May 27, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.

Today is Memorial Day in the US, the day that Americans have honored since 1868, when they mourn those military personnel who have died in the service of the country – so that those they leave behind can live in freedom in a democracy.

I came across a poignant story this morning from Heather Cox Richardson, who is a Professor of History at Boston College, and who writes a daily newsletter for which I am a subscriber.   She writes that one of the people that she mourns every Memorial Day is Beau Bryant.  Here is what she wrote for today:

“When we were growing up, we hung out at one particular house where a friend’s mom provided unlimited peanut butter and fluff sandwiches, Uno games, iced tea and lemonade, sympathetic ears, and stories. She talked about Beau, her older brother, in the same way we talked about all our people, and her stories made him part of our world even though he had been killed in World War II 19 years before we were born.
Beau’s real name was Floyston, and he had always stepped in as a father to his three younger sisters when their own father fell short.
When World War II came, Beau was working as a plumber and was helping his mother make ends meet, but in September 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps. He became a staff sergeant in the 322nd Bomber Squadron, 91st Bomb Group, nicknamed “Wray’s Ragged Irregulars” after their commander Colonel Stanley T. Wray. By the time Beau joined, the squadron was training with new B-17s at Dow Army Airfield near Bangor, Maine, and before deploying to England he hitchhiked three hours home so he could see his family once more.
It would be the last time. The 91st Bomb Group was a pioneer bomb group, figuring out tactics for air cover. By May 1943 it was experienced enough to lead the Eighth Air Force as it sought to establish air superiority over Europe. But the 91st did not have adequate fighter support until 1944. It had the greatest casualty rate of any of the heavy bomber squadrons.
Beau was one of the casualties. On August 12, 1943, just a week before his sister turned 18, while he was on a mission, enemy flak cut his oxygen line and he died before the plane could make it back to base. He was buried in Cambridge, England, at the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial, the military cemetery for Americans killed in action during WWII. He was twenty years old.
I grew up with Beau’s nephews and nieces, and we made decades of havoc and memories. But Beau’s children weren’t there, and neither he nor they are part of the memories.
Thinking about our untimely dead is hard enough, but I am haunted by the holes those deaths rip forever in the social fabric: the discoveries not made, the problems not solved, the marriages not celebrated, the babies not born.
I know of this man only what his sister told me: that he was a decent fellow who did what he could to support his mother and his sisters. Before he entered the service, he once spent a week’s paycheck on a dress for my friend’s mother so she could go to a dance.
And he gave up not only his life but also his future to protect American democracy against the spread of fascism.
I first wrote about Beau when his sister passed, for it felt to me like another kind of death that, with his sisters now all gone, along with almost all of their friends, soon there would be no one left who even remembered his name.
But something amazing happened after I wrote about him. People started visiting Beau’s grave in England, leaving flowers, and sending me pictures of the cross that bears his name.
So he, and perhaps all he stood for, will not be forgotten after all.
May you have a meaningful Memorial Day.”

May 27, 1851: The world’s first international chess tournament is held in London.
May 27, 1930: Scotch tape patented.
May 27,1937: Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, opens.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Pescadero, US
The sun sets behind the Pigeon Point lighthouse in California
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Dakar, Senegal
A surfer enjoys some Atlantic Ocean waves. In Senegal, which has 450 miles (724km) of coastline, surf schools with large and small beaches along the coastline are flooded by surfing enthusiasts
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Frankfurt, Germany
Two hares run over a field on the outskirts of Frankfurt
Photograph: Michael Probst/AP
Market Closes for May 27^th, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
Trying to minimize taxes too much is one of the great causes of really dumb mistakes in investing. –Charlie Munger, 1924-2023.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.2%, or 52.51 to 22,373.38 in Toronto.
Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.6%.
Osisko Mining Inc. had the largest increase, rising 4.8%.
Today, 159 of 223 shares rose, while 61 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 3%
* The index advanced 12% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 26% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.8% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 19.7% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.4% in the past 5 days and rose 1.8% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.1 on a trailing basis and 15.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.55t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.47% compared with 8.82% in the previous session and the average of 9.15% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 32.8074| 1.2| 44/6
Energy | 9.8611| 0.2| 33/7
Industrials | 9.2036| 0.3| 20/7
Financials | 4.8853| 0.1| 18/9
Consumer Discretionary | 3.7590| 0.5| 10/3
Utilities | 1.8956| 0.2| 10/5
Real Estate | 1.5401| 0.3| 12/6
Communication Services | 0.0018| 0.0| 2/3
Health Care | -0.4783| -0.8| 1/3
Consumer Staples | -0.7414| -0.1| 4/7
Information Technology | -10.2081| -0.6| 5/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Barrick Gold | 4.5420| 1.6| -87.0| -1.3
Agnico Eagle Mines | 4.5250| 1.4| -80.6| 29.2
Canadian National | 3.6760| 0.5| -56.8| 4.6
TD Bank | -3.8470| -0.4| -74.9| -10.1
Brookfield Corp | -5.6000| -0.9| -70.8| 14.1
Constellation Software | -13.0900| -2.5| -64.7| 13.3
US
US markets closed for Memorial Day.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
One day President Roosevelt told me that he was asking publicly for suggestions about what the war should be called.  I said at once ‘The Unnecessary War.’ –Winston Churchill, 1874-1965.

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