July 4th, 2025, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday! Happy Fourth of July.🎉

The United States celebrates its 249th year of independence. In 1776, the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. Go to article

July 4^th, 1862 Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) creates Alice in Wonderland for Alice Liddell during a family boat trip on the River Isis (Thames) in Oxford
July 4^th, 1924 Italian immigrant chef Caesar Cardini, creates his famous salad for the very first time, at his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico
July 4^th, 1941 Howard Florey and Norman Heatley meet for the first time and successfully recreate penicillin 11 days later

NASA confirms that mysterious object shooting through the solar system is an ‘interstellar visitor’ — and it has a new name
Experts have confirmed that the mysterious object hurtling towards us, previously dubbed A11pl3Z, is an “interstellar object.” The cosmic interloper, officially named 3I/ATLAS, is only the third of its kind ever seen — and will shoot past Earth later this year.

Neanderthal DNA may refute 65,000-year-old date for human occupation in Australia, but not all experts are convinced
A new DNA model suggests humans didn’t reach Australia until 50,000 years ago, but archaeological data disagrees.

Astrophotographer snaps ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ shot of solar flare photobombing the ISS
An astrophotographer has captured an extremely rare and “difficult” photo of a solar flare exploding from the sun at the exact moment the International Space Station passed directly in front of our home star.

Can adults make new brain cells? New study may finally settle one of neuroscience’s greatest debates
Scientists say they have very strong evidence that the adult human brain is capable of making new neurons, a point of ongoing controversy in neuroscience.

1,400-year-old temple ruins the size of a city block unearthed in Bolivia
Ruins of the Palaspata temple complex from the millennia-old Tiwanaku civilization are unraveling some mysteries about the relatively unstudied society.

Oldest wooden tools unearthed in East Asia show that ancient humans made planned trips to dig up edible plants
The 300,000 year-old tools show that hominins in East Asia made planned foraging trips to lakeshores and designed instruments for specific purposes.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lille, France
Soudal Quick-Step riders during a training session on the eve of the start of the 112th edition of the Tour de France
Photograph: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty

Kataragama, Sri Lanka
Two Sri Lankan leopards play together in Yala national park, the country’s most visited and second-largest national park
Photograph: Krishan Kariyawasam/NurPhoto/Shutterstock

Yellow-eyed penguins compare notes after returning to their colony on Katiki point on New Zealand’s South Island
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for July 4^th, 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
“Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.” — Benjamin Franklin
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 27,036.16 in Toronto.
Today, real estate stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 119 of 213 shares rose, while 87 fell.
H&R Real Estate Investment Trust contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 17.2%.

Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.3%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended May 16
* The index advanced 22% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 14% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 24.8% above its low on Aug. 6, 2024
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.5 on a trailing basis and 17.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$4.37t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 6.15% compared with 6.13% in the previous session and the average of 6.50% over the past month

Index Points
Real Estate | 8.8979| 1.9| 16/2
Materials | 4.0681| 0.1| 26/22
Consumer Staples | 3.6436| 0.4| 9/1
Utilities | 1.3757| 0.1| 10/3
Financials | 1.3603| 0.0| 15/10
Communication Services | 1.1469| 0.2| 5/0
Health Care | 0.0715| 0.1| 2/1
Consumer Discretionary | -0.9493| -0.1| 4/5
Industrials | -1.5183| 0.0| 14/13
Energy | -3.9891| -0.1| 14/24
Information Technology | -12.1886| -0.5| 4/6
(MT Newswires)
The Toronto Stock Exchange posted its fourth-straight record close on Friday, sticking above the 27,000 mark for a second day but gains are slowing as it managed just a minor rise.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 1.9 points to 27,036.16, just topping Thursday’s prior record close of 27,034.26.
Telecoms and Utilities were up 0.37% and 0.20%, respectively, leading gains, while Information Technology and Battery Metals Index were at the bottom of the list.
Douglas Porter, chief economist at BMO Capital Markets, said in his weekly ‘Talking Points’ noted there was no shortage of key economic news and events packed into this holiday-shortened week.
He said the most notable end result was that equity markets “kept right on keeping on”, reflecting a broad rally.
“So broad, in fact, that the TSX has steamrolled above 27,000 for the first time, with almost an unbroken string of advances in the past three months; it has now risen in 11 of the past 13 weeks,” Porter added.
Globally, it’s a broadly similar tale for the MSCI All Countries index, which is now up almost 7% year to date, also reaching a record high, he noted.
According to Porter, the three major drivers for markets this week were economic news, a new budget bill in the United States and trade developments, with the latter impacting Canada most.
He noted Canada and Mexico were not included in the new U.S. reciprocal tariffs and are being handled separately.
Talks with Canada were paused last week over its Digital Services Tax, but ,after Canada backed down, negotiations resumed.
Both countries hope to reach a deal by July 21, though that date is self-imposed.
Porter said while Canada’s economy has held up a bit better than BMO initially expected to the trade war, in part because the average U.S. tariff on Canada is a “manageable” 6%, he added “there are some signs of strain” as the deep merchandise trade deficit of $5.9 billion was the second largest on record, topped only by April’s “whopping” $7.6 billion shortfall, and real exports were down 5% from last year’s average level.
Porter said Canada’s trade figures have been “wildly skewed” by tariff front-running that was followed by a “deep sag”, but also by a surge in gold exports.
Looking through the dense fog, he added, it’s clear that net exports will sap second-quarter GDP, probably to a greater extent than the calm monthly output figures imply.
Along with a drop in oil production amid the spring wildfires, BMO downgraded its call on the quarter to -0.8% a.r., although it also expects less softness in the third quarter as a partial offset.
“If Ottawa does indeed manage to secure even a trade framework this summer, which provides some clarity, we will be upgrading our H2 growth outlook.
Less uncertainty, coupled with solid financial markets, and what’s now looking like a bountiful fiscal push, could lift growth much higher than our current call of a small dip in Q3 and a 1% advance in Q4.”
Of commodities, gold held steady Friday amid light electronic trade with U.S. markets closed for the Independence Day holiday.
Gold for August delivery was last seen up $3.60 to US$3,346.50 per ounce.
The price of the precious metal has remained rangebound since closing at a record $3,452.80 per ounce on June 13.
But West Texas Intermediate oil prices fell for a second day on increasing supply.
WTI oil for August delivery was last seen down $0.50 to US$66.50 per barrel, while September Brent crude was down $0.50 to US$68.30.
US
US markets closed for Independence Day(United States).

Have a lovely weekend.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Shab

“If you have the words, there’s always a chance that you’ll find the way.”– Seamus Heaney

Shab Mohammadpour
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
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Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

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