers cairn on Lauder Moor in the Scottish Borders, with the Eildon Hills in the distance
CREDIT: PHIL WILKINSON

Teenager Charlie Jackson from Winchcombe Gloucestershire hasn’t let the past year of lockdown woes restrict his learning. After completing his daily school studies online he has been brushing up on his skill and knowledge of the famously known craft of Cotswold dry stone walling.
CREDIT: RUSSELL SACH FOR THE TELEGRAPH

The Space Launch System twin solid rocket boosters are fully assembled and stacked on the mobile launcher inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world, producing up to 8.8 million pounds of thrust during its Artemis I launch.
CREDIT: NASA/ISAAC WATSON/COVER-IMAGES.COM
Market Closes for March 9^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31832.74	+30.30
		+0.10%
S&P 500	3875.44	+54.09
		+1.42%
NASDAQ	13073.824	+464.663 +3.69%
TSX	18599.19	+141.41
		+0.77%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29027.94	+284.69
		+0.99%
HANG SENG	28773.23	+232.40
		+0.81%
SENSEX	51025.48	+584.41
		+1.16%
FTSE 100*	6730.34	+11.21 +0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.447	1.530
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.832	1.911
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.5263	1.5907
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2335	2.3159

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7912	0.7901
US $	1.2635	1.2657
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5038	0.6650
US $	1.1902	0.8402

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1687.05	1696.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future	64.01	65.05

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1929, just in time to suffer through the worst depression in modern history, the forerunner of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange was established.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks jumped Tuesday, closing at a record high after a rebound in tech and other risk equities.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.8%, with seven of 11 sectors rising. Marijuana stocks including Curaleaf Holdings Inc. were among leaders, gaining 15%.
Just Energy Group Inc. filed for court protection in Canada and bankruptcy in the U.S. after suffering crushing losses in the Texas blackouts that plunged millions of people into darkness and the region’s power sector into chaos.
Inter Pipeline Ltd. is open to an acquisition by Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP should the suitor sweeten its takeover offer, the pipeline firm’s chief executive officer said.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.20 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1.9% to $1,716.10 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.2% to C$1.2638 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 8.4 basis points to 1.442%.

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.8 percent, or 141.41 to 18,599.19 in Toronto.
Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 155 of 219 shares rose, while 63 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.7 percent. Aphria Inc. had the largest increase, rising 11.9 percent.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 6.7 percent
* The index advanced 28 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 43 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.6 percent below its 52-week high on March 9, 2021 and 66.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.5 on a trailing basis and 16.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.86t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 15.93 percent compared with 16.02 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.39 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 78.2498| 4.5| 10/0
Materials | 39.4587| 1.8| 43/7
Health Care | 14.2667| 5.3| 9/0
Utilities | 12.7223| 1.5| 15/1
Industrials | 8.8510| 0.4| 19/10
Financials | 8.1116| 0.1| 19/7
Consumer Staples | 1.4582| 0.2| 9/2
Real Estate | -0.3082| -0.1| 12/14
Consumer Discretionary | -0.3526| 0.0| 7/5
Communication Services | -6.0146| -0.7| 2/5
Energy | -15.0211| -0.6| 10/12
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Investors poured back into the market’s riskiest assets Tuesday as dip-buyers powered the Nasdaq 100 to its biggest rally since November and sent Bitcoin back toward a record. Treasuries added to gains after a note auction.
Stay-at-home winners surged after being left for dead as vaccinations pick up and Democrats move to inject $1.9 trillion into the economy. Treasury yields pulled back from recent highs sparked by worries a potential overshoot in the economy will bring inflation. For a day, at least, the rotation from growth shares to value reversed violently. Here are some of the major moves:
* Tesla Inc. jumped 20% in its best day in a year.
* Peloton Interactive Inc., DocuSign Inc. and Pinduoduo Inc. rallied more than 11%.
* Financial firms and energy producers, recent winners, were the only two S&P 500 groups to retreat.
* Spot gold surged more than 2% after falling to lowest since April.
* The 10-year yield fell below 1.55%.
* Bitcoin jumped above $54,000.
* Oil and copper retreated after recent rallies.

The rising prospects for turbo-charged economic growth have been reordering the market’s winners and losers for the past two months as the stimulus bill’s passage grew more likely and daily vaccinations surged. Tuesday, dip buyers targeted the areas recently abandoned as too expensive. The reversal is a theme that’s played out for years, every retreat gets bought, and it’s been extreme lately. The S&P 500 hasn’t had a pullback of 5% since November.
The drop in Treasury yields after the recent violent runup has given some cover for risk takers to wade back into growth after abandoning the group because stretched valuations began to look scary with rates on the rise. “Let’s not forget that less than a year ago traders interpreted one of the biggest negative macro events in market history as a buying opportunity, so there’s little reason to think otherwise given all the positive signals around us today,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing product at E*Trade Financial. “Corrections create natural inflection points for traders. It’s no surprise to see the Nasdaq rise today, and the fundamentals support continued bullishness.”
The first of several Treasury sales in the coming days went off without disrupting markets. The sales will test appetite for the safest debt after last month’s poorly bid auctions sent shockwaves throughout global markets and short bets climbed to a record. Benchmark 10-year yields breached the 1.6% level to trade at a one-year high last week.
Here are some key events to watch:
* EIA crude oil inventory report is due Wednesday
* The U.S. February consumer price index will offer the latest look at price pressures Wednesday.
* The U.S. government auctions 3-, 10- and 30-year Treasuries this week.
* The European Central Bank holds its monetary policy meeting and President Christine Lagarde is set to do a briefing Thursday.
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index advanced 1.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq 100 added 4%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.8%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.8%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 0.9%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.6%.
* The euro gained 0.5% to $1.1902.
* The British pound climbed 0.5% to $1.3897.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 108.46 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped five basis points to 1.54%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped three basis points to -0.30%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 1.6% to $64.02 a barrel.
* Gold futures strengthened 2.2% to $1,715.30 an ounce.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher and Beth Mellor Have a great night.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann

The truth is always the  strongest argument. –Sophocles, c. 496 BC-406 BC.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1913 – US income tax begins.
1917 – Russian revolution begins.
1965 – The United States landed about 3,500 Marines in South Vietnam.  Go to article »
1983 – President Reagan calls USSR an “evil empire.”
2014 – Malaysia Airlines Flight MH 370 with 239 people loses contact and disappears, prompting the most expensive search effort in history and one of the most enduring aviation mysteries.

Is this really the “ugliest” Rolls-Royce in history?

Some sea slugs cut off their own heads and grow new bodies.

The best bagels are in … California?  Tejal Rao, the California restaurant critic at The Times, based in Los Angeles, reports that West Coast bakers are driving a bagel boom, producing some of the most delicious versions around.  Our critic is also a former resident of New York City, where Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe introduced the bagel in the early 1900s, so she knows whereof she writes. But she also concedes that “bagels are personal.”  The bagels at Boichik Bagels, she reports, makes a version loosely based on the New York version that the baker remembers eating as a child. They “are some of the finest New York-style bagels I’ve ever tasted,” our critic writes. “They just happen to be made in Berkeley.”

On March 8, 1822, Lord Byron wrote to Thomas Moore:
I am really a great admirer of tangible religion; and am breeding one of my daughters a Catholic, that she may have her hands full.  It is by far the most elegant worship, hardly excepting the Greek mythology.  What with incense, pictures, statues, altars, shrines, relics, and the real presence, confession, absolution – there is something sensible to grasp at.  Besides, it leaves no possibility of doubt; for those who swallow their Deity, really and truly, in transubstantiation, can hardly find anything else otherwise than easy of digestion.
  I am afraid that this sounds flippant, but I don’t mean it to be so; only my turn of mind is so given to taking things in the absurd point of view, that it breaks out in spite of me every now and then.  Still, I do assure you that I am a very good Christian.
Byron’s daughter Allegra, whose mother was Claire Clairmont, the half-sister of Mary Shelley, died, aged five, in a  convent school near Ravenna a few weeks after this letter. –from The Book of Days.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

This is the incredible moment a crafty penguin escaped a pod of hungry killer whales by leaping into a dinghy full of tourists – to rapturous applause. The wily creature was caught on camera repeatedly jumping out of the water in a dramatic chase that circled the tour boat before it managed it flung itself aboard and stood proudly surrounded by the beaming holidaymakers. Travel blogger Matt Karsten and his wife Anna were taking a tour through icebergs in the Gerlache Strait, Antarctica, when a large group of orcas swam up to their Zodiac boat.
CREDIT: EXPERT VAGABOND/KENNEDY/NEWS

An aerial view shows a hockey rink after a match on the ice of Lake Baikal, organized to draw attention to the environmental problems of the lake, in the village of Bolshoye Goloustnoye in Irkutsk region, Russia
CREDIT:REUTERS/MAXIM SHEMETOV

Pope Francis addresses people from the podium at the square near the ruins of the Syriac Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception (al-Tahira-l-Kubra), in the old city of Iraq’s northern Mosul
CREDIT: ZAID AL-OBEID/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for March 8^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31802.44	+306.14
		+0.97%
S&P 500	3821.35	-20.59
		-0.54%
NASDAQ	12609.160	-310.987 -2.41%
TSX	18457.78	+76.82
		+0.42%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28743.25	-121.07
		-0.42%
HANG SENG	28540.83	-557.46
		-1.92%
SENSEX	50441.07	+35.75
		+0.07%
FTSE 100*	6719.13	+88.61 +1.34%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.530	1.504
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.911	1.885
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.5907	1.5661
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3159	2.2974

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7901	0.7899
US $	1.2657	1.2659
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4999	0.6667
US $	1.1850	0.8438

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1696.25	1712.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	65.05	66.09

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1817, the New York Stock & Exchange Board, ancestor of the NYSE, was formed when 24 brokers agreed on a “constitution” that fixed commissions at 0.25% and set a fine of at least six cents for talking out loud about other subjects while stocks were being traded.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose as investors rotated away from technology stocks. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.4%, with nine of 11 sectors advancing. Tech and materials lagged. Oil fell the most in a week as the dollar strengthened and investors shrugged off an attack on the world’s largest crude terminal in Saudi Arabia. A rapid souring in financial markets on Monday highlights how even the most positive news for the world economy is no fillip to risk assets weighed down by the anchor of the global bond market.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.25 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 1% to $1,681.19 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% C$1.2679 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 2 basis points to 1.53%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.4 percent, or 76.82 to 18,457.78 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Feb. 24. Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 9 of 11 sectors gained; 138 of 219 shares rose, while 79 fell. Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7 percent. Mullen Group Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 8.0 percent.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 5.9 percent
* The index advanced 14 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 29 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.7 percent below its 52-week high on
March 8, 2021 and 65.2 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 0.7 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.2 on a trailing basis and 16.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.85t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 16.02 percent
compared with 16.01 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.30 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 77.7685| 1.3| 26/0
Consumer Discretionary | 12.6192| 1.7| 9/4
Industrials | 11.8835| 0.5| 20/8
Communication Services | 11.3713| 1.3| 6/1
Real Estate | 11.1154| 1.9| 25/1
Consumer Staples | 7.0396| 1.1| 10/1
Utilities | 6.9779| 0.8| 12/4
Energy | 5.2804| 0.2| 6/16
Health Care | 0.7039| 0.3| 5/4
Materials | -15.3724| -0.7| 14/35
Information Technology | -52.5521| -2.9| 5/5
US
By Andreea Papuc and Lynn Thomasson
(Bloomberg) — Tech shares tumbled anew, sending the Nasaq 100 Index down 11% from its all-time high, as investors fled high-valuation stocks for companies whose fortunes are closely tied to the economic cycle. The benchmark for megacap tech dropped 2.9% and is now at the lowest since November. The S&P 500 ended lower after rising as much as 1% as tech shares in the gauge dropped 2.5%. Financial firms and materials producers kept losses from being worse. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit an all-time high before settling for a 1% gain, buoyed by rallies in banks and Walt Disney Co. Tesla Inc. pushed its five-day rout past 20%.
Blank-check companies backed by Chamath Palihapitiya tumbled. The 10-year Treasury rate jumped toward 1.6%, while the dollar strengthened. Brent crude briefly traded near $70 a barrel before pulling back. Gold slumped and Bitcoin traded above $51,000. Investors embraced the prospect for a surge in global economic growth as vaccine distribution improves and the U.S. heads toward passing a $1.9 trillion spending bill.
The risks associated with rising Treasury yields remain an overhang amid fears that government aid programs could overheat economic growth. “You will see a lot of volatility in markets,” Kim Stafford, Asia Pacific head at Pacific Investment Management Co., said on Bloomberg Television. “We believe that confidence is improving, especially with vaccines coming online, so we will see an uptick in growth globally. There are a lot of reasons to be confident in the market, but a lot of this is also priced in.” There are also questions about whether equity valuations have become excessive, especially in speculative tech shares. The Nasdaq 100 Index has fallen about 8% since early February.
Here are some key events to watch:
* The annual session of China’s National People’s Congress continues in Beijing.
* Japan GDP is due Tuesday.
* EIA crude oil inventory report is due Wednesday
* The U.S. February consumer price index will offer the latest look at price pressures Wednesday.
* The European Central Bank holds its monetary policy meeting
and President Christine Lagarde is set to do a briefing Thursday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 2.9%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 1%.
The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.3%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 2.1% to the highest in almost three weeks.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5% to 1,150.02, the highest in 16 weeks.
The euro declined 0.5% to $1.1850, the weakest in 15 weeks.
The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 108.88 per dollar, the weakest in nine months.
The British pound dipped 0.1% to $1.3829, the weakest in more than three weeks.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 1.59%.
Germany’s 10-year yield gained two basis points to -0.277%, the highest in more than a week.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude declined 2.1% to $64.71 a barrel.
Gold futures depreciated 1.1% to $1,679.20 an ounce.
–With assistance from Cormac Mullen.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You can’t use up creativity.  The more you use, the more you have.
                                                       -Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

1770 – Boston Massacre.

Dr. Seuss books are taking over Amazon’s bestseller list.  They will buy them on their phone, they will buy them from their home. 

Amazon’s first physical store outside the US doesn’t have a checkout line and is known as ‘just walk out’ shopping.  What’s something that feels illegal but isn’t?

Keep your eyes peeled to see Jupiter and Mercury align in the sky and an asteroid flyby this weekend.  Isn’t it great that space always has something cool for us to watch?

11 devices that’ll turn your place into a smart home. Turning on the lights by flicking a switch is soooo 2020. This list of genius gadgets will make you feel like you’re living in 2040.

And finally, finding light in the deep sea.  Scientists have identified the largest glow-in-the-dark species with a spine — on land or sea — that has ever been found. Kitefin sharks, which grow to almost six feet in length, emit blue-green light.  Working off the coast of New Zealand, researchers figured out the strange biochemical process that makes them glow: Tests showed that the shark light is regulated by a hormonal on-off switch triggered by melatonin.  “It makes us fall asleep,” said the lead researcher, “but it’s lighting up the shark.”

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A high-resolution image of Mars which was shot by Tianwen-1 probe, released by the China National Space Administration 4th March, 2021
CREDIT: CNSA VIA AP

the Tianwen-1 probe en route to Mars.
CREDIT:CNSA VIA AP

The surface of Mars directly below NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover is seen using the Rover Down-Look Camera 
CREDIT: NASA/JPL-CALTECH

The landing of NASA’s Perseverance on Mars is live streamed on the Piccadilly Lights in central London
CREDIT: GUY BELL / ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Members of NASA’s Perseverance rover team react in mission control after receiving confirmation the spacecraft successfully touched down on Mars
CREDIT: BILL INGALLS/NASA/REUTERS
Market Closes for March 5^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	31496.30	+572.16
		+1.85%
S&P 500	3841.94	+73.47
		+1.95%
NASDAQ	12920.147	+196.675 +1.55%
TSX	18380.96	+255.24
		+1.41%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28864.32	-65.79
		-0.23%
HANG SENG	29098.29	-138.50
		-0.47
SENSEX	50405.32	-440.76
		-0.87%
FTSE 100*	6630.52	-20.36 -0.31%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.504	1.500
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.885	1.910
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.5661	1.5640
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2974	2.3205

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7899	0.7891
US $	1.2659	1.2673
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5081	0.6630
US $	1.1913	0.8394

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1712.10	1711.40
Oil
WTI Crude Future	66.09	63.83

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1923, Montana’s Old-Age Pension Law—the first state law that provided retirement pensions and stood up to constitutional challenges—was enacted, setting a key precedent for the creation of Social Security a decade later.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rebounded, with the U.S. shares, after investors bought into the earlier decline in equity markets. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 1.4%, most since Feb. 1, after briefly falling as much as 0.7% on Friday. Communication services and industrials led the rally, while tech stocks were the worst performers. Hudbay Minerals was the best performing stock, rising 11% as copper prices rebounded from a selloff. Martinrea International was the worst performing stock, falling 9.9 after reporting earnings and getting downgraded by TD. Meanwhile, Canada is a step closer to building a nationwide marketplace to trade carbon credits as part of the Trudeau government’s bid to curb greenhouse gas emissions in the country.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.07% to $1,698.63 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was mostly unchanged at C$1.2656 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield was also unchanged around 1.498%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.4 percent at 18,380.96 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 2.1 percent on Feb. 1 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.1 percent. Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 8 of 11 sectors gained; 167 of 219 shares rose, while 50 fell. Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.5 percent. Hudbay Minerals Inc. had the largest increase, rising 11.4 percent.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 5.4 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 1.8 percent
* The index advanced 11 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 28 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.1 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 16, 2021 and 64.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.9 on a trailing basis and 16.7 times estimated earnings of
its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-
month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.81t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 16.01 percent compared with
15.55 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.18 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 96.3856| 1.7| 22/4
Industrials | 46.1597| 2.1| 24/5
Energy | 43.1582| 1.9| 18/4
Materials | 42.6303| 2.0| 42/8
Communication Services | 23.0533| 2.7| 7/0
Consumer Discretionary | 9.5684| 1.3| 8/5
Consumer Staples | 8.6006| 1.3| 11/0
Real Estate | 0.9985| 0.2| 16/8
Health Care | -0.0654| 0.0| 4/5
Utilities | -1.4300| -0.2| 10/6
Information Technology | -13.8230| -0.8| 5/5

​​​​​​​US
By Rita Nazareth and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Dip buyers drove a rebound in stocks after an earlier bout of selling pushed the Nasdaq 100 down 10% from a record. All major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, while the tech- heavy gauge climbed more than 1.5% as giants Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. erased their losses. Robinhood Markets Inc., the trading platform behind the boom-and-bust swing in GameStop Corp.’s shares, has chosen the Nasdaq for its eventual initial public offering, according to a news report. Earlier Friday, equities retreated as U.S. jobs data topped estimates, fueling anxiety the economy could run too hot and kick up inflation.
Benchmark 10-year yields stabilized after hitting 1.6%. Friday’s turnaround in financial markets wiped out the S&P 500’s drop for the week. The intense volatility of the past few days was a test to stock bulls who see the recent spike in Treasury yields as an indication of brighter prospects for the economy and corporate profits. While concern over equity valuations have emerged, several analysts say that as long as data continue to improve, any selloff would present dip-buying opportunities. “Many investors are going to be buying these dips here, capital continues to be pouring into equities,” said Tony Bedikian, head of global markets at Citizens Bank.
Bond yields are still “incredibly low, so equity yields are still very attractive to investors,” he added. U.S. Treasury yields have been rising because of a much stronger economic outlook and are not a cause for worry — or a call to policy action — said Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard. His remarks follow Chairman Jerome Powell’s Thursday caution that rising yields had caught his eye and he would be “concerned by disorderly conditions in markets or persistent tightening in financial conditions.” “As a central banker I am always concerned if there is disorderly trading or something that looks panicky,” Bullard said Friday in an interview with Wharton Business Radio. “That would catch my attention. But I think we are not at that point.”

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.9% at 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 0.8%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.6%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.4%.
* The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.1917.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.4% to 108.36 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose less than one basis point to 1.57%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.30%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to 0.756%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.9% to $66.29 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.1% to $1,698.65 an ounce.

–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Emily Barrett, Cecile Gutscher, Robert Brand, Lu Wang, Vildana Hajric and Vivien Lou Chen.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Defeat is not the worst of failures.  Not to have tried is the true failure. –George Edward Woodberry, 1865-1930.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Antonio Vivaldi, composer, b. 1675

1789 – US constitution went into effect.

On March 4, 1933, the start of President Roosevelt’s first administration brought with it the first woman to serve in the Cabinet: Labor Secretary Frances Perkins.  Go to article »

Lives Lived: The Japanese artist Toko Shinoda’s fluid, elegant work owed much to calligraphy, but she also complemented its ancient serenity with the influence of Jackson Pollock
and Mark Rothko. She died at 107.

Scientists build a robot that can swim in the Mariana Trench. (h/t Scott Kominers)

Power workers discover medieval tunnel system in Wales.

Scientists create human-Neanderthal “minibrains” in petri dishes, for some reason. (h/t Mike Smedley).

NYC woman discovers entire empty apartment behind her bathroom mirror.

Hunting for a giant black hole, astronomers found a nest of darkness

“You see, Q followers were heartbroken on Inauguration Day, which was supposed to be the day that the ‘storm’ came that would keep their guy actually in office. So they’ve moved the date of the storm — when all the arrests and the celebrities and the Democrats happen — to March 4, which was the date of presidential inaugurations up until 1933. [Imitating QAnon follower] ‘Yes, follow me down the rabbit hole. They ended it in 1933, but add up one, nine, three, three. Add up one plus six, you get seven. What is seven? Three plus four — three, four, March 4th, when we shall march forth! [Whispers] I see patterns where none exist.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Photographer James Crombie captured the incredible image, which he said he had been chasing for months. The picture – which shows the starlings appearing to resemble a bird – has been described as “phenomenal” by some, while others have praised Mr Crombie for his patience in getting the stunning shot
CREDIT: INPHO/JAMES CROMBIE

The Sicilian volcano, Mount Etna wakes up with a lava fountain emerging from the southeast crater.  Etna has been in activity since February 16^th
CREDIT: DIT / SPLASHNEWS.COM

The Urban Sun, an art project launched by Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde is seen on a square in Rotterdam,  Netherlands
CREDIT: DAAN ROOSEGAARDE/COVER IMAGES

Polar bear cubs were spotted emerging out of their den for the very first time and playing inquisitively in the snow. The tiny cubs are just a couple of months old, and no bigger than a Yorkshire terrier dog – but appear confident and inquisitive as they run about and smell the trees and the outside world. The twin bear cubs did not stray too far from their protective mother as they took their first steps into the outside world in a blanket of thick snow near Churchill, northern Canada
Market Closes for March 4^th, 2021

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	30924.14	-345.5
		-1.11%
S&P 500	3768.47	-51.25
		-1.34%
NASDAQ	12724.472	-274.280 -2.11%
TSX	18125.72	-194.95
		-1.06%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	28930.11	-628.99
		-2.13%
HANG SENG	29236.79	-643.63
		-2.15
SENSEX	50846.08	-598.57
		-1.16%
FTSE 100*	6650.88	-24.59 -0.37%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.500	1.412
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.910	1.832
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.5640	1.4808
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3205	2.2759

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7891	0.7892
US $	1.2673	1.2670
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5174	0.6590
US $	1.1972	0.8352

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1711.40	1723.85
Oil
WTI Crude Future	63.83	61.28

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1933, with the nation’s banking system in shambles, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered a nationwide bank holiday, shutting banks, stock exchanges, commodities exchanges and money markets. The stock exchanges reopened on March 15, but 3,460 out of some 18,000 total banks stayed closed for good.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares fell for a second day along with U.S. stocks after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell underwhelmed markets by refraining from pushing back more forcefully against the recent spike in U.S. Treasury yields. The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 1.1% in Toronto, after falling 0.6% on Wednesday. Only consumer staples and energy sectors were in the green, while pot and tech stocks were the worst performers. Meanwhile, the Canadian government’s aid package for the country’s airlines may be at least C$7 billion ($5.5 billion) and a larger infusion is possible, Unifor National President Jerry Dias told Bloomberg Television.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.7% to $1,6983.73 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% to C$1.2670 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield climbed about 8 basis points to 1.491%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 1.1 percent, or 194.95 to 18,125.72 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.8 percent. Kinaxis Inc. had the largest drop, falling 17.0 percent. Today, 145 of 219 shares fell, while 72 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 4 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 0.4 percent
* The index advanced 8 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC
Americas Index gained 21 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.4 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 16, 2021 and 62.2 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.5 percent in the past 5 days
and rose 0.5 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.5 on a trailing basis and 16.5 times estimated earnings of
its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.84t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 15.55 percent compared with
15.28 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.07 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -86.5214| -4.5| 1/9
Industrials | -43.5005| -1.9| 8/20
Financials | -32.4048| -0.6| 5/21
Materials | -27.0909| -1.2| 17/32
Consumer Discretionary | -17.2716| -2.3| 1/12
Health Care | -13.6292| -4.8| 0/9
Real Estate | -4.8732| -0.8| 6/20
Utilities | -4.7268| -0.6| 5/11
Communication Services | -0.3831| 0.0| 3/4
Consumer Staples | 8.7348| 1.4| 8/3
Energy | 26.7176| 1.2| 18/4
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks and bonds sold off after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell underwhelmed markets by refraining from pushing back more forcefully against the recent spike in Treasury yields. The S&P 500 briefly erased its advance for 2021 and closed at the lowest level in about five weeks. Benchmark 10-year bond rates topped 1.5% and the dollar climbed. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 extended its decline from a February peak to almost 10%, and the Russell 2000 of small caps slid 2.8%. A wave of Reddit users appeared to rush back into GameStop Corp., with the video-game retailer soaring.
Powell said in an online event Thursday that he’d be “concerned” by disorderly markets, but stopped short of offering steps to curb heightened volatility. The surge in Treasury yields has triggered fears about elevated stock valuations after a torrid equity rally from the depths of the pandemic. While bulls have decided to view the jump in rates as a sign of economic strength that could lift corporate profits, there’s been mounting concern over a potential pickup in consumer prices. For Bleakley Advisory Group’s Peter Boockvar, the Fed has put itself in a “tough situation.” “We are again seeing a market that is taking control of monetary policy from the Fed,” said Boockvar, the firm’s chief investment officer. “Long rates are rising right now because Powell is again very dovish.
The more dovish they get in the face of market expectations of higher inflation, the more financial tightening we’ll see.” Despite the lingering uncertainties about the impacts of rising bond yields, such fears are “misplaced,” according to Candice Bangsund, portfolio manager of global asset allocation at Fiera Capital. “As long as the back-up in bond yields reflects stronger growth expectations (versus tighter monetary policy), then the long-term bull market will not be at risk,” she said. “The latest normalization in bond yields should be viewed as an encouraging sign that growth is healing, while the prospect for a hawkish turn from the Federal Reserve is clearly not in the cards today.” Elsewhere, Bitcoin’s appeal as a hedge against inflation was put to the test, with the largest cryptocurrency slumping along with other risk assets. Oil surged after the OPEC+ alliance surprised traders with its decision to keep output unchanged, signaling a tighter crude market in the months ahead. Some key events to watch this week:

* The February U.S. employment report on Friday will provide an
update on the speed and direction of the nation’s labor market recovery.

These are some of the mains moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 decreased 1.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 2.4%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index declined 2.5%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.7%.
* The euro decreased 0.8% to $1.1971.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.8% to 107.90 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose five basis points to 1.53%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to -0.31%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased five basis points to 0.731%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.7% to $64.16 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.8% to $1,697.83 an ounce.

–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Emily Barrett, Yakob Peterseil, Lynn Thomasson, Sophie Caronello and Lu Wang

Have a great night.

Be magnificent.
As ever,

Carolann

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another What!  You, too?  I thought I was the only one. -C.S. Lewis, 1897-1963.

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