January 31, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.  Go to article » 
January 31, 1928: Leon Trotsky(Russian Revolutionary) is exiled to Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan).
1958: Explorer I Space Satellite launched.

Franz Schubert, composer, b. 1797.

Meet the first mom to have two sons face off in the Super Bowl.  Donna Kelce is already a winner. Her two sons — Jason and Travis — will both be at the Super Bowl with their respective teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Priscilla Presley contests the validity of Lisa Marie Presley’s will.  Just days after Lisa Marie Presley was laid to rest, her mother, Priscilla Presley, is disputing some details in her daughter’s will.

Cryptic lost Canaanite language decoded on ‘Rosetta Stone’-like tablets:  Two ancient clay tablets discovered in Iraq and covered from top to bottom in cuneiform writing contain details of a “lost” Canaanite language that has remarkable similarities with ancient Hebrew.

The tablets, thought to be nearly 4,000 years old, record phrases in the almost unknown language of the Amorite people alongside translations in the Akkadian language, which can be read by modern scholars.
Full Story: Live Science (1/30)

Sitting in traffic may cause brain damage.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lerwick, Scotland
Members of the Up Helly Aa Jarl Squad with their Viking galley ship celebrate the influence of the Vikings in the Shetland Islands
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Shalal Sijlyat Rocks, Saudi Arabia
The peloton during stage 2 of the Saudi Tour 2023
Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

London, England
A chain and pendant associated with Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon on display at the British Museum. The item was found in Warwickshire by a metal detectorist
Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian
Market Closes for January 31^st, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1994: Just over a year after breaking the 700 barrier, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed above 800 for the first time, finishing the day at 800.47.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.9% at 20,767.38 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.6% on Jan. 6 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.7%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.7%.
Lithium Americas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 13.5%.
Today, 168 of 236 shares rose, while 59 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 7.1%
* The index declined 1.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 10% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.5% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 7.1% 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 13.2 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$3.27t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.79% compared with 11.96% in the previous session and the average of 13.03% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 64.8770| 1.0| 22/6
Materials | 35.5421| 1.4| 34/14
Information Technology | 28.2807| 2.2| 14/0
Industrials | 26.4217| 1.0| 22/3
Energy | 26.1957| 0.7| 26/12
Consumer Discretionary | 5.4984| 0.7| 12/3
Consumer Staples | 5.0908| 0.6| 8/2
Real Estate | 2.8359| 0.5| 15/8
Communication Services | 1.8560| 0.2| 4/1
Health Care | 0.4469| 0.6| 4/3
Utilities | -1.7611| -0.2| 7/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 19.3900| 3.7| 3.4| 39.5
TD Bank | 17.6600| 1.6| 32.4| 5.0
Nutrien | 12.5000| 3.3| 29.1| 11.4
Brookfield Renewable Partners | -0.4990| -0.9| -19.2| 13.0
Bausch Health | -0.5400| -2.6| 8.1| 20.1
Dollarama | -1.1900| -0.8| 51.2| 0.5
US
By Emily Graffeo and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — US stocks ended January with a gain, as investors cheered signs of labor costs easing and inflation cooling as they gear up for Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision.
With volumes relatively light on Tuesday, the stock gains could have been spurred by short covering.
The S&P 500 still had its best month since October, as traders expect the Fed to slow its pace of interest-rate hikes.
The Nasdaq 100 rallied the most this month since July and had its best start to year since 2001, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Treasuries gained, with the 10-year yield sliding to around 3.49%.
It fell more than 30 basis points during January, the most since November.
A dollar index dropped.
Investors are grappling with a flurry of economic data, earnings and rate decisions this week.
Data on Tuesday showed prices in US housing market continued to cool, while another report highlighted consumer confidence unexpectedly falling.
Hanging over everything is Wednesday’s Fed decision, with the central bank widely expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point.
While Tuesday’s data from the Labor Department added to evidence that wage growth is slowing, it may still not be enough to sway the Fed.
Investors will be watching for the tone officials set for future meetings.
While Fed Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly pushed back against hopes of rate cuts later this year, central bank officials could consider pausing rate hikes after their March meeting.
But the recent rally in stocks and bonds does not help the Fed’s bid to tighten financial conditions, said Jeff Muhlenkamp, portfolio manager at Muhlenkamp & Co.
Speaking about Powell’s presser Wednesday, he said “I expect that he will continue to try to talk the market into doing something that it is not currently doing.”
Investors also assessed a bevy of earnings reports on Tuesday.
Shares of McDonald’s Corp. declined and those of Caterpillar Inc. fell the most since Sept. 23 after earnings misses.
Meanwhile, General Motors Co. rose after posting upbeat forecasts.
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s fourth quarter earnings per share beat estimates and the firm posted full-year profit that was the highest on record.
Now that investors have had a chance to parse a slew of economic reports and earnings results to start the year — with much of it coming in as expected — they’re focusing on what the Fed might do in the latter half of 2023, says Shawn Cruz, head trading strategist at TD Ameritrade.
“So I think we know where our baseline is now and what’s driving markets is Fed policy going into the second half of this year,” he said in an interview.
Key events this week:
* Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, CPI, unemployment, Wednesday
* US construction spending, ISM Manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
* FOMC rate decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell press conference, Wednesday
* 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 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0872
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2328
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 130.16 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.5% to $23,090.48
* Ether rose 1.9% to $1,586.45
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 3.49%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.29%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.33%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $79.03 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,943.10 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Cristin Flanagan and Alyce Andres.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Press on.  Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. –Ray A. Kroc, 1902-1984.

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