Month: February 2022

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

1990: South African black activist Nelson Mandela was freed after 27 years in captivity. Go to article »

There is no easy road to freedom.  None of us acting alone can achieve success.  We must therefore act together as a united people, for reconciliation, for nation building,
for the birth of a new world. -Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013.

Thomas Edison, inventor, b. 1847.

Beijing’s cute Olympic mascot was a crowd favorite in China — until it started talking.  A cute panda should never sound like a middle-aged man …

Third potential planet discovered around star closest to our sun.  Greetings! It appears Earth has a new neighbor. 

‘Marry Me’ shines the spotlight on Jennifer Lopez.  Calling all hopeless romantics! This new rom-com is perfect to celebrate Valentine’s Day. 

Why Eileen Gu is luxury fashion’s dream model.  The Olympic gold medalist is stunning on the slopes — and on the catwalk. 

There are some people who can just never catch Covid. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Antoine Gerard of Team France competes during the men’s Nordic combined at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics in Zhangjiakou.
CREDIT: Michel Cottin/Agence Zoom/Getty Images

Smoke billows from the Mount Etna volcano, photographed from Nicolosi in Sicily.
CREDIT: Salvatore Allegra/AP

Young novice monks sweep a sidewalk along a road outside the Buddhist monastery in Godavari.
CREDIT: Skanda Gautam/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock

Market Closes for February 11^th, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34738.06	-503.53
		-1.43%
S&P 500	4418.64	-85.44
		-1.90%
NASDAQ	13791.16	-394.48 -2.78%
TSX	21548.84	+17.13
		+0.08%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27696.08	+116.21
		+0.42%
HANG SENG	24906.66	-17.69
		-0.07%
SENSEX	58152.92	-773.11
		-1.31%
FTSE 100*	7661.02	-11.38 -0.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.853	1.942
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.137	2.196
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9371	2.0294
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2385	2.3163

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7851	0.7862
US $	1.2738	1.2720
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4447	0.6922
US $	1.1342	0.8817

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1835.35	1827.80
Oil
WTI Crude Future	93.10	89.88

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1956, the Korean Stock Exchange was established in Seoul, South Korea.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Canadian materials and energy equities helped lead the S&P/TSX Composite Index higher on Friday, thanks to surging gold, silver and oil prices.
The Composite advanced slightly to 21,548.84 in Toronto.
Gold and silver miners dominated the list of the top 10 performers on the Composite Index, occupying 9 of the top spots.
Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 7.4%.
Iamgold Corp. had the largest percentage increase, rising 9.9%.
Insights
* This week, the index rose 1.3%
* The index advanced 17% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained ~12% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.1% below its 52-week high on Nov. 12, 2021 and ~20% above its low on Feb. 26, 2021
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.7 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.44t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 13.16% compared with 13.22% in the previous session and the average of 12.67% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Materials | 83.4309| 3.4| 43/10
* Energy | 81.8523| 2.6| 29/3
* Communication Services | 2.7409| 0.3| 4/3
* Consumer Staples | 1.6083| 0.2| 8/3
* Health Care | 0.0682| 0.0| 3/5
* Utilities | -3.3302| -0.4| 3/13
* Real Estate | -5.5506| -0.9| 3/19
* Consumer Discretionary | -24.3432| -3.2| 0/13
* Financials | -29.4622| -0.4| 8/20
* Industrials | -33.3604| -1.3| 4/26
* Information Technology | -56.5266| -3.3| 0/16
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Barrick Gold | 22.0800| 7.4| 93.7| 9.7
* Suncor Energy | 16.6700| 4.6| 35.2| 21.3
* Canadian Natural Resources | 15.5100| 2.9| -20.8| 26.5
* Magna International | -12.5500| -6.4| 174.0| -5.7
* Brookfield Asset Management | -19.6200| -2.6| 25.1| -3.1
* Shopify | -35.5300| -4.0| -28.8| -37.4

US
By Stephen Kirkland, Vildana Hajric and Peyton Forte
(Bloomberg) — Stocks dropped, while investors sought safety in Treasuries as the U.S. warned Russia could take offensive military action against Ukraine as early as next week.
Risk assets added to weekly losses as the U.K. and U.S. advised citizens to leave Ukraine as tensions with Russia rise.
Oil spiked higher as a Russian attack could lead to harsh sanctions from the U.S. Russia has repeatedly rejected charges it plans to invade Ukraine.
The S&P 500 fell 1.9% and the Nasdaq 100 dropped more than 3%, following Thursday’s steep declines amid bets on faster Federal Reserve tightening.
Treasuries caught bids, with the 10-year yield sinking 11 basis points to about 1.92%.
Oil climbed, with brent crude hitting $95 a barrel for the first time since 2014.
For months, the U.S. has been warning European allies that Russia may be preparing to invade Ukraine, massing almost 130,000 troops near the border and staging the largest joint
military drills in years in neighboring Belarus.
The U.S. has warned of debilitating economic sanctions if Russia attacks, while the Kremlin says NATO expanding further east or deploying weapons in Ukraine are red lines.
A potential Russian invasion of Ukraine could not only disrupt crude supplies but also may spark retaliatory sanctions by the U.S.
Oil prices have soared in recent weeks on speculation that demand will outpace supply as the global economy rebounds from the pandemic.
“The Russia/Ukraine news delivered another body-blow to markets, which were already reeling from stubborn inflation numbers and uber hawkish comments from Fed officials,”  Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth, wrote in a note. “We may have more downside risk over the coming weeks as markets react to headlines”
Friday’s selloff comes a day after a strong inflation reading and comments from a Federal Reserve official sparked a rout in equities and bonds.
Odds increased for faster rate increases, with some traders speculating a hike may come even before the next regularly scheduled meeting in March.
Those worries were effectively ended Friday when the Fed signaled it would go ahead with the last of its bond purchases before the program ends next month.
The central bank has said it won’t raise until after the buys are over.
Inflation concerns weighed on U.S. consumer sentiment, which declined further in early February to a fresh decade low as views about personal finances deteriorated.
The University of Michigan’s sentiment index dropped to 61.7, the lowest since October 2011, from 67.2 in January.
Consumers expect an inflation rate of 5% over the next year, up from last month’s reading of 4.9% and the highest since 2008.
“Investors are worried that the economy is also slowing just at the worst time, just as the Fed is about to raise interest rates, which could threaten the health of this expansion and bull market,” said Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research. “Add to it the geopolitical tensions and I think it’s very good reasons why we now have the volatility that we do.”
Here are the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 3.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.8% to $1.1341
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3551
* The Japanese yen rose 0.6% to 115.31 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 1.92%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 0.30%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.54%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.3% to $93.78 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1.5% to $1,864.60 an ounce
–With assistance from Sunil Jagtiani, Akshay Chinchalkar and Robert Brand.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

The greater the ignorance, the greater the dogmatism. –Sir William Osler, 1849-1919.

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 Eve.
1763 France ceded Canada to England under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War. Go to article »
1906: British battleship HMS Dreadnought launches after only 100 days, renders all other capital ships obsolete with its revolutionary design.

Here’s where you can stream Oscar-nominated movies.  Good news! There’s plenty of time to binge the major contenders before the Oscars in March.

40 SpaceX satellites are falling out of orbit due to a solar storm.  Elon Musk is heading back to the drawing board.

Disney+ announces ‘Obi-Wan Kenobi’ series premiere date.  Hey Star Wars fans! May the force be with you. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Women and girls wearing kimonos walk through the Asakusa district during heavy snowfall. At leasts four highway sections are closed in the Tokyo area to prevent vehicles from becoming stranded
CREDIT: Yuichi Yamazaki/Getty Images

A vintage American car drives past a huge wave in Malecon during strong winds
CREDIT: AFP/Getty Images                      

Two visitors look at Amedeo Modigliani’s painting Woman With Blue Eyes, at the exhibition From Fauvism to Surrealism
CREDIT: Luis Tejido/EPA

Market Closes for February 10^th, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35241.59	-526.47
		-1.47%
S&P 500	4504.08	-83.10
		-1.81%
NASDAQ	14185.64	-304.73 -2.10%
TSX	21531.72	-72.47
		-0.34%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27696.08	+116.21
		+0.42%
HANG SENG	24924.35	+94.36
		+0.38%
SENSEX	58926.03	+460.06
		+0.79%
FTSE 100*	7672.40	+28.98 +0.38%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.942	1.846
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.196	2.138
U.S.    10 Year Bond	2.0294	1.9415
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.3163	2.2446

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7862	0.7892
US $	1.2720	1.2671
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4536	0.6879
US $	1.1428	0.8750

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1827.80	1822.60
Oil
WTI Crude Future	89.88	89.66

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1938, “Fannie Mae” was born, as the National Mortgage Association of Washington (later the Federal National Mortgage Association) was created as a subsidiary of the Reconstruction Finance Corp. Its mission: to buy and sell home mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, in order to create a liquid market for mortgage debt that would encourage lenders to continue making home loans.
Canada
By Stefanie Marotta
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities reversed gains from earlier in the session — when the S&P TSX Composite Index flirted with a fresh record high — and closed lower as rising inflation in the U.S. weighed on technology and consumer stocks.
The S&P/TSX fell 0.3 percent at 21,531.72 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 1.1%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3%.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest drop, falling 16%.
During the trading day, 162 of 240 shares fell, while 78 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.2 percent
* The index advanced 17 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.2 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 20.1 percent above its low on Feb. 26, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.1 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.2 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.2 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.44t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.22 percent compared with 13.19 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.76 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | -37.2158| -2.1| 5/11
* Materials | -22.6438| -0.9| 12/42
* Industrials | -15.0084| -0.6| 8/22
* Consumer Discretionary | -11.7218| -1.5| 2/12
* Consumer Staples | -9.7118| -1.2| 4/7
* Utilities | -5.5394| -0.6| 3/13
* Real Estate | -0.5822| -0.1| 11/13
* Health Care | -0.5008| -0.3| 3/5
* Communication Services | 0.2416| 0.0| 4/3
* Energy | 10.0254| 0.3| 19/13
* Financials | 20.1874| 0.3| 7/21
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | -27.3200| -3.0| -30.9| -34.8
* Sun Life Financial | -16.4300| -5.5| 196.3| -1.0
* Agnico Eagle Mines | -8.1570| -4.2| 54.4| -10.7
* TD Bank | 7.3750| 0.6| 12.4| 11.2
* Manulife Financial | 13.1900| 3.7| 580.3| 15.7
* Brookfield Asset Management | 39.9500| 5.5| 190.0| -0.5
US
By Stephen Kirkland and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks sank and Treasury yields spike higher after the hottest inflation reading in four decades prompted a Federal Reserve official to call for accelerating rate hikes.
The two-year bond rate surged as much as 26 basis points in one of the fastest moves in a decade after data showed consumer prices surged more than 7% last month.
St. Louis Fed Chair James Bullard said the central bank should raise rates by 100 basis points over the next three meetings.
That sent risk assets tumbling, with the S&P 500 sliding 1.8% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 dropping 2.3%.
Bullard’s plan involves spreading the increases over three meetings, shrinking the Fed’s balance sheet starting in the second quarter and then deciding on the path of rates in the second half based on updated data.
He said he was undecided on whether the March meeting should begin with 50 basis points and raised the possibility of the Fed at some point considering a move between scheduled meetings.
“There is a difference between what any one FOMC participant says and what the committee does,” said Chris Low, chief economist at FHN Financial. “But the odds of a 50bp hike in March or May are higher if the market expects it. Bullard is well aware of this and likely intended to push the fed funds futures market to reprice in support of the urgency he feels after this morning’s CPI report. If he can make us think it, the Fed is much more likely to do it.”
Overnight index swaps priced about 80% odds of a 50 basis-point liftoff in March, with an additional 25 basis points priced for May and June. Just under six-and-a-half quarter-point moves were priced into the December Fed meeting.
The Fed slashed the upper band of its target funds rate to 0.25% at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, matching the lowest level on record, and has kept it there since to foster an economic recovery.
The sea of liquidity helped boost stocks, propelling the S&P 500 to successive records through 2021 and into the first days of January.
But fears of monetary tightening has sent stocks lower this year, leaving the S&P 500 down about 5% year to date. 
Here’s what others said about the inflation data Thursday:
“Right now, investors are not only worried about what the Fed does on interest rates, but then what impact that will have on growth.”
Inflation’s hot, but “investors will move toward looking at cash flows and what companies are going to be doing, and I think that’s supportive of the markets.” — Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank.  “All else equal, more fuel to the inflation fire should harden the Fed’s resolve to begin raising interest rates at its next meeting in March and introduce quantitative tightening in the months thereafter.” — Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede.
“High energy prices and supply issues are stoking inflation but these issues should eventually fade. Of greater concern is that wage pressures are building and the central bank will not want to risk a wage price spiral. Looking ahead though, real consumer spending on discretionary goods and services is likely to cool naturally, as higher energy costs begin to bite.” – Jai Malhi, global market strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management.
“Overall, we remain constructive on equities over bonds with a preference for cyclical and value stocks, commodities and commodity-linked equities. One theme that ticks all those boxes is dividend-paying European and U.K. equities which have lagged their U.S. peers and offer the potential for catch-up gains on a total return basis.” — John Leiper, chief investment officer at Titan Asset Management
Here are the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1431
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3554
* The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 116.05 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 11 basis points to 2.05%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 0.28%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced nine basis points to 1.52%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $90.12 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,827.70 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Robert Brand and Jennifer Bissell-Linsk.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Right is right, even if everyone is against it; and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it. -William Penn, 1644-1718.

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:
On Feb. 9, 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces.  Go to article »

Boeing flies its 747 model in 1969 for the first time, taking off from Everett’s Paine Field. Pilot Jack Waddell calls the jet’s performance in the two-hour test flight “a pilot’s dream.” In order to build the 747, Boeing constructs the largest building in the world in Everett. The FAA certifies the 747 on Dec. 30, 1969, ushering in the era of jumbo jets. (Compiled from HistoryLink.org).

Feb. 9, 1997: Fox cartoon series “The Simpsons” airs its 167^th episode “The Itchy & Scratchy Show” surpassing the former record holder The Flintstones as the longest-running animated series in cartoon history.

Feb. 9, 1942: Carol King, songwriter, b.

2022 Oscar nominations announced.  Looking for a great movie to watch? Check out this list of Oscar contenders.

Winners announced at the 2022 Brit Awards.  Yesterday was a big day in entertainment news across the pond too! 

This is the wildlife photo of the year, as chosen by the public.  The enchanting image of a frozen lake seriously could have been pulled from a scene in “Game of Thrones.”

More Revolutionary War-era cannons have been found in Georgia.  Ahoy! After this remarkable find, divers are searching the depths of the Savannah River for more historic treasure.

With Covid in retreat, it’s time to end mask mandates in schools. They’re doing more harm than good. — Bloomberg’s editorial board.

Charles Dickens’s coded notes have finally been decoded. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

A Mediterranean diet could add 10 years to your life, a study has shown.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A giant panda plays with its cub in the snow at the China Conservation and Research Centre
CREDIT: Xinhua/REX/Shutterstock

Tianyi Zhang of Team China falls during the men’s 1500m quarter finals of the short-track speed skating event, on day five of the 2022 Winter Olympic Games
CREDIT: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images

Adele poses for a photo as she attends The Brit awards 2022 at the O2 Arena, where she won three awards for best artist, album and song of the year
CREDIT: Samir Hussein/WireImage/Getty Images

Market Closes for February 9^th, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35768.06	+305.28
		+0.86%
S&P 500	4587.18	+65.64
		+1.45%
NASDAQ	14490.38	+295.92 +2.08%
TSX	21604.19	+227.01
		+1.06%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27579.87	+295.35
		+1.08%
HANG SENG	24829.99	+500.50
		+2.06%
SENSEX	58465.97	+657.39
		+1.14%
FTSE 100*	7643.42	+76.35 +1.01%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.846	1.857
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.138	2.138
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9415	1.9614
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2446	2.2556

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7892	0.7871
US $	1.2671	1.2705
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4476	0.6908
US $	1.1424	0.8753

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1822.60	1813.55
Oil
WTI Crude Future	89.66	89.36

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1966, the Vietnam-era bull market peaked, buoyed by defense spending and rising inflation, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed the day at 995.15—a level it would not reach again until October 11, 1982. 
Canada
By Stefanie Marotta
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose to the highest point in more than two months as companies in the technology and industrials sectors surged.
The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 1.1%, or 227.01 to 21,604.19 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.7% on Jan. 31.
Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as all sectors gained; 190 of 240 shares rose, while 49 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.9%. Canopy Growth Corp. had the largest increase, rising 14.8%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 13 times. The next day, it advanced nine times for an average 0.7% and declined four times for an average 0.5%
* The index advanced 17% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 15% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9% below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 20.5% above its low on Feb. 26, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.1% in the past 5 days and rose 2.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.3 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.41t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.19% compared with 12.91% in the previous session and the average of 12.74% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | 62.8743| 3.7| 16/0
* Industrials | 50.3151| 2.0| 28/2
* Energy | 49.3140| 1.6| 29/3
* Materials | 13.5729| 0.5| 26/27
* Consumer Discretionary | 12.7446| 1.7| 13/1
* Utilities | 9.3437| 1.0| 16/0
* Health Care | 9.1778| 6.1| 8/0
* Consumer Staples | 6.0836| 0.8| 7/4
* Real Estate | 5.4232| 0.9| 22/2
* Communication Services | 4.4007| 0.4| 4/3
* Financials | 3.7581| 0.1| 21/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | 42.5700| 4.9| -29.0| -32.8
* Canadian Pacific | 14.8500| 2.6| -30.9| 2.1
* Cameco | 9.8210| 14.3| 55.9| 4.6
* Franco-Nevada | -4.4190| -1.9| 28.7| -0.6
* CIBC | -4.6020| -0.9| -35.9| 11.9
* Royal Bank of Canada | -10.7500| -0.8| -55.2| 9.1
US
By Stephen Kirkland
(Bloomberg) — The advance in U.S. stocks gathered pace as an easing in a Treasury selloff provided respite to markets whipsawed in recent weeks by concerns about tightening monetary policy.
The S&P 500 extended Tuesday’s broad-based rally, with tech stocks recovering about half of their losses this year.
Mega caps led the Nasdaq 100 higher, with dip-buying in Facebook-parent Meta Platforms Inc. after a four-day slide wiped about a third off its market value.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 posted their biggest daily gains this month.
The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield retreated from levels last seen in 2019 and hit session lows around 1.91% after strong demand at auction of similar-maturity notes.
Rates across Europe also fell after France’s central banker said markets may be getting ahead of themselves in pricing rate hikes for this year.
A dollar gauge fell.
Investors are weighing still-robust earnings against worries about a rapid withdrawal of pandemic-era stimulus.
About 76% of the 317 S&P 500 firms that have reported results beat earnings estimates, with profits coming nearly 6% above projected levels.
But data this week is expected to show U.S. inflation continues to overheat, potentially stoking bets on a more aggressive Federal Reserve liftoff in March.
“Improving economic data will support risk assets unless the Fed needs to reset the outlook for financial conditions lower,” Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research, wrote in a note.
Until it is clear financial conditions need to tighten further, he said he favors cyclicals relative to defensives, especially as the economic headwinds of omicron fade and demand growth firms.
Bets on the pace of rate hikes have increased since the January Fed meeting, shifting to roughly five this year versus the three that officials forecast in December.
Fed Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said Wednesday she anticipated it will be appropriate for policy makers to raise rates at a faster pace, reiterating a January comment that she supported a first hike in March. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said earlier “every option is on the table.”
“Investors certainly appear encouraged by the fact that the falling-knife period looks to be in the rear-view mirror and we’re now seeing signs of stabilization,” Craig Erlam, a senior  markets analyst at Oanda, said in a note. “Of course, that could change quickly if the inflation outlook worsens, and we won’t have to wait long for the next hurdle on that front, with the U.S. CPI data being keenly anticipated.”
The euro briefly rose to session highs versus the dollar after Bloomberg reported, citing officials with knowledge of the matter, that a growing number of European Central Bank policy makers were losing faith in the institution’s current inflation forecasting, emboldening their shift toward hiking rates later this year. 
Some earnings and market-related news:
* CVS Health Corp. said demand for Covid-19 tests and vaccines is expected to fade this year, eroding a source of growth that helped insulate it from other pressures on its business.
* Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. reported sales that topped estimates as smoked brisket, strong delivery orders and higher prices helped results in the fourth quarter.
* Billions of dollars earmarked for takeovers by blank-check companies have piled up unused as the hot-then-not mania fades for speculative stocks.
* A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S  said it expects to report a 2022 profit of about $24 billion, less than average analyst estimate of $28 billion. It also said shipping backlogs that have persisted for most of the Covid-19 pandemic will begin to let up in the second half.
* Amundi SA, Europe’s largest asset manager, climbed the most in more than a year after raking in more client cash than analysts’ expectations.

Here are some events to watch this week:
* Earnings: AstraZeneca, Twitter, Uber, Walt Disney
* U.K. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks Thursday
* U.S. consumer price index, initial jobless claims Thursday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1424
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3537
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 115.52 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 1.94%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 0.21%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 1.43%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to $90 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,833.50 an ounce
–With assistance from Michael Msika, Andreea Papuc, Joanna Ossinger, Sunil Jagtiani, Robert Brand, Peyton Forte and Vildana Hajric.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It is always the false that makes you suffer, the false desires and fears, the false values and ideas,
the false relationships between people.  Abandon the false and you are free of pain;
truth makes happy, truth liberates. –Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, 1897-1981.

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:

Fe. 8, 1910: Boy Scouts of America established.

On Feb. 8, 1996, in a ceremony at the Library of Congress, President Clinton signed legislation revamping the telecommunications industry, saying it would “bring the future to our doorstep.”  Go to article »

Capital punishment: The first state execution in the USA by gas chamber takes place in Nevada.  Most countries, including almost all First World nations, have abolished capital punishment either in law or in practice; notable exceptions are the USA, Japan, Taiwan, and Singapore.  Additionally, capital punishment is also carried out in China, India, and most Islamic states.

Jennifer Garner says she was dumped the day after her first kiss.  There are always more fish in the sea!

Chimps seen applying ‘medicine’ to one another for first time.  Did you know humans and chimps share 98.8% of the same DNA? Prepare to be wowed by this animal intelligence study.

Musk blasts media for “relentless hate stream” of bad news.

What really happened at our universe’s birth?

Photos of the Day

Starlings fly over the city at dusk
CREDIT: Javier Belver/EPA

The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, leads other lawmakers outside the US capitol building in a moment of silence for the 900,000 Americans who lost their lives to Covid
CREDIT: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA

Kyle Soderman, Christian Winchell and Travis Brewer jump off a pole for a social media video at the Original Muscle Beach in Santa Monica
CREDIT: Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images

Market Closes for February 8^th, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35462.78	+371.65
		+1.06%
S&P 500	4521.54	+37.67
		+0.84%
NASDAQ	14194.46	+178.79 +1.28%
TSX	21377.18	+141.68
		+0.67%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27284.52	+35.65
		+0.13%
HANG SENG	24329.49	-250.06
		-1.02
SENSEX	57808.58	+187.39
		+0.33%
FTSE 100*	7567.07	-6.40 -0.08%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.857	1.838
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.138	2.104
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9614	1.9159
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2556	2.2169

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7871	0.7893
US $	1.2705	1.2669
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4508	0.6893
US $	1.1418	0.8758

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1813.55	1804.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	89.36	91.32

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1971, after nearly a decade of preparation, the Nasdaq market opened for stock trading, as the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system first displayed the median price for more than 2,500 “over-the-counter” securities. The Nasdaq Composite Index was set at an initial value of 100.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.7 percent at 21,377.18 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 17 after the previous session’s decrease of 0.2 percent.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3 percent.
TFI International Inc. had the largest increase, rising 8.1 percent.
Today, 173 of 241 shares rose, while 63 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 17 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.9 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 19.2 percent above its low on Feb. 26, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.3 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 14.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.39t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 12.91 percent compared with 12.76 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.72 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | 89.4709| 1.2| 28/0
* Materials | 48.2546| 2.0| 49/6
* Industrials | 36.0276| 1.5| 25/5
* Information Technology | 19.3879| 1.2| 11/5
* Consumer Discretionary | 9.9234| 1.3| 11/3
* Consumer Staples | 7.1856| 0.9| 10/1
* Health Care | 2.2576| 1.5| 6/2
* Real Estate | 2.1099| 0.3| 12/9
* Utilities | 0.9198| 0.1| 10/4
* Communication Services | -0.3110| 0.0| 5/2
* Energy | -73.5307| -2.3| 6/26
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | 17.2500| 1.3| -12.2| 10.9
* Royal Bank of Canada | 17.2000| 1.2| -48.9| 9.9
* Shopify | 14.9200| 1.8| -30.4| -35.9
* Enbridge | -9.1700| -1.2| 78.2| 10.0
* Cenovus Energy | -10.9800| -6.4| 108.8| 18.0
* Canadian Natural Resources | -26.9900| -4.9| 13.7| 20.2

US
By Stephen Kirkland and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose in a broad-based rally, with gains in cyclicals and small-caps signaling improving investor confidence in the growth outlook amid monetary tightening.
The S&P 500 closed near session highs, recovering ground lost in Monday’s late-day slide, amid gains in financials and materials sectors.
Dip-buying in some big tech names like Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. helped lift the Nasdaq 100.
Meanwhile, the Russell 2000 of small-caps outperformed, jumping more than 1.5% and suggesting confidence about economic re-openings as the pandemic fades.
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to 1.96%, levels last seen in 2019 with some investors betting it’s heading for 3% this year as the Federal Reserve battles red-hot inflation.
The dollar edged higher against a basket of peers.
“The primary market trend appears higher aided by an economy on solid footing and resilient earnings,” Keith Lerner, co-chief investment officer and chief market strategist at Truist Advisory Services, wrote in a note. “We are also encouraged that the market is already pricing in a great deal of rate hikes, that investor sentiment has reset sharply, and that valuations have pulled back.”
Investors are awaiting data Thursday expected to show stubbornly high U.S. inflation.
That could inject further volatility into markets bracing a Fed hiking cycle and eventual balance-sheet reduction.
But the rise in yields could also support some equities, like banks and value stocks, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc., amid generally solid earnings.
Of the 299 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 76% have beaten earnings estimates, with profits coming in more than 6% above projected levels.
“We had modest expectations for returns for stocks coming into the year — I don’t think that’s changed, but I think from here, we could certainly see a constructive recovery,” Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen, said by phone.  “Every market, not just the equity market, is digesting a relatively rapid pivot from the Fed. I’d say it’s gone relatively well, all things considered.”
Oil fell sharply as traders weighed ongoing tensions in Eastern Europe and the resumption of Iran nuclear talks.
Bitcoin declined for the first time in six days, falling below $44,000.
In earnings and financial market news:
* Microsoft Corp. is considering making a bid for cybersecurity-research and incident response company Mandiant Inc., according to a person familiar with the discussions
* Pfizer Inc. declined after its 2022 revenue forecast missed estimates.
* Harley-Davidson Inc. reported a surprise profit in the fourth quarter as strong demand in its home market and higher motorcycle prices padded earnings and shipping delays eased.
* Coty Inc.’s earnings report was a mixed bag for investors with an upbeat forecast and quarterly revenue that missed expectations.
* Cathie Wood stepped up selling of social media platform Twitter Inc. shares days before its earnings.
* KKR & Co.’s distributable earnings surged 158% in the fourth quarter, beating Wall Street estimates, as the private equity giant took advantage of swelling asset prices to cash out of investments.
* Peloton Interactive Inc. Chief Executive Officer John Foley will step down and become executive chairman, marking a victory for activist investor Blackwells Capital LLC.

Here are some events to watch this week:
* Earnings: AstraZeneca, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, GlaxoSmithKline, Toyota Motor, Twitter, Uber, Walt Disney
* Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester speaks Wednesday
* U.K. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks Thursday
* U.S. consumer price index, initial jobless claims Thursday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1418
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3551
* The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 115.54 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 1.96%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 0.26%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 1.49%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.8% to $89.68 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,827.90 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Giulia Morpurgo and Robert Brand.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The older I get the less I listen to what people say and the more I look at what they do. –Andrew Carnegie, 1835-1919.

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:
On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time, giving rise to Beatlemania.   Their performance on the Ed Sullivan Show was watched by 73 million viewers. Go to article »

Feb. 7, 1974: Independence Day, Grenada.
Charles Dickens, writer, b. 1812
Chris Rock, comedian, b. 1966
Ashton Kutcher, actor, b. 1978

First ever free-floating black hole found roaming through interstellar space. 

Spinal-cord implant helps paralyzed patients walk again.

RIP, Hotel Pennsylvania. (h/t Scott Kominers)

Earliest ball-lightning sighting traced to 1195.

Mother chimp makes an insect poultice for her baby. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man prepares for his morning swim in the Yangtze River
CREDIT: Wang He/Getty Images

Dog walkers enjoy the sunrise at Tynemouth beach
CREDIT: Owen Humphreys/PA

Two birds sit together on a chilly morning
CREDIT: Ben Birchall/PA

Market Closes for February 7^th, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35091.13	+1.39
		+0.00%
S&P 500	4483.87	-16.66
		-0.37%
NASDAQ	14015.67	-82.34 -0.58%
TSX	21235.50	-36.35
		-0.17%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27248.87	-191.12
		-0.70%
HANG SENG	24579.55	+6.26
		+0.03
SENSEX	57621.19	-1023.63
		-1.75%
FTSE 100*	7573.47	+57.07 +0.76%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.838	1.855
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.104	2.101
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9159	1.9121
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2169	2.2108

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7893	0.7834
US $	1.2669	1.2766
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4495	0.6899
US $	1.1441	0.8741

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1804.70	1792.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	91.32	92.31

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1804, John Deere was born in Rutland, VT. In 1837, he threw the American frontier wide open by inventing the world’s first self-cleaning steel plow, making it possible for pioneers to work the rich, vast farmlands of the midwestern and western United States.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2 percent at 21,235.50 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.8 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.0 percent.
Ballard Power Systems Inc. had the largest drop, falling 5.1 percent.
Today, 128 of 241 shares fell, while 110 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by industrials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 17 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.6 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 18.4 percent above its low on Feb. 26, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7 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 18.9 on a trailing basis and 14.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.4t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.76 percent compared with 12.92 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.84 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Industrials | -29.6846| -1.2| 8/21
* Information Technology | -24.3124| -1.4| 4/11
* Energy | -8.1180| -0.3| 9/23
* Communication Services | -6.8799| -0.7| 3/4
* Consumer Discretionary | -4.6467| -0.6| 5/9
* Real Estate | -2.6340| -0.4| 8/16
* Consumer Staples | -0.8712| -0.1| 3/8
* Health Care | -0.3222| -0.2| 4/4
* Utilities | 1.4657| 0.2| 7/8
* Financials | 8.4062| 0.1| 13/15
* Materials | 31.2330| 1.3| 46/9
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | -16.9900| -2.0| -36.4| -37.0
* Royal Bank of Canada | -10.7500| -0.8| -34.7| 8.6
* Canadian National | -10.5900| -1.6| 63.5| -1.2
* Barrick Gold | 4.0250| 1.4| 93.2| 3.1
* TD Bank | 6.3760| 0.5| 0.6| 9.4
* Brookfield Asset Management | 9.4130| 1.4| -10.2| -7.5

US
By Stephen Kirkland and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell late in the Monday session amid renewed declines in big tech names.
Benchmark Treasury yields were little changed as investors assessed the outlook for monetary policy ahead of key inflation data later this week.
The S&P 500 declined, falling from session highs in the last hour of trading.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 ended near the day’s low, led lower by declines in Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Alphabet Inc.
Peloton Interactive Inc. soared after reports that it’s exploring takeover options.
The Treasury curve steepened, though moves were subdued, and the dollar was little changed.
Investors are grappling with the prospect of the steepest monetary tightening cycle since the 1990s, with markets pricing in more than five quarter-point Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes in 2022 following a strong U.S. jobs report.
The U.S. inflation report this week could lead to more market volatility.
A reading north of 7%, the highest since the early 1980s, is expected.
“The market is in transition,” Chuck Cumello, president and chief executive officer of Essex Financial Services, said by phone. “You’re going from an accommodative Fed to one that’s going to tighten, you’re going from a scenario last year where the federal government was literally putting money in people’s pockets to spend and that’s not happening, and you have these big geopolitical events. It’s a very challenging environment for high P/E stocks.”
Greek debt led a selloff in European peripheral bonds after European Central Bank Governing Council Member Klaas Knot said he expects a rate increase as early as in the fourth quarter.
The ECB last week made a hawkish pivot, with President Christine Lagarde no longer excluding a rate hike this year.  
In an address to lawmakers in the European Parliament Monday, Lagarde said any adjustment to monetary policy will be “gradual.”
U.S. stocks ended higher last week, but trading was volatile amid weak numbers at U.S. tech giants including Facebook-owner Meta Platforms and positive earnings from Amazon.com Inc.
A strong jobs report on Friday while good for the economy also backed the case for a hawkish Fed stance.
“We all know that global central banks are poised to have an inflection in interest rate policy; what we don’t know is how far each of them are going to go and how quickly they’re going to try to get there,” said Sarah Hunt, portfolio manager at Alpine Woods Capital Investors.
“It’s this unknowing about how fast and far the Fed is going to go right now that I think is part of why you’re getting these big zig zags of up and down.”
In corporate news:
* Meta Platforms Inc. again threatened to pull Facebook and Instagram from Europe if it is unable to keep transferring user
data back to the U.S.
* Frontier Group Holdings Inc.’s planned $2.9 billion purchase
of Spirit Airlines Inc., positions Bill Franke, the self-
proclaimed father of ultra-discounting, to expand his global
network of carriers.
* Amazon.com Inc. is more than doubling the maximum base salary
it pays employees to $350,000 from $160,000.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin rose for a fifth consecutive day, the longest winning streak since September, as investors re-embrace risk assets across global markets.
The rally in crude oil stalled at around $92 a barrel.
In the latest on Ukraine, President Joe Biden and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron spoke about responding to Russia’s military buildup on the Ukrainian border.
Moscow has repeatedly denied that it plans an attack.

Here are some events to watch this week:
* Earnings: AstraZeneca, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer, SoftBank Group, Toyota Motor, Twitter, Uber, Walt Disney
* Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester speaks Wednesday
* U.K. Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks Thursday
* U.S. consumer price index, initial jobless claims Thursday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1438
* The British pound was unchanged at $1.3531
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 115.10 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 1.92%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 0.23%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 1.41%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1% to $91.40 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.8% to $1,822.60 an ounce
–With assistance from Michael Msika, Andreea Papuc, Robert Brand, Edward Bolingbroke and Elaine Chen.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Win without boasting.  Lose without excuses. –Vince Lombardi, 1913-1970.

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.

February 4^th, 2004: Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room. BI: The Full Story of How Facebook was Founded » 

“Moonfall” premieres in US theaters today.  The movie is quite stellar. You’ll really enjoy this if you gravitate toward space disaster epics. 

MacKenzie Scott donates $133.5 million to educational non-profit.  Move aside Santa! Ms. Scott is coming to town… with millions of dollars in unsolicited donations.

A drawing bought for $30 at a yard sale has been valued at $10 million.  Maybe a treasure hunt at your neighbor’s next yard sale will make you a millionaire! Have hope!

Cat brains are shrinking, and it’s humans’ fault. (h/t Mike Smedley)

DaVinci’s screw-rotor design works on a drone.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Performers take part in the opening ceremony of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games at the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, in Beijing. The city once again hosted an opening ceremony for the Olympics and, like that for the Summer Games in 2008, it was directed by Zhang Yimou. The event was on a much smaller and more muted scale than that memorable occasion – with 3,000 people taking part as opposed to 15,000. The motto, in a Games inevitably affected by the Covid pandemic and mired with political controversy, was to be simple, safe and splendid.
CREDIT: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Polar bears living in an abandoned weather station on Kolyuchin, an island in the Russian far east. Photographer Dmitry Kokh discovered the polar bears while on a trip to Wrangel Island, a Unesco-recognised nature reserve that serves as a refuge to the animals.
CREDIT: Dmitry Kokh

A resident looks at a group of Joaldunaks taking part in the traditional carnival between the Pyrenees villages of Ituren and Zubieta. The carnival has been cancelled due to Covid-19 for the last two years. This year it has returned as one of the most ancient carnival celebrations in Europe, with dozens of people donning sheepskins, lace petticoats, conical caps and cowbells as they parade to herald the advent of spring.
CREDIT: Álvaro Barrientos/AP

Market Closes for February 4^th, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35089.74	-21.42
		-0.06%
S&P 500	4500.53	+23.09
		+0.52%
NASDAQ	14098.01	+219.19 +1.58%
TSX	21271.85	+177.84
		+0.84%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27439.99	+198.68
		+0.73%
HANG SENG	24573.29	+771.03
		+3.24
SENSEX	58644.82	-143.20
		-0.24%
FTSE 100*	7516.40	-12.44 -0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.855	1.801
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.101	2.074
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.9121	1.8306
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.2108	2.1517

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7834	0.7890
US $	1.2766	1.2674
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4618	0.6841
US $	1.1451	0.8733

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1792.70	1803.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	92.31	90.27

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1887, the Interstate Commerce Act was enacted, creating the U.S. Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate the conduct of private businesses acting in the public interest, such as railroads
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.8 percent at 21,271.85 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.3 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 8.8 percent.
Hut 8 Mining Corp. had the largest increase, rising 13.0 percent.
Today, 167 of 241 shares rose, while 70 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 2.6 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended March 12
* The index advanced 18 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 14 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.4 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 18.6 percent above its low on Feb. 4, 2021
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19 on a trailing basis and 14.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.37t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 12.92 percent compared with 12.84 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.17 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | 83.0884| 5.1| 12/4
* Financials | 38.1902| 0.5| 24/4
* Materials | 22.6283| 0.9| 43/11
* Energy | 19.3467| 0.6| 25/7
* Industrials | 7.4044| 0.3| 22/8
* Communication Services | 4.6405| 0.4| 5/2
* Health Care | 3.1552| 2.2| 7/1
* Consumer Discretionary | 1.5858| 0.2| 10/4
* Consumer Staples | -0.0011| 0.0| 2/9
* Real Estate | -1.0066| -0.2| 14/9
* Utilities | -1.1928| -0.1| 3/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | 70.5400| 8.8| -9.9| -35.8
* Canadian Natural
* Resources | 11.0700| 2.1| -21.9| 27.8
* Constellation Software | 8.4390| 3.0| -23.6| -7.6
* Magna International | -1.5160| -0.8| -7.1| -0.8
* Open Text | -4.3030| -3.9| 56.5| -5.5
* Suncor Energy | -4.5920| -1.2| 25.1| 15.8

US
By Jennifer Bissell-Linsk and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Treasuries fell after a strong U.S. jobs report increased bets of tighter monetary policy while U.S. stocks powered higher on bullish sentiment from Amazon.com Inc. earnings.
The yield on the U.S. 10-year note rose to 1.92% as traders gave roughly even odds to the chance the Federal Reserve will start to raise interest rates with a 50 basis point hike in March instead of a typical quarter point move.
The S&P 500 gained 0.5%, erasing an earlier loss, while the Nasdaq 100 added 1.3% with Amazon up 14% on a price increase for Prime memberships.
The dollar was stronger against major peers while still posting its worst weekly performance since 2020.
U.S. employers added more jobs than forecast last month, despite a surge in Covid-19 infections and related business closures.
Nonfarm payrolls gained more than all economists expected and average hourly earnings also rose 0.7% month over month.
“The jobs report blew away expectations across the board,” said Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth. “The report is unequivocally good for the economy, but not for markets as the strength in the numbers presents another data point which supports more aggressively hawkish Fed action.”
It’s been a volatile week in markets as investors were jolted by weak numbers at U.S. tech giants including Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc., which wiped more than $250 billion from its market value on Thursday.
However, positive earnings from Amazon helped lift sentiment, with the online marketplace and tech company adding roughly $190 billion to its market capitalization.
“It seems like each day we wake up to, ‘Thank you sir, may I have another?’ as a few tech blowups drag down the overall market,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. “There is an interesting behavioral metric where one bad thing requires four to five good things to make up for it.”
Here’s what else Wall Street said Friday:
“Hopefully now that the week is coming to a close, we’re seeing that the economy is still strong based on this jobs report, that people can take a breath and really reassess what is the economic environment that we’re going into in the year ahead.” — Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally
“The January employment report was strong overall, informs us that businesses are willing to look through the Omicron shock (which is actually news), and reinforces the case for the Fed tightening.” — Gerard MacDonell, analyst at 22V Research
“It was always going to be a surprise as far as the payrolls report was concerned, given the range of outcomes. And we got a positive surprise … The Fed is further and further behind and they’re going to have to catch up.” – Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital
“The data reinforces the case for hikes and QT and I think the 10-year should rise more, especially real rates. With the 10-year getting close to 2%, I worry about mortgage-backed securities convexity hedging and more bond fund outflows.” –Priya Misra, global head of rates strategy at TD Securities
“A better-than-expected jobs report only fuels the Fed’s fire to raise rates, and act quickly. While they’ve already signaled that the labor market is in a good place, there was potential for omicron to derail that progress — and that just doesn’t seem to be the case. So with the market typically unwelcoming of news that could accelerate the pace of action from the Fed, we could see some volatility.” — Mike Loewengart,
managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley
Dip buyers have hoped a stronger earnings season would keep equities attractive and counter some concerns about rate hikes in the face of higher inflation.
Of the 272 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported results, 82% have met or beaten estimates, with profits coming in 8.8% above projected levels.
Still, signs of stubborn price pressures abound with the latest data showing U.S. gasoline prices at the highest in more than seven years.
Crude oil gained 2.2% in New York, extending a seven-year high, while banks including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now forecast Brent will reach $100 a barrel.
Hawkish comments from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and a Bank of England interest-rate hike underlined risks from inflation.
While a selloff in the region’s bonds eased Friday, the mood in the stock market was sour with Europe’s Stoxx 600 falling 1.4%.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1454
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.3530
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 115.20 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced nine basis points to 1.92%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 0.21%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 1.41%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.2% to $92.23 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,808.30 an ounce
–With assistance from Elaine Chen, Peyton Forte, Sunil Jagtiani and Srinivasan Sivabalan.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Worry never robs tomorrow of its sorrow, it only saps today of its joy. –Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1998.

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 Eve.

February 3, 1994: The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time. Go to article »
1870: The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was ratified, guaranteeing the right to vote regardless of race and intending to ensure, with the Fourteenth Amendment, the civil rights of former slaves.
1947: coldest North American temperature  -81 degrees Farenheit.
Gertrude Stein, writer, b. 1874.

2022 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame nominees announced.  Our favorite country queen Dolly Parton is one of several first-time nominees!

Starbucks has been raising prices, but customers apparently don’t mind.  You call it Starbucks, I call it a weekly necessity. That’s not changing.

Inside Gwyneth Paltrow’s serene California home.  This Oscar winner has an award-worthy home spa. Zen is an understatement

Scientists engineer new material that can absorb and release enormous amounts of energy. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People take part in the Endiablada (demonic) festival in Cuenca during which 100 ‘devils’ dressed in vividly coloured costumes parade through the streets of the town, dedicating dances and jumps to the saints
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Colourful lanterns of sea creatures are displayed at the Kennedy Center as part of the Winter Lanterns show to celebrate the lunar new year
CREDIT: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Horticultural workers arrange floral displays for the Kew Orchid festival at the Royal Botanical Gardens. The festival runs from 5 February to 6 March
CREDIT: Neil Hall/EPA

Market Closes for February 3^rd, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35111.16	-518.17
		-1.45%
S&P 500	4477.44	-111.94
		-2.44%
NASDAQ	13878.82	-538.73 -3.74%
TSX	21094.01	-268.35
		-1.26%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27241.31	-292.29
		-1.06%
HANG SENG	Market Closed	N.A.
		N.A.
SENSEX	58788.02	-770.31
		-1.29%
FTSE 100*	7528.84	-54.16 -0.71%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.801	1.758
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.074	2.041
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.8306	1.7751
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.1517	2.1083

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7890	0.7888
US $	1.2674	1.2678
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4497	0.6898
US $	1.1438	0.8742

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1803.65	1799.85
Oil
WTI Crude Future	90.27	88.26

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1964, a direct feed to the stock ticker at the New York Stock Exchange was extended overseas for the first time, as Switzerland got a real-time link to follow share prices in New York
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 1.3 percent at 21,094.01 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 2.1 percent on Jan. 21 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2 percent.
Today, information technology stocks led the market lower, as 10 of 11 sectors lost; 187 of 241 shares fell, while 53 rose.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 8.4 percent.
Telus International CDA Inc. had the largest drop, falling 9.1 percent.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss seven times. The next day, it declined four times for an average 0.5 percent and advanced three times for an average 0.6 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 1.7 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Dec. 24
* The index advanced 18 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 14 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.2 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 18.4 percent above its low on Feb. 3, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.7 percent in the past 5 days and fell 0.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19 on a trailing basis and 14.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.41t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.84 percent compared with 13.32 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.19 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology| -107.3839| -6.2| 0/16
* Industrials | -51.7791| -2.1| 2/28
* Financials | -37.9890| -0.5| 6/22
* Materials | -26.7602| -1.1| 11/44
* Energy | -21.7586| -0.7| 13/19
* Consumer Discretionary| -10.6118| -1.4| 2/12
* Utilities | -5.4297| -0.6| 4/12
* Consumer Staples | -5.0821| -0.6| 4/7
* Real Estate | -4.8496| -0.8| 5/18
* Health Care | -4.2331| -2.8| 2/6
* Communication Services| 7.5260| 0.7| 4/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | -73.7900| -8.4| 39.8| -41.0
* Brookfield Asset Management | -17.0200| -2.4| -40.6| -9.6
* Canadian Pacific | -15.1700| -2.6| -27.0| -0.9
* Franco-Nevada | 1.8750| 0.8| 4.2| -2.1
* Telus | 3.2670| 1.2| 18.2| 2.8
* BCE | 3.9890| 1.0| -10.8| 2.5

US
By Peyton Forte and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — The worst selloff in technology shares since fall 2020 sent U.S. equity indexes reeling, halting a four-day rebound.
The Nasdaq 100 shed 4.2% and the S&P 500 fell 2.4% as Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc. suffered a historic rout that wiped more than $250 billion from its value. Meanwhile, in post market trading Amazon.com Inc. rose more than 15% on an earnings beat, helping to lift index futures.
The declines came as investors also digested concerns about persistently high inflation from the European Central Bank with hawkish comments from Christine Lagarde.
The euro spiked higher along with European bond yields.
U.S. Treasuries followed the euro zone lower and the dollar fell.
“We got hit with a one-two punch today with the big drop in Facebook and the surprising news that the ECB has become more hawkish,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist for Miller Tabak + Co.
“The stock market had rallied in the afternoon each of the last four days, so traders were hoping that could bail us out again. When the rally didn’t materialize, traders lost a lot of confidence.”
Weak numbers from U.S. tech giants including Spotify Technology SA jolted investors who had bet a strong earnings season would keep equities attractive and counter some of their lingering worries including tighter monetary policy.
Markets have swung sharply and stocks are nursing losses this year as officials pare stimulus to curb inflation.
In Europe, the Bank of England hiked its key rate and signaled it would start running down bond holdings.
Meanwhile, the ECB held its interest rates and said net buying under its emergency support program will end in March.
Lagarde said inflation would remain elevated for longer but the bank was getting “much closer” to its inflation target.
Germany’s two-year yield rose to a 2015 high.
The Stoxx Europe 600 fell below its 100-day moving average.
“As markets focus closely on large, developed-market monetary policy stances — and investor sentiment around the globe shifts — economic activity data releases will be key,” said Marilyn Watson, head of global fundamental fixed income strategy at BlackRock.
Growth in the U.S. services sector pulled back in January to the slowest pace in nearly a year.
Meanwhile, U.S. initial jobless claims fell more than expected last week to 238,000 ahead of data on payrolls Friday.
“Tomorrow’s jobs report is a reminder that expectations for Fed policy are the key influence on this market right now, and if economic data, especially inflation data, comes in ‘too hot’ then that will rekindle hawkish Fed concerns like in January, and we would expect at least a partial return of the January volatility,” wrote Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter. “Bottom line, Fed policy still very much matters to this market.”
What to watch this week:
* U.S. payrolls report for January, Friday
* Winter Olympics kick off in China, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin due to attend opening ceremony, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 2.4% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 4.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.5%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 1.1% to $1.1431
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3595
* The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 114.94 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 1.83%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 0.14%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 11 basis points to 1.37%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $90.11 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,806.80 an ounce
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Elaine Chen.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it.  The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid,
but he who conquers that fear. –Nelson Mandela, 1918-2013.

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: Groundhog Day – 6 more weeks of winter!

On February 2, 1943, the remainder of Nazi forces from the Battle of Stalingrad surrendered in a major victory for the Soviets in World War II.  Go to article ».

February 2, 1990: South African President F.W. de Klerk lifts the 30-year ban on the African National Congress, resulting in the release from prison of Nelson Mandela and marking the beginning of the end of apartheid.

 

February 2^nd: Candlemas Day- in Roman Catholic churches all the candles that will be needed in the church throughout the year are consecrated on this day.  The ancient Romans had a custom of burning candles to scare away evil spirits.

 

Jeff Bezos’s superyacht requires a bridge be dismantled for delivery.

   

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Groundhog handler AJ Dereume with Punxsutawney Phil during the 136th celebration of Groundhog Day at Gobbler’s Knob in Punxsutawney. The groundhog has forecast six more weeks of winter

Photograph: Jeff Swensen/Getty ImagesA flamingo at Gediz Delta, one of Turkey’s largest wetlands and home to about 300 bird species, that is on its way to becoming a Unesco world heritage site

Photograph: Lokman Ilhan/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

A young boy dressed in traditional Tamang dress plays with pigeons as Sonam Lhosar (the new year festival) is observed

Photograph: Amit Machamasi/Zuma/ Rex/Shutterstock

Market Closes for February 2, 2022

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35629.33	+224.09
		+0.63%
S&P 500	4589.38	+42.84
		+0.94%
NASDAQ	14417.55	+71.55   +0.50%
TSX	21362.36	+42.44
		+0.20%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27533.60	+455.12
		+1.68%
HANG SENG	MARKET CLOSE	N.A.
		N.A.
SENSEX	59558.33	+695.76
		+1.18%
FTSE 100*	7583.00	+47.22   +0.63%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.758	1.792
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.041	2.069
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.7751	1.7875
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.1083	2.1090

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7888	0.7883
US $	1.2678	1.2686
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4329	0.6979
US $	1.1302	0.8848

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1799.85	1795.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future	88.26	88.20

Market Commentary:

On this day in 1848, for $15 million, the U.S. purchased the entire territories of Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas, along with parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah, from Mexico under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The U.S. as a result stretched “from sea to shining sea.”

Canada

By Bloomberg Automation
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.2 percent, or 42.44 to 21,362.36 in Toronto.

The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 17.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.6 percent.

Birchcliff Energy Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 5.5 percent.
Today, 128 of 241 shares rose, while 109 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 20 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 20.3 percent above its low on Feb. 2, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.7 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 19.2 on a trailing basis and 14.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.41t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 13.32 percent compared with 13.73 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.20 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 59.5566| 0.8| 18/10
Energy | 26.1308| 0.8| 20/11
Industrials | 23.3544| 0.9| 14/16
Consumer Staples | 10.7085| 1.4| 10/1
Communication Services| 9.0121| 0.9| 6/0
Materials | 7.2932| 0.3| 23/30
Utilities | 4.4352| 0.5| 9/7
Real Estate | 3.3576| 0.5| 18/6
Consumer Discretionary| 3.1523| 0.4| 6/8
Health Care | -2.9466| -1.9| 1/7
Information Technology| -101.5941| -5.6| 3/13
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 20.8800| 1.6| -30.9| 8.4
Bank of Montreal | 12.2700| 1.9| 17.2| 8.9
Canadian Pacific | 11.7300| 2.0| -16.2| 1.7
Dye & Durham | -2.2490| -14.5| 313.7| -30.5
Lightspeed Commerce Inc | -2.9170| -7.3| 47.9| -20.2
Shopify | -97.5900| -10.0| 46.3| -35.6

US

By Vildana Hajric and Peyton Forte
     (Bloomberg) — A slew of disappointing tech earnings after regular trading ended overshadowed what will go down as the biggest four-day rally for U.S. stocks since November 2020. 
Dip buyers who powered the Nasdaq 100 to a 8% rally since Thursday got a gut check in late trading, when the biggest exchange-traded fund that tracks the index lost 1.8% as of 4:25 p.m. in New York.

The main culprit was Meta Platforms Inc., which sank more than 20% after the Facebook parent’s forecast fell short of estimates.

A loss of that much would wipe out about $180 billion in market value from the stock.
Spotify Technology SA also sank almost 20% on its results, while chipmaker Qualcomm Inc. lost 4%.

Other tech shares that had been rebounding from a weak January got caught in the downdraft.

Tesla Inc. was lower by almost 2% and Cathie Wood’s flagship ETF lost nearly 4%.
The poor earnings marked an about-face from 24 hours earlier when Alphabet Inc. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. delivered strong results that powered stocks higher during Wednesday’s cash session. 
It’s been a volatile start to the year with investors swinging between concerns over Federal Reserve tightening and confidence in the economic recovery.

A robust earnings outlook is helping to ease the uncertainty, at least for the moment.
However, many dangers, including stubborn inflation, geopolitical risks and pandemic flare-ups still lingers in the background.
“We are seeing writ large the market tug-of-war between the reality of a changing monetary backdrop and what that means for multiples — and eventually economic growth — and what’s still good earnings growth,” said Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.
The latest Fed commentary hinted at a calibrated approach to raising interest rates to fight high inflation, soothing some concerns the economy might take a hit from tighter monetary policy.

None of six Fed officials speaking so far this week have backed the idea of a half-point rate increase in March, and the most aggressive, James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Fed, said five hikes — one more than every quarter — is “not too bad a bet.”

Treasury yields dipped and the dollar was weaker.
“Fed officials backing away from a 50bp hike is important because it suggests the Fed will not aggressively offset a near-term economic rebound,” wrote Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research. “If true, that would favor a significant reversal in cyclicals, higher real yields, and reopening stock performance.”
ADP data ahead of Friday’s jobs report showed employment at U.S. companies contracted in January by the most since the early days of the pandemic with the spike omicron cases.

Poor job numbers could urge the Fed to reconsider aggressive rate hikes.
However, a dip in employment is not unexpected with government officials warning of the possibility in recent days.
“It was a weak number versus surveys, but not a cause for concern for the Fed in their hiking plans,” said Adam Shakoor, portfolio manager at Columbia Threadneedle Investments. “The Fed has already telegraphed the labor market as tight and near maximum employment at the end of 2021, so we should expect to see some deceleration in these figures play out in 2022.”

What to watch this week:
* Earnings are due from Amazon, Ford Motor, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm, Spotify
* Bank of England, European Central Bank rate decisions, Thursday
* Fed Board of Governors confirmation hearing, Thursday
* U.S. factory orders, initial jobless claims, durable goods, Thursday
* U.S. payrolls report for January, Friday
* Winter Olympics kick off in China, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin due to attend opening ceremony, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1305
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3571
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 114.46 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 1.78%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.04%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 1.26%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $88.32 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,807 an ounce
–With assistance from Srinivasan Sivabalan and Sunil Jagtiani.

Have a lovely evening.

 

Be magnificent!

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

You have enemies?  Good.  That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life. –Winston Churchill, 1864-1965.

 

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 Lunar New Year – the Year of the Tiger.

February: The month of purification among the ancient Romans (Latin: februum, purgation).  The Dutch used to call the month Spokkel-maand, “vegetation month”. 
The Anglo-Saxons knew it as  Salmōnath, “mud month.”  In the French Revolutionary calendar its equivalent, from 21 January to 19 February , was Pluviôse.

February 1, 2017: British MPs vote in favour of the European Union Bill, allowing the government to begin the Brexit process.  MPs backed the government’s European Union Bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes to 114.  But the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats opposed the bill, while 47 Labour MPs and Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke rebelled.

Record-breaking mega-flash lightning.  Imagine seeing a huge 17-second-long lightning flash. Would you stare, run or hide?

See what it’s like to fly into Beijing’s Olympic ‘bubble’.  Beijing isn’t playing games when it comes to Covid-19. All of the airport workers are wearing hazmat suits.

Thailand braces for a tourist rush with quarantine-free visas.

Tomorrow is the second day of the second month of ‘22. Learn more here.

“Groundhog Day” is more than just a movie, it’s a religion.

The Late Night Hosts weighed in on Trump’s weekend rally in Texas:

“While the Jan. 6 select committee continues to look for the cause of the Capitol riot, the cause admitted to everything and threatened to do it again.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“If it had been him instead of O.J., the quote would have been ‘The gloves don’t fit, but you don’t need gloves to stab a guy.’” — SETH MEYERS

“What a weird platform to run on for president: ‘I will pardon violent criminals.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“There’s no better way to announce a presidential run than to say, ‘I’ll empty the jails!’” — JIMMY FALLON

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lorries queue for the Port of Dover in Kent, as the Dover Tap (traffic access protocol) is enforced because of the high volume of lorries waiting to cross the Channel
CREDIT: Gareth Fuller/PA

The country’s longest staircase, 1,200 metres long with 1,683 steps, is illuminated on the Torgashinsky mountain ridge outside Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Fishing boats are docked for the Chinese New Year in Liaoning province
CREDIT: VCG/Getty Images

Market Closes for February 1, 2022

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	35405.24	+273.38
		+0.78%
S&P 500	4546.54	+30.99
		+0.69%
NASDAQ	14346.00	+106.12 +0.75%
TSX	21319.92	+221.63
		+1.05%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27078.48	+76.50
		+0.28%
HANG SENG	23802.26	+252.18
		+1.07%
SENSEX	58862.57	+848.40
		+1.46%
FTSE 100*	7535.78	+71.41 +0.96%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	1.792	1.771
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.069	2.046
U.S.    10 Year Bond	1.7875	1.7767
U.S. 30 Year Bond	2.1090	2.1075

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7883	0.7868
US $	1.2686	1.2709
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4299	0.6993
US $	1.1271	0.8872

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1795.25	1788.15
Oil
WTI Crude Future	88.20	88.15

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1869, the New York Stock Exchange required listed companies to register their securities to prevent “watered stock,” or the manipulated over-issuance of shares by insiders.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Cannabis stocks rallied Tuesday on a fresh legalization push in the U.S., and helped take the Canadian market higher.
The S&P/TSX Composite rose for a third day, climbing 1.1%, or 221.63 to 21,319.92 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 17.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
Spin Master Corp. had the largest percentage increase, rising 12.7%.
Today, 184 of 241 shares rose, while 55 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financial stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15 times. The next day, it advanced 11 times for an average 0.7% and declined four times for an average 0.5%
* The index advanced 21% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.2% below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 21.9% above its low on Feb. 1, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.5% in the past 5 days and rose 0.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.2 on a trailing basis and 14.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.38t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.73% compared with 13.41% in the previous session and the average of 13.20% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | 69.3440| 1.0| 25/3
* Energy | 57.8668| 1.8| 31/1
* Materials | 40.7250| 1.7| 46/9
* Information Technology | 22.9778| 1.3| 11/5
* Industrials | 12.9941| 0.5| 23/6
* Consumer Staples | 10.3673| 1.3| 7/4
* Consumer Discretionary | 7.3014| 1.0| 12/2
* Health Care | 3.8914| 2.6| 6/2
* Real Estate | 2.2220| 0.4| 14/9
* Communication Services | -1.4923| -0.1| 4/3
* Utilities | -4.5541| -0.5| 5/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | 21.1300| 1.7| -50.4| 6.7
* Shopify | 16.1100| 1.7| -2.4| -28.4
* Suncor Energy | 16.0700| 4.4| -21.8| 19.8
* Canadian Pacific | -1.6570| -0.3| -7.3| -0.3
* Fortis | -2.6270| -1.3| -29.7| -2.4
* TC Energy | -8.2610| -1.9| -13.4| 9.5

US
By Vildana Hajric and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks added to their best three-day rally since 2020, as investors bid up companies that benefit from a strong economy amid speculation the Federal Reserve won’t derail growth as it fights inflation.
The S&P 500 rallied into the close of trading, led by gains in energy producers and banks, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 also advanced.
Treasury yields rose and the dollar was weaker.
With the gains, the S&P 500 has now surpassed the midpoint of last month’s peak-to-trough decline, indicating to some chartists a full recovery may be underway.
Earlier in the session, equities had struggled for direction as solid economic data rekindled nerves over the pace of the Federal Reserve’s pivot to more restrictive policy.
Data on job openings and manufacturing showed a resilient economy that the Fed is trying to cool after inflation spiked to the highest in four decades.
However, bank officials have indicated they are aware of the threat to stifling growth.
“It feels like we are starting February with an uneasy truce between buyers and sellers, following the brutal correction we had last month,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. “Looking ahead, my sense is investors see Jay Powell as having his foot a few inches away from the brakes. Will the market get a gentle tap? Or will the Fed slam on the brakes?”
Waves of volatility have swept across markets after Powell, chairman of the Fed, signaled swifter monetary-policy tightening than many expected.
However, regional Fed presidents Mary Daly and Esther George have expressed caution over faster-than-necessary tightening.
The comments still indicated “that tightening needs to be done, but there was a suggestion that it would be better to run down the balance sheet more quickly rather than hiking rates rapidly,” Fiona Cincotta, senior financial markets analyst at City Index, said by phone. “That’s pushing back on this idea of rapid increases in interest rates.”
Meanwhile, corporate earnings are also providing equities some support, with Alphabet Inc. due to report after markets close.
Exxon Mobil Corp. posted its highest earnings in eight years on aggressive spending cuts. United Parcel Service Inc. projected annual sales above expectations.
And UBS Group AG boosted its buyback program after an earnings beat.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the market has started to stabilize as we start to get into earnings season,” said Giorgio Caputo, senior fund manager of the JOHCM Global Income Builder fund. “You’ve had strong reports from companies like Microsoft and Apple, which are in many ways, bellwethers for the economy of the moment and the parts of the economy that are growing.”
Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research, added: “Fed tightening is still the path forward. But a short term rebound in equities will continue — led by growth and cyclicals – as investors focus on a narrative of ‘peak tightening’ ahead of what is likely to be a weak payroll report.”
What to watch this week:
* Earnings are due from Amazon, Ford Motor, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm, Sony, Spotify
* OPEC+ meeting on output, Wednesday
* Euro zone CPI, Wednesday
* Bank of England, European Central Bank rate decisions, Thursday
* Fed Board of Governors confirmation hearing, Thursday
* U.S. factory orders, initial jobless claims, durable goods, Thursday
* U.S. payrolls report for January, Friday
* Winter Olympics kick off in China, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin due to attend opening ceremony, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.7% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1269
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.3523
* The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 114.69 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 1.80%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 0.04%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 1.30%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $88.39 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,801.20 an ounce
–With assistance from Lu Wang, Srinivasan Sivabalan, Peyton Forte and Sunil Jagtiani.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

You will never do anything in this world without courage.  It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. –Aristotle, 384 BC-322 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