Newsletter, April 28th, 2025

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.

April 28, 1789: Mutiny on the Bounty.
April 28, 1945: Mussolini executed.
April 28, 1947: Thor Heyerdahl begins his 101-day journey on Kon-Tiki, sailing with his crew n a self-built raft to prove South Americans could have settled Polynesia in pre-Columbian times.
April 28, 1972: Apollo 16 returned to Earth after a manned voyage to the moon. Go to article.

James Munro, 5^th president, b. 1758.
Alice Waters, restauranteur, b. 1944.
Jay Leno, comedian, b. 1950.
Penelope Cruz, actress, b. 1974.

Mini ice age was final death blow to Roman Empire, unusual rocks in Iceland suggest
Rocks from Greenland found on Iceland’s west coast could link the late Roman Empire’s fall to a spell of sudden climate change. But historians say that the real story is likely much more complicated. Read More.

Scientists find ‘breathing’ magma cap inside Yellowstone super volcano
Yellowstone’s super volcano appears to have a magma cap that vents pressure and reduces the chances of a massive eruption happening anytime soon. Read More.

James Webb telescope reveals truth about ‘impossible’ black hole thought to be feeding at 40 times the theoretical limit
Astronomers have used the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to revisit a misunderstood black hole thought to be gulping matter 40 times faster than the theoretical limit. It turns out, dust may have obscured the truth. Read More.

Did the James Webb telescope really find evidence of alien life? Here’s the truth about exoplanet K2-18b.
A study suggesting the exoplanet K2-18b shows potential signs of alien life has been met with skepticism from the scientific community. Here’s the truth about what the
James Webb Space Telescope saw. Read More.

Buy the Bard’s First Folio
If you can afford it, of course. A set of the first four editions of William Shakespeare’s collected works is going up for auction in May. It’s the first time since 1989 that all four folios have been offered as a single lot. Sotheby’s auction house expects the set to sell for up to $6 million.

The secret life of pangolins
These small and adorable mammals are one of the most trafficked animals in the world. Now, an Oscar-winning director hopes to teach the world more about them with her documentary, “Pangolin: Kulu’s Journey.”

A Warhol in the wastebasket?
A 1980s Andy Warhol print depicting the Netherlands’ then-Queen Beatrix has disappeared along with an art collection that was stored in a Dutch town’s basement during a renovation. Left unprotected, the print and 45 other works were possibly tossed in the trash.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Tochigi, Japan
People enjoy the blooms at Ashikaga flower park, to the north of Tokyo
Photograph: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

Greater Manchester, UK
Morris dancers with the Milltown Cloggies attend the Joint Morris Organisations’ annual National Day of Dance on Saturday in Stockport
Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images

London, England
Visitors enjoy the spring blooms in Richmond Park
Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters
Market Closes for April 28^th , 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
The stone age didn’t end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil. –Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, b. 1930.
Canada
(MT Newswires)
Investors pushed the Toronto Stock Exchange higher for the ninth time over the last 11 sessions on Monday ahead of the end of voting in a federal election that could herald a new era of self-determination for Canada, marked by increased economic independence from the United States.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 88.08 points at 24,798.59.
Among sectors, Health Care, down 1.36%, and Base Metals, down 0.77%, were the biggest decliners, with Telecoms, up 0.61%, the biggest gainer on the day.
As a sign of how important this federal election is to most Canadians tired of threats to the economy and sovereignty of the nation from U.S. President Donald Trump, Scotiabank on Monday noted about one quarter of eligible voters voted in advance polls.
For the rest, polls opened first in Newfoundland at 7:00 a.m., Eastern Time and then over the rest of Canada, depending on time zones.
Scotiabank noted results will start rolling in shortly after polls close in Newfoundland at 7:00 p.m. ET and then the rest of Atlantic Canada after 7:30 p.m. ET.
The bank said key to the outcome will be when Ontario, Quebec and the Prairies begin reporting later in the evening and then if the vote is still close, when British Columbia begins reporting after 10 p.m. ET.
“I would guess that we’ll probably know by 11pm, maybe a little earlier or a little later. If the seat mapping sites are close to the actual outcome, then their projected tallies could make BC’s outcome count,” said Derek Holt, Scotia’s Head of Capital Markets Economics.
Holt said whichever political party wins, most likely the Liberals under new leader and former central banker, Mark Carney, will not have the support of a majority of Canadian voters.
Roughly six in 10 voters will choose another party, according to the polls, Holt noted.
According to Holt, the country is likely to remain highly divided, with the outcome speaking more to the political divisions within a first past the post parliamentary system.
“Ask the UK about that one, after Labour’s massive 2024 majority (411 out of 650 seats) was won with just about one-third of the popular vote,” he added.
Of commodities, gold traded higher late afternoon on Monday as the U.S. dollar weakened, boosting safe-haven demand.
Gold for June delivery was last seen up $63.20 to US$3,360.90 per ounce, sticking below the April 21 record high of US$3,425.30.
But West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell as OPEC+ readies to add supply while U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade wars continue to roil markets.
WTI crude oil for June delivery closed down $0.97 to US$62.05 per barrel, while June Brent crude was last seen down $1.22 to US$65.65.
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.4%, with eight of 11 sectors higher, led by information technology stocks.
As of market close, 116 of 218 stocks fell, while 97 rose.
Tilray Brands Inc. led the declines, falling 5.8%, while Denison Mines Corp. increased 4.6%.
Markets at a Glance:
* S&P/TSX Index rose 0.4% to 24,799
* Eight of 11 sectors rose
** Information technology gained, up 0.8%
** Industrials declined, down 0.5%
* S&P 500 Index was little changed at 5,529
* Nasdaq 100 Index was little changed at 19,427
* Crude oil fell 1.8% to $62/bbl
* Natgas rose 7.9% to $3.17/mmbtu
* Gold rose 1.5% to $3,333/oz
* Silver rose 0.3% to $33/oz
Advancers:
* Denison Mines Corp. (DML CN) +4.6%
* NexGen Energy Ltd. (NXE CN) +4.4%
* Aecon Group Inc. (ARE CN) +3.2%
* SSR Mining Inc. (SSRM CN) +3.2%
* Cameco Corp. (CCO CN) +2.6%
Decliners:
* Tilray Brands Inc. (TLRY CN) -5.8%
* Lundin Gold Inc. (LUG CN) -3.8%: TSX-Listed Gold Names Plunge as Safe Haven Demand Wanes
* First Quantum Minerals Ltd. (FM CN) -3.1%
* Lundin Mining Corp. (LUN CN) -2.5%
* Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN CN) -2.4%
US
By Rita Nazareth and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — A late-day wave of dip buying erased losses in stocks, with Wall Street investors awaiting a slew of corporate earnings and economic data for insights on the impacts of President Donald Trump’s tariff war.
As the S&P 500 closed higher for five consecutive sessions, the US equity benchmark posted its longest winning streak since November.
Monday marked the fifth time in the past month the index fully wiped out an intraday gain or drop of 1% or more.
The number of reversals already matches the total seen in the entire year of 2024.
Boeing Co. and International Business Machines Corp. led blue chips up, while Nvidia Corp. sank on news Huawei
Technologies Co. is set to test a new AI chip.
Mega caps Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., and Amazon.com Inc. will report results in coming days.
Treasuries rose.
The dollar fell.
From jobs to inflation and economic growth, traders will have a lot to digest this week.
A measure of Texas manufacturing activity weakened significantly as executives used words like “chaos” and “insanity” to describe the tariff turmoil, according to a report by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.
“This will be one of the busiest weeks of the year,” said Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise.
“Ongoing trade headlines, an economic calendar filled with key releases and the peak week of the earnings season, including several Magnificent Seven companies reporting results, should keep investors’ heads spinning.”
With a jittery April near a close, several market pros see little reason to think volatility is in the rearview mirror.
For equities to keep rallying, investors would need to see the White House follow through on the “dovish pivot” toward trade with China, according to Chris Larkin at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC the US has put China to the side for now as it seeks trade deals with between 15 to 17 other countries, while indicating it’s up to Beijing to take the first step in de-escalating the tariff fight.
“Underneath the surface, key risks persist — trade tensions, recession worries, and monetary policy uncertainties are very much alive,” said Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com.
While many executives have declined to predict how tariffs might impact their bottom lines, Wall Street has been doing its own math.
Based on a 22% tariff rate modeled by Bloomberg Economics, lower gross margins could result in a net income contraction of about 7% in 2025 for the S&P 500, compared with the current consensus estimate of nearly 12% growth, wrote Bloomberg Intelligence chief equity strategist Gina Martin Adams.
Morgan Stanley’s Michael Wilson says the weak dollar will support US corporate earnings, helping the American stock market to outperform the rest of the world.
Yet Wilson expects the S&P 500 to remain in the 5,000 to 5,500 range.
A more substantial increase would require a tariff deal with China, clear rebound in earnings estimates and the possibility of easier monetary policy, he wrote.
Meantime, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s trading desk is turning tactically bullish on US equities, predicting that tailwinds including big-tech earnings and trade deal announcements will continue to lift stocks after the recent rout.
Still, the bank was quick to emphasize in a note to clients Monday that the rally’s momentum could fade within weeks, with the negative impacts of US tariffs poised to begin dragging on the economy in the months ahead.

Corporate Highlights:
* Chief executive officers from Nvidia Corp., Johnson & Johnson, Eli Lilly & Co., General Electric Co. and SoftBank Group Corp. are among corporate leaders slated to visit the White House on Wednesday as President Trump highlights the US investments they’ve announced in the first 100 days of his second term in office.
* International Business Machines Corp. plans to invest $150 billion in the US over the next five years, joining a cohort of companies that have announced spending commitments following Trump’s election and tariff threats.
* Boeing Co.’s debt is no longer at immediate risk of being cut to junk status by S&P Global Ratings, a sign of progress in the plane maker’s turnaround after a brutal year in 2024.
* United Parcel Service Inc. is in talks with robotics startup Figure AI Inc. to use humanoid robots for some tasks in the logistics giant’s network, according to people familiar with the matter.
* NXP Semiconductors NV announced a new chief executive officer as part of its quarterly earnings report and warned that the chipmaker was navigating “a very uncertain environment” due to tariffs.
* OpenAI now lets users shop for products within ChatGPT, the latest move by the artificial intelligence startup to expand the reach of its popular chatbot and challenge rivals like Google.
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. took the wraps off a new version of its flagship Qwen AI model, sustaining the breakneck pace of development that’s characterized China’s artificial intelligence sphere in the wake of DeepSeek.
* Mastercard Inc. announced that it will give merchants the option to receive payments in stablecoins amid increasing global regulatory clarity on the digital assets that are usually pegged to fiat currencies.
* HG Vora Capital Management, an activist investor seeking changes at casino operator Penn Entertainment Inc., criticized  the company for reducing the number of board seats up for election and said it will continue a proxy fight.

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 0.3%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.4%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 0.4%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.1420
* The British pound rose 0.9% to $1.3438
* The Japanese yen rose 1.1% to 142.08 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.5% to $94,803.48
* Ether fell 0.2% to $1,799.16
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 4.20%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.52%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.51%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.8% to $61.90 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $3,350.33 an ounce

–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher and Anand Krishnamoorthy.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
The poor don’t know that their function in life is to exercise our generosity. -Jean-Paul Sartre, 1905-1980.

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