Month: February 2023

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 28, 1953: Scientists James D. Watson and Francis H.C. Crick announced they had discovered the double-helix structure of DNA, the molecule that contains the human genes, at Cambridge University. Go to article » 

February 28, 1998: Serbian police begin the offensive against the Kosovo Liberation Army in Kosovo.

Michel de Montaigne, writer, b.1553.
Bernadette Peters, actress, b.1948.

World’s best beaches for 2023, according to TripAdvisor.  Only one US beach made it on the top 10 list. Take a guess!

Spend 36 hours in Miami.

Scientists want to make AI with real brain cells.

Pilot makes a 360-degree turn to see the Northern Lights.

‘Microdiamonds’ discovered at French winery point to ancient meteor crater below the vines: A circular depression that holds a vineyard in a French winery is actually an old impact crater, new research finds.
The crater sits in the appropriately named Domaine du Météore winery near Cabrerolles in southern France. Full Story: Live Science (2/26)

Lab-grown minibrains will be used as ‘biological hardware’ to create new biocomputers, scientists propose: Lab-grown “minibrains” could someday be linked together to act as powerful and efficient biocomputers, scientists have suggested.
In a proposal published Feb 28. in the journal Frontiers in Science, a multidisciplinary group of researchers outlined their plans to transform 3D clumps of human brain cells, called brain organoids, into biological hardware capable of advanced computational tasks — a field they have named “organoid intelligence.” Full Story: Live Science (2/28)

What are ‘minibrains’? Everything to know about brain organoids: In the past decade, lab-grown blobs of human brain tissue began making news headlines, as they ushered in a new era of scientific discovery and raised a slew of ethical questions.
These blobs — scientifically known as brain organoids, but often called “minibrains” in the news — serve as miniature, simplified models of full-size human brains.  Full Story: Live Science (2/28)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Katsura City, Japan
Japanese ornamental dolls (hina dolls) are displayed on the stone steps at Tomisaki shrine during the Katsuura Big Hinamatsuri festival
Photograph: Yuichi Yamazaki/AFP/Getty Images

New Jersey, US
A person crosses a street during a snowfall
Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Northern lights seen across the UK – in pictures
People watch the aurora borealis over the Hebrides in Scotland
Photograph: Hannah Close/PA
Market Closes for February 28^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32656.70	-232.39
		-0.71%
S&P 500	3970.15	-12.09
		-0.30 %
NASDAQ	11455.54	-11.44
		-0.10%
TSX	20221.19	-38.94
		-0.19%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27445.56	+21.60
		+0.08%
HANG SENG	19785.94	-157.57
		-0.79%
SENSEX	58962.12	-326.23
		-0.55%
FTSE 100*	7876.28	-58.83
		-0.74%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.330		3.385
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.201		3.277
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.9239		3.9160
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.9189		3.9263

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7329	0.7364
US $	1.3645	1.3580
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4434	0.6928
US  $	1.0579	0.9453

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1818.65	1810.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	77.05	75.68

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1964, just under three years after breaking the 700 mark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke through 800 for the first time, closing at 800.14.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2% at 20,221.19 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2%.
Bank of Nova Scotia contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.7%.
Baytex Energy Corp. had the largest drop, falling 9.8%.
Today, 107 of 236 shares fell, while 126 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.6%
* The index declined 4.3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 10% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and fell 2.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 12.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 7.57% compared with 7.63% in the previous session and the average of 8.99% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -37.4150| -1.1| 5/34
Financials | -26.7062| -0.4| 16/13
Industrials | -17.4196| -0.6| 13/12
Utilities | -6.3463| -0.7| 5/10
Real Estate | -0.7829| -0.1| 10/12
Consumer Staples | -0.3339| 0.0| 4/7
Communication Services | 0.3428| 0.0| 2/4
Health Care | 0.7790| 1.0| 5/2
Consumer Discretionary | 1.5645| 0.2| 11/4
Information Technology | 9.4447| 0.8| 10/4
Materials | 32.2416| 1.4| 45/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Bank of Nova Scotia| -33.6800| -5.7| 271.9| 1.7
Canadian National | -8.3700| -1.3| 133.6| -3.4
Canadian Pacific | -8.2310| -1.2| 11.6| 2.7
Manulife Financial | 5.3390| 1.5| 122.1| 11.7
First Quantum Minerals | 7.3280| 6.8| 123.2| 5.4
Shopify | 10.2000| 2.3| -15.9| 19.5
US
By Isabelle Lee and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — Stocks dropped during the last stretch of Tuesday’s session and bonds pared earlier losses as investors rounded out a brutal month for both assets with low-conviction moves.
The S&P 500 suffered a February drop of 2.6%.
The Nasdaq 100 also didn’t manage to avert a monthly decline.
A dollar index rose the most in February since September.
The yield on two-year Treasuries climbed more than 10 basis points for the month.
The benchmark 10-year rate, meanwhile, rose more than 40 basis points in February.
Bonds in Europe also fell on Tuesday after hot inflation data caused a reassessment of rate expectations, picking up a theme that has dominated trading in a month that saw the Federal Reserve signal its intention to ratchet rates higher than the market had been anticipating.
Investors in February grappled with realization that inflation isn’t cooling to the extent the Fed would like to see, especially as key indicators the central bank is watching came in hotter than expected.
That subdued some of the optimism that had sent stocks soaring in January.
Bond traders no longer view the odds of a Fed rate cut this year as better-than-even, a shift from what they were expecting just a month ago.
Traders are now pricing US rates to peak at 5.4% this year, compared with about 5% just a month ago.
Market expectations also see the European Central Bank raising rates through February 2024, with a 4% ECB terminal rate fully priced.
“This whipsaw between narratives this year – Fed pause hopes being constructive for high beta assets, recession realities being the opposite – will continue,” Lauren Goodwin, economist and portfolio strategist at New York Life Investments, wrote in a note. “For this reason, and because the hurdle rate for keeping up with inflation is so high, we believe it’s important for investors to stay invested, leveraging resilient themes.”

Traders are also, once again, sifting through a bevy of economic data on Tuesday.
US consumer confidence declined in February because of concerns about the outlook for jobs, incomes and business conditions.
US home prices, meanwhile, fell for a sixth consecutive month.
“A lot of what the Fed is doing is working,” said Eric Diton, president and managing director of the Wealth Alliance, who noted layoffs at large companies and bankruptcies in small retail firms. “But it’s not a smooth ride. You’ll get blips — January was stronger data across the board and we’ll have to see what February and March look like. But I still think the overall trend is working — inflation is coming down, but it’s going to come down at this slower pace.”
Key events this week:
* China manufacturing PMI, non-manufacturing PMI, Caixin manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
* US construction spending, ISM Manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
* Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Thursday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 4:03 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0576
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2027
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 136.20 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.6% to $23,254.31
* Ether fell 0.1% to $1,625.68
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.92%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 2.65%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.83%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $76.92 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.5% to $1,834.80 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Peyton Forte, Angel Adegbesan and Vildana Hajric.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want. -Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012.
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 Monday.
February 27, 425: The University of Constantinople is founded by Emperor Theodosius II at the urging of his wife Aelia Eudocia.
February 27, 1997 Legislation banning most handguns in Britain went into effect. Go to article » 

Henry Longfellow, poet, b. 1807.
Rudolph Steiner, philosopher, educator, b.1861.
Joanne Woodward, actress, b. 1930.
Elizabeth Taylor, actress, b. 1932.
Ralph Nader, advocate, b.1934.

Black-coffee drinkers are ​​a shrinking minority.

Scientists attempt to solve the Chaco Canyon mystery. (h/t Scott Duke Kominers)

Rare black hole 1 billion times the mass of the sun could upend our understanding of galaxy formation: A rare supermassive black hole found hiding at the dawn of the universe could indicate that there were thousands more of the ravenous monsters stalking the early cosmos than scientists thought — and astronomers aren’t sure why.
The primordial black hole is around 1 billion times the mass of our sun and was found at the center of the galaxy COS-87259. Full Story: Live Science (2/24)

450-mile-wide solid metal ball forms Earth’s innermost core, earthquake waves reveal: Scientists have harnessed powerful waves from earthquakes to measure Earth’s innermost layer and found that our planet’s center is a 450-mile-wide (725 kilometers) ball of solid iron-nickel alloy.
Previously, many researchers believed that Earth had four distinct layers — the crust, the mantle, a liquid outer core and a solid inner core. But in the past couple of decades, scientists have proposed that the inner core actually consists of two layers, referred to as the inner core and the innermost inner core. Full Story: Live Science (2/24)

Detecting life on Mars may be ‘impossible’ with current NASA rovers, new study warns
The current generation of Mars rovers may have trouble confirming any signs of ancient life on the Red Planet because their scientific instruments aren’t up to snuff, according to new research.
Scientists conducted tests on sedimentary rocks in the Red Stone region of Chile’s Atacama Desert, one of the oldest and driest deserts on Earth and a geological analog to ancient sites on Mars that two NASA rovers are currently exploring. Full Story: Live Science (2/24)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Northern lights seen across the UK – in pictures
The northern lights over Stonehenge in Wiltshire
Photograph: Nick Bull/pictureexclusive.com

St Andrews, UK
The northern lights above the Scottish town.
Photograph: Payton Cooney/St Leonard’s School/PA

Valldemossa, Spain
Towns across the Balearic island of Mallorca, including Valldemossa and Lluc, were blanketed in snow and temperatures dropped to minus 2 degrees Celsius
Photograph: Jaime Reina/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 27^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32889.09	+72.17
		+0.22%
S&P 500	3982.24	+12.20
		+0.31 %
NASDAQ	11466.98	+72.04
		+0.63%
TSX	20260.13	+40.94
		+0.20%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27423.96	-29.52
		-0.11%
HANG SENG	19943.51	-66.53
		-0.33%
SENSEX	59288.35	-175.58
		-0.30%
FTSE 100*	7935.11	+56.45
		+0.72%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.385		3.388
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.277		3.270
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.9160		3.9432
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.9263		3.9309

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7364	0.7347
US $	1.3580	1.3611
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4401	0.6944
US  $	1.0608	0.9427

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1810.95	1826.05
Oil
WTI Crude Future	75.68	76.32

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1891, David Samoff, future president of Radio Corporation of America, was born in Uzlian, Russia.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.2%, or 40.94 to 20,260.13 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 0.4% on Feb. 13.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3%. Uni-Select Inc. had the largest increase, rising 16.6%.
Today, 135 of 236 shares rose, while 98 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.4%
* The index declined 4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.9% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 8.8% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.4% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.2% in the past 5 days and fell 2.2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 12.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 7.63% compared with 7.62% in the previous session and the average of 9.23% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 29.7545| 1.3| 41/9
Industrials | 15.1067| 0.6| 17/9
Energy | 10.6735| 0.3| 27/12
Consumer Discretionary | 4.8104| 0.7| 8/6
Financials | 1.0580| 0.0| 16/13
Real Estate | 0.5721| 0.1| 16/6
Health Care | -1.7524| -2.1| 1/6
Communication Services | -2.3372| -0.2| 0/5
Utilities | -5.5548| -0.6| 3/13
Consumer Staples | -7.8581| -0.9| 1/10
Information Technology | -9.2397| -0.7| 5/9
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific | 8.4230| 1.3| -25.6| 3.9
RBC | 7.8930| 0.6| -55.7| 8.4
First Quantum Minerals | 5.1960| 5.0| 6.8| -1.3
Shopify | -4.0310| -0.9| -38.9| 16.9
TD Bank | -7.0240| -0.6| -33.5| 3.3
TC Energy | -7.3450| -1.9| 35.6| 2.2
US
By Vildana Hajric and Peyton Forte
(Bloomberg) — US stocks ended Monday with modest gains after fluctuating for the final stretch of the trading session as investors attempted to come to terms with Federal Reserve policy that could remain restrictive for longer than previously expected.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 bounced back after a dismal week for Wall Street.
The 10-year Treasury yield declined to hover around 3.92%.
A dollar index retreated.
Gold and copper rose.
Investors have been recalibrating their forecasts for where rates will end up, especially since inflation hasn’t been moderating as the Fed expected.
Traders are pricing US rates to peak at 5.4% this year, compared with about 5% just a month ago.
Investors remained on the edge after Fed Governor Philip Jefferson firmly stood by the central bank’s 2% inflation goal on Monday.
The fresh US data that investors are contending with on Monday point to an economy that remains robust despite the Fed’s persistent rate hikes.
US pending home sales rose last month by the most since June 2020, which could keep pressure on the Fed to stay hawkish.
Meanwhile, orders for durable goods fell, in their steepest decline since April 2020, underscoring a pullback in bookings for commercial aircraft.
But excluding transportation equipment, durable goods orders rose more than expected.
Orders placed with US factories for business equipment also rose in January as companies continued to make longer-term capital investments despite uncertainty about where the economy is headed.
“We have had a bit of a repricing in markets in February where there is more concern that central banks will have more work to do,” Sam Lynton-Brown, global head of macro strategy at BNP Paribas, said on Bloomberg Television. “The view we have is that there’s still some further room to run on that repricing.
So either equities are at risk to come lower or rates are at risk to head higher.”
In the near-term, both scenarios could play out if the markets price in a more hawkish policy outlook for the Fed, he said.
The risk-reward for equities remains poor, JPMorgan strategists led by Marko Kolanovic wrote in a note.
“The risk-reward of holding bonds at this level of short-term yields looks better than equity (earnings yield) than any time since the great financial crisis,” they wrote.
For now, a more optimistic outlook for earnings estimates is helping ease fears that inflation will remain entrenched even as growth slows, drawing investors back to stocks.
Those treading into this market risk are falling into a “bull trap” according to Michael Wilson, chief US equity strategist at Morgan Stanley.
That view was echoed by Torsten Slok, chief economist at Apollo Global Management.
“A generation of investors has since 2008 been taught that they should buy on dips, but today is different because of high inflation, and credit markets and equity markets are underestimating the Fed’s commitment to getting inflation down to 2%,” Slok wrote in a note.

Key events this week:
* US wholesale inventories, Conf. Board consumer confidence, Tuesday
* China manufacturing PMI, non-manufacturing PMI, Caixin manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, Wednesday
* US construction spending, ISM Manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
* Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Thursday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.6% to $1.0608
* The British pound rose 0.9% to $1.2057
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 136.25 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1% to $23,335.77
* Ether fell 1.1% to $1,624.06
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.93%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.58%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 15 basis points to 3.80%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $75.67 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,824 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alice Atkins, Cecile Gutscher, Isabelle Lee and Cristin Flanagan.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Start where you are.  Use what you have.  Do what you can. –Arthur Ashe, 1943-1993.

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 24, 1903: The United States signed an agreement acquiring a naval station at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.  Go to article » 
1920: Nancy Astor becomes the first woman to speak in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom following her election as a Member of Parliament three months earlier.

Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer, b. 1955.

High fashion’s new it-material is made of shrimp shells.

The next James Bond could be on this list.

Cartier has two new suitors.

Dark energy could lead to a second (and third, and fourth) Big Bang, new research suggests: Will the universe end in a bang or a whimper? A pair of theoretical physicists have proposed a third path:
Perhaps the universe will never end. Full Story: Live Science (2/23)

Medieval synagogue that predates the Inquisition found hidden under Spanish nightclub: Before this building in Spain was a nightclub, it was a hospital, a church, and a school.
But archaeologists have recently determined that, originally, the structure was a medieval Jewish synagogue — one of only five remaining in all of Spain. Full Story: Live Science (2/24)

See photos of stunningly preserved 52-foot-long Book of the Dead papyrus from ancient Egypt: Egyptian officials have released photos of an ancient scroll, the 52-foot-long (16 meters) Book of the Dead papyrus recently discovered in Saqqara.
The 10 images show ancient illustrations of gods and scenes from the afterlife, as well as text on the document, which is more than 2,000 years old. Full Story: Live Science (2/23)

Paris Hilton reveals newborn son’s name.  Here’s a hint: He’s also named after a city.

Sleep this way to add years to your life.  These sleep habits added nearly five years to a man’s life expectancy and almost 2.5 years to a woman’s life, a new study found.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Yangzhou, China
Plum blossom blooms in the eastern province of Jiangsu
Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Mayara, Saudi Arabia
The Maraya concert hall, the world’s largest mirrored building, is located in the ruins of the ancient oasis city of Al-’Ula, an Unesco world heritage site. An exhibition showing works of Andy Warhol is taking place at the venue until 16 May
Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

London, UK
Adieu Interessant (orange) by the Danish artist Tal R goes on display at a preview for the ‘ultra-contemporary’ art sale at Phillips auction house next week
Photograph: Guy Bell/REX/Shutterstock
Market Closes for February 24^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32816.92	-336.99
		-1.02%
S&P 500	3970.04	-42.28
		-1.05 %
NASDAQ	11394.94	-195.46
		-1.69%
TSX	20219.19	+31.00
		+0.15%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27453.48	+349.16
		+1.29%
HANG SENG	20010.04	-341.31
		-1.68%
SENSEX	59463.93	-141.87
		-0.24%
FTSE 100*	7878.66	-29.06
		-0.37%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.388		3.337
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.270		3.261
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.9432		3.8885
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.9309		3.8903

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7347	0.7384
US $	1.3611	1.3543
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4384	0.6952
US  $	1.0579	0.9453

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1826.05	1835.75
Oil
WTI Crude Future	76.32	75.24

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1982: The first stock-index futures began trading, as futures contracts on the Value Line stock index opened for dealing in the pits of the Kansas City Board of Trade.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2% at 20,219.19 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 0.4% on Feb. 13 and follows the previous session’s little change.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.0%.
Eldorado Gold Corp. had the largest increase, rising 6.6%.
Today, 112 of 236 shares rose, while 119 fell; 3 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.6%
* So far this week, the index fell 1.4%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Dec. 16
* The index declined 2.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 8.1% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.1 on a trailing basis and 12.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.22t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 7.62% compared with 7.94% in the previous session and the average of 9.78% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 45.5715| 1.3| 30/9
Financials | 36.8497| 0.6| 22/7
Consumer Staples | 2.0712| 0.2| 6/4
Real Estate | -1.1559| -0.2| 10/12
Health Care | -1.3914| -1.7| 0/7
Utilities | -2.4133| -0.3| 4/10
Communication Services | -2.5257| -0.3| 2/4
Consumer Discretionary | -3.6522| -0.5| 3/12
Materials | -7.3414| -0.3| 23/26
Industrials | -9.8837| -0.4| 11/15
Information Technology | -30.8381| -2.4| 1/13
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 13.0000| 1.0| -39.5| 7.8
Canadian Natural Resources | 11.1000| 1.9| 7.1| 2.4
CIBC | 10.3800| 2.7| 107.5| 14.8
Constellation Software | -5.8120| -1.8| -29.5| 11.9
Teck Resources | -6.8600| -4.0| 18.7| 3.2
Shopify | -16.0400| -3.4| -14.2| 17.9
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street’s reaction to hotter-than-estimated inflation data suggested growing bets the Federal Reserve has a long ways to go in its aggressive tightening crusade, making the odds of a soft landing look slimmer.
After a lengthy period of subdued equity swings, volatility has been gaining ground.
Aside from all the economic uncertainties, that’s reflective of a market that’s gotten more expensive after an exuberant rally from its October lows.
Those gains have been dwindling by the day amid fears that a potential recession could further hamper the outlook for Corporate America.
A slide in the S&P 500 Friday deepened its weekly rout — the worst in 2023.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 sank almost 2% as the Treasury two-year yield hit 4.8%, the highest since 2007.
The dollar climbed.
Swaps are now pricing in 25 basis-point  hikes at the Fed’s next three meetings, and bets on the peak rate rose to about 5.4% by July.
The benchmark sits in a 4.5%-4.75% range.
“There’s little room for upside in stocks right now given the inflation news, current market valuations after the January rally, and a weak Q4 earnings season,” said Brian Overby, senior markets strategist at Ally. “The ‘no landing’ view is quickly becoming more of a ‘bumpy landing’ view with the concept of higher interest rates for longer settling in.”
The unexpected acceleration in the personal consumption expenditures gauge underscored the risks of persistently high inflation.
Furthermore, resilient spending paired with the exceptional strength of the labor market could make it tougher for the Fed to get inflation to its 2% goal.
Separate data showed US consumer sentiment rose to the highest in a year while new home sales topped forecasts.
Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester noted the latest inflation report is consistent with the fact policymakers need to “do a little more” to ensure inflation is moving back down.
Her Boston counterpart Susan Collins said the central bank has to keep raising rates to get them to a sufficiently restrictive level and it may need to hold them there for an “extended” period.
“Move quickly now, reestablish credibility now,” said St. Louis Fed President James Bullard.
Officials may need to raise rates as high as 6.5% to defeat inflation, according to new research that was critical of the central bank’s initially slow response to rising prices.
In a paper, a quintet of economists and academics argue that policymakers have an overly-optimistic outlook and will need to inflict some economic pain to get prices under control.
Mohamed El-Erian says financial markets are starting to doubt whether the Fed can bring inflation down to its target. 
“We’re seeing actual and survey indicators heading the wrong way,” El-Erian, the chairman of Gramercy Funds and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist told Bloomberg Television.
David Donabedian at CIBC Private Wealth US: “So the bullish narrative that the market had coming into the year of slowing economy headed toward a soft landing and slowing inflation allowing the Fed to stop raising rates ASAP,
that’s been blown up here by the data. My view is that the market rally that we’ve seen since October was a bear-market rally.”
Peter van Dooijeweert at Man Solutions: “Today’s PCE data is a little bit more than the market wants to deal with. It’s fine to have rising rates off good economic data and avoiding a hard landing. It’s just not OK for the market to have to grapple with a return to rising inflation.”
Krishna Guha at Evercore: “The likelihood of achieving a soft landing dips, with the risk of no-landing potentially forcing the Fed to push rates higher and hold longer, with greater risk that this ultimately pushes the economy into a mild recession. So risk-off pure and simple.”
Greg Wilensky at Janus Henderson: “This was not the news the Fed or investors had been hoping for and, as such, we expect markets to adjust to the likelihood that the Fed will need to raise rates higher, and keep them higher for longer, than they had been pricing in previously.”
Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance: “It is much too soon for the Fed to say ‘mission accomplished.’ It is far too early to extend duration and buy the dips in bond prices, let alone trying to continue to buy the dips in the stock market. We have been exercising much more caution and have advised our clients to be careful and not aggressive at this point in the economic cycle.”
Peter Boockvar, author of the Boock Report: “Bottom line, Treasury yields are moving higher in response to the higher than expected inflation stats and reminder that while the trend will still be down, it will still take time to get to some Fed comfort level. Either way, at least looking at the core PCE, we FINALLY have ZERO real interest rates. I know some are still trying to figure out how many hikes the Fed has left, but it’s not many and AGAIN, higher rates for a longer time frame should be the focus.”
Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial: “The Fed may still decide to hike by 0.25% at the next meeting, but this report means that the Fed will likely continue hiking into the summer. Markets will likely stay choppy during these months where higher rates have yet to materially cool consumer spending.”
As investors position for the risk that the Fed persists with hawkish policy moves, they have been dumping equities and cash alike in favor of bonds, Bank of America Corp. strategists said.
Global equity funds lost $7 billion in outflows in the week through Feb. 22, while $3.8 billion left cash funds, according to a note from the bank, which cited EPFR Global data.
At $4.9 billion, bonds drew additions for an eighth straight week in the longest such streak since November 2021, the team led by Michael Hartnett said.
Money managers are fortifying portfolios and hedging the risk of a prolonged inflation fight by sticking to credit maturing in just a few years.
Some funds are actively cutting so-called duration, a measure of sensitivity to interest rates, to limit the fallout if central banks keep hiking to tackle inflation.
Others are simply focusing on short-dated notes as the additional yield they get from longer securities is too small to justify the risk of a slump when rates rise.
Faced with declining earnings and heavy debt loads, companies are reducing payouts to shareholders to improve the health of their balance sheets.
So far this year, as many as 17 companies in the Dow Jones US Total Stock Market Index cut their dividends, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Still, it isn’t a decision that executives make easily, as it can scare off investors and dent share prices.
In corporate news, Boeing Co. sank after pausing deliveries of its 787 Dreamliner over a documentation issue with a fuselage component.
Carvana Co. slumped on a much wider loss than Wall Street had expected for the used-car retailer.
Beyond Meat Inc. surged on sales that exceeded expectations and the plant-based meat maker showed progress toward its goal of becoming profitable.
On the geopolitical front, the US will impose a 200% tariff on all imports of Russian-made aluminum, as well as aluminum products made with metal smelted or cast in the country, in a move that could ripple through global manufacturing supply chains.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned China and other nations against providing material support to Russia, saying any such actions would amount to an evasion of sanctions and would “provoke very serious consequences.”
Elsewhere, the yen retreated as Bank of Japan Governor nominee Kazuo Ueda warned against any magical solution to produce stable inflation and normalize policy as he largely stuck to the existing central bank script in the first
parliamentary hearing to approve his appointment.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.7%
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.0547
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.1943
* The Japanese yen fell 1.3% to 136.40 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.8% to $23,207.5
* Ether fell 2.1% to $1,610.62
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.95%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 2.54%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 3.66%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $76.59 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,818.10 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Vildana Hajric, Peyton Forte and Liz Capo McCormick.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Remember that how you say something is as important as what you say. -H. Jackson Brown Jr., b.1940.

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 23, 1886: The Times of London newspaper publishes the world’s first classified advertisement.
1945: Iwo Jima Day
On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh. Go to article » 

The 2024 Mercedes E-class will have TikTok feature:  A new Mercedes model has a camera built into the dashboard, allowing passengers to film videos — and post carpool karaoke sessions on TikTok.

Zipline over a waterfall? These hotels invite guests to arrive in style:  CNN Travel hand-picked a few of the most epic hotel arrival experiences across the Asia-Pacific region. Take a look at the gallery here.

Paul McCartney comes together with arch-rivals the Rolling Stones on new album.  If you’re a fan of the Beatles or the Stones — or both — you’ll enjoy this forthcoming collaboration.

A plan to grow food…on the moon.

your actual age. And then there’s this.

Brain surgery was a thing 3,500 years ago.

There’s your actual age. And then there’s this.

‘Muscle memories’ get ‘zipped and unzipped’ in the brain, like computer files:
Tapping into your “muscle memory” to tie your shoes or play an instrument may feel automatic — but to execute these learned motions, the brain erupts into a flurry of activity, rapidly “unzipping” and “zipping” all the key information about the movement being performed, a new study suggests.
The study used a brain scanning technique called functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to collect snapshots of people’s brains as they played simple melodies on a keyboard. Full Story: Live Science (2/23)

COVID-19 linked to 40% increase in autoimmune disease risk in huge study: Catching COVID-19 may raise the risk of developing autoimmune disease by 43% in the months following the infection, according to the largest study of its kind.
“The impact of this study is huge — it’s the strongest evidence so far answering this question of COVID-19 and autoimmune disease risk,” said Anuradhaa Subramanian, a research fellow in health informatics at the University of Birmingham, who was not involved in the study. Full Story: Live Science (2/22

James Webb Telescope spots galaxies from the dawn of time that are so massive they ‘shouldn’t exist’: The James Webb Space Telescope has discovered a group of galaxies from the dawn of the universe that are so massive they shouldn’t exist. The six gargantuan galaxies, which contain almost as many stars as the Milky Way despite forming only 500 to 700 million years after the Big Bang, have been dubbed “universe breakers” by the team of astronomers that spotted them. That’s because, if they’re real, the discovery calls our entire understanding of galaxy formation into question. Full Story: Live Science (2/22)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Kharkiv, Ukraine
An image taken with slow shutter speed of Ukrainian national flags waving over the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers in a military cemetery in Kharkiv. Russian troops launched an invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022
Photograph: Pavlo Pakhomenko/EPA

Lake Garda, Italy
People take a selfie in front of the small island of San Biagio, off Manerba in Lake Garda, where the water level dropped to its lowest in 30 years during the winter months due to a lack of snow on the surrounding mountain peaks, the absence of rain, and mild temperatures
Photograph: Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images

London, UK
Gerhard Richter’s Abstraktes Bild goes on view as part of an exhibition of modern and contemporary artworks at Sotheby’s
Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s
Market Closes for February 23^rd, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33153.91	+108.82
		+0.33%
S&P 500	4012.32	+21.27
		+0.53 %
NASDAQ	11590.40	+83.33
		+0.72%
TSX	20188.19	-5.14
		-0.03%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	Market Closed	N.A.
HANG SENG	20351.35	-72.49
		-0.35%
SENSEX	59605.80	-139.18
		-0.23%
FTSE 100*	7907.72	-22.91
		-0.29%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.337		3.372
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.261		3.295
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.8885		3.9214
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.8903		3.9161

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7384	0.7377
US $	1.3543	1.3556
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4350	0.6969
US  $	1.0595	0.9438

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1835.75	1836.85
Oil
WTI Crude Future	75.24	73.97

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1965: Michael Dell was born. The Texas native would go on to drop out of college and start Dell Computer, which went on to become the dominant seller of PCs and a stock-market darling in the dotcom boom of the late 1990s
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 20,188.19 in Toronto.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.0%.
Innergex Renewable Energy Inc. had the largest drop, falling 8.1%.
Today, 112 of 236 shares fell, while 118 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.8%
* So far this week, the index fell 1.6%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Dec. 16
* The index declined 2.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 5.7% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.1% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.6% in the past 5 days and fell 2.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.1 on a trailing basis and 12.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.22t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 7.94% compared with 8.41% in the previous session and the average of 10.01% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -38.2328| -0.6| 8/20
Materials | -16.6810| -0.7| 18/31
Consumer Discretionary | -4.3349| -0.6| 7/8
Information Technology | -4.3097| -0.3| 4/9
Consumer Staples | -4.0867| -0.5| 6/5
Communication Services | -3.9417| -0.4| 2/4
Utilities | -1.3186| -0.2| 7/9
Real Estate | 1.0467| 0.2| 13/9
Health Care | 3.4344| 4.3| 5/1
Industrials | 13.7553| 0.5| 13/12
Energy | 43.8197| 1.3| 35/4
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | -11.5400| -1.0| -38.0| 3.1
Couche-Tard | -6.7980| -1.9| 24.7| 8.1
RBC | -6.5460| -0.5| -48.4| 6.7
Stantec | 5.0680| 9.3| 487.8| 19.6
Canadian Natural Resources | 8.1140| 1.4| 68.5| 0.5
Suncor Energy | 8.3000| 2.0| 43.8| 5.3
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Tech led stock gains in a jittery session before inflation data that will help shape the views on whether a soft landing is on the table amid the Federal Reserve’s most-aggressive tightening campaign in a generation.
After erasing a rally of almost 1%, the S&P 500 came back higher and halted a four-day selloff.
The index regained its 4,000 support broken earlier in the week in a fight to stay above a key uptrend line from the October low.
The Nasdaq 100 outperformed as huge names like Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. rebounded and a bullish revenue forecast from Nvidia Corp. sent the shares up 14%.
Friday’s personal consumption expenditures index is expected to bring an acceleration in both headline and core inflation.
In the run-up to the numbers, data showed US growth in the fourth quarter was weaker than previously estimated while the Fed’s preferred inflation figures were revised higher.
Separate data highlighted unrelenting labor-market tightness.
To Michael Shaoul at Marketfield Asset Management, investors are caught between welcoming the evidence that the US economy remains on a stable footing and fearing that this resilience will provoke a stern reaction from policymakers.
“Granted things could be worse, the specter of a rapid deterioration of the economic cycle appears to have been banished, with recent economic data and corporate earnings both confirming that although growth has decelerated from the stimulus driven boom, we have not entered a period of obvious weakness,” he added.
Retail traders have retaken a bearish view that dominated their outlook for much of last year after a raucous stock rally hit a wall this month.
Following two weeks of tepid optimism, the bull-bear spread from the American Association of Individual Investors survey flipped to -17 in the week ending Feb. 22, the most pessimistic stance since the start of the year.
Billionaire quant investor Cliff Asness warned that US stocks are vulnerable to a macro shock if inflation doesn’t stage a spirited decline as the market expects.
The co-founder of AQR Capital Management told Bloomberg Television that despite last year’s declines, equities remain expensive versus history, based on a broad assumption that price growth is set to slow.
The US economy has obstacles to overcome, though there’s still a chance for a soft landing, Jamie Dimon said. “The US economy right now is doing quite well — consumers have a lot of money, they’re spending it, jobs are plentiful,” the JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief told CNBC. “Out in front of us there’s some scary stuff.”
In other corporate news, Netflix Inc. tumbled on plans to cut the price of subscriptions in over 100 countries.
Domino’s Pizza Inc. sank the most in more than a decade as delivery woes and softening demand caused fourth-quarter sales to trail Wall Street expectations and led management to cut targets for revenue growth.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin is on pace for its second monthly advance, breaking with stocks and other riskier assets that have slid amid renewed concern about rising interest rates.
The crypto market’s rally recovers only a sliver of the ground lost last year, when prices tumbled and the collapse of the FTX exchange caused a pullback by investors.
Key events this week:
* BOJ governor-nominee Kazuo Ueda appears before Japan’s lower house, Friday
* US PCE deflator, personal spending, new home sales, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hits the one-year mark, Friday
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 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.0601
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2022
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 134.66 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.6% to $23,948.35
* Ether rose 2.1% to $1,652.78
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 3.87%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.48%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.59%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.2% to $75.57 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.6% to $1,830.70 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Jessica Menton and Isabelle Lee.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Before strongly desiring anything, we should look carefully into the happiness of its present owner. –François Duc de La Rochefoucauld, 1613-1680.

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: Ash Wednesday for Catholics, beginning of Lent.

February 22, 1879: Frank Winfield Woolworth opened a five-cent store in Utica, N.Y. Go to article » 
1979: Saint Lucia gains independence from the United Kingdom.

George Washington, President, b. 1732.
Arthur Schopenauer, philosopher, b. 1888.

Wedding dress recovered from 1660 shipwreck.  A treasure trove of luxury goods was recovered from a 17th century Dutch shipwreck. See the remarkable objects here.

3rd-century-B.C. woman was buried facedown with a nail hole in her skull. Here’s why: The strange facedown burial of a young woman, who likely had a nail driven into her skull around the time she died in Sardinia more than 2,000 years ago, could be the result of ancient beliefs about epilepsy, according to new research.
The facedown burial may indicate that the individual suffered from a disease, while an unusual nail-shaped hole in the woman’s skull may be the result of a remedy that sought to prevent epilepsy from spreading to others — a medical belief at the time.  Full Story: Live Science (2/21)

‘Runaway’ black hole the size of 20 million suns found speeding through space with a trail of newborn stars behind it:
Astronomers have spotted a runaway supermassive black hole, seemingly ejected from its home galaxy and racing through space with a chain of stars trailing in its wake.
According to the team’s research, the discovery offers the first observational evidence that supermassive black holes can be ejected from their home galaxies to roam interstellar space.  Full Story: Live Science (2/21)

Venice’s canals have run dry.

Apple’s latest moonshot is huge.

Apple’s latest moonshot is huge.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Lightning hits the hand of the Christ the Redeemer statue during a storm on Corcovado mountain
Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images

A Xironda, Spain
Locals dress up in masks, cowbells and whips to celebrate Entroido, an ancient rural carnival celebrated in Galicia in the run-up to Ash Wednesday
Photograph: Brais Seara Fernandez/Getty Images

Concrete infrastructure, amateur winner
Waterwall of Watu Purbo, Indonesia –Dinar Wahyu Herlambang
Market Closes for February 22^nd, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33045.09	-84.50
		-0.26%
S&P 500	3991.05	-6.29
		-0.16 %
NASDAQ	11507.07	+14.77
		+0.13%
TSX	20193.33	-59.31
		-0.29%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27104.32	-368.78
		-1.34%
HANG SENG	20423.84	-105.65
		-0.51%
SENSEX	59744.98	-927.74
		-1.53%
FTSE 100*	7930.63	-47.12
		-0.59%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.372		3.434
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.295		3.357
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.9214		3.9525
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.9161		3.9718

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7377	0.7387
US $	1.3556	1.3537
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4376	0.6956
US  $	1.0606	0.9429

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1836.85	1845.80
Oil
WTI Crude Future	73.97	76.16

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1980, the U.S. Department of Labor said that January’s consumer price index rose 1.4%, equating to an annualized inflation rate of 18%—the highest rise in prices since the 1973 oil crisis. The market stood stock-still; the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 868.77, up 0.15 points for the day.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the fourth day, dropping 0.3%, or 59.31 to 20,193.33 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Jan. 11.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.2%. Sandstorm Gold Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 5.0%.
Today, 138 of 236 shares fell, while 93 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.8%
* The index declined 3.4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.9% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.1% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.5% in the past 5 days and fell 1.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 12.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.41% compared with 8.53% in the previous session and the average of 10.10% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -35.3874| -0.5| 9/20
Energy | -22.8664| -0.7| 13/25
Materials | -19.2140| -0.8| 15/34
Real Estate | -1.9267| -0.4| 6/15
Communication Services | -0.9755| -0.1| 3/3
Utilities | -0.6977| -0.1| 5/10
Health Care | -0.4419| -0.6| 1/6
Industrials | -0.3100| 0.0| 17/9
Information Technology | 1.0406| 0.1| 6/8
Consumer Discretionary | 4.6507| 0.6| 12/3
Consumer Staples | 11.1250| 1.3| 6/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | -16.1700| -1.2| -6.9| 7.3
Suncor Energy | -10.1700| -2.4| 179.7| 3.3
TD Bank | -8.2790| -0.7| -32.0| 4.2
Shopify | 7.8160| 1.7| -11.2| 21.3
Couche-Tard | 10.4100| 3.0| 9.1| 10.2
Nutrien | 12.9100| 3.5| 38.8| 6.4
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The stock market got little encouragement to sustain its rebound after the Federal Reserve signaled that interest rates will continue moving higher amid ongoing inflation concerns.
It’s not like the minutes from the latest Fed gathering brought a great deal of new information, but they certainly corroborated the idea that nothing will prevent officials from keeping rates higher for longer should economic resilience pose a threat to their goals.
Now one thing to highlight is that while Chair Jerome Powell hasn’t been pushing back against easier financial conditions, the statement indicated they could  warrant a “tighter stance.”
That all obviously means the Fed will be in no rush to cut rates.
And that perception continued to be reflected in the swap market.
The rate on the overnight index contract linked to the June gathering rose as high as 5.33%, around 75 basis points above the current effective fed funds rate.
With meetings in March, May and June, that could equate to a quarter-point move up at each gathering.
The market also priced in a higher peak policy rate, with the July contract nearly reaching 5.4%.
After a series of twists and turns, the S&P 500 suffered its fourth straight loss — the longest losing streak since December.
The gauge has now cut more than half of this year’s rally.
Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, significantly pared declines after the Fed minutes.
The dollar rose.
A number of officials said that an “insufficiently restrictive” policy stance could stall recent progress on moderating inflation pressures, according to the statement, suggesting they are prepared to move rates up further than their
December forecast of 5.1%.
The minutes also said “almost all” officials agreed it was appropriate to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at the meeting, while “a few” favored or could have supported a bigger 50 basis-point hike.
“Bottom line is that many market headwinds aren’t going away and investors should expect volatility to stay as they parse over the impact rates being higher for longer will have,” said Mike Loewengart at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.
In the run-up to the Fed’s minutes, a Bloomberg survey of economists showed that inflation that’s proving increasingly stubborn will prompt the central bank to raise rates to an even higher peak level and hold them there through the year.
Forecasters boosted their projections for the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge for every quarter through the first half of next year.
Aside from the Fed, traders kept an eye on some corporate highlights.
eBay Inc. projected revenue in the current quarter that topped analysts’ estimates in a sign the e-commerce company’s efforts to revive sales are beginning to work.
Apple Inc. has a moonshot-style project underway that dates back to the Steve Jobs era: noninvasive and continuous blood glucose monitoring, according to people familiar with the effort.
Intel Corp. slashed its dividend payment to the lowest level in 16 years.
Traders pinned hopes on the earnings season to push the S&P 500 somewhere out of a trading range it’s been stuck in for months.
Between JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s results that kicked off the announcement season and Walmart Inc.’s report Tuesday, the S&P 500 added 0.4%.
This ties for the smallest earnings-season reaction in either direction since 2018, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
“After a strong start to the year driven by absolute and relative short covering by institutional investors, skepticism over the sustainability of the rally remains elevated, and bears are beginning to wrestle control from the bulls,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide. “While institutional investors have been net buyers this year, they remain conservatively positioned and quick to sell, while retail investors continue to aggressively buy equities.”  “This is a similar trend to what we saw through the second half of 2022,” he added.
Another thing traders are taking note is the recent flare-up in equity volatility.
And the reason is that after a lengthy subdued period, that may put the S&P 500’s rally to the test.
The so-called VIX held near its highest level since mid-December.
“There was some huge upside call buying activity on the VIX in February as traders turned bearish on the resilience of the equity market,” said Aurel’s Gurmit Kapoor.
That’s a stark contrast to data at the end of last month that showed very few were betting against the rally.
Shares out on loan, an indication of short-selling interest, stood just below 1% of the S&P 500’s median free float as of Jan. 31, according to figures compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
As the Fed’s most-ambitious policy tightening in decades tests investors’ resolve toward equities, US companies are increasingly relying on buybacks to boost their market valuation.
Companies in the S&P 500 bought back at least $936 billion of shares in 2022, compared with the $565 billion they paid out as dividends, according to estimates by Howard Silverblatt at S&P Dow Jones Indices.
That’s the highest amount of buybacks since the turn of the millennium.
Geopolitical tensions also simmered on the background.
US President Joe Biden said Russian President Vladimir Putin made a “big mistake” in suspending participation in the New START nuclear treaty, his first direct response to the announcement.
Biden made the brief remark Wednesday in Warsaw, ahead of a meeting with a group of eastern-flank NATO allies known as the Bucharest Nine.
Meantime, Putin said he’s waiting for his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping to visit Russia as he hailed deepening ties with Beijing at talks with China’s top diplomat.
Key events this week:
* Eurozone CPI, Thursday
* US GDP, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks, Thursday
* BOJ governor-nominee Kazuo Ueda appears before Japan’s lower house, Friday
* US PCE deflator, personal spending, new home sales, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hits the one-year mark, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0603
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.2043
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 134.95 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.5% to $23,826
* Ether fell 1.4% to $1,619.21
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 3.92%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.52%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 3.60%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.2% to $73.89 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,833.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Michael Msika and Vildana Hajric.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die.  Or when.  You can only decide how you’re going to live. Now. –Joan Baez, b.1941.

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: Today is Mardi Gras.
February 21, 1916: Battle of Verdun – over 1 million men killed, France.
On Feb. 21, 1965, former Black Muslim leader Malcolm X was shot and killed by assassins identified as Black Muslims as he was about to address a rally in New York City; he was 39. Go to article » 
February 21, 1995: Steve Fossett lands in Leader, Saskatchewan, becoming the first person to make a solo flight across the Pacific Ocean in a balloon.
1925: New Yorker Magazine debuts.

Andres Segovia, b. 1893.
Anais Nin, b. 1903.
W.H. Auden, b.1907.

Birds are saying bye-bye, but why?

Archaeologists find unexploded artillery shell under Gettysburg battlefield:  Archaeologists working at a historic battlefield at Gettysburg recently made an explosive find: a live 160-year-old artillery shell that had to be detonated by a specially trained U.S. Army disposal team.
The shell was found on Feb. 8 at Little Round Top, a hill that offered Union forces a strategic position during the Civil War.  Full Story: Live Science (2/17)

How did humans first reach the Americas?  Humans first arrived in North America at least 15,500 years ago.
Exactly how they got there, however, constitutes one of the longest-standing debates in archaeology.  Full Story: Live Science (2/18)

Cosmic ‘tadpole’ points to ultra-rare black hole hiding near the Milky Way’s center: An enormous, deformed dust cloud that astronomers nicknamed “the Tadpole” could point to the location of an extremely rare type of black hole never confirmed to exist in our galaxy before.   In a new study, researchers describe the strange dust cloud, which looks like a big-headed, long-tailed tadpole and sits near the center of the Milky Way in the constellation Sagittarius, about 27,000 light-years from Earth. Full Story: Live Science (2/17)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Binche, Belgium
Festival participants known as Gilles wear traditional costumes during carnival celebrations. The Carnival de Binche is a popular historical cultural event that was named a masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity by Unesco in 2003
Photograph: Stéphanie Lecocq/EPA

New Orleans, US
A Mr T float in the Krewe of Bacchus parade during Mardi Gras
Photograph: Erika Goldring/Getty Images

Al-’Ula, Saudi Arabia
A digitally created image of the first Unesco world heritage site to enter the metaverse – the virtual recreation of the Tomb of Lihyan allows visitors to experience Hegra’s history
Photograph: Royal Commission For Alula/Reuters
Market Closes for February 21^st, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33129.59	-697.10
		-2.06%
S&P 500	3997.34	-81.75
		-2.00 %
NASDAQ	11492.30	-294.97
		-2.50%
TSX	20252.64	-262.60
		-1.28%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27473.10	-58.80
		-0.21%
HANG SENG	20529.49	-357.47
		-1.71%
SENSEX	60672.72	-18.82
		-0.03%
FTSE 100*	7977.75	-36.56
		-0.46%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.434		3.290
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.357		3.256
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.9525		3.8167
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.9718		3.8656

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7387	0.7429
US $	1.3537	1.3462
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4416	0.6937
US  $	1.0648	0.9391

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1845.80	1828.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	76.16	76.34

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1914, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (formerly the Association of Stock Brokers in Hong Kong) was established.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the third day, dropping 1.3%, or 262.6 to 20,252.64 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.5% on Dec. 15.
Today, financials stocks led the market lower, as all sectors lost; 209 of 236 shares fell, while 24 rose.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.5%. NexGen Energy Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 9.0%.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.5%
* The index declined 3.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 8.7% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 8.8% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.3% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022 * The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.2% in the past 5 days and fell 1.2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 12.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.28t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.53% compared with 7.45% in the previous session and the average of 10.18% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -91.3795| -1.4| 2/27
Energy | -46.8753| -1.3| 7/32
Information Technology | -35.2686| -2.7| 1/13
Industrials | -23.2862| -0.9| 3/23
Materials | -16.4520| -0.7| 4/44
Consumer Staples | -15.3733| -1.8| 2/9
Consumer Discretionary | -10.8158| -1.4| 2/13
Utilities | -9.3067| -1.0| 1/15
Communication Services | -8.3885| -0.8| 1/5
Real Estate | -7.2515| -1.4| 1/21
Health Care | -3.9295| -4.7| 0/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -21.7200| -4.5| -23.4| 19.3
TC Energy | -16.2300| -4.1| -20.0| 1.0
Brookfield Corp | -15.7000| -3.3| 9.8| 9.6
Nutrien | 3.3080| 0.9| 13.0| 2.8
Cenovus Energy | 4.1090| 1.8| 15.1| -5.1
Suncor Energy | 7.9270| 1.9| 52.6| 5.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A renewed surge in Treasury yields took the wind out of the stock market, with geopolitical tensions and dire forecasts from bellwethers Walmart Inc. and Home Depot Inc. also souring investors’ mood.
Wall Street’s growing fears that the Federal Reserve is nowhere near wrapping up its war against inflation — let alone pivoting — continued to burn bond investors who at one point were betting on rate cuts this year.
As traders ramped up their Fed wagers, US yields reached new highs for 2023.
And the last ones to join the so called “everything rally” — equities — are now giving signs of running out of steam.
In a selloff that engulfed every major group in the S&P 500, the gauge wiped out its monthly advance and had its worst slump since mid-December.
Over 90% of its shares fell.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average erased its 2023 gains.
Tech stocks underperformed, with the Nasdaq 100 down more than 2%.
Equity volatility, which had been stubbornly low earlier this year, continued to surge — with the so-called VIX near 23.
While recent economic data suggest the US might be able to dodge a recession, a hawkish Fed and elevated earnings projections make the risk-reward for equities look “very poor,” said Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson.
That doesn’t bode well for the market after a sharp rally that has left stocks at their most expensive levels since 2007 by the measure of equity risk premium.
“It is at a point where equity markets feel like they’re a bit overpriced given where we are,” Liz Young, head of investment strategy at SoFi, told Bloomberg Television. “The Fed still has to do more, and we all know about the long and
variable lags that it takes for monetary policy changes to move their way through the economy. It’s difficult for me to look at this in this environment and say, ‘yes, we should be paying 18-times forward earnings.’”

Others on Wall Street have also warned that the recovery in stocks may have gone too far.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Mislav Matejka said bets on resilient economic growth and a Fed pivot are premature, while Bank of America Corp. strategist Michael Hartnett sees the S&P 500 dropping to 3,800 points by March 8 — implying declines of about 7% from its last close.
Wilson is far more pessimistic and holds a view the index can slide to as low as 3,000 — a 26% plunge from Friday — in the first half of 2023.
Eric Johnston at Cantor Fitzgerald said he remains bearish on equities — and his conviction remains high. Johnston added he couldn’t disagree more with the view that the US will see no recession and may instead have a soft landing or no landing.
The current performance of the economy is not an indication of what it will look like 6-12 months from now, he noted.
There’s also the fact that solid economic data continue to spell trouble as far as Fed policy goes.
Indeed, equities came under pressure Tuesday even after data showed US business activity steadied in February as the service sector regained its footing, suggesting a strong economy that is keeping some pricing power intact.
“A tight labor market and resilient consumer demand could goad the Federal Reserve to maintain its rate hiking campaign into the summertime,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist for LPL Financial. “Investors should expect volatility until markets and central bankers come to agreement on the expected path for interest rates.”
For now, swaps are showing firm conviction that the Fed will keep pushing rates higher — with the market indicating that 25-basis-point hikes are coming at the March, May and June meetings.
Investors are pricing in federal funds rate climbing to around 5.3% in June.
That compares with a perceived peak of 4.9% just three weeks ago.
“If rates are closer to 5% for longer, valuations incorporating extremely modest risk premiums will likely be very vulnerable to market shocks,” said Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management.
“Investors should note that a ‘higher-for-longer’ Fed will likely not only reset the terminal rate, but also the longer-term neutral rate — generating headwinds for long-duration valuations.”
Markets are still trying to adjust to the reality that the Fed is unlikely to pivot and is instead still focused on fighting inflation, which suggests that investors should be prepared for interest rates to stay higher for longer, said
Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office.  That means, “we could see continued volatility through year-end.”
Schleif also notes that Wednesday’s Fed minutes will be particularly relevant given the recently released inflation and jobs numbers, which are still elevated and illustrative of a hot economy.
The Fed’s preferred inflation gauge later this week — along with a groundswell of consumer spending — are seen fomenting debate among central bankers on the need to adjust the pace of rate increases.
If history is any guide, the stock market hasn’t indeed found a bottom yet.
The S&P 500 hit a low only after the Fed stopped raising rates in previous hiking cycles, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, implying more downside if the trend holds true.
US equities rallied 17% from an October low to a high in early February, before gains began to fade.
The latest JPMorgan Chase & Co. client survey shows that equity positioning is still skewed toward the bearish percentile and only 33% of respondents said they are likely to increase exposure in the coming weeks.
As the US earnings season winds down, traders will be interested in hearing from one of this year’s top performers in the S&P 500: Nvidia Corp.
The company is set to report fourth-quarter results Wednesday at a tumultuous time for the chipmaker.
Though the personal-computer industry continues to struggle, the firm’s prospects in data centers and artificial intelligence have bolstered the shares in 2023.
In the run-up to its report, the shares extended a four-day rout to about 10%.
“The question now is whether NVDA’s earnings report tomorrow can help the stock regain its upside momentum,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “If it can, it will not just be positive for the stock, but it will be positive for the chip sector overall. Since the semiconductors are such an important leadership group in the stock market, a positive report could/should be important on a broader basis as well.”
To Lauren Goodwin at New York Life Investments, US earnings results are the latest “domino” to topple in a line of data pointed toward recession ahead.
“While bottom line results have held well, reflecting companies’ impressive ability to maintain margins, top line revenues are decelerating for most industries,” Goodwin added.
“As higher interest rates continue to slow economic activity, albeit with long and variable lags, we believe those companies with more durable revenues will once again outperform.”
Investors also kept a close eye on the recent geopolitical developments.
President Vladimir Putin said Russia will suspend its observation of the New START nuclear weapons treaty with the US, a decision Secretary of State Antony Blinken called “irresponsible.”
President Joe Biden hit back at Putin, saying he would never win his war in Ukraine.
Meantime, the White House won’t be afraid to sanction Chinese companies that support Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo said.
Elsewhere, Credit Suisse Group AG hit a record low on a report that the chairman is facing a probe over comments he made that the firm had put a stop to huge client outflows after a run of share declines.
Key events this week:
* US MBA mortgage applications, Wednesday
* Federal Reserve releases minutes from its latest policy meeting, Wednesday
* Eurozone CPI, Thursday
* US GDP, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speaks, Thursday
* BOJ governor-nominee Kazuo Ueda appears before Japan’s lower house, Friday
* US PCE deflator, personal spending, new home sales, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Russia’s invasion of Ukraine hits the one-year mark, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0647
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.2106
* The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 134.93 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.2% to $24,461.78
* Ether fell 1.9% to $1,669.08
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 14 basis points to 3.95%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 2.53%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 14 basis points to 3.61%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $76.16 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,843.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Peyton Forte, Isabelle Lee, Farah Elbahrawy and Michael P. Regan.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
To be able to look back upon one’s past life with satisfaction is to live twice. – Lord Acton, 1834-1902.

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 17, 1753: In Sweden, February 17^th is followed by March 1^st as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
On Feb. 17, 1972, President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China. Go to article » 

Michael Jordan, b. 1963.
Paris Hilton, b. 1981.

Meet Hinat, a Nabataean woman who lived 2,000 years ago in what is now Saudi Arabia: Researchers in Saudi Arabia have unveiled the facial approximation of a Nabataean woman whose remains were buried among 80 skeletons inside a 2,000-year-old tomb in Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the ancient city of AlUla.
Archaeologists unearthed the woman’s skeleton in 2015 and named her Hinat based on an inscription about the deceased carved into the tomb’s façade.  Full Story: Live Science (2/17).

NASA rover snaps photos of ancient ‘waves’ carved into Mars mountainside: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has photographed rocks imprinted with tiny ripples from an ancient lake.  And these tiny ripples are making waves on Earth, as they are the clearest evidence yet that water once existed on the Red Planet. Full Story: Live Science (2/16)

Plants ‘slept’ with curled leaves 250 million years ago, ancient insect bites reveal: Each night at sunset, a handful of plants “fall asleep.” Species as diverse as legumes and daisies curl up their leaves and petals for the evening and do not unfurl until morning.  Now, a new study suggests that plants may have been folding their leaves at night for more than 250 million years. Full Story: Live Science (2/16)

Monster black holes could be the source of dark energy driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, study suggests: Supermassive black holes could be the engines driving the expansion of the universe, according to research that proposes a solution to “one of the biggest problems in cosmology.”
By comparing supermassive black holes across nine billion years of cosmic history, astronomers have discovered a clue that the ravenous behemoths lurking at the hearts of most large galaxies may be the source of dark energy — the mysterious force that makes up 68% of the known universe and causes its accelerating expansion. Full Story: Live Science (2/16)

Winning images from Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.  A photo of a dolphin seemingly posing for the camera has won the top prize. See the breathtaking images here.

From the late night hosts last night:
“So today, Joe Biden had his annual physical. It was a clean bill of health, although his X-ray did reveal several classified documents. Gotta look everywhere.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“The White House said Biden’s exam took three hours. It’s never good when your physical has an intermission, you know what I’m saying? Nothing says ‘peak physical condition’ like a doctor’s visit with the same running time as ‘Avatar 2.’” — JIMMY FALLON
“Yeah, it’s never good when the doctor examining you is like, ‘I don’t know if they even make these parts anymore.’” — JIMMY FALLON
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Rafha, Saudi Arabia
Desert bloom, triggered by heavier than usual winter rains, has carpeted sand dunes in the north of the kingdom, drawing sightseers from across the Arabian peninsula
Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

Lushan, China
Snow and ice blanket Mount Lu
Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Chesterfield, UK
Projections including Bess of Hardwick and Queen Elizabeth I light up the facade of Hardwick Hall as part of the National Trust’s Shine a Light celebration of the county’s history and heritage
Photograph: Jacob King/PA
Market Closes for February 17^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33826.69	+129.84
		+0.39%
S&P 500	4079.09	-11.32
		-0.28%
NASDAQ	11787.27	-68.56
		-0.58%
TSX	20515.24	-91.18
		-0.44%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27513.13	-183.31
		-0.66%
HANG SENG	20719.81	-267.86
		-1.28%
SENSEX	61002.57	-316.94
		-0.52%
FTSE 100*	8004.36	-8.17
		-0.10%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.290		3.289
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.256		3.275
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.8167		3.8608
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.8656		3.9142

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7429	0.7425
US $	1.3461	1.3468
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4421	0.6934
US  $	1.0715	0.9333

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1828.95	1831.20
Oil
WTI Crude Future	76.34	78.49

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1874: Thomas J. Watson was born in Campbell, N.Y. After working as a bookkeeper, an itinerant peddler of musical instruments, and a salesman for NCR, he became the dynamic head of IBM. His famous motto, “THINK,” was shortened from his saying, “‘I didn’t think’ has cost the world millions of dollars.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4%, or 91.18 to 20,515.24 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Jan. 20.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.6%.
Air Canada had the largest drop, falling 8.4%.
Today, 118 of 237 shares fell, while 116 rose; 4 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.5%
* The index declined 3.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.6% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 14.8% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.4 on a trailing basis and 12.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.28t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 7.45% compared with 7.25% in the previous session and the average of 10.73% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -80.7858| -2.3| 1/38
Materials | -41.2499| -1.7| 16/33
Information Technology | -19.7488| -1.5| 4/10
Industrials | -13.4342| -0.5| 13/13
Health Care | 1.5133| 1.8| 4/3
Real Estate | 4.0756| 0.7| 20/3
Consumer Discretionary | 5.6068| 0.8| 11/4
Consumer Staples | 7.2369| 0.8| 11/0
Utilities | 8.2057| 0.9| 14/2
Communication Services | 11.5481| 1.2| 4/1
Financials | 20.1437| 0.3| 18/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -27.7500| -4.6| 46.8| -0.2
Nutrien | -15.0100| -4.0| -18.0| 1.9
Shopify | -13.8800| -2.8| -2.2| 24.9
Telus | 4.9260| 1.8| -47.2| 6.4
BCE | 4.9730| 1.3| 20.7| 3.8
Fairfax Financial | 10.1000| 7.4| 23.5| 16.3
US
By Denitsa Tsekova and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US equity indexes were mixed Friday as dip buyers brushed off hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials to help keep weekly losses at a minimum.
The S&P 500 Index dropped 0.3% after falling as much as 1%, lifted by consumer staples and utility stocks.
The benchmark closed down 0.3% on the week but the Nasdaq 100 managed to gain 0.4% in the five-day period.
Traders fully priced in quarter-point interest rate increases at the Fed’s next two meetings after policymakers said Thursday that bigger hikes were not out of the question.
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said Friday that he favored a quarter-point interest rate hike in February to give the central bank “flexibility” in its quest to tamp down inflation.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said rates need to keep going higher since inflation remains “much too high.”
“Markets seem to be in a new tug of war, with the Treasury curve reflecting higher-for-longer, and equities signaling the potential for a soft landing,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley. “That dichotomy seems to manifest in equity markets opening lower every day, like today, and then clawing back losses.”
Investors have been upping bets on how far the Fed will raise rates this tightening cycle.
They now see the federal funds rate climbing to nearly 5.3% in July, according to trading in the US money markets.
That compares with a perceived peak rate of 4.9% at the start of the month.
“If investors are really finally starting to believe the Fed about their claim that rates will stay ‘higher for longer,’” Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., wrote, “we could be looking at a significant decline in the
weeks ahead.”
Friday’s index trading volumes remained somewhat below their 30-day averages during February’s options expiry, though the day’s sharp moves could have reflected the growth of fast-twitch options.

“Markets are acting weird,” said Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth. “The narrative for bulls has changed from soft-landing to strong economy. What this ignores is that strong economy means a more aggressive Fed, which means higher rates and stronger dollar. Neither of these support current valuations. Bulls could be on borrowed time.”
Bank of America Corp. strategists wrote that the delayed arrival of a recession will weigh on US stocks in the second half of the year, noting that a resilient economy thus far means interest rates will stay higher for longer.
A BofA team led by Michael Hartnett is among those predicting a scenario known as “no landing” in the first half, where economic growth will stay robust and central banks will likely remain hawkish for longer.
That will probably be followed by a “hard landing” in the latter part of 2023, they wrote.
Bitcoin posted a fourth straight day of gains Friday, even after the US Securities & Exchange Commission accused Do Kwon and Terraform Labs Pte of fraud over the wipeout of digital currencies he created.
In commodities, oil capped its longest string of daily losses on the year as rising US inventories and the prospect of further tightening by the Federal Reserve eclipsed the lift from signs that Chinese energy demand is improving. 
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to the lowest since Jan. 31 as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.7% to the lowest since Feb. 10
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.7%, more than any closing loss since Feb. 6
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0696
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2043
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 134.20 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin strengthened 1.1%,rising for the fourth straight day, the longest winning streak since Jan. 17
* Ether strengthened 1.6%,rising for the fourth straight day, the longest winning streak since Feb. 4
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points, more than any closing decline since Feb. 8
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.44%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.51%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.8%, falling for the fourth straight day, the longest losing streak since Dec. 9
* Gold futures were little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Angel Adegbesan and Peyton Forte.
Have a wonderful long weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,
Carolann

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. –Jean Baptiste Poquelin, ”Molière”, 1622-1763.

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 16, 2006: The last Mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) is decommissioned by the United States Army.

February 16, 1968: The nation’s first 911 emergency telephone system was inaugurated in Haleyville, Ala. Go to article » 

Da Vinci understood key aspect of gravity centuries before Einstein, lost sketches reveal: Leonardo da Vinci may have had an understanding of gravity that was “centuries ahead of his time,” his sketchbooks reveal.
Da Vinci’s sketches, which were forgotten for decades, show triangles formed by sand-like particles pouring from a jar. These falling grains depicted experiments to show that gravity was a form of acceleration more than 400 years before Einstein did, a new study argues. Full Story: Live Science (2/15)

In ‘extremely rare’ attack, polar bear killed mother and child in Alaska. Now we know why.  Last month, a polar bear killed a woman and her 1-year-old child in Alaska. It was the first fatal polar bear attack recorded in the U.S. in more than 30 years.  Now, a new report sheds light on what may have caused the tragic event. Full Story: Live Science (2/14)

Elusive Planet Nine could be surrounded by hot moons, and that’s how we’d find it: The elusive “Planet Nine,” which may or may not lurk in the outer reaches of the solar system, could be surrounded by a small swarm of potential moons, a new study reveals.
What’s more, these moons could be the key to finding the missing planet. Full Story: Live Science (2/15)

A Hebrew Bible more than 1,000 years old and described as “one of the most important and singular texts in human history” will soon go up for sale. An auctioneer said the “astonishing record” will likely fetch up to $50 million after it concludes an exhibition tour to Israel and the US.

Record-breaking dinosaur footprint discovered on the Yorkshire coast.  Archaeologists said this massive footprint provides more evidence that Jurassic dinosaurs once roamed northern England.

Webb telescope uses celestial Pandora’s box to see distant galaxies.  View a detailed image of Pandora’s Cluster, a mega cluster of galaxies that allowed astronomers to peer into the distant universe.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Baghdad, Iraq
Iraqi Shia Muslim pilgrims gather to pray at the shrine of the 8th-century imam Musa al-Kadhim in the Kadhimiya district
Photograph: Murtadha Ridha/AFP/Getty Images

Peterborough, UK
Peterborough Cathedral sits on the horizon as the sun tries to break through the mist and air pollution at sunrise
Photograph: Paul Marriott/Rex/Shutterstock

London, UK
Whorled (Here After Here After Here), an outdoor installation by Jitish Kallat at Somerset House
Photograph: Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock
Market Closes for February 16^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33696.85	-431.20
		-1.26%
S&P 500	4090.41	-57.19
		-1.38%
NASDAQ	11855.84	-214.75
		-1.78%
TSX	20606.42	-113.97
		-0.55%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27696.44	+194.58
		+0.71%
HANG SENG	20987.67	+175.50
		+0.84%
SENSEX	61319.51	+44.42
		+0.07%
FTSE 100*	8012.53	+14.70
		+0.18%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.289		3.260
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.275		3.245
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.8608		3.7972
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.9142		3.8266

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7425	0.7468
US $	1.3468	1.3390
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4362	0.6963
US  $	1.0663	0.9378

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1831.20	1863.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	78.49	78.59

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1990, Cisco Systems went public on the Nasdaq, selling 2.8 million shares at an initial offering price of $18 per share. By the end of the decade, adjusting for stock splits, the stock was worth more than 300 times as much as that.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.6% at 20,606.42 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest loss since Feb. 6 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.1%.
Today, information technology stocks led the market lower, as 5 of 11 sectors lost; 131 of 237 shares fell, while 100 rose.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline and had the largest move, decreasing 15.5%.
Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index declined 3.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.3% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.2% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.3% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 1.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 12.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 7.25% compared with 8.11% in the previous session and the average of 10.99% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology| -104.6984| -7.5| 2/12
Energy | -34.1848| -0.9| 7/32
Industrials | -6.3756| -0.2| 10/15
Utilities | -1.6384| -0.2| 5/11
Real Estate | -1.1885| -0.2| 12/11
Health Care | 0.0090| 0.0| 3/3
Consumer Staples | 0.4599| 0.1| 4/6
Communication Services| 1.3740| 0.1| 3/3
Financials | 3.7114| 0.1| 12/16
Consumer Discretionary| 4.1785| 0.6| 8/7
Materials | 18.6741| 0.8| 34/15
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -90.7800| -15.5| 48.7| 28.5
Cenovus Energy | -11.0700| -4.5| 151.6| -5.4
Suncor Energy | -8.1950| -1.9| -7.6| 6.3
Nutrien | 6.5000| 1.8| 72.0| 6.1
Teck Resources | 8.6790| 5.0| 211.9| 15.4
Manulife Financial | 12.8700| 3.8| 211.4| 12.3
US
By Isabelle Lee and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — US equity indexes closed firmly in the red Thursday after two Federal Reserve officials said they were considering 50 basis-point interest rate hikes to battle persistently high inflation.
The S&P 500 Index fell 1.4% and the Nasdaq 100 sank 1.9%.
Yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury surged past 3.8% to the highest level this year.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said she had seen a “compelling economic case” for rolling out another 50 basis-point hike, and St. Louis President James Bullard said he would not rule out supporting a half-percentage-point increase at the Fed’s March meeting, rather than a quarter point.
Their warnings came after US producer prices rebounded in January by the most since June.
New home construction retreated for a fifth month in January as elevated mortgage rates continue to keep a lid on housing demand.
Weekly jobless claims fell to 194,000, below expectations of 200,000.
“You will not sustainably get to 2% inflation when you have a labor market that is this tight,” Steve Chiavarone, senior portfolio manager and head of multi-asset solutions at Federated Hermes, said by phone. “It is so completely out of whack.”
“The data that’s been coming in I think is confusing a lot of investors and confusing the market overall,” Kristen Bitterly, head of North America investments at Citi Global Wealth, said in an interview. “We believe that the rally that
we’ve seen is actually a very technically driven rally.”
“Overall, layoffs remain low, suggesting companies remain reluctant to reduce their workforce for now,” wrote Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics. “A rapid rise in interest rates has yet to impact the labor market.  But an adjustment is likely over coming months as the cumulative and lagged effects of restrictive monetary policy spread more broadly through the economy.”
Thursday’s economic prints added further details for Fed policymakers plotting the path for rate hikes, after Wednesday’s US retail sales in January jumped by the most in almost two years.
Investors have been upping their bets on how far the Fed will raise rates this tightening cycle.
They now see the federal funds rate climbing past 5.2% in July, according to trading in the US money markets.
That compares with a perceived peak rate of 4.9% just two weeks ago, and the central bank’s current 4.5% to 4.75% target range.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.3%.
So far this year the 30-member blue-chip gauge is up about 2%, compared with a roughly 7% gain in the S&P 500.
The 5 percentage-point gap between the two makes the Dow’s start to a year the weakest relative to the S&P 500 since 1934, data compiled by Bloomberg show.
Bitcoin optimism continued as the cryptocurrency briefly topped $25,000 for the first time since August as traders’ fears of a US regulatory crackdown abated.
Oil futures fell as investors weighed evidence of higher energy demand in China against a large increase in US crude stockpiles.

Key events:
* France CPI, Russia GDP Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.4%, more than any closing loss since Jan.18 as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.9%, more than any closing loss since Jan. 30
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%, more than any closing loss since Jan. 18
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% to the highest since Jan. 6
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0675
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.1993
* The Japanese yen surged 0.2%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 7
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.5% to the highest in about eight months
* Ether rose 1% to the highest since Sept. 12
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 3.85%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.48%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 3.50%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $78.03 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Elena Popina, Cristin Flanagan and Angel Adegbesan.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee. –John Donne, 1572-1631.

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: Lupercalia: Roman Fertility Festival.
1965: Canada’s new maple leaf flag was unfurled in ceremonies in Ottawa. Go to article » 

Gallileo Gallilei, astronomer, b. 1564.

The eight luxury cars that you can’t get in the US.

How to have the best midlife crisis ever.

R.I.P. Raquel Welch.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Jiyuan, China
Wangwu Mountain national geopark shrouded in fog.
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

Nice, France
A float passes by a crowd during the city’s 150th annual carnival.
Photograph: Sébastien Nogier/EPA

Worcester, UK
Swans by the River Severn at sunrise.
Photograph: David Davies/PA
Market Closes for February 15^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34128.05	+38.78
		+0.11%
S&P 500	4147.60	+11.47
		+0.28%
NASDAQ	12070.59	+110.44
		+0.92%
TSX	20720.39	+15.60
		+0.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27501.86	-100.91
		-0.37%
HANG SENG	20812.17	-301.59
		-1.43%
SENSEX	61275.09	+242.83
		+0.40%
FTSE 100*	7997.83	+43.98
		+0.55%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.260		3.183
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.245		3.168
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.7972		3.7435
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.8266		3.7746

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7468	0.7497
US $	1.3390	1.3339
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4315	0.6986
US  $	1.0690	0.9355

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1863.70	1856.05
Oil
WTI Crude Future	78.59	79.06

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1809: Cyrus Hall McCormick was born on a farm in Rockbridge County, Va. He went on to invent the mechanical reaper—the technological breakthrough that turned the U.S. into the breadbasket of the world.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,720.39 in Toronto.
Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 117 of 236 shares rose, while 117 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 6.9%.
Bausch Health Cos. had the largest increase, rising 20.0%.
Insights
* The index declined 3.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 8% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.9% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 1.8% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.11% compared with 8.31% in the previous session and the average of 11.15% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 41.5827| 3.1| 12/2
Industrials | 7.9499| 0.3| 20/6
Consumer Staples | 5.9960| 0.7| 8/3
Consumer Discretionary | 5.8644| 0.8| 13/2
Health Care | 5.0642| 6.5| 6/1
Real Estate | 3.0511| 0.5| 15/7
Utilities | 0.7969| 0.1| 8/8
Financials | -1.7822| 0.0| 16/12
Communication Services | -2.3015| -0.2| 1/5
Energy | -25.4274| -0.7| 7/32
Materials | -30.8847| -1.3| 11/39
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 37.9600| 6.9| -8.7| 52.0
Bausch Health | 4.0170| 20.0| 286.8| 42.0
Toromont Industries| 3.5600| 5.8| 156.3| 16.3
Canadian Natural Resources | -5.8860| -1.0| 4.8| 5.8
Agnico Eagle Mines | -7.3610| -3.4| 76.1| -6.5
Barrick Gold | -9.5150| -3.3| 11.4| -0.9
US
By Isabelle Lee and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — US stocks closed higher and Treasuries slid as investors picked through another batch of solid economic data to find different takeaways, even as worries mounted that it would force a hawkish response from the Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 rose 0.3% after earlier dropping more than 0.75%.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.8%.
Two-year Treasury yields held near 4.60%.
The dollar advanced versus major peers.
Cisco Systems Inc. shares rose as much as 10% in late trading after it gave an upbeat revenue prediction that suggested that spending on tech infrastructure is holding up better than expected.
US retail sales in January jumped by the most in almost two years, suggesting that strong consumer spending will keep prices elevated and increase pressure on the Fed to step up its efforts to tamp down inflation.
Homebuilder sentiment rose in February by the most since mid-2020, as easing mortgage rates have boosted the housing market.
The data, coming one day after the hotter-than-expected US consumer price inflation report, sent Treasury yields higher on fears of more rate hikes.
Yet equity investors found encouraging news in the same reports.
“Retail sales for January were strong across the board, and together with the strong jobs report show a resilient economy,” Matt Peron, director of research at Janus Henderson Investors, wrote. “This notion is supporting the market’s current ‘Goldilocks’ mood where the economy is strong, but inflation is receding, albeit still too high.”
“The Fed will read recent activity reports as supporting plans for additional interest rate increases in the first half of this year,” Bill Adams, chief economist at Comerica Bank, wrote. “Even so, the economy is generally performing better than expected so far in 2023, and inflation’s decline slowed at the turn of the year, too.”
“Yesterday’s CPI report for January showed inflation continuing to moderate but slowly,” wrote Ed Yardeni, founder of his namesake research firm. “The new information isn’t likely to moderate Fed officials’ hawkishness, though, and doesn’t much change the economic outlook.”
“This morning, we had very, very strong retail sales — you saw rates go up. But stocks didn’t go down,” Zhiwei Ren, portfolio manager at Penn Mutual Asset Management, said in an interview. “And if you look under the surface, those
nonprofitable techs are outperforming.”
“Everybody is trying to figure out whether this is going to be a once-in-a-lifetime soft landing or if it’s just taking longer before we get a panic recession,” Jerry Braakman, chief investment officer of First American Trust, said in an
interview. “That’s why you’re seeing a lot of divergence between bulls and bears.”
Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA, doesn’t see the Fed cutting rates this year.
“That likelihood is getting smaller and smaller and right now — we’re more likely to see a rate cut beginning in the first half of 2024,” he said in an interview.
The energy sector was the biggest drag on the S&P Wednesday. Oil futures dropped below $79 a barrel after EIA reported that crude inventories rose over 16 million barrels last week.
Devon Energy Corp. fell more than 10% after fourth-quarter earnings missed estimates.
Bitcoin rose to the highest level since August as regulatory worries faded.
This spurred gains in cryptocurrency-exposed stocks.

Key events:
* US jobless claims, Australia unemployment, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks at Global Interdependence Center event Thursday
* France CPI, Russia GDP Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% to the highest since Feb. 7 as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.8%, climbing for the third straight day, the longest winning streak since Feb. 2
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 6
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0690
* The British pound slipped 1.2%, more than any closing loss since Feb. 3
* The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 134.12 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin surged 8.6%, more than any closing gain since Nov. 10
* Ether surged 7.1%, more than any closing gain since Nov. 10
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 3.80%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.48%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points, more than any closing decline since Feb. 2
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5% to $78.65 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.9% to $1,847.80 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Lu Wang and Angel Adegbesan.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Example is not the main thing in influencing others.  It is the only thing. –Albert Schweitzer, 1875-1965.

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 Valentine’s Day.
February 14^th, 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray both separately apply for the first telephone patent on the same day – Bell won.
1989: Union Carbide agreed to pay $470 million to the government of India in a court-ordered settlement of the 1984 Bhopal gas leak disaster. Go to article » 

Strange love: 13 animals with truly weird courtship rituals: On Valentine’s Day, lovers who are eager to woo their partners show their affection with traditional gifts of red roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates or with romantic dinners at fancy restaurants.
There’s usually some effort involved, but pulling off a memorable Valentine’s Day is easier — and generally safer — than some of the courtship rituals performed by other animal species. Full Story: Live Science (2/13)

Some narcissists chase status, others are driven by a need to be admired, study finds: Narcissists often rub their friends and family the wrong way by bragging about their exploits, seemingly a symptom of an overinflated sense of self-esteem.
But new research finds that in some cases, narcissists actually have low self-esteem, but they’re not chasing a self-esteem boost with their self-aggrandizing behavior. Instead, they’re seeking status. Full Story: Live Science (2/13)

‘SNL’ alums team up for a live comedy tour:  Amy Poehler and Tina Fey are hitting the road together for a comedy tour starting this spring.

Super Bowl ratings touchdown: The Super Bowl attracted 113 million viewers, the third most-watched TV program ever.

Are you getting too much screen time?  On the “Chasing Life” podcast, Dr. Sanjay Gupta dives into the science behind how technology and social media are impacting our brains. He also speaks to one of the people he worries about most: his teenage daughter. Listen here
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Northumberland , UK
The sun rises through the sea mist over the sculpture Couple by Sean Henry at Newbiggin-by-the-Sea
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA

Shanghai, China
A 5-metre-high art installation in the shape of a heart brings Valentine’s Day vibes to the Bund Finance Center
Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Guizhou, China
China’s five hundred metre aperture spherical radio telescope (Fast) undergoes maintenance in south-west China’s Guizhou province. Fast, the world’s largest single-dish radio telescope, is said to have identified more than 740 pulsars since its launch. Dubbed the ‘China Sky Eye’, the telescope is located in a naturally deep and round karst depression. It has a reception area equal to 30 standard football fields
Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
Market Closes for February 14^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34089.27	-156.66
		-0.46%
S&P 500	4136.13	-1.16
		-0.03%
NASDAQ	11960.14	+68.35
		+0.57%
TSX	20704.79	+2.56
		+0.01%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27602.77	+175.45
		+0.64%
HANG SENG	21113.76	-50.66
		-0.24%
SENSEX	61032.26	+600.42
		+0.99%
FTSE 100*	7953.85	+6.25
		+0.08%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.183		3.108
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.168		3.115
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.7435		3.6997
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.7746		3.7719

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7497	0.7499
US $	1.3339	1.3335
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4322	0.6982
US  $	1.0738	0.9313

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1856.05	1859.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	79.06	80.14

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1932: Gov. William Comstock of Michigan declared he would shut down every bank in the state to avert loan defaults and public panic
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,704.79 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.8%.
CAE Inc. had the largest increase, rising 5.1%.
Today, 145 of 236 shares rose, while 86 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6.9% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.8% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.8% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 1.7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.4 on a trailing basis and 13 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.31% compared with 8.45% in the previous session and the average of 11.29% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 19.5558| 1.5| 12/2
Communication Services | 2.1466| 0.2| 4/2
Real Estate | 1.7684| 0.3| 14/9
Consumer Staples | 1.5699| 0.2| 4/6
Health Care | 1.3327| 1.8| 5/2
Utilities | 0.1883| 0.0| 7/9
Materials | -0.3115| 0.0| 36/12
Industrials | -1.9607| -0.1| 12/14
Energy | -4.7285| -0.1| 32/6
Consumer Discretionary | -5.3971| -0.7| 10/5
Financials | -11.6101| -0.2| 9/19
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 14.7100| 2.8| -33.8| 42.1
Suncor Energy | 6.2400| 1.5| -43.9| 8.0
TC Energy | 5.4490| 1.4| -38.0| 4.5
Canadian National | -5.7540| -0.9| -21.6| -0.8
Nutrien | -7.7570| -2.1| 11.1| 3.9
Canadian Natural Resources | -8.4850| -1.4| -38.4| 6.9
US
By Emily Graffeo and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — The S&P 500 Index closed nearly flat and the two-year Treasury yield added more than 10 basis points after data showed that inflation remained high.
Two Federal Reserve officials then warned that the remedy might require higher interest rates for a long period of time, though one policymaker suggested that the end might be near.
Swaps contracts showed traders gave near-even odds for a quarter-point rate increase by the Fed in June, following similar hikes in March and May.
The rate-sensitive two-year Treasury yield rose past 4.6%.
Equity indexes fell in the morning as Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin told Bloomberg TV that the central bank might “have to do more” to fight inflation and Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said rate increases could last “for a longer period than previously anticipated.”
But stocks pared losses after Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia President Patrick Harker said that policymakers were nearing the point where rates were restrictive enough: “In my view, we are not done yet … but we are likely close.”
“Stocks are probably rising due to Harker,” said Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers. “Close to done on tightening is vague, but certainly not a hawkish tone.”
Equity bulls clung to one CPI component that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has singled out as a must-watch: The so-called super-core figure, or core services minus housing, came in at a slower 0.3% pace in the month.
But Win Thin, currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman, wasn’t buying this super-core argument.
“If the market and the Fed have to get THIS granular to somehow weave an inflation argument, then they’ve lost the argument,” he wrote in a text. “Core core core core inflation?  C’mon man!”
Here is what other Wall Street analysts were saying about CPI and the Fed:
Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners: “We’ve seen lots of Fedspeak in both directions, so this is just one more data point. However, investors are really puzzled with today’s CPI print and perhaps the Harker comments help cement a bullish theme of Fed easing later this year.”
Michael Contopoulos, head of fixed income at Richard Bernstein Advisors: “If you think inflation is going to stick around for a while, as we do, then it also means the Fed needs to continue to hike until they really destroy demand. This means they need to crack labor. If you crack labor, long term growth and inflation expectations need to fall as a ‘hard landing’ scenario becomes more likely.”
Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen: “The Fed has won every single one of these battles over the last 18 months — every time the markets have tried to price out or discount the Fed’s rhetoric or their forecasts, the markets have basically lost that fight, they’ve lost that game of chicken.”
Jay Hatfield, CEO and CIO of Infrastructure Capital Advisors: “We continue to forecast inflation will rapidly decline as the BLS slowly reflects the reality of housing deflation in their estimate of shelter inflation. This lag is approximately
12 months, so second half inflation numbers should come down rapidly.”
John Plassard, investment specialist at Mirabaud: “It’s the seventh month in a row of inflation going lower, the disinflation narrative is not threatened — on the contrary.  It must be said there were some worries around a bad surprise so this is reassuring before the next meeting of the Fed.”
Mark Dowding, chief investment officer at BlueBay Asset Management: “Our own view is that yields are more likely to head higher as we think the Fed remain hawkish for the time being. This poses a headwind for equities.”
Oil fell for a second day after the announcement that the US was selling more crude from its strategic reserves.
The yen rose following the formal nomination of Kazuo Ueda as the next Bank of Japan governor.
Argentina’s annual inflation rate hit 99%.
And Turkey prepared to channel billions of liras into its stock market, which will reopen Wednesday after the devastating earthquakes Feb. 6. 
Key events:
* US retail sales, UK CPI Wednesday
* US jobless claims, Australia unemployment, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks at Global Interdependence Center event Thursday
* France CPI, Russia GDP Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4:05 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7% to the highest since Feb. 7
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.8%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 7
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.1% to $1.0738
* The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.2175
* The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 133.04 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin surged 2.5%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 1
* Ether surged 4.4%, more than any closing gain since Jan. 29
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 3.75%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 2.44%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 12 basis points, more than any closing advance since Feb. 6
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.3% to $79.13 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,866.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Julien Ponthus, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Farah Elbahrawy and Vildana Hajric.

Have a  lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

A loving heart if the truest wisdom. –Charles Dickens, 1812-1870.

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