April 19, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
April 19, 1770: British explorer Captain James Cook first sights Australia.
On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.)
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1775: Battle of Lexington & Concord: Start of American Revolution.
1932: Herbert Hoover suggests a 5-day work week.
1993: Branch Davidian fire, Waco, TX.

Ashley Judd, b. 1968.
Kate Hudson, b. 1979.

Ancient artists high on hallucinogens carved dancer rock art in Peru, study suggests
The research notes similarities between the carvings in southern Peru and the ayahuasca-induced art of the Amazon’s Tucano people. Read More.

Alien life may thrive on purple planets, new study of extreme bacteria suggests
On many exoplanets, the best clue that life is present may be a purple hue. New research into some of Earth’s most extreme bacteria explains why. Read More.

Weird magnetic quasiparticle could be used as a new type of bit in advanced computing systems, scientists find
Scientists want to replace electrons with so-called ‘nanobubbles’ to store data more densely and efficiently in advanced components that would replace RAM and flash storage. Read More.

Sony World Photography Awards 2024: Winners announced
The prestigious competition showcases the year’s best images from photographers around the world. See the winning images here.

Amsterdam bans building of new hotels
The Netherlands’ Amsterdam will no longer allow new hotel buildings to be built as part of its fight against mass tourism.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Las Vegas, US
Phish perform during night one of their four-night run at Sphere in Nevada
Photograph: Rich Fury/Sphere Entertainment/Getty Images for Sphere Entertainment

A fox in a garden in Clapham, London, UK, pauses by some tulips. The vixen has a litter of cubs in a nearby den
Photograph: Anna Watson/Alamy Live News

​​​​​​​Guwahati, India
Hindu devotees offer prayers to the sun god on the banks of the river Brahmaputra during the Chaiti Chhath Puja festival.
Photograph: Biju Boro/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for April 19^th, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1895, the Railroad Gazette published the first description of the “electric tabulating machine,” a new data-processing device that used electrical signals to read, count and sort punch cards on which data was represented by an array of holes. The Tabulating Machine Co. was one of the ancestors of IBM.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.5%, or 98.93 to 21,807.37 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest gain since April 9.
Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.8%.
Osisko Mining Inc. had the largest increase, rising 4.9%.
Today, 134 of 224 shares rose, while 83 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.4%
* The index advanced 5.4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 19% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.6% below its 52-week high on April 9, 2024 and 16.7% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.2 on a trailing basis and 14.9 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$3.45t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.01% compared with 7.93% in the previous session and the average of 8.55% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 45.1994| 0.7| 21/5
Energy | 35.4734| 0.9| 28/11
Utilities | 7.9779| 1.0| 11/4
Communication Services | 5.1310| 0.8| 5/0
Industrials | 4.9660| 0.2| 12/14
Consumer Staples | 4.4442| 0.5| 8/3
Materials | 2.6926| 0.1| 26/21
Consumer Discretionary | 1.8047| 0.2| 7/6
Real Estate | 0.6077| 0.1| 12/9
Health Care | -0.1401| -0.2| 2/2
Information Technology | -9.2337| -0.5| 2/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Enbridge | 19.3200| 2.8| 111.6| 0.6
TD Bank | 12.7800| 1.3| -21.5| -6.7
RBC | 10.3300| 0.8| 231.6| 0.4
Celestica | -3.5840| -7.1| 141.0| 44.4
Canadian Natural Resources | -3.9750| -0.5| -25.7| 21.3
Constellation Software | -5.3050| -1.0| 5.8| 11.5
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A selloff in the world’s largest technology companies hit stocks, with the industry that has powered the bull market getting ready to report earnings next week.
Equities extended their slide from a record, with the S&P 500 breaking below 5,000 and the Nasdaq 100 falling over 2%.
More than half of the “Magnificent Seven” cohort of tech mega-caps will announce results in the next few days — leaving investors wondering whether those firms are going to live up to the high expectations set for artificial intelligence.
Just Friday, a pair of AI darlings — Nvidia Corp. and Super Micro Computer Inc. — sank at least 10%.
Profits for the seven biggest growth companies in the S&P 500 — Apple Inc., Microsoft Corp., Alphabet Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Nvidia, Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. — are on course to rise 38% in the first quarter, according to Bloomberg
Intelligence. When excluding them, the rest of the index’s profits are anticipated to shrink by 3.9%.
“Investors are expecting not just strong results — but strong guidance,” said Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial. “Any disappointment from the mega-tech names reporting could push this week’s oversold market deeper into oversold territory.”
The S&P 500 saw its sixth consecutive drop — the longest losing streak since October 2022.
The plunge in Nvidia wiped out over $200 billion in value, with the Nasdaq 100 down the most this year.
Netflix Inc. tumbled, taking the shine off stellar financial results following management’s decision to stop reporting quarterly subscriber data.
Treasury 10-year yields declined one basis point to 4.62% — almost erasing an earlier plunge of 14 basis points.
Oil trimmed a major advance to trade only marginally higher after Iranian media appeared to downplay the effect of Israeli strikes.
Tech came under heavy pressure this week after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. scaled back its outlook for a chip market expansion and ASML Holding NV posted disappointing orders.
That’s raised some eyebrows on whether those forecasts are a sign of what’s to come as other giants prepare to post earnings. Intel Corp.’s numbers are also due next week.
The S&P 500 saw its worst week since March 2023, extending a drawdown from its all-time high to more than 5%.
After a 10% gain in the first quarter — the strongest start to a year since 2019 — investors have been increasingly skeptical about how much further it could go over the near term, even accounting for the continued strength in the economy.
A drumbeat of hawkish Fed-speak and a flare-up in inflation worries weighed heavily on sentiment.
While the latest tensions in the Middle East seemed contained, traders opted for a cautious stance.
Nothing can be taken for granted, and markets may remain on edge — especially considering the looming weekend risk, according to Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com.
He added that inflation continues to be a focal point due to its potential influence on monetary policy.
“Geopolitical and political uncertainty join inflation, rates, and the Fed in pressuring markets, driving a rapid and dramatic shift in the complexion of markets and the attitude of investors,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
Investors are pulling money out of equities as a strong US economy and sticky inflation fuel concerns that the Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists.
A team led by Michael Hartnett wrote in a note that good economic news is now bad news for stocks, a shift in mindset from the first quarter when “good news = good.”
Evidence of this is the $21.1 billion investors redeemed from stock funds in the two weeks through Wednesday, the most in a fortnight since December 2022, BofA said, citing data from EPFR Global.
The US stock market’s retreat from all-time highs set late last month is giving investors parked in cash an opening to buy in, according to Sinead Colton Grant, chief investment officer of BNY Mellon’s wealth management arm.
The three-week slump in the S&P 500 Index is a healthy consolidation by traders after it soared 10% in the first quarter, on top of a 24% gain in 2023, she said.
From here, Colton Grant expects the rally to not only resume but broaden based on strong earnings growth and continuing economic momentum, potentially pushing the S&P 500 beyond the higher end of her 5,000-5,400 target range before 2024 closes out.

Corporate Highlights:
* Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. says an illegal form of short selling might be behind the battering of its stock and it’s asking regulators at Nasdaq Inc. to step in.
* Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Pampers diapers and Dawn dish soap, reported quarterly sales that fell short of Wall Street estimates, overshadowing an improved profit outlook.
* SLB, the world’s biggest oil-services provider, said it is gearing up for a rebound in activity in the Northern Hemisphere during the second quarter after starting off the year with typical seasonal slowness.
* Super Micro Computer Inc. sank after the maker of servers announced the date of its third-quarter results but didn’t pre-announce results.
* The US Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident where a passenger was apparently granted unauthorized access to the cockpit of a United Airlines Holdings Inc. charter flight traveling from Denver to Toronto.
* Nordstrom Inc.’s founding family has notified the board of its interest in taking the company private.
* Mondi Plc walked away from a possible bidding battle for UK packaging rival DS Smith Plc, a move that secures a deal for US bidder International Paper Co.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.1% to $1.0655
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2373
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 154.61 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.2% to $64,297.01
* Ether rose 1% to $3,101.31
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.62%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.50%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 4.23%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $83.22 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.4% to $2,387.75 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Jessica Menton, Farah Elbahrawy, Esha Dey and Alexandra Semenova.
Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
You can discover what your enemy fears most by observing the means he uses to frighten you. –Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983.

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