Dear Friends,

Tangents: Full moon tonight 🌕 and it’s another Super Moon!

December 4th:

1980: The rock group Led Zeppelin announced it was disbanding after the death in September of drummer John Bonham. Go to article.

1998: The Space Shuttle Endeavor launches on STS-88, beginning construction of he International Space Station and setting in motion the largest collaborative engineering project in human history.

Thomas Carlyle, essayist, b. 1795.
Rainer Maria Rilke, poet, b.1875.

Struggling to stay awake in a meeting? Here’s what to do
Sitting through a boring meeting or class isn’t easy — even if you’ve perfected the "I’m totally listening" nod. Here are some tips to stay alert if you’ve been faking it.

Country tourists haven’t found yet
There’s still one beautiful Southern European country with delicious food, great wine and no crowds of tourists.

A day in the life of a CNN correspondent covering the pope
After covering Pope Leo XIV’s first overseas trip, CNN’s Salma Abdelaziz shares a video diary from her day reporting in Turkey.

From ‘pathetic’ to ‘unbelievable’
Indiana University’s football program is having a moment, thanks to a quarterback who talks like a ferocious jock but has been described as a "football nerd."

Witchcraft is a growing spiritual path in America
Witchcraft, Wicca, and Paganism are more popular than ever, with some estimates topping 2 million practitioners in the US. CNN’s Donie O’Sullivan meets with modern witches to discover what they’ve found in witchcraft that they haven’t elsewhere.

‘An extreme end of human genetic variation’: Ancient humans were isolated in southern Africa for nearly 100,000 years, and their genetics are stunningly different

Ancient genomes from southern Africa show that people evolved in isolation for upward of 100,000 years. Read More.

Ancient ‘hanging coffin’ people in China finally identified — and their descendants still live there today

People buried in "hanging coffins" thousands of years ago in China and Southeast Asia have finally been identified through DNA research. Read More.

China has planted so many trees it’s changed the entire country’s water distribution

Huge "regreening" efforts in China over the past few decades have activated the country’s water cycle and moved water in ways that scientists are just now starting to understand. Read More.

James Webb telescope spots strange ‘super-puff’ planet frantically chasing its own atmosphere through space

New James Webb telescope observations of the "super-puff" planet WASP-107b show that the exoplanet’s runaway atmosphere is frantically escaping into space. Read More.

When an AI algorithm is labeled ‘female,’ people are more likely to exploit it

People who played the “Prisoner’s Dilemma” were less likely to cooperate when the other player was a male human or AI, and exploited female players. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Galaxies, highly commended: Fireworks by Bence Tóth, Péter Feltóti and Bertalan Kecskés
M33, the Triangulum galaxy is seen from a new perspective in this Hungarian entry

Wait up Mommy, look what I got for you! Kaziranga, India

‘At the Kaziranga national park, this elephant mother and calf seemed completely oblivious to our jeep and went about their stroll through the pond. The mom seemed to be giving her calf lessons on eating the hyacinth: select a lush green bunch, rip them out from the root, pound the stems against the trunk to remove the mud and then swallow whole. The calf looked like she was thoroughly enjoying the lesson and duly followed her mother’s every move’
Photograph: Kunal Gupta/CWPAs

South Korean convenience stores preserved in ink – in pictures
In 1997, after moving to the South Korean countryside from Seoul, artist Lee Me Kyeoung came across a “beautifully dilapidated” old convenience store in her neighbourhood and was compelled to paint it. The two months it took her to complete the drawing, using ink pens, was such a “joyful experience” that she decided to seek out more. “These small, old mom-and-pop stores were more than just places to buy goods, they were essential to the community,” she says, but they were disappearing as shopping habits in Korea changed. Me Kyeoung’s drawings – she has committed about 500 stores to paper over 26 years, along with cherry blossoms and other trees that flourished over many of them – are a record of a slower, more community-centred way of life that is passing into memory.See more at instagram.com/lee_me_kyeoung

Market Closes for December 4th, 2025

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	47850.94	-31.96
		-0.07%
S&P 500	6857.12	+7.40
		+0.11%
NASDAQ	23505.14	+51.05
		+0.22%
TSX	31477.57	+317.03
		+1.02%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	51028.42	+1163.74
		+2.33%
HANG SENG	25935.90	+175.17
		+0.68%
SENSEX	85265.32	+158.51
		+0.19%
FTSE 100*	9710.87	+18.80
		+0.19%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.256	3.222
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.741	3.705
U.S. 10 Year Bond	4.0981	4.0633
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.7547	4.7308

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7163	0.7168
US $	1.3958	1.3948

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	0.6251	1.6153
US $	0.8589	1.1642

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	4210.30	4214.75
Oil
WTI Crude Future	59.67	58.95

Market Commentary:

Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt. -Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790.

Canada

By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 1%, or 317.03 to 31,477.57 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.5% on Nov. 24.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.5%.
Descartes Systems Group Inc. had the largest increase, rising 14.4%.
Today, 124 of 212 shares rose, while 84 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 27%, heading for the best year in at least 10 years
* This quarter, the index rose 4.8%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.3%
* The index advanced 23% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 41.6% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.9% in the past 5 days and rose 5.7% 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 19.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$4.95t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 14.44% compared with 14.25% in the previous session and the average of 14.98% over the past month
Index Points
Financials | 143.9384| 1.4| 18/6
Information Technology | 64.9308| 2.1| 9/0
Energy | 58.2700| 1.2| 26/10
Materials | 25.8648| 0.5| 28/20
Consumer Staples | 14.7034| 1.4| 6/5
Consumer Discretionary | 7.7293| 0.7| 5/4
Industrials | 5.0830| 0.2| 16/13
Health Care | 1.8893| 2.3| 3/1
Communication Services | 0.3776| 0.1| 2/3
Real Estate | -1.1326| -0.2| 5/14
Utilities | -4.6328| -0.4| 6/8
RBC | 53.2800| 2.5| 49.1| 29.3
CIBC | 32.6900| 4.2| 170.5| 38.9
Shopify | 30.2100| 1.6| -37.7| 48.2
Lundin Mining | -2.7430| -2.2| 20.5| 112.0
First Majestic | -2.9870| -4.2| -3.1| 165.6
Imperial Oil | -3.3060| -2.2| 73.4| 48.2
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange, on Thursday set its first record close since last Friday with investors buoyed by fiscal fourth-quarter earnings from the six big banks, improving commodity prices and a growing belief that the Canadian economy is holding up pretty well overall in the face of U.S. tariffs heading into 2026.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 317.03 points, or 1%, to 31,477.57, adding to the 110-plus points gained yesterday.
This took the index beyond last Friday’s previous record finish of 31,382.78.
Among sectors, most were higher, with the Battery Metals Index and Health Care up 3.4% and 3% respectively, and Information Technology up near 2.7%.
In contrast Utilities was down 0.4% and Telecom down less than 0.1%.
The Canadian Press noted fourth quarter bank earnings wrapped Thursday with TD, BMO and CIBC all reporting higher than expected profits to add to the earning beats of Canada’s other big banks this week.
It said their combined profits, totaling $16.45 billion for the quarter, were up from $14.73 billion last year as banks, and the economy, largely shrugged off the effects of trade uncertainty with the United States.
Results, news agency added, did show some signs of stress as the Canadian unemployment rate hovers around 7%, with most banks adding to their provisions for potentially bad loans on the personal banking side and reporting tepid mortgage growth.
Of commodities, gold had edged higher late afternoon Thursday as treasury yields rose ahead of key U.S. inflation data coming Friday and next week’s interest-rate decision from the Federal Reserve. Gold for February delivery was last seen up $6.50 to US$4,239.00 per ounce.
Also, West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up for a second day as traders raised the commodity’s risk premium despite abundant supply as negotiations for a peace agreement for Russia’s war on Ukraine stalled while Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s oil infrastructure continue.
WTI crude oil for January delivery closed up $0.72 to settle at US$59.67 per barrel, while February Brent oil was last seen up $0.57 to US$63.24.
On the outlook for the Canadian economy, Beata Caranci, Chief Economist at TD Economics, in a client presentation from December 2025 said globally the negative effects from the trade war instigated by the United States have been muted relative to expectations, in part because countries show evidence of finding new markets or engaging in trade diversion. "Canada falls into the first bucket," she added.
Caranci said even with the lack of U.S. economic data due to the government shutdown, tensions have re-surfaced on the K-shaped economy.
This term was previously used to describe the pandemic, marked by not just the differing fortunes between income groups, but diverging forces, she noted.
Caranci added: "Never say never when it comes to Canada.
The resilience of the job market has been the biggest surprise of the quarter, and now the Federal budget offers an opportunity for a potential tailwind."
Meanwhile, Claire Fan and Annie Zheng at RBC Economics noted with CUSMA exemptions protecting the bulk of Canada-U.S. trade, most U.S. tariff revenue collected on imports from Canada this year have come from product specific tariffs imposed on autos, metals, and softwood lumber.
"This," the RBC duo said, "has created a fragmented Canadian economy where a subset of sectors faces a significant trade shock, while most other exports continue to enter the U.S. duty free.
Even among the sectors targeted with tariffs, the impacts have been uneven given varying abilities among Canadian exporters and U.S. importers to find alternative international trade partners or domestic sources."
The RBC duo noted while it’s still early, they now have enough data to begin to assess the impact of tariffs on Canadian industries behind key product groups accounting for more than 80% of U.S. tariffs collected on imports from Canada this year.
Overall, the pair said they track moderately lower manufacturing production and employment in most of the highly tariffed sectors in Canada.
They added these trends have also been much less volatile than international trade flow, that were heavily distorted around when tariffs were implemented (as U.S. importers front-ran purchases to build pre-tariff inventories in Q1.)
Fan and Zheng said: "Selling prices among Canadian manufacturers have generally held up, with foreign buyers paying the bulk of initial tariff costs but have led to declining U.S. corporate profits this year.
We haven’t seen systemically higher U.S. consumer prices but still expect those will show up more significantly in 2026."
Of note, Canada’s CTV News is reporting that Prime Minister Mark Carney and U.S. President Donald Trump will have a brief meeting Friday at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.. Carney will also meet, separately, with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, CTV News confirmed via the Mexican embassy in Canada.
Sheinbaum will also meet privately with the U.S. president.
The three leaders will be in Washington for the FIFA World Cup draw on Friday, which will determine the tournament’s composition between their countries, CTV News reported.
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A rally that put the stock market within a striking distance of its all-time highs struggled to gain a whole lot of traction ahead of next week’s Federal Reserve decision.
Bitcoin halted its rebound.
Bonds fell.
The S&P 500 barely budged.
Bets on a Fed reduction remained intact despite a slide in jobless claims — a noisy reading that captured the Thanksgiving period.
Meta Platforms Inc. jumped about 3.5% as Bloomberg News reported executives are considering budget cuts for the metaverse group.
A gauge of small caps climbed almost 1%.
Worries that the frenzy around artificial intelligence has gone too far caused a recent wobble in equities.
But the strong outlook for the sector and wagers that policy easing will fuel corporate profits bolstered hopes on further gains.
“The key question hanging over markets is whether a potential Federal Reserve rate cut next week can trigger a so- called Santa rally,” said Fawad Razaqzada at Forex.com.
“For now, the S&P 500 forecast remains cautiously constructive, albeit with more hesitancy creeping in.”
The pattern for the first couple of weeks of December could prove far “choppier” than the last part of the month, noted Mark Newton at Fundstrat Global Advisors.
With bets on a December rate cut rising to near certainty, he said we’re gradually seeing sectors like industrials, financials and small caps climbing.
The S&P 500 closed near 6,860.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 4.1%.
The dollar fluctuated.
Bitcoin dropped below $93,000.
Given the equity market’s snapback from late November, technicals have improved to match some of the bullish seasonality thought possible for this month, Newton added.
While trends are bullish, he says technicals support further hoppiness until after the Fed decision.
“The market’s ‘risk-on’ light is on, led by expectations for a Fed rate cut next week and a broadening rotation down- cap,” said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler.
“But we still anticipate more ‘backing and filling’ as the major indices approach their year-to-date highs.”
While the S&P 500 has made limited progress so far this week, several previously broken levels have now been reclaimed, reinforcing the impression that the bulls maintain a degree of control, noted Razaqzada.
To Matt Maley at Miller Tabak, while the market has spent the past few days consolidating gains, the set-up is a good one.
“So, unless we get a big reversal over the next few trading days, the advantage will definitely be with the bulls,” he said.
Maley notes that one area that could do well if we get a strong year-end rally is the small-cap space.
“A push to a new significant all-time high might finally attract the kind of momentum money that could help this part of the stock market outperform,” he said.
“Of course, if the mega- cap tech stocks start to roll over in a big way, all bets will be off.”
At Interactive Brokers, Jose Torres noted that the cyclically oriented Russell 2000 is sustaining its recent momentum and is poised to rally in an environment of looser financial conditions alongside a still solid economy.
While the US tech sector is likely to remain a key driver for the market’s next leg up, its recent underperformance also points to other compelling opportunities across the market, according to Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Global Wealth Management.
“As we expect US equities to rally into 2026, we think under-allocated investors should add exposure,” she said.
“Beyond the tech sector, we expect a good performance from the health care, utilities, and banking sectors to broaden the foundation for further gains.”
Hoffmann-Burchardi says the Fed’s easing path is supportive to equities and also creates a positive backdrop for quality bonds.
On the macro front, applications for US unemployment benefits feel last week to the lowest in more than three years, indicating that employers are still largely holding onto workers despite a wave of recent layoffs.
Separate data from Challenger, Gray & Christmas showed announced layoffs at US companies feel last month after surging in October but were still the highest for any November in three years.
“Overall, the net takeaway from the data served to confirm the crosscurrents evident in the labor landscape,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.
Policymakers will not yet have the government’s November jobs report in hand for their meeting next week.
The report, originally due Dec. 5, was delayed until Dec. 16 as a result of the record-long government shutdown.
That release will also include October payrolls figures.
“There remain some negative payroll employment readings.
But the US labor market is not collapsing based on timely data and reports that have leading indicator properties,” said Don Rissmiller at Strategas.
“We continue to believe the Fed will cut the fed funds rate again by 25 basis points in December.”
While investors are largely betting policymakers will cut rates again, officials have rarely been so divided as many still prefer leaving rates elevated to keep inflation in check.
Before their final policy meeting of the year, Fed officials will get a dated reading on their preferred inflation gauge.
On Friday, the September income and spending report — long delayed because of the government shutdown — is due to be released.
The figures will include the personal consumption expenditures price index and a core measure that excludes food and energy.
Economists project a third-straight 0.2% increase in the core index.
That would keep the year-over-year figure hovering just below 3%, a sign that inflationary pressures are stable, yet sticky.
“We continue to expect two rate cuts by the end of the first quarter of 2026, with Friday’s personal consumption expenditure index likely to show price pressures under control,” said Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Global Wealth Management.

Corporate Highlights:
* Meta Platforms Inc.’s Mark Zuckerberg is expected to meaningfully cut resources for building the so-called metaverse, an effort that he once framed as the future of the company and the reason for changing its name from Facebook Inc.
** Meta Platforms risks a temporary European Union ban on the rollout of new policies over how its AI features in WhatsApp, after being hit by the latest probe into Big Tech’s alleged dominance on the continent.
* Salesforce Inc. gave an outlook for revenue in the current period that topped analysts’ estimates, suggesting the software company is persuading customers to buy its AI tools.
* Snowflake Inc.’s forecast for sales and profit margin in the current quarter raised concerns the company isn’t yet making enough money from its AI-based tools.
* Dollar General Corp. raised its full-year outlook, showing how value-focused retailers are winning over consumers hunting for deals.
* Kroger Co. lowered the top end of its full-year sales forecast, sounding a note of caution that competition is intensifying among food sellers for increasingly discerning consumers.
* PepsiCo Inc. is nearing a settlement agreement with activist reported Thursday, without providing details.
* Paramount Skydance Corp. accused Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. of failing to conduct a fair auction, saying the film and TV company isn’t acting in its shareholders’ best interests.
* Versant Media Group Inc., the company being spun off from Comcast Corp., is making acquisitions to diversify beyond its core business of cable-TV networks.
* Toronto-Dominion Bank, Bank of Montreal and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce all beat estimates on results that included strong performance in their capital-markets businesses, continuing a trend seen across other Canadian lenders and wrapping up a year marked by buoyant markets and more advisory work.
* Novo Nordisk A/S left open the door for additional work on its pill version of Ozempic for Alzheimer’s disease after a pair of failed trials, saying that patients showed a biological response in a handful of areas despite getting no cognitive improvement.
* Stellantis NV touted promising signs of a turnaround at its Ram and Jeep brands after adding powerful engines and more options for vehicles without a plug.
* Volkswagen AG plans to convert its small-scale assembly plant in Dresden into an innovation hub after stopping car output, following through on a pledge to avoid factory closures in Germany.
* Rio Tinto Group’s new chief executive will focus on cutting costs and selling assets in a bid to turn the world’s second largest miner into a slimmed-down operation centered primarily on iron ore and copper.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.3%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 0.5%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.8%
* Meta rose 3.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1644
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3329
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 155.10 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.3% to $92,459.23
* Ether fell 0.8% to $3,139.48
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.10%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 2.77%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.43%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.3% to $59.71 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $4,210.02 an ounce

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Be gentle and you can be bold; be frugal and you can be liberal; avoid putting yourself before others and you can become a leader among men. –Lao Tzu, c. 6th century BCE.

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