February 26, 2025 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 26,1991: The world’s first web browser, WorldWideWeb (later renamed Nexus), is presented to the public by British computer scientist Tim Berners-Lee, laying the foundation for the modern internet.
On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the garage of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. Go to article.

Victor  Hugo, writer, b. 1802.
Johnny Cash, musician, b. 932.

1848: Communist Manifesto published.
1919: Grand Canyon National Park established.

Reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone helped entire ecosystem thrive, 20-year study finds
A new study calculates the long-term effects of reintroducing wolves to Yellowstone National Park in the 1990s, which ultimately helped willow shrubs that feed wildlife in stream habitats. Read More.

Mars was once a ‘vacation-style’ beach planet, Chinese rover scans reveal
China’s Zhurong rover has found evidence of an ancient shoreline buried deep beneath the planet. That could point to an ocean, a beach, and to life. Read More.

Blue Ghost spacecraft captures rare, stunning views of Earth eclipsing the moon
Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost spacecraft took some unique photos of our home planet on its Mission 1 flight to the moon in late January and early February. The spacecraft is now in orbit around the moon, with a planned landing date of March 2. Read More.

Scientists create world’s 1st chip that can protect data in the age of quantum computing attacks
Scientists in Switzerland have developed a new method to improve internet security against quantum computing attacks, using quantum-resistant encryption and a new type of hardware. Read More.

Why is Mars red?
A study suggests Mars takes its red hue from a type of mineral that forms in cool water, which could reveal insights about whether the planet was ever able to support life.

China’s ‘Puppy Mountain’ goes viral
You’ve probably seen clouds that look like animals. But have you seen a mountain that looks like a puppy? View the photo here.

Ultrarunner breaks 48-hour treadmill world record
Endurance athlete Sophie Power broke the world record for the most distance covered by a woman on a treadmill in 48 hours!
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Swimmers gather to practise stand-up paddleboarding at Copacabana beach
Photograph: Andre Coelho/EPA

Antarctica
Turkish scientists conduct studies on the human impact on aquatic ecosystems, during the 9th national Antarctic science expedition
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Leeds, UK
Sunrise at Woodlesford lock as the Canal & River Trust charity calls for more volunteers to help look after 2,000 miles of canals, river navigations, historic bridges and aqueducts across the country.
(This image was taken using a graduated neutral density filter.)
Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA
Market Closes for February 26, 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
I never attempt to make money on the stock market.  I buy (shares) on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for five years.-Warren Buffett.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.5%, or 124.38 to 25,328.36 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 0.6% on Feb. 18.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.4%.
Aya Gold & Silver Inc. had the largest increase, rising 7.0%.
Today, 149 of 220 shares rose, while 69 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 0.8%
* The index advanced 19% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.1% below its 52-week high on Jan. 30, 2025 and 19.2% above its low on Feb. 28, 2024
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.2% 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 20.9 on a trailing basis and 18.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$4.07t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.80% compared with 10.95% in the previous session and the average of 11.00% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 51.6836| 1.6| 40/9
Information Technology | 42.8720| 1.6| 7/3
Financials | 14.4850| 0.2| 21/3
Industrials | 8.7543| 0.3| 17/11
Energy | 5.2748| 0.1| 19/24
Consumer Discretionary | 4.6394| 0.6| 7/4
Real Estate | 2.5137| 0.5| 17/3
Utilities | 1.2981| 0.1| 9/5
Health Care | 0.6309| 0.9| 3/1
Consumer Staples | -2.2709| -0.2| 8/2
Communication Services | -5.5014| -0.9| 1/4
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 31.9700| 2.4| -29.2| 6.2
Bank of Nova Scotia| 8.5500| 1.4| 15.4| -6.2
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | 8.2980| 1.7| -29.5| 25.4
BCE | -4.2850| -2.0| -25.6| 0.7
Couche-Tard | -8.0670| -2.1| -23.4| -11.6
National Bank of Canada | -18.7700| -5.5| 107.4| -8.1
US
By Rita Nazareth, Denitsa Tsekova, Isabelle Lee and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — The world’s largest technology shares whipsawed in late hours as traders weighed Nvidia Corp.’s earnings.
A $330 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) fluctuated after the close of regular trading.
The giant chipmaker that’s seen as a barometer for AI gave a bullish revenue forecast for the current quarter, but the shares failed to hold gains.
In the run-up to Nvidia’s results, stocks churned as traders processed a barrage of statements from President Donald Trump on trade policy.
Bonds climbed after a solid $44 billion auction of seven-year notes.
The S&P 500 was little changed.
The Nasdaq 100 added 0.2%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slid 0.4%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell four basis points to 4.25%.
The dollar rose 0.1%.
The dominance of big tech made life miserable for stock pickers in recent years.
With the group reaching a double-digit drop from its peak, opportunities to uncover the next market vanguards have arisen, says Morgan Stanley’s Lisa Shalett.
Shalett sees “money to be made” in owning standouts within financial services, domestic industrials, energy and materials mining companies, as well as consumer services like media and entertainment.
She also likes health care, one of last year’s worst laggards, pointing to interesting generative AI applications for the sector.
Stock pickers are holding their smallest allocations of mega cap names since the global financial crisis, boosting their funds’ performance in a year that has kicked off with a slide in technology shares.
That under-allocation is turning out to be a blessing in disguise.
With the so-called Magnificent Seven faltering this year, active investors’ are seeing a performance boost: Roughly 49% of actively managed mutual funds and exchange-traded funds that compare themselves to the S&P 500 are beating the index in 2025, according to Morningstar Direct. That’s up from 38% during the same time last year and far above the 17% outperformance level of the last decade.
US stock gains are likely to continue broadening beyond the technology sector, according to Savita Subramanian at Bank of America Corp.
“There are a lot of attractive opportunities within the S&P 500 that may not be the Magnificent Seven,” the strategist told Bloomberg Television.
“The theme is not necessarily ‘rest of world over US,’ but broadening trends outside of just mega cap tech.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Salesforce Inc. gave a fiscal-year revenue forecast that fell short of estimates, dimming optimism for the company’s new artificial intelligence product.
* eBay Inc. projected sales for the current quarter that missed analysts’ estimates, suggesting shoppers keep finding alternatives to the e-commerce pioneer.
* Snowflake Inc. projected better-than-expected revenue growth for the fiscal year, sending an optimistic signal about the adoption of its recently launched products for artificial intelligence. The shares jumped in extended trading.
* Super Micro Computer Inc. soared after it submitted outstanding financial reports to become compliant with Nasdaq Inc. rules, easing concerns that the server maker would be delisted.
* Two short sellers released reports on AppLovin Corp., touching off a record rout of as much as 23% before the shares pared losses.
** AppLovin’s Chief Executive Officer, Adam Foroughi, said in a blog post that the reports “are littered with inaccuracies and false assertions.”
* General Motors Co. plans to step up its program of buybacks by repurchasing $6 billion in shares and raising its dividend, rewarding investors by pushing more cash off its balance sheet.
* Lowe’s Cos. forecast sales to rise this year, an early sign that consumers are starting to spend again after staying on the sidelines due to higher rates.
* Chevron Corp. is interested in buying Phillips 66’s stake in a chemicals joint venture that activist Elliott Investment Management LP is pushing the oil refiner to exit, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Off-price retailer TJX Cos. reported positive quarterly results, rebounding after its TJ Maxx and Marshalls brands saw softer-than-anticipated sales last quarter.

Key events this week:
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Thursday
* US GDP, durable goods, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Fed’s Jeff Schmid, Beth Hammack, Patrick Harker, Michael Barr, Michelle Bowman speak, Thursday
* Japan Tokyo CPI, industrial production, retail sales, Friday
* US PCE inflation, income and spending, Friday
* Fed’s Austan Goolsbee speaks, 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 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0487
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2676
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 149.03 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 5.1% to $84,209.1
* Ether fell 7.3% to $2,327.21
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 4.25%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.43%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.50%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $68.78 a barrel
* Spot gold was little changed

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Emily Graffeo, John Viljoen, Sujata Rao, Alice Gledhill and Winnie Hsu.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Easy choices, hard life.
Hard choices, easy life. -Jerzy Gregorek, b. 1954.

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 (Text Only)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com