May 12, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday. It’s  Limerick Day.
MAY 12, 2008: A massive earthquake rocks China.  The magnitude 7.9 quake left some 69,000 people dead, 18000 missing and 4.8 million homeless.  It was the deadliest earthquake in China since 1976 when the Tangshan earthquake killed over 240,000 people.

1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.  Go to article >

Katharine Hepburn, actress, b. 1907.
Florence Nightingale, nurse, b. 1820.
Edward Lear, limericist, b.1812.

There was an Old Man of the coast,
Who placidly sat on a post;
But when it was cold
He relinquished his hold
Ans called for some hot buttered toast.

Summer’s Best New Books Tackle War, Theft and Scandal on the Beach  These will guarantee a thrilling read—but they won’t promise a happy ending.

A messy black hole may have just triggered the largest explosion in the universe
Astronomers have spotted the most powerful cosmic explosion ever seen — a mysterious, years-long eruption 10 times brighter than any observed supernova. Read More

Breast cancer screening should start at age 40, expert task force says
Female patients should start getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer at age 40 and then get one every other year. Read More

Piranhas swarm 8 tourists at Brazilian resort, leaving them with bloody legs and feet
The fish tore at the bathers’ legs and feet with their razor-sharp teeth, driving them out of the water in Tarumã-Açu, Brazil, on May 1. Read More

Mysterious ‘sea swirls’ off Poland’s coast have a surprising explanation
Scientists have finally identified the surprising origin of bizarre ocean slicks that appear to swirl around the surface of the Baltic Sea. Read More

Woman caught with 22 snakes in her luggage at airport.  Samuel L. Jackson could’ve handled this case … but customs agents found the reptiles before they created a real-life “Snakes on a Plane” scenario. Watch the video here.

Mysterious rumblings were recorded in Earth’s stratosphere.  Solar balloons were sent 70,000 feet up in the air to record sounds of Earth’s stratosphere — and the microphones picked up these unexpected sounds.

Italian pasta prices are soaring.  Rome is investigating why pasta prices have soared despite the price of wheat — the main ingredient — falling in recent months.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Louisville, Kentucky, US
A racing fan walks on the grounds of Churchill Downs before the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby.  Photograph: Brynn Anderson/AP

Tulips at a farm in Fenwick, Ontario, Canada
Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

A pelican near an ice-cream stand in St James’s Park, London, as springtime temperatures rise across the UK.
Photograph: James Manning/PA
Market Closes for May 12^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 A boom in Germany’s stock market drew to an end on this day in 1927. Berlin’s biggest banks, under pressure from the Reichsbank, said they would restrict margin lending. The next day, “Black Friday,” stocks tumbled.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,419.62 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
Park Lawn Corp. had the largest increase, rising 8.8%.
Today, 149 of 232 shares rose, while 77 fell; 4 of 11 sectors were higher, led by industrials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.6%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended March 17
* The index advanced 3.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 4.5% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.9% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 14.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.3 on a trailing basis and 13.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.00% compared with 9.26% in the previous session and the average of 9.96% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Industrials | 21.2291| 0.8| 15/11
Materials | 16.6017| 0.7| 39/11
Utilities | 10.1067| 1.1| 15/1
Health Care | 0.3870| 0.6| 4/2
Communication Services | -0.0818| 0.0| 3/2
Consumer Discretionary | -0.1883| 0.0| 8/7
Real Estate | -0.7489| -0.2| 9/11
Consumer Staples | -0.9253| -0.1| 6/5
Energy | -9.2721| -0.3| 27/9
Financials | -11.6748| -0.2| 18/11
Information Technology | -23.4104| -1.5| 5/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 11.6300| 1.7| -12.3| 10.0
Canadian National | 6.1180| 0.9| -35.9| 1.6
Franco-Nevada | 4.7410| 1.7| -1.5| 15.1
Constellation Software | -8.7570| -2.5| 67.1| 22.3
Brookfield Corp | -9.9240| -2.4| 60.1| -3.5
Shopify | -15.0400| -2.1| -22.9| 76.8
US
By Peyton Forte
(Bloomberg) — Stocks and bonds floundered after Wall Street lost faith that a pause in the Federal Reserve’s rate hiking cycle was a given.
Swaps traders are now pricing in a one-in-10 chance there will be another interest rate hike at the next Fed meeting in June, after odds had been tilted in favor a pause earlier in the week.
The S&P 500 ended the week down 0.3% while the Nasdaq 100 eked out a 0.6% advance.
Early in the session gains were stamped out Friday after a preliminary University of Michigan sentiment survey showed consumers expect prices to rise at a 3.2% annual rate over the next five to 10 years, a 12-year high.
Bank stocks were weak with PacWest Bancorp dropping 3.0% and JPMorgan Chase & Co. sliding 1.4%.
A renewed call to raise the debt limit from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen added to investor consternation Friday.
“If Congress fails to do that, it really impairs our credit rating,” she said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We have to default on some obligation, whether it’s Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients.”
Despite the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive tightening cycle in decades, inflation is still too high, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said in PBS interview. “You don’t want to land the plane nose down. So we’re trying to balance off — can we slow the inflation without sending it into a recession.”
Yields on the policy-sensitive two-year climbed to 3.99% while the 10-year rose to 3.46% Friday.
Stocks seesawed in a tight range this week as investors await a signal the Fed’s rate hiking cycle is an end.
US data Thursday showed initial jobless claims reached the highest since October 2021 while producer prices rose less than economists expected, suggesting policy tightening may finally be having an effect.
“This market has been flat because we’re in this world where we know the risk of recession is high, but we’re not seeing the whites of the eyes of it in hard data, and that’s why we continue to have this sideways chop,” Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at Newedge Wealth, said Friday on Bloomberg Television.
Wall Street has been eying 4,200 as a key resistance level for the S&P 500.
The risk is that the market moves higher, according to Dawson.
“The technicals, the sentiment positioning could get us above that and really make it a very big pain trade,” he said.
Solar stocks outperformed with First Solar Inc. leading a rally after new guidance on a clean energy tax credit increase.
The dollar notched its biggest weekly gain since February as investors embraced its safe haven status while Bitcoin dropped below $27,000.
In emerging markets, attention is turning to Turkey’s elections Sunday.
Banking stocks rallied in Istanbul, notching their best weekly performance since 2002, when incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Ak Party rose to power.
Some investors expect the opposition to restore more orthodox monetary policy should it gain power. 
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0852
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2451
* The Japanese yen fell 0.9% to 135.69 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2% to $26,477.8
* Ether fell 0.2% to $1,792.56
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.46%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.28%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 3.78%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $70.10 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.2% to $2,017.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Allegra Catelli and Anchalee Worrachate.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Too low they build, who build beneath the stars. –Edward Young, 1681-1765.

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