Month: February 2023

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.
Wasn’t that an amazing Super bowl yesterday – what a game!

February 13, 1258: Baghdad, a city of 1 million, falls to the Mongols as the Abbasid Caliphate is destroyed, tens of thousands are slaughtered, ending the Islamic Golden Age.
February 13, 1945: Allied planes began bombing the German city of Dresden during World War II. Go to article » 
1741: First magazine published in the US.

Peter Gabriel, singer, b. 1950.

The wildlife photographer of the year took quite an image. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

Which automaker will have the last stick shift standing? (h/t Scott Duke Kominers)

Lasers reveal ruins of 5th-century fortress in Spanish forest: Archaeologists in Spain got the surprise of a lifetime when they discovered the ruins of a powerful fifth-century fortress surrounded by a huge defensive wall in a dense forest, instead of the Iron Age fort they had been looking for, they reported in a new study.  The team found the stronghold on a hilltop in northwestern Spain by using lidar — light detection and ranging — to peer beneath a forest covering the ruins.  Full Story: Live Science (2/10)

James Webb telescope finds Milky Way’s long-lost twin 9 billion years in the past: A sparkling cannibal galaxy discovered by the James Webb Space Telescope appears to be a “very early” mirror image of the Milky Way, and it could help astronomers understand how our galaxy took shape, a new study has revealed.
Located 9 billion light-years from Earth, the galaxy is named the “Sparkler” after the dwarf galaxies and two dozen globular clusters — swarms of millions of stars bound together by gravity — that shine around it.
Full Story: Live Science (2/10)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Super Bowl LVII
Rihanna takes the stage for the half-time show
Photograph: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

Lake Czarne, Poland
The small-sized water reservoir lake is characterised by its unusual heart shape
Photograph: Lech Muszyński/EPA

Tokyo, Japan
A seal wearing heart-shaped rings swims in a fish tank for a special Valentine’s Day event at Aqua Park Shinagawa
Photograph: Yoshio Tsunoda/Aflo/Rex/Shutterstock
Market Closes for February 13^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34245.93	+376.66
		+1.11%
S&P 500	4137.29	+46.83
		+1.14%
NASDAQ	11891.79	+173.67
		+1.48%
TSX	20702.23	+90.11
		+0.44%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27427.32	-243.66
		-0.88%
HANG SENG	21164.42	-26.00
		-0.12%
SENSEX	60431.84	-250.86
		-0.41%
FTSE 100*	7947.60	+65.15
		+0.83%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.108		3.155
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.115		3.167
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.6997		3.7397
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.7719		3.8203

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7499	0.7489
US $	1.3335	1.3353
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4300	0.6993
US  $	1.0724	0.9325

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1859.70	1879.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	80.14	79.72

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1990, junk-bond giant Drexel Burnham Lambert sought bankruptcy protection, only days after Chief Executive Fred Joseph had told The Wall Street Journal, “I see daylight.  The worst is behind us.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.4%, or 90.11 to 20,702.23 in Toronto.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.6%.
Russel Metals Inc. had the largest increase, rising 6.2%.
Today, 160 of 236 shares rose, while 74 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 3.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.3% 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 up 0.4% 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 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 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 8.45% compared with 8.43% in the previous session and the average of 11.53% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 36.3061| 0.6| 24/5
Industrials | 14.6636| 0.5| 20/6
Consumer Discretionary | 11.9458| 1.7| 15/0
Information Technology | 9.0411| 0.7| 11/3
Consumer Staples | 7.6812| 0.9| 10/1
Energy | 7.0773| 0.2| 18/20
Utilities | 4.7313| 0.5| 14/2
Real Estate | 3.0958| 0.6| 18/5
Communication Services | 2.9578| 0.3| 5/1
Health Care | 0.7878| 1.0| 5/2
Materials | -8.1829| -0.3| 20/29
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 6.8890| 0.6| -62.1| 6.7
Enbridge | 5.4520| 0.7| -33.4| 3.1
Bank of Nova Scotia| 4.8520| 0.8| -41.6| 11.8
Waste Connections | -1.8640| -0.6| -40.5| 0.1
Cenovus Energy | -2.4810| -1.0| -30.7| 1.0
Nutrien | -7.2540| -1.9| -10.9| 6.1
US
By Isabelle Lee and Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — US stocks ended Monday with broad gains after a survey showing Americans have drastically reduced their expectations for household income growth suggested that Tuesday’s consumer price data might not be as bad as once feared.
The S&P 500 added 1.1%, with every sector save energy in the green.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 1.6% following its first weekly loss of 2023.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained the most since January.
A New York Federal Reserve consumer survey showed that one-year inflation expectations were little changed in January, which was “modestly reassuring” for Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli.  “The household income piece was positive (for stocks) in that it points to wage disinflation expectations,” he wrote, noting it was the largest one-month drop in the nearly 10-year history of the series.
Oil prices, a key inflation component, fell on a report that the Biden administration plans to sell more crude oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures dropped below $80 a barrel.
Yet two-year Treasury yields rose to a new high for the year after climbing 23 basis points last week following the much stronger-than-expected January employment data.
Traders are reassessing how high US interest rates will rise this year, with inflation and jobs data looming later this week.
This has fueled bets for the Fed rate to peak at 5.2% in July, up from less than 5% a month ago.
Equity indexes climbed Monday despite warnings from prominent strategists.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic said that investors should be in bonds since “a recession is currently not priced into equity markets.”
The team led by Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson argued that US stocks are ripe for a selloff after prematurely pricing in a pause in Fed rate hikes.
“While equity and credit markets have priced a soft landing based on peaking short-term rates and inflation, we view recent action as another bear market rally, turbocharged by a surge in US dollar liquidity, weak positioning and short covering,” wrote Lisa Shalett, chief investment officer at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. “Furthermore, the rosy view is unconfirmed by other capital markets, with economic data reflecting complex crosscurrents from the extraordinary COVID reopening.”
Yet Alexandra Wilson-Elizondo, head of multi-asset retail investing at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, thinks the market rally could have legs over the next few months.
“We’ve strongly believed that the handoff from goods disinflation to services was going to take time and that the Fed would have to remain in restrictive territory to do that,” she said in a phone interview. “And so we’ve maintained a cautious positioning in our portfolios, but we looked to real fundamental catalysts for those relative value trades such as the China reopening.”
Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley, said that equities’ positive moves Monday were due to investors seeing the glass as “half full.”
“There are more tailwinds than headwinds in this market right now,” he said in a phone interview. “There’s a lot more going right than going wrong and investors are reacting that way — at least today in front of the CPI report.”
But Irene Tunkel, chief US equity strategist at BCA Research, says that concerns about inflation will soon be replaced by concerns about economic growth.
“The market is already celebrating a soft-landing, they’re celebrating the end of inflation,” she said in a phone interview. “But I don’t think that we are out woods yet because I think there is a narrow window between inflation turning and growth slowing in a more sort of acute way.”
In Europe, optimism over resilient economic growth pushed European equities higher.
The Stoxx 600 index was lifted by construction, industrial goods and consumer stocks while energy and real estate underperformed.
India’s inflation rate of 6.5% breached the top end of the central bank’s target for the first time in three months.
The yen weakened past 132 per dollar after whipsawing Friday following news reports that Kazuo Ueda would be picked to become the Bank of Japan’s next governor.  
Japan’s government is set to officially announce the nomination of the new BOJ governor on Tuesday.
Traders are also keeping a keen eye on geopolitical developments after the Pentagon shot down an unidentified object that it tracked over Michigan, according to US officials familiar with the matter.
This was the fourth time in eight days a balloon or high-flying craft has been shot down over the US or Canada.
Key events:
* US CPI, UK jobless claims, Eurozone GDP, New York Fed President John Williams gives the keynote speech at New York Bankers Association event Tuesday
* Japan’s new BOJ governor nomination Tuesday
* 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 rose 1.1%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 7 as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.6%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 7
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%, more than any closing gain since Jan. 6
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%, falling for the third straight day, the longest losing streak since Jan. 19
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%, more than any closing loss since Feb. 7
* The euro surged 0.4%, more than any closing gain since Feb. 1
* The British pound surged 0.6%, more than any closing gain since Jan. 17
* The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 132.30 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $21,681.76
* Ether fell 1.4% to $1,490.24
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 3.71%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.37%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.40%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5% to $79.29 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.6% to $1,864 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Peyton Forte and Vildana Hajric.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

When scattering seeds of kindness, do it by hand and not by machine. –George Ade, 1866-1944.

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.  Super Bowl Sunday this weekend – exciting!
February 10, 1996: IBM supercomputer Deep Blue defeats Garry Kasparov at chess for the first time.
February 10, 1763: France ceded Canada to England under the Treaty of Paris, which ended the French and Indian War.  Go to article » 

You have one last chance to view the green comet this week, thanks to a close flyby with Mars: A rare green comet zipping by Earth for the first time since the Stone Age is about to pass right next to Mars this week, and the once-in-a-lifetime cosmic pairing could be visible through a simple pair of binoculars.
The comet, called C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will appear as a faint, fan-shaped smudge next to the Red Planet as it passes between the orbits of Earth and Mars on the evenings of Friday (Feb.10) and Saturday (Feb.11), according to EarthSky.org.  Full Story: Live Science (2/9)

The moon smells like gunpowder.

John Travolta recreates iconic ‘Grease’ routine.  The actor is channeling his beloved character Danny in a new Super Bowl ad.

Best pizza city in the USA?  If you ask me, it’s New York — without hesitation — and Chicago takes a very close second. However, the authors of “Modernist Pizza” surprisingly believe the best pies can be found on the West Coast.

‘Impossible’ new ring system discovered at the edge of the solar system, and scientists are baffled: Astronomers have discovered an entirely new ring system within the solar system, and it’s located at such a great distance from its dwarf planet parent that it should be impossible.  The ring surrounds Quaoar, which is around half the size of Pluto and located beyond Neptune. Full Story: Live Science (2/10)

Scientists reveal ‘invisible’ galaxy from the early universe, using space-time trick predicted by Einstein: Researchers have finally revealed the details of an extremely distant and dark galaxy that’s been nearly impossible to see — until now.  The young, star-forming galaxy is filled with dust and gas, and formed 2 billion years after the Big Bang, the researchers report — an era more than 11 billion years ago, when the universe was about one-sixth its current size. Full Story: Live Science (2/9)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Beijing, China
A plum tree blossoms as snow falls in the Xiangshui Lake scenic area
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

Wenchuan county, China
A giant panda has a rest at the top of a tree in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang autonomous prefecture
Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

The pristine US forest threatened by a pipeline – in pictures
The sun’s rays bathe the forest, which attracts more than 500,000 visitors a year. It was bought by German immigrant Isaac W Bernheim in 1929, who decided to dedicate it as a gift to the people of his new homeland
Photograph: Carla Rhodes
Market Closes for February 10^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33869.27	+169.39
		+0.50%
S&P 500	4090.46	+8.96
		+0.22%
NASDAQ	11718.12	-71.46
		-0.61%
TSX	20612.12	+14.37
		+0.07%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27670.98	+86.63
		+0.31%
HANG SENG	21190.42	-433.94
		-2.01%
SENSEX	60682.70	-123.52
		-0.20%
FTSE 100*	7882.45	-28.70
		-0.36%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.155		3.053
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.167		3.091
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.7397		3.6636
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.8203		3.7332

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7489	0.7437
US $	1.3353	1.3446
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4269	0.7008
US  $	1.0687	0.9357

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1879.10	1872.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	79.72	78.06

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1938  “Fannie Mae” was born, as the National Mortgage Association of Washington. Its mission: to buy and sell home mortgages insured by the Federal Housing Administration, to encourage lenders to continue making home loans.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,612.12 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.4%. Saputo Inc. had the largest increase, rising 5.3%.
Today, 90 of 236 shares rose, while 143 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.7%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Dec. 16
* 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 7.2% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.3% 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 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$3.27t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.43% compared with 8.70% in the previous session and the average of 11.91% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 71.8852| 2.0| 34/5
Industrials | 29.1396| 1.1| 12/14
Utilities | 10.2447| 1.2| 10/6
Consumer Staples | 8.2761| 1.0| 7/4
Communication Services | 1.8857| 0.2| 4/2
Health Care | -0.7616| -1.0| 1/5
Real Estate | -3.3037| -0.6| 6/17
Financials | -14.0235| -0.2| 10/19
Information Technology | -27.6580| -2.0| 1/12
Materials | -29.1230| -1.2| 4/45
Consumer Discretionary | -32.1945| -4.3| 1/14
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Enbridge | 17.4700| 2.4| 38.0| 2.3
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.3100| 2.0| 2.0| 7.6
Canadian National | 11.7200| 1.8| -4.6| -0.6
Brookfield Corp | -9.0710| -1.9| 41.2| 13.9
Shopify | -19.8800| -3.6| -33.0| 37.1
Magna Intl | -27.1800| -17.0| 403.9| -5.1
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The worst week in 2023 for the Treasury market saw investors coming to the grips with the idea that the Federal Reserve may indeed have to keep rates higher for longer as it wages a war against inflation.
Wall Street has recalibrated bets on the Fed’s peak rate to around 5.2%, from under 5% earlier this month, amid a barrage of hawkish remarks from US officials that followed a hot jobs print.
And that’s not all.
Traders who had been positioning for the central bank to hike only once more — in March —- are suddenly being confronted with wagers on at least three more rate increases.
That’s why Tuesday’s consumer price index is seen as a litmus test for the Fed’s ability to knock down inflation amid the most-aggressive tightening cycle in decades.
Core CPI will either point to the obvious need for the Fed to push further into restrictive territory or reflect the progress it’s made toward securing the anchor of inflation expectations, said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.
“The new year’s bullishness has quickly faded as investors recalibrated forward expectations in the wake of the employment report,” Lyngen added. “As it presently stands, investors are biased for an upside surprise versus the consensus for core-CPI of +0.4% on a monthly basis.”
Treasury 10-year yields climbed to around 3.75%.
Interest-rate options activity Friday included a large, apparently new, position that will profit if the rate reaches 4% within a week’s time.
The rise in yields weighed heavily on the tech space, with the Nasdaq 100 underperforming major gauges.
The S&P 500 ended with a small gain Friday, but posted its worst week since December.
“It’s healthy to have these corrections along the way,” said Alec Young, chief investment strategist at MAPsignals.  “Expectations are much more realistic about the Fed.”

After an indiscriminate risk rally that defied Fed hawkishness, sober-minded traders are upping their hedging game at long last.
The cost of contracts protecting against a 10% decline in the largest exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 is now 1.7 times more than options that profit from a 10% rally.
This so-called put-to-call skew is hovering at the highest level since August 2022, when a two-month rally abruptly reversed.
Meantime, global equity funds had outflows of $7.4 billion in the week through Feb. 8, according to a Bank of America Corp. note that cited EPFR Global data.
Cash funds also saw redemptions at $10.1 billion, while $7.4 billion entered bonds.
On the economic front, US consumer sentiment climbed to a more than one-year high in early February as more upbeat views of current conditions outweighed lingering concerns about the outlook.
In corporate news, Lyft Inc. tumbled the most on record after forecasting dramatically lower profits than expected and saying it will cut prices in an attempt to attract and keep customers.
Expedia Group Inc. executives gave an optimistic outlook for travel demand in the current quarter, reassuring investors after the company’s fourth-quarter results were weaker than expected.
America’s largest banks are unlikely to return share buybacks to prior levels anytime soon given tougher-than-usual Fed stress tests, according to Wells Fargo analyst Mike Mayo.
The assumptions in this year’s test, published by the Fed on Thursday, “seem tougher, and they are made so as the economy nears a recession,” he said.
Elsewhere, oil gained as Russia plans to cut its oil output by 500,000 barrels a day next month, following through on a threat to retaliate against western energy sanctions and sending oil prices sharply higher.
The yen strengthened as much as 1.4% against the dollar after news reports that Kazuo Ueda would be picked to become the Bank of Japan’s next governor.
Investors initially interpreted the decision as likely a hawkish choice.
Those gains were trimmed after Ueda spoke to reporters and said the BOJ’s stimulus should stay in place.
“Why do we care? Because the BOJ is locked into ultra-dovish policy,” said Chris Low at FHN Financial. “It is the only major central bank fighting to keep inflation high rather than trying to lower it. Now we’ll have to see how long he sticks to the old policy.”
Traders also kept an eye on the latest geopolitical developments.
US fighter jets shot down an object flying at 40,000 feet over Alaska after officials determined it “posed a reasonable threat to the safety of civilian flight,” according to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.
The US is poised to add Chinese companies to an export blacklist over what the administration argues are links to a military-backed global balloon espionage program, according to people familiar with the matter.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0680
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2055
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 131.41 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.6% to $21,726.05
* Ether fell 0.7% to $1,529.27
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced nine basis points to 3.74%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 2.36%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 11 basis points to 3.40%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.3% to $79.84 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,875.20 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee and Michael MacKenzie.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

There is no such thing as a minor lapse of integrity. –Tom Peters, b. 1942.

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 9, 1986: Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
On Feb. 9, 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces. Go to article » 

Carole King, songwriter, b. 1942.
Alice Walker, b. 1944.

Woodpeckers stash 700 pounds of acorns inside walls of home:  See the massive trove of acorns discovered by a pest control technician on a routine call

Firefall at Yosemite: You’ll need a reservation if you want to see this fiery spectacle at California’s Yosemite National Park.

Extreme earners are not extremely smart.

Physicists want to use gravitational waves to ‘see’ the beginning of time.  Ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves could help reveal the secrets at the dawn of time, just moments after the Big Bang, new research suggests.   Ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves could help reveal the secrets at the dawn of time, just moments after the Big Bang, new research suggests.
And physicists say they can learn more about these primeval gravitational waves using nuclear fusion reactors here on Earth. Full Story: Live Science (2/8)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Liverpool, UK
Thousands of pieces of coal are suspended from the ceiling at Liverpool Cathedral as part of an installation called Coalescence, created by the artist Paul Cocksedge. The installation, which runs until 12 March, is a visual representation of the amount of coal required to power a single lightbulb for a year
Photograph: Gareth Jones

Florence, Italy
Scaffolding in the Baptistery of San Giovanni, one of the city’s oldest churches, at the start of a six-year restoration project on mosaics created in about 1225
Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP

Longnan, China
Snow covers terraced fields and houses in China’s north-western Gansu province
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 9^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33699.88	-249.13
		-0.73%
S&P 500	4081.50	-36.36
		-0.88%
NASDAQ	11789.58	-120.94
		-1.02%
TSX	20597.75	-81.79
		-0.40%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27584.35	-22.11
		-0.08%
HANG SENG	21624.36	+340.84
		+1.60%
SENSEX	60806.22	+142.43
		+0.23%
FTSE 100*	7911.15	+25.98
		+0.33%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.053		3.015
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.091		3.066
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.6636		3.6098
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.7332		3.6702

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7432	0.7437
US $	1.3455	1.3446
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4448	0.6921
US  $	1.0738	0.9313

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1872.65	1870.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	78.06	78.47

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1966, the bull market peaked, buoyed by defense spending and rising inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 995.15—a level it didn’t reach again until Oct.11, 1982. For nearly 17 years stocks went nowhere.  Today, the Dow closed at 33699.88, +3,286.41% since February 9, 1966, or +57.66%/annum over that 57 year range.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4%, or 81.79 to 20,597.75 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Jan. 30.
Today, materials stocks led the market lower, as 9 of 11 sectors lost; 159 of 236 shares fell, while 74 rose.
Telus Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8%.
Canopy Growth Corp. had the largest drop, falling 16.6%.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.8%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Dec. 16
* The index declined 4.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 12% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.3% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 3.7% 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 13.3 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 fell to 8.70% compared with 8.86% in the previous session and the average of 12.12% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -30.6077| -1.2| 5/45
Energy | -17.3481| -0.5| 10/29
Communication Services | -15.8914| -1.6| 0/6
Industrials | -11.6616| -0.4| 10/16
Financials | -4.4270| -0.1| 10/17
Consumer Discretionary | -3.7052| -0.5| 5/10
Utilities | -3.2449| -0.4| 3/12
Information Technology | -2.8479| -0.2| 5/9
Health Care | -2.8446| -3.6| 3/4
Real Estate | 4.3575| 0.8| 16/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Telus | -10.4400| -3.8| 262.3| 3.4
Barrick Gold | -8.4170| -2.8| 97.6| 3.3
Bombardier | -4.7130| -11.8| 179.8| 14.9
Sun Life Financial | 3.3180| 1.2| 59.5| 8.6
Couche-Tard | 3.9330| 1.2| 68.6| 3.5
Cameco | 5.0160| 4.6| 145.7| 25.3
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street couldn’t find many reasons to keep lifting stocks amid higher bond yields, hawkish Fedspeak and a surge in equity bullishness among retail investors that’s often seen as a contrarian indicator.
The S&P 500 finished lower after wiping out a rally of almost 1%.
Options traders continued piling into bets targeting a 6% Federal Reserve peak rate, nearly a percentage point higher than consensus.
The two-year note’s yield hit 4.5%, and earlier pushed above the 10-year rate by the widest margin since the early 1980s — a sign of flagging confidence in the economy’s ability to withstand additional tightening.
Adding to the drumbeat of officials signaling the central bank has a ways to go to curb prices, Fed Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said it’s important to continue hiking to rein in inflation.
Data on jobless claims reinforced the idea of a hot labor market that points to tight policy, while mortgage rates rose for the first time in more than a month.
“The market’s questioning if it’s even possible for the Fed to walk the line to do what they’re aiming to do because it’s a very difficult job — slowing the economy down though interest-rate increases while keeping us from slipping into a severe recession,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank. “Investors understand and realize that it’s a very difficult path that the Fed has ahead of it.”
Amid so many uncertainties, some analysts see room for consolidation, especially after a surge that put stocks near overbought levels.
To Katie Stockton at Fairlead Strategies, the biggest potential challenge for the market right now is overly bullish sentiment.
The latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors showed US retail investors turned bullish for the first time since April, with the bull-bear spread rising to 12.5 from -4.7 a week earlier.
The percentage of investors with a bearish view over the next six months fell to 25%, the lowest since November 2021.
“Well, as human nature never changes, sentiment ALWAYS follows price,” wrote Peter Boockvar, author of the Boock Report. “And the bulls are back now across the board. From a contrarian perspective, we now need to pay attention, and while not extreme and standing room only, the bull boat is getting filled up.”
For some market watchers, trades favoring disinflation are soon set to reverse as price increases prove more entrenched than anticipated.
This year, higher-duration sectors, such as tech and consumer discretionary have led stocks’ advance, while low-duration ones such as energy and utilities have underperformed. 
This is a reversal of the trend from late 2021, where investors started to shun high-duration stocks as inflation began to rise rapidly.
The performance of mega-caps in those two industries was fairly mixed on Thursday.
Tesla Inc. extended its breakneck rally, while Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. extended a two-day selloff as concerns surfaced about the competence of Bard, the ChatGPT rival it unveiled on Feb. 6.
Key events:
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0734
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2117
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 131.63 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 4.2% to $21,989.8
* Ether fell 4.7% to $1,575.74
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 3.67%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 2.30%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 3.29%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $77.63 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 1% to $1,872 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Namitha Jagadeesh, Bailey Lipschultz, Isabelle Lee, Vildana Hajric and Peyton Forte.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. –Albert Camus,1913-1960.
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: Nirvana Day, Buddhism.

February 8, 1960: The Hollywood Walk of Fame is established. Scouts of America est.
1910: Boy Scouts of America est.
1971: NASDAQ, the world’s first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.  Go to article » 

John Ruskin, critic, b. 15819.
Jules Verne, author, b. 1828.
Lana Turner, actress, b. 1921
James Dean, b. 1931.

AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old ‘lost book’ describing life after Alexander the Great.  A 2,000-year-old “lost book” discussing the dynasties that succeeded Alexander the Great may finally be deciphered nearly two millennia after the text was partially destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and, centuries later, handed off to Napoleon Bonaparte.  The reason for the breakthrough? Researchers are using machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, to discern the faint ink on the rolled-up papyrus scroll.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

Massive, 1.2 million-year-old tool workshop in Ethiopia made by ‘clever’ group of unknown human relatives:  More than 1.2 million years ago, an unknown group of human relatives may have created sharp hand axes from volcanic glass in a “stone-tool workshop” in what is now Ethiopia, a new study finds. This discovery suggests that ancient human relatives may have regularly manufactured stone artifacts in a methodical way more than a half-million years earlier than the previous record, which dates to about 500,000 years ago in France and England.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

Mary, Queen of Scots’ cryptic prison letters finally deciphered: Researchers have cracked the code used to write a collection of “lost” letters once owned by Mary, Queen of Scots.
Penned between 1578 and 1584 with a “sophisticated cipher system” that involved a mix of letters and symbols, the letters were written to and from the former Queen of Scotland (also known as Mary Stuart) while she was imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

Coffee survived the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. (h/t Mark Gongloff)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

London, UK
The Thames is shrouded in fog covering Tower Bridge on a sunny winters morning
Photograph: Andy Hall/The Guardian

Lake Elsinore, California
Poppies and wildflowers bloom early in the wake of winter rainfall on the upper slopes of Walker Canyon
Photograph: Allen J Schaben/LA Times/Getty Images

Méribel, France
La Patrouille de France aerobatics team perform before the women’s super-G race at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships
Photograph: Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA
Market Closes for February 8^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33949.01	-207.68
		-0.61%
S&P 500	4117.86	-46.14
		-1.11%
NASDAQ	11910.52	-203.27
		-1.68%
TSX	20679.54	-45.46
		-0.22%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27606.46	-79.01
		-0.29%
HANG SENG	21283.52	-15.18
		-0.07%
SENSEX	60663.79	+377.75
		+0.63%
FTSE 100*	7885.17	+20.46
		+0.26%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.015		3.087
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.066		3.126
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.6098		3.6735
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.6702		3.7129

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7437	0.7466
US $	1.3446	1.3394
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4407	0.6941
US  $	1.0714	0.9334

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1870.70	1873.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future	78.47	77.14

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1971: After nearly a decade of preparation, the Nasdaq market opened for stock trading, as the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system first displayed the median price for more than 2,500 “over-the-counter” securities. The Nasdaq Composite Index was set at an initial value of 100.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2% at 20,679.54 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.5%.
Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.7%.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest drop, falling 4.4%.
Today, 123 of 236 shares fell, while 109 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 3.3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.6% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.9% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.7% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 4.4% 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 13.3 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 8.86% compared with 9.71% in the previous session and the average of 12.27% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -22.6230| -0.6| 17/20
Materials | -22.4808| -0.9| 16/34
Information Technology | -12.7228| -0.9| 7/7
Utilities | -4.5070| -0.5| 7/8
Health Care | -1.5885| -2.0| 1/5
Consumer Discretionary | -1.5070| -0.2| 4/11
Financials | -0.3563| 0.0| 13/16
Real Estate | 0.1200| 0.0| 12/11
Communication Services | 2.8294| 0.3| 6/0
Industrials | 4.6224| 0.2| 17/9
Consumer Staples | 12.7504| 1.6| 9/2
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Enbridge | -20.5500| -2.7| 37.0| 0.5
Shopify | -15.1200| -2.7| -21.5| 42.5
Nutrien | -12.9600| -3.3| -5.5| 6.4
Canadian Natural Resources | 3.1340| 0.5| -50.9| 6.1
Couche-Tard | 6.0880| 1.9| -19.2| 2.3
RBC | 8.9400| 0.7| -52.5| 9.6
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A selloff in tech stocks weighed heavily on trading Wednesday, with the most-recent string of Federal Reserve speakers reinforcing the idea that interest rates will need to keep climbing to quash inflation.
Their tone was clearly intended to catch the market’s attention in what looked like a concerted effort to push back against the dovish read of Jerome Powell’s interview Tuesday, noted Krishna Guha at Evercore ISI.
From Fed Bank of New York President John Williams to his Minneapolis counterpart Neel Kashkari and Governor Christopher Waller, the message was clear: policy may need to be tight for a while.
Those remarks just gave credence to the recent hot trade in the rate-options market — where several big wagers on the Fed’s benchmark reaching 6% have popped up.
That’s nearly a percentage point higher than consensus.
For several market observers, such hawkish positioning makes it tough for equities to keep grinding higher — especially after the rally that brought the S&P 500 to overbought territory.

Another aspect is that while Powell has refrained from pushing back on the stock surge that has contributed to a recent easing in financial conditions, other policymakers may indeed embrace tougher talk to put a lid on gains.
That’s the perception of Lisa Shalett at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, who says the recent rally in the face of worsening earnings and economic expectations has produced “massive disconnects” that threaten market stability.
“Even though we shifted early this year from ‘cautious’ to ‘cautiously constructive,’ adding back to stocks for the first time in 18 months, we continue to expect market volatility ahead as news flow on earnings, inflation, the economy, and Fed bounces from bullish to bearish and back again,” wrote Stephen Auth, chief investment officer of equities at Federated Hermes.
The S&P 500 fell over 1%, almost wiping out its Tuesday’s rally.
The Nasdaq 100 underperformed, with Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. down more than 7% on concern that its new artificial intelligence chatbot Bard may yield inaccurate responses.
Some other mega caps like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. also slumped, while Microsoft Corp.’s erased gains that briefly put the software giant’s market value above $2 trillion.
To Troy Gayeski at FS Investments, it will be a challenging environment for equities and fixed income for quite some time.
“When you think of equity markets, we think it’s going to be a choppy, sloppy mess as far as the eye can see,” he said.
“It’s been a buoyant start to the year. And when you actually scratch your head, what’s actually causing it? The thing to remember is the most powerful rallies are always in bear markets because people underinvest and you have short covering that starts, and you start to suck people in to new bullish narratives.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s key measure of sales fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, showing that stubbornly high inflation is having an impact on the burrito chain’s operations.
* Yum! Brands Inc. reported profit that exceeded estimates as the company’s Taco Bell business pulled in consumers who may be trading down due to inflation.
* Uber Technologies Inc. reported revenue that beat estimates, suggesting rising inflation hasn’t kept consumers from ordering more takeout or hailing a ride.
* Under Armour Inc. raised its profit forecast after a strong holiday season and better-than-expected inventory management.
Elsewhere, Turkey’s stock exchange suspended trading for the first time in 24 years following a selloff that erased billions of dollars from the value of its main equities gauge in the wake of two devastating earthquakes.
Trading in Turkish equities, futures and option contracts will resume on Feb. 15.  
Key events:
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in EU leaders summit, Thursday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey appears before Treasury Committee, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, Friday

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 1.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0714
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.2066
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 131.42 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $22,827.99
* Ether fell 1.6% to $1,641.22
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 3.62%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.36%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.31%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.7% to $78.43 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,887.70 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Peyton Forte, Vildana Hajric and Isabelle Lee.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. -Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1927-2014.

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 7, 1940: The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time, giving rise to Beatlemania. Go to article » 

Charles Dickens, b.1812.
Chris Rock, b. 1966.
Ashton Kutcher, b. 1978.

Harvard psychiatrist says this is the secret to happiness.  If you’re in search of “the good life,” check out the lessons learned from the world’s longest scientific study on happiness.

Area woman makes recipes etched on gravestones.

La La Land is headed to Broadway.

Bright green laser lines shoot across night sky in Hawaii. What caused them?   A camera attached to a telescope on Hawaii’s tallest peak recently captured footage of a series of eerie, bright green lines that shot across the night sky for just over a second.  Experts say the unexpected light show resulted from a rapid burst of lasers fired toward Earth by a NASA spacecraft.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

7.5-foot-long sword from 4th-century Japan may have ‘protected’ deceased from evil spirits:  Archaeologists in Japan have unearthed a 7.5-foot-long (2.3 meters) iron sword during excavations of a 1,600-year-old burial mound near the city of Nara.  The sword was too large to wield as a weapon, so its purpose was probably to protect the person it was buried with from evil spirits, experts say. Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

Statue of slain Roman emperor dressed as Hercules found near sewer in Rome:  A newly found statue in Rome appears to depict a slain Roman emperor dressed as Hercules.  It may offer insight to the viewpoint of a Roman emperor who embraced traditional Greco-Roman gods at a time when Christianity was spreading throughout the empire. Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?   You’ve heard the age-old riddle: “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?” Taken metaphorically, it’s a meditation on the futility of determining the cause of a self-perpetuating cycle. Taken literally, it’s a great question for evolutionary biologists.  Chickens come from eggs, but eggs come from chickens. So which came first?  Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Amsterdam, the Netherlands
A woman takes a picture of a painting by Johannes Vermeer titled The Glass of Wine at the Rijksmuseum, which is hosting the biggest exhibition of the 17th-century artist’s work
Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

Ashkelon, Israel
Lightning strikes over the coastal city
Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

London, UK
Westminster Bridge shrouded in fog. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, activated the severe weather emergency protocol for the third time this winter as temperatures fell to -6C
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 7^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34156.69	+265.67
		+0.78%
S&P 500	4164.00	+52.92
		+1.29%
NASDAQ	12113.79	+226.34
		+1.90%
TSX	20725.00	+96.08
		+0.47%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27685.47	-8.18
		-0.03%
HANG SENG	21298.70	+76.54
		+0.36%
SENSEX	60286.04	-220.86
		-0.37%
FTSE 100*	7864.71	+28.00
		+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.087		3.052
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.126		3.091
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.6735		3.6399
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.7129		3.6736

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7466	0.7436
US $	1.3394	1.3448
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4370	0.6959
US  $	1.0730	0.9320

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1873.25	1875.35
Oil
WTI Crude Future	77.14	74.11

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1804, John Deere was born in Rutland, Vt. In 1837, he invented the world’s first self-cleaning steel plow, opening up the American frontier.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.5% at 20,725.00 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.6%.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.2%.
Lithium Americas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 9.9%.
Today, 142 of 236 shares rose, while 89 fell; 3 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 2.4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.8% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 4.6% 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 13.3 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$3.27t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.71% compared with 9.85% in the previous session and the average of 12.42% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 57.4413| 1.6| 38/1
Financials | 56.5126| 0.9| 23/6
Materials | 19.3054| 0.8| 40/8
Information Technology | -0.1659| 0.0| 7/6
Health Care | -0.2149| -0.3| 2/4
Consumer Discretionary | -0.8478| -0.1| 6/9
Real Estate | -2.1865| -0.4| 6/16
Industrials | -4.9990| -0.2| 12/14
Consumer Staples | -7.0750| -0.9| 4/7
Communication Services | -10.5456| -1.1| 0/6
Utilities | -11.1409| -1.3| 4/12
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 14.0300| 1.2| -51.2| 5.9
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.5400| 2.1| -20.9| 5.5
Cenovus Energy | 10.1200| 4.2| -2.9| -0.7
Shopify | -4.2720| -0.8| -10.5| 46.4
Canadian Pacific | -4.8160| -0.7| -9.8| 3.1
Nutrien | -8.5110| -2.1| -11.9| 10.1
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stock traders bracing for Jerome Powell to push back against the powerful rally that led to a loosening in financial conditions didn’t really get that, with the market finding encouragement to move higher.
What the Federal Reserve’s chief said Tuesday wasn’t that much different from his remarks last week, noted JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Michael Feroli.
Powell basically highlighted that disinflation has begun, it has a long way to go and further hikes will likely be needed if the jobs market remains strong.
When asked if he would have raised rates by 50 basis points in February, instead of the 25 basis points as officials did, Powell demurred.
“The important takeaway is that Powell had a chance to signal a shift to a more aggressive posture and he didn’t take it,” wrote Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas. “In the near-term, the Fed will likely continue to make one (or perhaps two) more hike(s) before going on hold.”
JPMorgan’s Feroli added that markets “shouldn’t expect the same degree of hand holding” from the central bank as it gets closer to the terminal rate as data will dictate its path.
The S&P 500 halted a two-day slide that was driven mostly by overbought conditions.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed over 2%, with giants Microsoft Corp. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. soaring.
The dollar fell alongside Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves.
“The bond bullish response in the US rates market indicated that Powell’s decision to set a tone that wasn’t particularly more hawkish than last week’s comments was a disappointment for those anticipating the payrolls print would have changed the messaging,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets. “Staying the course in this context underwhelmed a subset of investors hoping for a more aggressive response.”
Earlier Tuesday, Fed Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said January’s strong labor-market report shows the US central bank would need to keep raising rates. “Right now I’m still at around 5.4%,” he told CNBC Tuesday, referring to his forecast for how high rates need to go to bridle inflation.
The Fed raised its benchmark to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% last week.
Traders will also keep a close eye on Joe Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening in light of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt  ceiling.
For investors worried that stock prices are going to be pummeled by shrinking corporate profits, here’s a little bit of good news: the drop so far seems largely priced in.
With fourth-quarter results from more than half of the S&P 500 companies already in, earnings per share have fallen 2.8% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
That’s less than the 3.3% drop expected before earnings season began.
The smaller-than-anticipated drop suggests that the profit contraction isn’t beginning as badly as once feared, lending support to share-price valuations.
“We continue to see broadening breadth and constructive price action to support further upside in equities,” said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler. “Our short-term indicators suggest some areas may have rallied too much, too fast. However, we do not expect a significant reversal of the current YTD uptrend and view pullbacks and consolidations as buying opportunities.”
Still, as the Nasdaq 100 approaches a bull market and earnings estimates are trending down, valuations have swelled to expensive levels compared with real bond yields, posing a risk to the rally.
The tech-heavy benchmark’s forward price-to-earnings ratio has jumped to 24, the highest level since April, spurred by bets that inflation has peaked and the Fed will pivot soon.
The move is at odds with the inflation-protected 10-year Treasury yield, which remains high on fears that a buoyant job market and stronger-than-expected economic data will keep the pressure on the Fed to stay hawkish. 
Key events:
* US wholesale inventories, Wednesday
* New York Fed President John Williams is interviewed at Wall Street Journal live event, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in EU leaders summit, Thursday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey appears before Treasury Committee, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0724
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2040
* The Japanese yen rose 1.2% to 131.10 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.3% to $23,203.53
* Ether rose 1.7% to $1,666.16
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.67%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.35%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 3.32%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.3% to $77.30 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,883.20 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Michael Msika, Vildana Hajric, Peyton Forte, Isabelle Lee and Lu Wang.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.  This we know; the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.
All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.  Man does not weave this web of life.  He is merely a strand of it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. -Chief Seattle, 1786-1866.

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.
Full moon last night.

February 6, 1945 Reggae musician Bob Marley was born in St. Ann parish in Jamaica. Go to article » 
February 6^th, 1958: Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.

Babe Ruth, b.1895.
ZsaZsa Gabor, b.1919.

Watch this dramatic ocean rescue: See the moment a huge wave pummels a boat during a Coast Guard rescue attempt in the Pacific Northwest.

8 possible alien ‘technosignatures’ detected around distant stars in new AI study.  Using a new machine-learning algorithm, scientists have picked up eight extraterrestrial signals that seem to bear the hallmarks of technology.   The research, published Jan. 30 in the journal Nature Astronomy, doesn’t claim to have really found proof of intelligent aliens; a brief follow-up search for the signals detected in the study turned up only silence. But the study authors say that using artificial intelligence is a promising way to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Full Story: Live Science (2/3).

What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built?
The Egyptian pyramids erupting from the sands at Giza are a testament to human ingenuity and engineering. Raised to mark the tombs of ancient pharaohs, these great structures have stood for thousands of years.
But over the millennia, the pyramids have changed, largely due to construction workers’ repurposing of in-demand materials and looting. So what did the pyramids look like when they were built? Full Story: Live Science (2/5)

‘1-in-10-billion’ star system is doomed to explode in a fiery kilonova: For the first time, scientists have discovered a double-star system that is doomed to explode in a fiery “kilonova,” a precious-metal-creating blast caused by the merger of two stellar corpses.  The kilonova — which will send gold, silver, platinum and other new heavy elements careening into space — won’t happen for millions of years.  Full Story: Live Science (2/4)

Hidden tide in Earth’s magnetospheric ‘plasma ocean’ revealed in new study: The moon exerts a previously unknown tidal force on the “plasma ocean” surrounding Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating fluctuations that are similar to the tides in the oceans, a new study suggests.  Scientists used more than 40 years of data collected by satellites to track the minute changes in the shape of the plasmasphere, the inner region of Earth’s magnetosphere, which shields our planet from solar storms and other types of high-energy particles.  Full Story: Live Science (2/3)

17th-century Frenchwoman’s ‘innovative’ gold dental work was likely torturous to her teeth: An aristocratic woman at the height of French society at the turn of the 17th century preserved her alluring smile by having her teeth secured with gold wires — a painful procedure that may have made her condition worse.   The remains of the woman, Anne d’Alègre, who lived from 1565 until 1619, were discovered during archaeological excavations in 1988 at the Chateau de Laval in northwestern France. Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

A Henry VIII-era pendant was found using a metal detector. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Chablais valaisan, Switzerland
The full moon sets behind the mountains, including the twin peaks of Les Jumelles
Photograph: Anthony Anex/EPA

Jilin, China
On the third day after the beginning of spring, Jilin City in Jilin province witnessed a rare natural spectacle of heavy fog, snowflakes, rime and sun gathering
Photograph: Sipa Asia/Rex/Shutterstock

Tynemouth, UK
People walk their dogs at sunrise along Tynemouth longsands
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Market Closes for February 6^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33891.02	-34.99
		0.10%
S&P 500	4111.08	-25.40
		-0.61%
NASDAQ	11887.45	-119.51
		-1.00%
TSX	20628.92	-129.42
		-0.62%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27693.65	+184.19
		+0.67%
HANG SENG	21222.16	-438.31
		-2.02%
SENSEX	60506.90	-334.98
		-0.55%
FTSE 100*	7836.71	-65.09
		-0.82%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		3.052		2.929
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.091		3.006
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.6399		3.5246
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.6736		3.6140

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7436	0.7468
US $	1.3448	1.3391
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4427	0.6931
US  $	1.0727	0.9322

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1875.35	1921.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	74.11	73.39

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1808, the Milan Stock Exchange was established. It was first known as the Borsa Valori di Milano and is now called the Borsa Italiana
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.6% at 20,628.92 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.1%.
Brookfield Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.
Osisko Mining Inc. had the largest drop, falling 10.5%.
Today, 174 of 236 shares fell, while 54 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.1% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.4% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 4.1% 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 13.3 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$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.85% compared with 10.36% in the previous session and the average of 12.60% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -40.4153| -0.6| 7/22
Materials | -30.1063| -1.2| 8/39
Industrials | -17.6712| -0.7| 5/20
Information Technology | -16.2079| -1.2| 6/8
Consumer Discretionary | -7.5691| -1.0| 3/12
Energy | -7.3370| -0.2| 11/26
Real Estate | -7.2428| -1.3| 0/22
Consumer Staples | -1.6639| -0.2| 5/6
Health Care | -1.4839| -1.8| 0/6
Communication Services | -0.3451| 0.0| 3/3
Utilities | 0.6126| 0.1| 6/10
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Brookfield Corp | -17.9400| -3.6| 5.7| 14.4
Shopify | -13.0600| -2.2| -38.9| 47.5
TD Bank | -9.0190| -0.8| -15.5| 4.6
Fortis | 1.8840| 1.0| 8.1| 2.7
Waste Connections | 2.6810| 0.9| -31.0| -0.5
Bank of Montreal | 2.8160| 0.4| -18.2| 10.4
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks gave back some of this year’s gains, with traders waiting to see if Jerome Powell will dampen the bullish reaction to his recent remarks amid bets the Federal Reserve will keep its firm grip on policy.
As equities came off overbought levels, Treasuries took a hit following the best start to a year for cross-asset returns since 1987.
The Fed’s boss will have an opportunity in an interview Tuesday to remind Wall Street that bets on rate cuts in 2023 are probably misplaced.
Fed funds futures show another 25 basis-point hike in March as a nearly done deal, while pegging a 75% chance of another one in May.
The odds for a June hike have also risen.
“Fed Chair Powell remains a big wild card every time he speaks,” said Chris Senyek at Wolfe Research. “Investors will be looking to see if he ‘walks back’ his very dovish tone from last Wednesday, particularly with respect to financial conditions and the US ‘disinflationary process.’ We still believe that the Fed will be ‘higher for longer’.”
Fed Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said January’s strong jobs report raises the possibility that the central bank will need to increase interest rates to a higher peak than policymakers had previously expected.
Geopolitical concerns also simmered on the background, with the US preparing to impose a 200% tariff on Russian-made aluminum and US-listed Chinese shares tumbling as Washington’s move to shoot down an alleged surveillance balloon from the Asian nation.
A rout in mega-caps like Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc., which reported results last week, weighed on sentiment.
The group’s reality check came after the Nasdaq 100 approached bull-market territory.
Investors will continue to focus on earnings to figure out whether the recent rally was a “bear trap” driven by “fear of missing out,” noted Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
“The major averages have become overbought after their strong January rallies,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “We are not trying to say that any short-term pullback will be followed by another strong
rally. In fact, we believe that a short-term pullback could — and probably will — turn into another leg lower in the bear market that began just over a year ago.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategist Marko Kolanovic reiterated that stock investors should fade last week’s Fed-induced rally, arguing the US economy’s disinflationary process could just be “transitory.”
The S&P 500 now accurately reflects signs of better-than-expected economic growth and a drop in bond yields, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists led by David Kostin.
At the same time, higher valuations, lackluster corporate earnings and elevated interest rates mean there’s little room for the rally to extend, they said, a view that was broadly echoed by their counterpart at Morgan Stanley, Michael Wilson.
To Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management, the risk-reward trade-off for equities doesn’t look appealing.
She continues to recommend that equity investors position defensively and be prepared for additional volatility ahead.
“We remain bearish equities,” said Eric Johnston at Cantor Fitzgerald. “There has been a dramatic change in sentiment and positioning which has gotten much more bullish, making this a tailwind for our bearish view. And while this dramatic change has happened, the outlook for earnings, the Fed, and multiples is unchanged. All of the stock being bought now will just create that much more supply on the way down.”
Now with the path for further monetary tightening in focus, bond investors still broadly expect US inflation to ebb further.
The so-called breakeven rate on five-year five-year forwards — a proxy for inflation expectations — slumped to 2.18% on Friday from 2.31% a week prior.
It was little changed Monday.
A similar gauge for 10-year inflation-linked bonds, meantime, hovered near 2.25% Monday.
That compares to a recent peak of 2.6% in late-October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Separately, a recent drop in the price of gasoline futures weighed on short-term breakevens.

“Amid the ongoing race between declining inflation and a flagging economy, every data set of positive news will soon be perceived as another barrier to recession,” said Silvercrest Asset Management’s Robert Teeter. “We look for continued improvements in inflation and a persevering economy to provide modest gains on the year, with portfolio performance subject to judicious stock selection.”
Meantime, the divergence between the Nasdaq 100 and 10-year Treasury yields is becoming extreme, which has been a negative signal for the index during the past 18 months, according to cross-asset sales trader Gurmit Kapoor. The tech-heavy benchmark has been particularly sensitive to the bond market, and has seen strong corrections during the past four occurrences when it decoupled from rates.
That doesn’t mean it’s all gloom and doom for tech stocks.
The share of investors willing to increase exposure to the industry over the next six months rose to 41% in the latest MLIV Pulse survey from 32% in September.
In corporate news, Dell Technologies Inc. is eliminating about 6,650 roles as it faces plummeting demand for personal computers, becoming the latest technology company to announce thousands of job cuts.
Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest US meat company, said fiscal first-quarter earnings plunged 70% from a year ago and missed expectations.
Elsewhere, the yen fell on the back of a Nikkei report that the Japanese government approached Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya about succeeding Haruhiko Kuroda at the helm of the central bank.
A selloff in emerging markets deepened, with currencies having their biggest two-day decline since March 2020.
Key events:
* US trade, Tuesday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell interviewed by David Rubinstein at the Economic Club of Washington, Tuesday
* President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address before Congress, Tuesday
* US wholesale inventories, Wednesday
* New York Fed President John Williams is interviewed at Wall Street Journal live event, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in EU leaders summit, Thursday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey appears before Treasury Committee, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0730
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2024
* The Japanese yen fell 1.1% to 132.62 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.5% to $23,008.57
* Ether rose 1.5% to $1,647.26
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 11 basis points to 3.63%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 2.30%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 19 basis points to 3.24%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.4% to $74.41 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,881.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee and Michael Msika.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann

Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer.
In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences. –W.H. Auden, 1907-1973.

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

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

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

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
February 3, 1959: Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake,  Iowa.  This event is later known as “The Day the Music Died.”
February 3, 1995: The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time.  Go to article » 

Gertrude Stein, writer, b. 1874.
Simone Weil, mystic, b. 1909.

The full ‘Snow micro-moon’ rises Feb. 5. Here’s how to see it.  When it rises on Feb. 5, the full moon will appear smaller than average because it is at one of its most distant points in its elliptical path around Earth.
This positioning makes February’s “Snow Moon” a micro-moon, a full moon that is visible when the moon is at one of its greatest distances from the planet. In astronomical terms, this is called apogee. Full Story: Live Science (2/2)

Rat brain injuries ‘plugged’ with lab-grown human minibrains in world-first experiment: Miniature, lab-grown models of the human brain’s wrinkled surface can be used to patch injuries in the brains of living rats and thus repair broken connections in the rodents’ sensory processing systems, a new study shows.  Someday, such minibrains — known as brain organoids — could potentially be used to mend the brains of human patients, too, the study authors propose.  Full Story: Live Science (2/2)

17-pound meteorite found in Antarctica, likely hidden for millennia, is perfectly intact: Scientists recently scooped up one of the heaviest meteorites ever discovered in Antarctica, as well as four other frozen space rocks that likely crashed into the icy continent thousands of years ago.
The researchers found the mini-hoard of meteorites on the surface of the Nils Larsen blue ice zone near the Belgian-owned Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station.  Full Story: Live Science (2/2)

Battle site of ‘Great Revolt’ recorded on Rosetta Stone unearthed in Egypt:  Archaeologists have long known about the Great Revolt, a battle between the ancient Egyptians and the Ptolemaic Kingdom that lasted from 207 B.C. to 184 B.C., because it is mentioned on the Rosetta Stone and in other historical texts.   But now, archaeologists have finally discovered the exact location of one of the revolt’s battles.  Full Story: Live Science

The people who live inside airplanes: These homes are anything but plane. Meet the people who bought airplanes and converted them into private homes.

Subway hopes new meat slicers will boost sales: Following a menu revamp and store renovations, the company believes its plan to slice meat in front of customers could make 2023 another record year.

How to buy a monastery in Italy: Surrounded by olive groves and green rolling hills, just imagine living a peaceful, slow life in this rural Italian village.

“Some people may have to go back to stealing Netflix the old-fashioned way, sitting with binoculars in your neighbor’s tree.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Masai Mara, Kenya
A lioness surveys the landscape of the Masai Mara in Kenya from the top of an umbrella acacia thorn tree
Photograph: Siddhesh Mungekar/Media Drum Images

Ein Bokek, Israel
Competitors running on a salty track during the annual Dead Sea Marathon
Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Worshippers take part in the traditional ceremony of Iemanjá, the goddess of the sea of the Afro-Brazilian religion Umbanda, at Arpoador beach
Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 3^rd, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33926.01	-127.93
		-0.38%
S&P 500	4136.48	-43.28
		-1.04%
NASDAQ	12006.96	-193.86
		-1.59%
TSX	20758.34	+17.90
		+0.09%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27509.46	+107.41
		+0.39%
HANG SENG	21660.47	-297.89
		-1.36%
SENSEX	60841.88	+909.64
		+1.52%
FTSE 100*	7901.80	+81.64
		+1.04%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		2.929		2.827
CND. 30 Year Bond		3.006		2.934
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.5246		3.3964
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.6140		3.5488

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7468	0.7505
US $	1.3391	1.3324
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4480	0.6906
US  $	1.0814	0.9247

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1921.65	1925.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	73.39	75.88

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1913, the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution established Congress’s right to enact a federal income tax.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,758.34 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.1%.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3%.
Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest increase, rising 14.6%.
Today, 102 of 236 shares rose, while 132 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index declined 1.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 8% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.5% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 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 10.36% compared with 10.91% in the previous session and the average of 12.74% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 25.8615| 0.4| 13/16
Energy | 25.1788| 0.7| 29/9
Consumer Staples | 8.1153| 1.0| 9/2
Industrials | 6.9504| 0.3| 11/15
Information Technology | 6.3735| 0.5| 6/8
Consumer Discretionary | 5.4911| 0.7| 12/3
Communication Services | 3.7808| 0.4| 4/2
Health Care | -0.9217| -1.1| 2/5
Utilities | -4.1506| -0.5| 5/11
Real Estate | -5.7652| -1.0| 2/20
Materials | -53.0143| -2.1| 9/41
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 16.9200| 1.3| -27.3| 8.5
Bank of Montreal | 6.2150| 1.0| -30.6| 10.0
Canadian National | 6.1320| 0.9| 3.1| -0.1
Fairfax Financial | -4.6650| -3.3| -43.2| 7.6
Agnico Eagle Mines | -9.1850| -4.0| 69.8| -0.1
Barrick Gold | -14.8800| -4.7| 1.1| 5.8
US
By Peyton Forte and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks halted a three-day advance after a volatile Friday session that saw equities swerve between modest gains and losses as investors contended with data pointing to a robust labor market.
The S&P 500 still notched a weekly gain that took the index to its highest level since August.
The Nasdaq 100 also scored a weekly advance, despite heavy selling after Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon. com Inc. reported disappointing results Thursday.
Friday’s session capped a hectic week that brought a raft of corporate earnings, economic data and a Federal Reserve policy decision.
Yields on Treasuries spiked higher after a surprisingly strong jobs report that should give the Fed room to remain aggressive if inflation stays elevated.
The two-year yield jumped about 19 basis points after touching a low for the year earlier in the week.
“We are concerned that on the back of this kind of jobs report, it definitely holds the Fed to a higher-for-longer path,” said Lisa Erickson, senior vice president and head of public markets group at US Bank Wealth Management. “There are of course other data points that are going to come before the next meeting, but it certainly puts a placeholder that labor market continues to run some risk of being extremely tight.”
Trading on swaps markets indicated expectations that fed funds rates will almost hit 5%, up by almost 10 basis points on the day.
A strong reading on the American economy’s services sector also bolstered concern that growth hadn’t sufficiently cooled to temper price gains.
A dollar index rose the most on Friday since late September.
Geopolitical tensions simmered in the background, with the Biden administration postponing Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Beijing after detecting a Chinese surveillance balloon over sensitive nuclear sites in Montana, two officials said.
Here’s what Wall Street said about the bewildering jobs report:
Jeffrey Rosenberg, a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock Inc.: “This is a big push back to the slowing. This is a reminder of what Powell tried to say to the market — though the market wasn’t listening — that their main concern is they’re not yet seeing the impact of their tightening in the labor markets.”
John Leiper, chief investment officer at Titan Asset Management: “There is a huge disparity between market pricing and the commentary coming from central banks. Yes, you could make the case that Jerome Powell was a little more dovish than expected, but he was very clear that his intention is to keep rates higher for longer until the job is done, and that simply isn’t the case yet. Today’s employment data might catalyze a reversion in this apparent dichotomy.”
Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard: “The clear takeaway for the Fed should be that financial conditions remain too loose to ensure inflation will return to the 2% target. While wage gains show few signs of accelerating,
persistent labor market tightness combined with the loss of real wages since the pandemic is highly likely to lead to increased wage demands over time.”
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 1.2%
* The euro fell 1% to $1.0796
* The British pound fell 1.4% to $1.2051
* The Japanese yen fell 1.9% to 131.14 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.5% to $23,338.22
* Ether rose 1.2% to $1,656.1
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 14 basis points to 3.53%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 11 basis points to 2.19%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 3.06%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.4% to $73.27 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 2.7% to $1,877.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Robert Brand.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart. –Spanish Proverb.
Carolann

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.  It’s Groundhog Day.
Imbolc: Wiccan Feast of Torches.

February 2, 1653 New Amsterdam – now New York City – was incorporated.  Go to article » 
February 2, 1913: Grand Central Station opens in New York City.

James Joyce, b.1882
Ayn Rand, b. 1905.
W.H. Auden, b. 1907

Australia’s new $5 note won’t feature King Charles.  The bill will feature Australia’s Indigenous population instead, the country’s central bank announced today.

Punxsutawney Phil has mad skills.

A peek inside a 319-million-year-old brain

Only filmed interview with Georges Lemaitre, ‘father of the Big Bang,’ rediscovered after 60 years:  The only known video interview with Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître, widely considered the “father of the Big Bang,” talking about the birth of the universe has been rediscovered almost 60 years after it was lost.
Lemaître (1894-1966) was the first person to propose that the movement of galaxies away from Earth was a sign that the universe was expanding, which was later observationally confirmed by the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Elaborate underground embalming workshop discovered at Saqqara: Archaeologists at Saqqara have finally identified the many embalming ingredients used to mummify the dead in ancient Egypt.
They also deciphered how those different ingredients — many of which came from distant lands — were used.  Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Stockpile of 2,000-year-old gemstones found in Roman bathhouse drain:  Archaeologists recently uncovered a stockpile of 2,000-year-old glittering gemstones clogging the drain of a Roman bathhouse near Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle, England.  The 30 engraved, semi-precious stones — known as intaglios — likely dropped out of the ring settings worn by bathers who took to the waters sometime during the second and third centuries A.D., The Guardian reported.  Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

“Tom Brady announced he’s decided to retire, but for real this time. Every year on the first of February, Tom Brady comes out of the locker room to announce his retirement. Then if he sees his shadow, he goes right back to the N.F.L.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“First, they searched near Biden’s Corvette, now they’re searching his beach house. I’m starting to think Biden created this whole scandal as a humblebrag,” Jimmy Fallon said.
“[imitating Biden] ‘Why don’t you check by my infinity pool? Maybe there’s something behind the Picasso, I don’t know.’” — JIMMY FALLON

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Washington DC, US
Dancers of the United Ukrainian Ballet dance during their opening performance at the Kennedy Center
Photograph: Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Abu Rakah, Saudi Arabia
A donkey crosses the road while the peloton is competing during Stage 3, a 159.2km stage
Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

Jishou, China
Tourists visit the illuminated Qianzhou ancient city to celebrate lunar new year, the year of the rabbit
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 2nd, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34053.94	-39.02
		-0.11%
S&P 500	4179.76	+60.55
		+1.47%
NASDAQ	12200.82	+384.50
		+3.25%
TSX	20740.44	-10.61
		-0.05%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27402.05	+55.17
		+0.20%
HANG SENG	21958.36	-113.82
		-0.52%
SENSEX	59932.24	+224.16
		+0.38%
FTSE 100*	7820.16	+59.05
		+0.76%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		2.827		2.859
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.934		2.948
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.3964		3.4148
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.5488		3.5666

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7505	0.7531
US $	1.3324	1.3278
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4520	0.6887
US  $	1.0896	0.9178

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1925.90	1923.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	75.88	76.41

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1998, less than three years after breaking the 500 mark, the S&P 500 closed above 1000 for the first time, finishing the day at 1001.27
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 20,740.44 in Toronto.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as 5 of 11 sectors lost; 121 of 236 shares fell, while 111 rose.
Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8%. Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest drop, falling 23.7%.
Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index declined 2.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.3% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 7% 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 13.3 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$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 10.91% compared with 10.91% in the previous session and the average of 12.85% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -52.3428| -1.5| 3/36
Materials | -50.2862| -1.9| 11/39
Communication Services | -14.3506| -1.4| 1/4
Consumer Staples | -9.5170| -1.2| 1/10
Consumer Discretionary | -3.4305| -0.4| 8/7
Health Care | 0.7767| 0.9| 6/1
Real Estate | 7.2628| 1.3| 17/5
Utilities | 7.8382| 0.9| 10/5
Industrials | 26.8288| 1.0| 23/3
Financials | 36.2120| 0.6| 20/8
Information Technology | 40.3853| 3.0| 11/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Suncor Energy | -15.9300| -3.8| 49.9| 2.2
Canadian Natural Resources | -12.7700| -2.1| -16.9| 2.4
BCE | -11.6500| -2.9| 117.7| 3.2
Canadian Pacific | 12.5900| 1.9| 43.9| 4.6
Brookfield Corp | 15.7800| 3.3| 21.0| 19.4
Shopify | 37.7900| 6.9| 28.8| 51.9
US
By Robert Brand
(Bloomberg) — US stocks rallied for a third day as traders anticipate the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle may be nearing its peak.
Earnings that came in after hours dented the euphoria, with the Invesco QQQ Trust, the biggest ETF tracking the Nasdaq 100, dropping more than 1%.
Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. dropped in late trading after reporting results.
Ford Motor Co. and Starbucks Corp. also retreated after giving an update on last quarter’s performance.
During Thursday’s regular trading session, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was boosted by Meta Platforms Inc.’s biggest surge since 2013, fueled by the company’s earnings and upbeat outlook.
The index narrowly averted stepping into a bull market form its December low as it pared some of its gains in the afternoon.
The S&P 500 closed up more than 1%.
Both indexes rallied the most in the last three sessions since November.
Treasuries pared earlier gains, with the 10-year yield around 3.40%.
A dollar index rose the most in nearly a month.
Risk assets had been bolstered since late Wednesday, when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has made progress in its inflation battle even as labor-market data continues to show tightness that could add to wage pressures.
The Labor Department releases its hiring report for January on Friday.
“Data will drive the Fed’s intent,” said Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research. “Payroll on Friday needs to confirm lower wages or internals will flip. We are still watching data.”
Investors across the globe have been cheering what they perceive as varying degrees of dovish tilts from central banks across the globe.
Powell dodging a question about financial conditions easing recently fueled optimism among US investors who had been prepared for him to push back against the recent rally in risk assets.
Euphoria intensified after the Bank of England raised rates by half a point but indicated that its tightening cycle is drawing to a close.
And while the European Central Bank remained somewhat hawkish, traders were heartened when President Christine Lagarde acknowledged disinflation.
“After the Fed and Bank of England both hinted at being close to the peak in their cycles, today’s meeting suggests the ECB is comfortable that it is also close to the end of its monetary tightening,” said Steve Ryder,  senior portfolio
manager at Aviva Investors. “We believe this peak tightening backdrop will continue to reduce volatility in government bonds over the coming months and make for an attractive income opportunity.”
Meanwhile, positioning in US swaps markets assumes the Fed is getting closer to cutting rates as traders bet that economic conditions are likely to keep it from the additional rate increases that policy makers still anticipate.
“While the Fed slowed its pace of rate hikes, there is still plenty of uncertainty on the trajectory of inflation and how its tightening of monetary policy will affect economic growth and earnings this year,” said Brad Bernstein, a
Philadelphia-based managing director at UBS Wealth Management.   However, investors will now shift their focus to big-tech earnings, he said.  “Guidance from big-tech earnings is likely to set the tone and direction of markets in the near-term,” he said.
Key events this week:
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 4:02 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.7% to $1.0913
* The British pound fell 1.1% to $1.2236
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 128.72 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.8% to $23,865.01
* Ether rose 2.8% to $1,680.96
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.40%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined 20 basis points to 2.08%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined 30 basis points to 3.01%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $75.85 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.8% to $1,926.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Tassia Sipahutar and Brett Miller.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
There ain’t nothing but one thing wrong with every one of us, and that’s selfishness.-Will Rogers, 1879-1935.

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:

February 1, 1964: The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
February 1, 1982 “Late Night with David Letterman” premiered on NBC.   Go to article » 

How to watch the rare green comet whiz past Earth tonight
A comet with a greenish glow will make its closest approach to Earth since the age of the Neanderthals tonight (Feb. 1 to 2), and if you look in the right place at the right time, you might be able to spot it.
The comet, known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will come within 26.4 million miles (42.8 million kilometers) of our planet, its closest approach in about 50,000 years. Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Instagram’s founders are back with a new app.  The app’s co-founders announced their next big venture on Tuesday, more than 10 years after they sold Instagram to Meta for $1 billion.

Mysterious flying whirlpool captured in night sky over Hawaii.  Some researchers say this spectacular sight seems to be related to a new SpaceX satellite launch. Watch the video here.

Egyptian mummies covered in gold are rare, and we may have just found the oldest: Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a series of tombs dating back around 4,300 years at Saqqara, including a sarcophagus holding the oldest known ancient Egyptian mummy that is covered with gold.
The record-breaking tomb had a sealed sarcophagus containing the mummy of a man that a hieroglyphic inscription identifies as Hekashepes. Full Story: Live Science (1/31)

Ultra-rare ‘rainbow clouds’ light up the Arctic Circle like auroras in stunning new photos: The dark skies in the Arctic Circle recently shone with ethereal multi-colored light. But this jaw-dropping spectacle was not caused by auroras.  Instead, the iridescent rainbows were caused by clouds of tiny ice crystals floating higher in the atmosphere than is normally possible.  Full Story: Live Science (1/31)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Carinthia, Austria
Speed skaters compete in the alternative Elfstedentocht, inspired by the traditional canal racing event in the Netherlands, on the 12km (7.5 mile) long Weissensee lake in southern Austria
Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Rex/Shutterstock

Ankara, Turkey
Walkers get out in a snow covered forest
Photograph: Evrim Aydin/Getty Images

Jieyang, China
Folk artists in eastern Guangdong province perform a fire dragon dance to welcome the lantern festival which brings to a close traditional Chinese new year festivities
Photograph: John Ricky/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 1st, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	34092.96	+6.92
		+0.02%
S&P 500	4119.21	+42.61
		+1.05%
NASDAQ	11816.32	+231.77
		+2.00%
TSX	20751.05	-16.33
		-0.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	27346.88	+19.77
		+0.07%
HANG SENG	22072.18	+229.85
		+1.05%
SENSEX	59708.08	+158.18
		+0.27%
FTSE 100*	7761.11	-10.59
		-0.14%

Bonds

Bonds		% Yield		Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond		2.859		2.916
CND. 30 Year Bond		2.948		2.975
U.S.    10 Year Bond		3.4148		3.5069
U.S. 30 Year Bond		3.5666		3.6322

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7531	0.7515
US $	1.3278	1.3307
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4628	0.6836
US  $	1.1017	0.9077

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1923.90	1924.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	76.41	78.87

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1946, the U.S. venture-capital industry was born as John Hay Whitney founded J.H. Whitney & Co. to finance promising new businesses. Leading Wall Street figures warned him that his idea of venture-capital financing would never work. Whitney’s firm went on to finance Freeport Sulphur, the Minute Maid Co., Memorex Corp. and Compaq Computer
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 20,751.05 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.9%.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as 3 of 11 sectors lost; 87 of 236 shares fell, while 148 rose.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.
Spartan Delta Corp. had the largest drop, falling 11.2%.
Insights
* The index declined 2.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.9% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 7% 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 13.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.91% compared with 11.79% in the previous session and the average of 12.94% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -83.3025| -2.3| 6/33
Consumer Staples | -13.7859| -1.7| 4/7
Utilities | -6.8547| -0.8| 6/10
Health Care | 0.9260| 1.1| 5/2
Financials | 4.5007| 0.1| 19/10
Industrials | 5.1814| 0.2| 21/5
Communication Services | 5.5285| 0.6| 5/1
Real Estate | 6.0684| 1.1| 16/6
Consumer Discretionary | 12.8954| 1.7| 13/2
Information Technology | 22.9011| 1.7| 11/3
Materials | 29.6093| 1.1| 42/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -22.7000| -3.6| -13.6| 4.7
TC Energy | -22.4900| -5.6| 54.6| 0.2
Cenovus Energy | -9.4480| -3.7| 32.7| -2.6
Magna Intl | 6.5140| 4.1| 103.7| 18.2
CGI Inc | 6.8150| 4.1| 174.8| 1.7
Shopify | 10.0200| 1.9| 37.3| 42.1
US
By Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks rose as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has made progress in its battle against inflation while warning that additional rate hikes are likely warranted.
The S&P 500 jumped more than 1% after Powell said the “disinflation process has started,” suggesting the aggressive tightening cycle is starting to have its desired effect of reducing the pace of price growth.
The Nasdaq 100’s gains exceeded 2%.
Treasuries also rallied.
The two-year yield slid as much as twelve basis points to 4.08%, while the 10-year rate touched 3.38%.
A dollar index fell to its lowest since April.
Powell, during the press conference, also sidestepped a question about the recent easing of financial conditions, a measure of market stresses that the central bank monitors for the effectiveness of its policies.
He said that the focus is “not on short-term moves but on sustained changes.”
Investors had been bracing for harsh commentary from the Fed aimed at cooling the recent run-up in risk assets that could complicate its fight against inflation.
“Powell has said that financial conditions have tightened considerably despite the fact that they have eased considerably.
The fact that he has said this is dovish in its own right,” wrote Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research.
The odds are increasing that the Fed is “declaring victory too soon”, Dutta said.  “The Fed’s flirtation with the soft landing today increases the risk of a harder landing later.”
But the Fed’s message wasn’t without warnings for financial markets.
The central bank said ongoing rate increases would likely be warranted and that officials were discussing a couple more hikes to get policy restrictive enough to beat back inflation.
The Fed Funds rate of 4.5% to 4.75% is still more than 25 basis points below where officials in December said they expected it to peak.
“The Fed is essentially speaking out of both sides of the mouth as they signaled further increases are appropriate, but also acknowledged they will consider the cumulative amount of tightening in future policy decisions,” Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management, wrote in a note.
Ripley said the Fed’s remarks indicate that it’s near the end of its tightening cycle and “ready to sit tight while the economic data catches up to the policy.”
But markets may be fighting the Fed again on Wednesday, according to Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard.
Powell’s comments, when taken together with data on Wednesday showing a surge in job openings makes Temple “believe markets remain too dovish regarding how high rates will go and how long they will stay there.”
Key events this week:
* Earnings Wednesday include: Meta Platforms and Peloton Interactive
* Eurozone ECB rate decision, President Christine Lagarde press conference, Thursday
* UK BOE rate decision, Thursday
* US factory orders, initial jobless claims, US durable goods, Thursday
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Deutsche Bank and Santander
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.1% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index rose 0.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.8%
* The euro rose 1.2% to $1.0988
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2373
* The Japanese yen rose 1% to 128.84 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.7% to $23,573.78
* Ether rose 3.7% to $1,635.55
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 3.40%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.28%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.31%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.5% to $76.90 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1% to $1,965.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Robert Brand and Peyton Forte.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Work usually follows will. –Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895.

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