March 6, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.
March 6, 1836: Fall of the Alamo.
March 6, 1899: Bayer registers “Aspirin” (acetylsalicylic acid) as  a trademark.

2004: Martha Stewart was convicted of obstructing justice and lying to the government about why she’d unloaded her Imclone Systems Inc. stock just before the price plummeted.  Go to article » 

Michelangelo, artist, b.1475.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet, b.1806.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez, author, b. 1928.
Shaquille O’Neal, basketball player. b.1972.

World’s 1st horseback riders swept across Europe roughly 5,000 years ago
Archaeologists accidentally discovered the world’s earliest horseback riders while studying skeletons found beneath 5,000-year-old burial mounds in Europe and Asia, a new study finds.
The ancient riders were part of the Yamnaya culture, groups of semi-nomadic people who swept across Europe and western Asia, bringing the precursor to the Indo-European language family with them.
Full Story: Live Science (3/3)

Bright new comet discovered zooming toward the sun could outshine the stars next year
A newly discovered comet may appear as bright as a star in the night sky by fall 2024.
The comet, known as C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS), was first noted by the Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS) telescope project in South Africa on Feb. 22.  Full Story: Live Science (3/4)

Painting recovered by Holocaust victims’ heirs sets auction record: A Kandinsky painting that once belonged to victims of the Nazi Holocaust has sold for nearly $45 million.

99% of people got this trivia question wrong: Ready to test your knowledge? See if you can answer some of the most challenging questions from the live mobile game HQ Trivia. Take the quiz here.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Mana Pools, Zimbabwe
Danger in the mud, the winner in the category of animal portraits at the World Nature Photography awards
Photograph: Jens Cullmann/World Nature Photography Awards 2022

California, US
Guests attend AlienCon 2023 at the Pasadena Convention Center
Photograph: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for A+E Networks

Kathmandu, Nepal
A man celebrating Holi, the festival of colours
Photograph: Monika Malla/Reuters
Market Closes for March 6^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 2000, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan gave an optimistic speech on the “Revolution in Information Technology.” Just four days later, the Nasdaq peaked and began tumbling in the worst market crash to that point since 1929.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3% at 20,514.80 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.3% on Feb. 21 and follows the previous session’s increase of 1.2%.
Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.1%. Secure Energy Services Inc. had the largest drop, falling 19.6%.
Today, 150 of 236 shares fell, while 82 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 5.8%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2021
* The index declined 4.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 14.8% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.3% in the past 5 days and fell 0.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 13.4 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 7.90% compared with 8.06% in the previous session and the average of 8.19% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -34.8756| -1.4| 4/44
Energy | -21.7803| -0.6| 11/28
Information Technology | -10.3434| -0.8| 5/9
Industrials | -8.0583| -0.3| 13/13
Financials | -2.5272| 0.0| 12/17
Health Care | -1.4102| -1.8| 2/5
Consumer Staples | 0.0730| 0.0| 5/6
Consumer Discretionary | 0.2131| 0.0| 5/10
Real Estate | 0.4962| 0.1| 12/9
Communication Services | 2.2790| 0.2| 3/3
Utilities | 3.4356| 0.4| 10/6
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move|% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific | -7.3950| -1.1| -50.7| 4.7
Nutrien | -7.1200| -1.8| -16.5| 11.9
Brookfield Corp | -6.5160| -1.4| -32.8| 7.2
Brookfield Infrastructure | 2.7230| 1.9| 48.5| 11.2
Waste Connections | 3.6980| 1.1| -4.9| 2.7
RBC | 4.4280| 0.3| -32.9| 7.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The stock market failed to gain much traction Monday on speculation that a recent rally has probably gotten overdone as economic risks linger.
It’s not that investors were brimming with confidence at the start of trading, but the S&P 500 managed to climb almost 1% at one point.
Those gains, which followed the best week for equities in a month, waned throughout the session — with a rise in Treasury yields bringing an additional layer of pressure.
To Michael Wilson at Morgan Stanley, while technical factors could give some support to equities in the near term, the “bear-market rally” wouldn’t last long as fundamentals continue to deteriorate.
So basically the recent market action could be seen as the “calm before the storm,” said Mark Hackett, chief of investment research at Nationwide.
Four major events between now and the Federal Reserve’s March 22 decision will be the key catalysts in determining whether the 2023 revival in equities gets derailed or starts rolling again after a February slump.
“Traders are still anticipating a 25 basis-point hike in a few weeks, and investors should prepare for volatility if the jobs read surprises in either direction — especially as some Fed officials have indicated a 50 basis-point hike remains on the table,” said Chris Larkin, managing director at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
Before the pivotal jobs report Friday, a double-day dose of Fed Chair Powell before Congress will set expectations for the next policy meeting later this month.
Krishna Guha at Evercore said Powell will possibly emphasize the notable resilience of the economy and indications that the process of returning inflation to its target will be lengthy and bumpy.
However, Powell will not turn “max hawkish” or fuel speculation of a 50 basis-point hike, Guha noted.
“This would not present any need to shift market rate pricing higher,” he added.
The stock and the credit markets are telegraphing a message of caution on how global financial assets and the economy may evolve.
The spread between BBB rated dollar-denominated corporate debt and the earnings available on the S&P 500 is now above zero for the first time since the global financial crisis.
The differential is typically negative, reflecting the higher risk of capital that is invested in equities even as corporate bond yields stay elevated.
However, when speculative money flocks into equities, it turns positive, suggesting that investors may be overlooking the risk embedded in stocks.
Key events this week:
* US wholesale inventories, consumer credit, Tuesday
* Fed Powell’s semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Senate Banking Committee, Tuesday
* Australia rate decision, Tuesday
* Euro area GDP, Wednesday
* US MBA mortgage applications, ADP employment change, trade balance, JOLTS job openings, Wednesday
* Fed Chair Powell’s semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the House Financial Services Committee, Wednesday
* Canada rate decision, Wednesday
* EIA crude oil inventories, Wednesday
* China CPI, PPI, Thursday
* US Challenger job cuts, initial jobless claims, household change in net worth, Thursday
* Bank of Japan policy rate decision, Friday
* US nonfarm payrolls, unemployment rate, monthly budget statement, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.0677
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.2019
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 135.99 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.6% to $22,350.68
* Ether fell 0.7% to $1,560.95
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.98%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.75%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.87%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.1% to $80.59 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,852.40 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee, Angel Adegbesan, Peyton Forte and Ven Ram.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Some people dream of success, while other people get up every morning and make it happen. –Wayne Huizenga, 1937-2018.

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