May 15th,2025,Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve!
Carolann is away from the office for Sohn Investment Conference in New York, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

May 15, 1618: German astronomer Johannes Kepler discovers the third of his three planetary laws, the “harmonic law”
May 15, 1672: 1st copyright law enacted by Massachusetts
May 15, 1817: First private mental health hospital opens in the US, Asylum for the Relief of Persons Deprived of the Use of Their Reason (now Friends Hospital) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
May 15, 1869: National Woman Suffrage Association forms in New York, founded by Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton
May 15: 1988: The Soviet Union began withdrawing its troops from Afghanistan. Go to article

National Chocolate Chip Day. Read more

Gigantic ‘mud waves’ buried deep beneath the ocean floor reveal dramatic formation of Atlantic when Africa and South America finally split
Enormous “mud waves” buried under the Atlantic seabed formed 117 million years ago as the Atlantic Ocean opened up. The discovery of buried “mud waves” off the coast of western Africa reveals that the Atlantic Ocean was born at least 4 million years earlier than scientists previously thought.

9 best things to see in the night sky with binoculars: May to July 2025
Explore the wonders of the Northern Hemisphere’s night sky with our guide to the best celestial sights you can observe with binoculars between May and July. If you want to take your stargazing to the next level, a pair of binoculars is the way to go. With a little magnification, it’s possible to access another level of the night sky, revealing open clusters of stars, the Milky Way and detail on the surface of the moon.

James Webb telescope reveals ‘impossible’ auroras on Jupiter that have astronomers scratching their heads
Scientists looked at Jupiter’s massive auroras using the James Webb and Hubble Space Telescopes — and found a mystery they can’t fully explain.

‘Quite enigmatic’: Rare stone carving of Assyrian king surrounded by gods discovered in Iraq
A massive stone carving featuring an Assyrian ruler and several deities has been found in Iraq.
Archaeologists who are excavating the ancient city of Nineveh in Iraq have discovered a rare stone carving depicting the last ruler of the Assyrian Empire flanked by important gods. The slab was made in the seventh century B.C. but was mysteriously broken and buried under the palace throne room several centuries later.

Immune genes linked to bigger brains and longer lifespans in mammals — including humans
The genomes of long-living, big-brained mammal species reveal that they carry more copies of immunity genes. Experts speculate that these genes may affect longevity.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Perito Moreno glacier, Argentina
Tourists admire the Perito Moreno glacier, near the city of El Calafate in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz
Photograph: Bernat Parera/Reuters

Doha, Qatar
The Qatari air force escorts a plane transporting the US president, Donald Trump, as it prepares to land
Photograph: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Frankfurt, Germany
A stork guards her chicks in her nest on a pylon
Photograph: Michael Probst/AP
Market Closes for May 15^th, 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
“The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator.”— Benjamin Graham
Canada
(MT Newswires)
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed at a record high on Thursday, rising for an eighth-straight session as markets continue to rally after China and the United States on backed off their tariff battle on the weekend.
Even with commodity prices mixed, the resources heavy S&P/TSX Composite Index closed 203.44 points to 25,895.89, topping the prior record close of 25,808.25 set on Jan. 30.
Among sectors, Industrials, up 1.78%, and Telecoms, up 1.33%, posted the biggest gains, with Energy and Base Metals down 1.34% and 0.83% respectively.
The Canadian market surpassing its prior peak provides a psychological milestone for traders and is “a sign of resilience” according to Colin Cieszynski, portfolio manager and chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management.
“The market has taken everything that could be thrown at it and it’s still showing strength, and it still has breadth and that’s a really good thing,” he added.
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.8%, with nine of 11 sectors higher, led by industrials stocks.
As of market close, 139 of 217 stocks fell, while 76 rose.
Baytex Energy Corp. led the declines, falling 8.3%, while AtkinsRealis Group Inc. increased 11%.
Markets at a Glance:
* S&P/TSX Index rose 0.8% to 25,897
* Nine of 11 sectors rose
** Industrials gained, up 1.8%
** Energy declined, down 0.6%
* Crude oil fell 2.2% to $62/bbl
* Natgas fell 4% to $3.35/mmbtu
* Gold rose 1.6% to $3,239/oz
* Silver rose 0.8% to $32/oz
Advancers:
* AtkinsRealis Group Inc. (ATRL CN) +11%: AtkinsRealis Boosts Nuclear Revenue Outlook, Shares Climb (1)
* MDA Space Ltd. (MDA CN) +7.7%
* Secure Waste Infrastructure Corp. (SES CN) +6.9%
* SSR Mining Inc. (SSRM CN) +6.6%
* Stantec Inc. (STN CN) +5.4%: Stantec 1Q Net Revenue Matches Estimates
Decliners:
* Baytex Energy Corp. (BTE CN) -8.3%
* Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET CN) -4.3%
* Capstone Copper Corp. (CS CN) -4.1%
* Cargojet Inc. (CJT CN) -3.9%
* Bird Construction Inc. (BDT CN) -3.7%: Bird Construction Drops as Firm Expects Most Growth in 2H (1)
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders drove stocks higher as bond yields sank after the latest economic data spurred speculation the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates twice this year to prevent a recession.
The S&P 500 rose for a fourth straight day.
Despite the gain, caution lurked in the background after a furious rally spurred worries about an overheated market, with the pendulum swinging in favor of defensive dividend-payers that had underperformed in the past month.
Meta Platforms Inc. paced losses in big tech on a news report it was delaying the rollout of a flagship AI model.
In late hours, Applied Materials Inc. gave a tepid forecast.
Treasuries climbed across the curve.
Longer-dated bonds were earlier whipsawed by large trades that briefly pushed the 30-year yield to nearly 5%.
The dollar dropped against most major currencies.
Prices paid to US producers unexpectedly declined by the most in five years suggesting companies are absorbing some of the hit from higher tariffs.
Growth in retail sales decelerated notably.
Factory production declined for the first time in six months while New York state manufacturing contracted again.
And confidence among homebuilders slumped.
“If you are in the stagflation camp, these data aren’t confirming your thesis,” said Jamie Cox at Harris Financial Group.
“While growth is slowing, disinflation remains intact.”
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%.
The Nasdaq 100 was little changed.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.65%.
An index of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps fell 1.1%.
Canada’s stock benchmark hit a record with an eight-day rally.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries tumbled 10 basis points to 4.43%.
A dollar gauge lost 0.2%.
Oil slumped as Donald Trump said the US and Iran are getting closer to a deal regarding Tehran’s nuclear program.
Stocks are now trading like last month’s rout never happened.
The S&P 500 is about 4% away from an all-time high, while the Nasdaq 100 swung from a bear market back into a bull market.
The advance is building as economic tensions between the US and China ease and the White House appears to be softening its approach to trade negotiations.
“I don’t want to get too excited, but we may actually be able to focus on company fundamentals for a while this summer,” said Lamar Villere, portfolio Manager at Villere & Co.
“If you’d told me a month ago that stocks would be up year-to-date when my kids finished their exams, I’d have called you a liar.”
Still, there’s little clarity over how the existing levies might impact the US economy or the trajectory the global trade war will take in coming months.
Fed Governor Michael Barr said the economy is on solid ground, but warned tariff-related supply-chain disruptions could lead to lower growth and higher inflation.
Recession remains a possibility as tariff fallout continues to buffet global economies, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon.
“Hopefully we’ll avoid it, but I wouldn’t take it off the table at this point,” Dimon said in a Bloomberg Television interview Thursday at JPMorgan’s annual Global Markets Conference in Paris.
“If there is a recession, I don’t know how big it would be or how long it would last.”
Wells Fargo Investment Institute sees economic growth, clarity around Trump’s tariffs and continued earnings growth driving further stock-market gains through the rest of this year and next.
Strategists at the firm published a new S&P 500 forecast for 2026, expecting the US equity benchmark to climb to between 6,400 and 6,600 by year’s end.
WFII’s new 2025 year-end target is in a range of 5,900 to 6,100.
The gauge closed at 5,916.93 Thursday.
“Our constructive equity outlook is not an all clear for the riskiest areas of the markets,” the team wrote, emphasizing preference from US large- and mid-cap companies.
Equity gains will likely get harder from these elevated levels, so the relatively low cost of volatility hedges on offer right now hands investors an opportunity to build a defense against summer volatility.
“While we continue to expect a range of trade agreements to be reached to sustain the tariff rate at roughly the level during the pause period, ongoing uncertainty could trigger further bouts of market volatility,” said Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management.
Meantime, tax-bill discussions in Congress show the US “appears unwilling” to rein in its fiscal deficit, while foreigners are less inclined to finance it, creating a “major problem” for the dollar and the bond market, said George Saravelos, Deutsche Bank’s global head of currency strategy.
“Running a wider fiscal deficit requires foreigners to buy an ever-expanding number of US Treasuries and an ongoing rise of America’s foreign liabilities,” he wrote.
“This we believe is no longer sustainable.”
The dollar’s descent is elevating the price of hedging currency trades around the world, breaking up a long-standing market conviction that costs tend to come down when the greenback weakens.
The correlation between the dollar and a widely watched gauge of volatility in Group-of-10 currencies fell to the lowest level in seven years this week.
For most of the past 15 years that correlation was positive.

Corporate Highlights:
* Walmart Inc. delivered another quarter of solid sales and earnings growth but cautioned that tariffs and increasing economic turbulence means even the world’s largest retailer expects to raise prices.
* UnitedHealth Group Inc. plummeted following a report that the insurer was under criminal investigation for possible Medicare fraud, adding to an already tumultuous week.
* Dick’s Sporting Goods Inc. reached a $2.4 billion deal to acquire Foot Locker Inc., combining two retailers troubled by President Trump’s tariff wars.
* Trump said he’s asked Apple Inc.’s Tim Cook to stop building plants in India to make devices for the US, pushing the iPhone maker to add domestic production as it pivots away from China.
* CVS Health Corp. is trying to buy stores and patient data from Rite Aid Corp., the beleaguered pharmacy chain that is going out of business after filing for bankruptcy a second time earlier this month.
* CoreWeave Inc. has secured a deal worth as much as $4 billion to provide additional cloud computing capacity to artificial intelligence leader OpenAI, expanding a tie-up between the two firms.
* Deere & Co.’s earnings beat the highest of analyst estimates, even as the world’s largest farm machinery maker trimmed its profit outlook for the year.
* Hackers had near-constant access to some of Coinbase Global Inc.’s most-valuable customer data since January, according to a person familiar with the incident who asked not to be named discussing company matters.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.65%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.3%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 1.1%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1184
* The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.3305
* The Japanese yen rose 0.8% to 145.62 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.4% to $103,183.53
* Ether fell 2.7% to $2,530.39
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 10 basis points to 4.43%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 2.62%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 4.66%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.1% to $61.80 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.7% to $3,231.82 an ounce

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Shab
” It is not certain that everything is uncertain.”– Blaise Pascal

Shab Mohammadpour
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.
340A – 730 View Street
Victoria BC  V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778-430-5851
Fax: 778-430-5828