April 8, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

On April 8, 1994, Western nations prepare evacuation efforts as Hutu extremists in Rwanda conduct a genocidal massacre that kills hundreds of thousands of ethnic Tutsis.  Go to article »

Superman comic sells for $3.25 million. 

Area man searches for the strangers who helped pack him into a crate to ship him home. (h/t Scott Kominers)

Archaeologists in Egypt have discovered a 3,000-year-old “lost city” buried under the sands in Luxor, home to the Nile Valley’s famed Valley of the Kings, the latest pharaonic-era wonder to be unearthed as the country seeks to revive its tourism industry.

For the first time since his death, Prince’s estate announced a never-before-heard album, “Welcome 2 America,” to be released in July.  Recorded in 2010, the album documents “Prince’s concerns, hopes and visions for a shifting society, presciently foreshadowing an era of political division, disinformation, and a renewed fight for racial justice,” his estate said.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Liberty’s Owl, Raptor & Reptile Centre are celebrating the arrival of a Verreuax Eagle Owl witch has hatched at the centre. This is the first year that the centre in Ringwood, Hants, has had a Verreaux Egle Owl hatch, after 20 years of having this breed of owl
CREDIT: SIMON CZAPP/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

A group of Camarague horses is pictured in woodland at sunset in the Camargue region of southern France
CREDIT: MEDIADRUMIMAGES / GREG HARVEY

An elephant calf emerges from a waterhole in Addo Elephant National Park, South Africa
CREDIT: CHARMINAINE JOUBERT/COVER-IMAGES.COM

A four-month-old western lowland gorilla clings to its mum at Bristol Zoo Gardens 
CREDIT:BEN BIRCHALL/PA

Market Closes for April 8^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     As the world’s largest single shareholder, Norway’s sovereign-wealth fund owns on average 1.4% of the world’s listed companies, making it a large investor in companies like Apple and Alibaba. The fund returned 10.9% last year. On this day in 1935, the U.S. Congress enacted legislation creating the Works Progress Administration, or WPA, which ended up employing more than 8 million people during the Great Depression

Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose Thursday with technology staging a strong session. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.5%, with the info tech index rising 3.9%, the most since March 9 Canada’s bank regulator is proposing tighter mortgage qualification rules to make it more difficult for home buyers to secure financing, a move aimed at cooling the nation’s booming real-estate market Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer David McKay cautioned the Canadian government against overspending in this year’s budget, saying that previous stimulus programs already have the economy primed for a strong recovery
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.60 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1.1% to $1,756 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.4% to C$1.2565 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 3.5 basis points to 1.466%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fifth day, climbing 0.5 percent, or 99.8 to 19,228.87 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.1 percent. Dye & Durham Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 9.9 percent. Today, 164 of 229 shares rose, while 63 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.3 percent
* The index advanced 38 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 52 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0 percent below its 52-week high on April 8, 2021 and 41.5 percent above its low on April 8, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.8 percent in the past 5 days and rose 4.2 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.6 on a trailing basis and 17.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.98t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.72 percent compared with 11.69 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.24 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | 72.5673| 3.8| 10/1
* Materials | 35.5395| 1.5| 46/6
* Real Estate | 6.9656| 1.2| 24/2
* Energy | 5.3199| 0.2| 12/10
* Communication Services | 1.7799| 0.2| 7/1
* Utilities | 1.0443| 0.1| 10/6
* Consumer Discretionary | -0.9139| -0.1| 6/7
* Consumer Staples | -3.8172| -0.5| 7/6
* Health Care | -4.3394| -1.6| 7/2
* Industrials | -6.0482| -0.3| 18/12
* Financials | -8.3057| -0.1| 17/10

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks climbed as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank has the tools to curb any inflation pressures, which are expected to be temporary as the economy reopens. The S&P 500 notched another record amid thin trading volume. The Nasdaq 100 outperformed major equity benchmarks as giants such as Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc. rallied. Energy producers and banks retreated. Treasuries rose, while the dollar fell. One day after the Fed’s March minutes struck a dovish tone for the path of monetary policy, Powell said the central bank would react if inflation expectations start “moving persistently and materially above levels we’re comfortable with.” He also noted that disparate efforts to vaccinate people globally is a risk to progress for the economic rebound, which remains “uneven and incomplete.” “The doves are in control, and today’s cautious comments from Fed Chair Powell delivered another reiteration of their ultra-accommodative stance,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda in New York. Meanwhile, Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said it’s too soon for central bankers to discuss tapering asset purchases as long as the pandemic continues. Data Thursday showed applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance unexpectedly rose for a second week, underscoring the choppy nature of the labor-market recovery.
Some key events to watch this week:
* China’s consumer and producer prices data are due Friday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% at 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.3%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.4%.
* The euro advanced 0.4% to $1.1914.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.5% to 109.31 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 0.15%.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries slid five basis points to 1.62%.
* The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell five basis points to 2.31%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $59.60 a barrel.
* Gold rose 1% to $1,755.79 an ounce.

–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Andreea Papuc, Robert Brand, Nancy Moran, Michael Tobin and Claire Ballentine.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Go into the street, and give one man a lecture on morality, and another a shilling,
and see which will respect you most. -Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784

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