February 23, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: 1945, Iwo Jima Day

On Feb. 23, 1954, the first mass inoculation of children against polio with the Salk vaccine began in Pittsburgh. Go to article »

Miners find 65-million-year-old opalized pearls.

105-year-old Covid survivor credits gin-soaked raisins for her health.

The Milky Way may be swarming with planets with oceans and continents

Have you seen NASA’s stunning, high-definition footage of its rover landing on the Martian surface? The clip released yesterday is the first time a spacecraft’s landing on Mars has been recorded in high-speed video, and NASA also shared the first sound ever recorded on the red planet.

Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the poet and publisher who nurtured the Beat movement from his famed San Francisco bookstore, City Lights, died at age 101.  An unapologetic proponent of “poetry as insurgent art,” Mr. Ferlinghetti, pictured in 1957, befriended, published and championed many of the major Beat poets, including Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Michael McClure.

Mongolia’s eagle hunters.  Deep in the Altai Mountains, where Russia, China, Kazakhstan and Mongolia meet, Kazakh people have for centuries developed and nurtured a special bond with golden eagles, training the birds to hunt foxes and other small animals. The ancient custom, traditionally passed down from father to son at a young age, is considered a great source of pride.  Claire Thomas, a war and conflict photographer, explores the relationships between animals and the people who depend on them in the latest edition of The World Through a Lens.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Astronomy Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award: The Cave of the Wild Horses
CREDIT: BRYONY RICHARDS

Royal Navy Padre (Russel Fralick) from 45 Commando gazes at the Northern Lights standing next to a ten-man tent wearing a red head torch in Norway.
CREDIT: LPHOT JAMES CLARKE/ROYAL NAVY

People are silhouetted against the stunning red sky at sunrise in Blyth, Northumberland
CREDIT:OWEN HUMPHEREYS / PA

These cute fluffy newborn lambs have had their first taste of sunshine amongst the daffodils at Bocketts Farm in Surrey 
CREDIT: OLIVER DIXON

A badger forages for food in woodland bursting with snowdrops in Powys, Wales, the first sign that spring is just around the corner
CREDIT: THOMAS WINSTONE/NEWS IMAGES
Market Closes for February 23^rd, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1965, Michael Dell was born. He later dropped out of the University of Texas at Austin to found Dell Computer Corp. to assemble made-to-order computers.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell Tuesday though pared steeper losses, buffered by financial and industrial shares. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.5%. Shopify Inc. and Lightspeed POS Inc. both dropped more than 6%, leading tech lower. Financials gained after Bank of Nova Scotia and Bank of Montreal signaled that souring loans are becoming less of a concern. Commodities rose to their highest in almost eight years amid booming investor appetite for everything from oil to corn. Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem indicated he plans to maintain plenty of stimulus in the economy well into a strong labor market recovery.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $11 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.3% to $1,804.99 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.2% to C$1.2590 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 1.6 basis points to 1.246%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.5 percent at 18,330.09 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2 percent. Today, information technology stocks led the market lower, as 7 of 11 sectors lost; 142 of 219 shares fell, while 76 rose. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 6.0 percent. Lightspeed POS Inc. had the largest drop, falling 7.7 percent.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 5.7 percent
* The index advanced 2.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.3 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 16, 2021 and 64.1 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.7 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
28.1 on a trailing basis and 17.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.85t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.43 percent compared with
13.34 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.75 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -90.9134| -4.4| 1/9
Materials | -45.3268| -1.9| 8/42
Utilities | -10.8039| -1.2| 1/15
Health Care | -10.8010| -3.6| 2/7
Consumer Discretionary | -7.1881| -1.0| 4/9
Consumer Staples | -1.6123| -0.3| 3/8
Communication Services | -0.7973| -0.1| 2/5
Real Estate | 0.0896| 0.0| 12/14
Energy | 8.9838| 0.4| 14/8
Industrials | 15.4888| 0.7| 14/15
Financials | 56.2154| 1.0| 15/10
US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — The S&P 500 Index erased a drop to end the day higher after reassuring comments from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell on inflation and the outlook for growth spurred traders to buy the dip. The benchmark stock gauge closed 0.1% higher after declining as much as 1.8% amid a rout in technology shares on concern the high-flying stocks had become overvalued. The Nasdaq 100 ended just slightly lower, mostly erasing a loss that reached 3.5% after Powell signaled the Federal Reserve was nowhere close to pulling back on its support for the economy. Airlines, lodging companies and cyclical shares set to benefit from the end of pandemic lockdowns outperformed.
So-called growth shares are having their worst month against value counterparts in more than two decades as vaccination campaigns gather pace and bond yields hover near a one-year high. Bets on faster growth have pushed the gap between 5- and 30-year yields to the highest level in more than six years. As Powell reassured investors on stimulus, he voiced expectations for a return to more normal, improved activity later this year and said that higher bond yields reflected economic optimism, not inflation fears.
That helped fuel a return of the buy-the-dip mentality that has limited equity drawdowns in recent months, with investors betting on a global economic recovery spurred by vaccines and U.S. spending. “There was something in there for everyone today,” Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management, said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “Powell did recognize medium-term improvement in the economy but I think laid to rest some percolating inflation fears.” Elsewhere, stocks in Asia were mostly higher as European shares slumped. Bitcoin tumbled below $50,000 after a bout of volatility highlighted lingering doubts about the durability of the token’s rally.
Some key events to watch this week:
* EIA crude oil inventory report is out Wednesday.
* Finance ministers and central bankers from the Group of 20
will meet virtually Friday. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will be among the attendees.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.1%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index was little changed.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%.
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.215.
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.4114.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 105.27 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.36%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield jumped two basis points to -0.32%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose four basis points to 0.72%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $62.03 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.2% to $1,805.81 an ounce.

–With assistance from John Ainger, Cecile Gutscher, Joanna Ossinger, Andreea Papuc and Sarah Ponczek.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Nurture your minds with great thoughts.
To believe in the heroic makes heroes. –Benjamin Disraeli, 1804-1881

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