October 20, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
October 20, 1973: The Sydney Opera House is opened by Elizabeth II after 14 years of construction.

October 20, 1992: The host Toronto Blue Jays beat the Atlanta Braves 3-2 in the first World Series game played outside the United States.  Go to article »

These are the most popular Halloween costumes this year.  Spider-Man snagged one of the top spots on the list. Check out which other costumes are super popular this year, according to Google’s rankings.

Latte art impresses actress Tilda Swinton.  Swinton was smitten after an artist carefully painted her face in a latte. Watch the video here.

James Webb Space Telescope captures iconic ‘Pillars of Creation’.  Check out this image of newly formed stars and interstellar dust about 6,500 light-years from Earth.

Motorcycles may soon get safer lighting.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Baker Lake is surrounded by autumn colours in Quebec
Photograph: Sébastien St-Jean/AFP/Getty Images

A duckling walks across a turtle-covered log at the Juanita wetlands, Washington, US
Photograph: Ryan Sims/Comedywildlifephoto.com

The cast of Cirque du Soleil performs Corteo at Utilita Arena
Photograph: Katja Ogrin/Redferns
Market Closes for October 20, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
🌄 On this day in 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, under which the U.S. paid France less than 3 cents an acre for 828,000 square miles of territory stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. In the stroke of a pen, the United States nearly doubled in size. The U.S. financed the deal by borrowing $11.25 million in 6% bonds from European investors.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.5%, or 95.11 to 18,579.29 in Toronto.
Canadian National Railway Co. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.8%.
Mullen Group Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 9.1%.
Today, 135 of 236 shares fell, while 97 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index fell 12%, heading for the worst year in at least 10 years
* This month, the index rose 0.7%
* So far this week, the index rose 1.4%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Sept. 9
* The index declined 12% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 21% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 16.4% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 4% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and fell 4.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.6 on a trailing basis and 11.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.4% 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 23.50% compared with 23.68% in the previous session and the average of 19.93% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -68.7225| -1.2| 3/25
Industrials | -53.5306| -2.2| 4/23
Utilities | -18.3472| -2.1| 0/16
Consumer Discretionary | -8.3319| -1.2| 2/12
Communication Services | -7.4971| -0.8| 0/7
Consumer Staples | -2.0022| -0.3| 3/8
Health Care | -0.1878| -0.2| 4/3
Real Estate | 3.6024| 0.8| 17/5
Materials | 16.2720| 0.8| 37/14
Information Technology | 17.6690| 1.8| 6/8
Energy | 25.9687| 0.7| 21/14
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian National | -18.6600| -2.8| 4.1| -2.7
Canadian Pacific | -16.6400| -2.7| 26.2| 4.4
RBC | -14.8800| -1.3| 40.5| -9.3
Cenovus Energy | 7.2750| 3.1| 3.4| 62.4
Canadian Natural Resources | 14.7700| 2.5| -26.2| 49.3
Shopify | 15.5200| 4.9| 8.4| -76.5
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — It was another down day for stocks, with Treasury yields climbing amid hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve officials and swaps pricing in a 5% peak policy rate in 2023.
The pound wavered after Liz Truss resigned as UK prime minister.
The wariness around economic challenges has been so pronounced that it doesn’t take much to see the S&P 500 dropping at least 1% after posting a rally of the same magnitude earlier in the day.
It happened again Thursday, with the gauge seeing intraday swings of that size in both directions for the 16^th time in 2022 — the most for any year since the financial crisis.
Volatility is showing no signs of abating ahead of Friday’s $2 trillion options expiration and another raft of corporate earnings.
In late trading, Snap Inc. plummeted after reporting its slowest quarterly sales growth ever, saying that a decline in advertising spending on the platform continues to drag on results.
A tech-led advance in equities quickly fizzled out Thursday after Philadelphia Fed chief Patrick Harker said policymakers are likely to raise rates to “well above” 4% this year and hold them at restrictive levels, while leaving the door open to doing more if needed.
The current benchmark sits between 3% and 3.25%.
Fed Governor Lisa Cook also spoke, noting that rates will need to keep rising to get inflation under control.
“Stocks are not out of the woods yet,” said Fawad Razaqzada, market analyst at City Index and Forex.com. “Fears over further tightening of central bank policy amid an environment of high-inflation and low-growth means investors will avoid buying stocks aggressively. Even at these relatively-inexpensive levels.”
Traders also scoured a mixed bag of quarterly results, with Tesla Inc.’s sales disappointing and International Business Machines Corp. topping forecasts.
Several market observers said the bar has been lowered quite a bit ahead of the earnings season, boosting the odds of upside surprises.
It’s also worth noting that there’s been no shortage of warning signals about the economy from the corporate side.
Alcoa Corp. joined metals higher, but its quarterly loss indicated a worsening environment for a company that recently said it was being squeezed by higher costs and falling aluminum prices.
And that’s a dependable barometer of the health of sectors including construction, aerospace and consumer packaging.
Another worrisome signal came from Union Pacific Corp., which sees slowing freight demand.
As traders wade through corporate results, “with an extra eye on guidance, expect volatility to remain elevated,” said Mike Loewengart at Morgan Stanley Global Investment Office.
The latest batch of economic reports didn’t provide much encouragement either, with sales of previously owned US homes down for an eighth straight month — underscoring how soaring mortgage rates are punishing the housing market.
The stretch of declines is the longest since 2007, when a housing market collapse swept the economy into the Great Recession.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.1% to $0.9784
* The British pound was little changed at $1.1227
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 150.15 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $19,066.28
* Ether fell 0.8% to $1,284.5
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced nine basis points to 4.23%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.40%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 3.91%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $85.98 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,631.40 an ounce
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Peyton Forte and Matt Turner.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? –Abdul Kalam, 1931-2015.

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