Dear Friends,
Tangents: Happy Monday.
March 16th, 1926: Robert Goddard launches the first liquid-fueled rocket, a foundational leap for modern rocketry and spaceflight.
March 16th, 2003: Vice President Dick Cheney predicted on NBC’s "Meet the Press" that American troops would be "greeted as liberators" by the Iraqi people. Go to article.
James Madison, 4th President, b. 1751.
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, jurist, b. 1933.
Why one restaurant chef still cooks his grandma’s recipes
Chef Gavin Kaysen says his grandmother’s recipes are the ones he returns to again and again, especially when he’s craving comfort food.
March Madness is finally here
Basketball fans — consider this your cheat sheet before the brackets bust.
Formula 1 calls off some April races
Formula 1 and its governing body FIA canceled Grand Prix races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, citing safety concerns.
The world’s best cities for 2026, according to Time Out
Time Out magazine has named its "best cities for 2026," and half of the top 10 are in the Asia-Pacific.
| In physics first, Chinese scientists create rare ‘hexagonal diamond’ that’s harder than natural diamond |
Researchers made small, pure samples of the elusive mineral lonsdaleite – also known as hexagonal diamond — and tested its material properties to show it’s harder than diamond. Read More.
| Roman military fort discovered in Scotland far north of Hadrian’s Wall |
The newly found fortlet was a good lookout point for Roman soldiers stationed along the Antonine Wall in Scotland. Read More.
| The government is very serious about UFOs. So why are researchers being stymied? |
An unidentified anomalous phenomena researcher discusses the stigma faced by similar experts conducting their studies into other UAP events while the government continues to release reports on the topic. Read More.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Mecca, Saudi Arabia
Muslims perform late-night prayers on Laylat al-Qadr (night of power) on the 27th night of the holy month of Ramadan, in the Grand Mosque in Mecca
Photograph: Saudi Press Agency/Reuters
Happy as can be!’ My Neighbour Totoro toasts first birthday in London’s West End
The spectacular stage version of Studio Ghibli’s much-loved film has spent a year at the Gillian Lynne theatre in London. To celebrate, photographer Tristram Kenton was granted backstage access
All photographs by Tristram Kenton
Cheltenham, England
Richie McLernon rides Johnny to win ahead of second-placed Jagwar ridden by Mark Walsh, and Quebecois ridden by Harry Cobden in the Ultima Handicap Chase during the Cheltenham festival.
Photograph: Adrian Dennis/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for March 16th , 2026
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
46946.41 | +387.94 |
| +0.83% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6699.38 | +67.19 |
| +1.01% | ||
| NASDAQ | 22374.18 | +268.82 |
| +1.22% | ||
| TSX | 32876.65 | +334.72 |
| +1.03% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 53751.15 | -68.46 |
| -0.13% | ||
| HANG SENG |
25834.02 | +368.42 |
| +1.45% | ||
| SEN SEX | 75502.85 | +938.93 |
| +1.26% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 10317.69 | +56.54 |
| +0.55% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.433 | 3.507 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.880 | 3.934 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.2160 | 4.2767 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.8664 | 4.9039 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7306 | 0.7288 |
| US $ |
1.3687 | 1.3720 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6355 | 1.5735 |
| US $ |
0.8697 | 1.1497 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
5044.60 | 5130.10 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 93.50 | 98.71 |
Market Commentary:
On this day in 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 10000 for the first time.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1% at 32,876.65 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.1% on Feb. 26 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.9%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.6%.
Altus Group Ltd/Canada had the largest increase, rising 9.3%.
Today, 163 of 217 shares rose, while 52 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 3.7%
* The index advanced 34% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 20% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.8% below its 52-week high on March 2, 2026 and 47.9% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.9% 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 21.4 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.14t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 18.20% compared with 18.11% in the previous session and the average of 19.10% over the past month
Index Points
Financials | 163.2063| 1.6| 20/4
Information Technology | 47.8261| 2.0| 7/3
Energy | 33.2244| 0.6| 26/11
Industrials | 22.9281| 0.7| 25/4
Consumer Staples | 20.2846| 1.8| 10/0
Consumer Discretionary | 17.7724| 1.7| 6/3
Materials | 13.7721| 0.2| 34/20
Real Estate | 5.1065| 1.1| 17/2
Communication Services | 5.0942| 0.8| 3/2
Utilities | 4.4483| 0.4| 12/2
Health Care | 1.0687| 1.3| 3/1
Shopify | 37.4500| 2.6| -39.0| -21.6
RBC | 26.8900| 1.2| -24.0| -4.2
TD Bank | 26.5700| 1.8| 7.3| 0.7
NexGen Energy | -2.3340| -3.1| 29.4| 27.2
Wheaton Precious Metals | -4.7930| -0.8| -10.3| 18.1
Nutrien | -24.8800| -6.5| 38.1| 25.6
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed higher on Monday for the first time in four sessions on bargain hunting and signs that inflation is under control here, at least for now, though some observers noted the February CPI data was "already somewhat outdated" and "stale on arrival" given the likely impact that current geopolitical tensions will have on future readings.
The resources-heavy S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 334.72 points, or 1%, to 32,876.65, even with lower oil and gold prices, amid broad based buying.
Base Metals was the biggest gainer, up 1.7%, even as gold traded lower on Monday.
But the precious metal was off earlier lows that saw its price fall below the US$5,000 mark for the first time in a month despite a lower dollar and continuing turmoil in the Middle East.
Gold for April delivery was last seen down US$45.80 to US$5,015.90 per ounce after earlier touching US$4,970.10.
Energy was also higher, up 0.6%, even as West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed down 5.3%, retreating from overnight highs even after U.S. President Trump threatened further attacks on Iran’s Kharg Island, the hub for the country’s oil exports, while calling for allies to send naval forces to defend shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.
WTI crude oil for April delivery closed down US$5.21 to settle at US$93.50 per barrel, while May Brent oil was down US$2.86 to US$100.28.
The Battery Metals Index lost 4.45%.
Data released early Monday showed Canada inflation was under control ahead of the rise in oil prices that has dictated movements in most markets over much of the last near three weeks, since the U.S. and Israel launched their war with Iran.
But National Bank said this morning’s consumer price index (CPI) release is "already somewhat outdated", given how much the outlook has shifted following the conflict in the Middle East.
"Still," the bank said, "it provides a snapshot of how price dynamics were evolving heading into the conflict, and the picture is encouraging."
It noted inflation was lower than economists had expected at 1.8%, a "significant" drop from the 2.3% recorded in January, due to changes in indirect taxes from a year ago.
When indirect taxes are excluded, inflation in Canada also comes in "mild" at 1.9%, falling below the 2.0% threshold in February for the first time in 15 months.
It turns out that shelter, the index’s heavyweight component, continues to moderate and now stands at just 1.5%, below its pre-pandemic average (2.2%, 1999-2019), National Bank added.
Looking ahead, National Bank expects inflation to move toward the upper end (3%) of the Bank of Canada’s target range in the coming months as higher oil prices feed through the economy.
"That said," it added, "assuming some degree of de-escalation in the near term, core inflation should remain relatively insulated from these dynamics in the short term.
This could give the BoC some latitude to look through the rise in headline inflation, particularly since underlying price pressures appeared well contained prior to the conflict in a context where the economy is in oversupply, weakened by uncertainty over tariffs."
Elsewhere, Derek Holt, Head of Capital Markets Economics at Scotiabank, put it in terms of the rearview mirror showing inflation undershooting expectations. He homed in on the fact that data was for February.
"The readings are as stale as week old bread sitting on the discount shelf and headed for the pigeons," Holt said.
According to him, "core measures conflicted once again, while the breadth of price pressures eased off somewhat".
Holt added a rally in bond yields, as at the time he was writing, should be more focused upon future risks to the inflation outlook.
Still, BMO Capital Markets Chief Economist Douglas Porter in a note said there may have been a tendency to shrug off Canada’s CPI for February as "old news", since it obviously pre-dated the spike in gasoline prices, but he added it was a "generally favorable" result.
Porternoted CPI excluding food, energy & sales taxes eased to just below 1.8% y/y, the slowest in almost five years and around pre-pandemic norms.
Even the BoC’s focus core measures both cooled to 2.3% y/y, also matching the mildest since early 2021.
Porter said shorter-term trends on the latter are even more muted, with the average 3-month trend now running at just a 1% annual rate-the second slowest of the past decade, outdone only in the depths of COVID.
Porter noted the ongoing drops in home prices and market rents are finally beginning to really weigh on CPI, with shelter costs cooling quickly.
He also noted gasoline prices are "clearly going to pump" headline inflation in the next two months, especially with the impact of last year’s carbon tax cut falling out in April.
But with core near 2%, Porter said the BoC will be much less concerned.
"Note that when oil spiked in early 2022 during the Ukraine invasion, core was already at 4% and rising –different world," he added.
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A slide in oil prices lifted stocks and bonds on hopes that more tankers will be able to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, with signals that rich nations could release more stockpiles also helping sentiment.
While traffic through Hormuz remains at a near-standstill amid the war in the Middle East, US crude settled at $93.50 as a trickle of vessels started to find a way through the oil route.
The S&P 500 rose 1%.
Tech led the advance, with Nvidia Corp. climbing 1.6% as it expects to make at least $1 trillion from artificial-intelligence chips through the end of 2027.
Treasuries gained as a drop in oil prices eased inflation fears.
The dollar fell.
Bitcoin topped $73,000.
President Donald Trump reiterated his appeals for help from other nations to secure the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran was nearly obliterated.
He also noted that attacking oil infrastructure on Iran’s main export hub, Kharg Island, remains on the table.
The International Energy Agency, which recently agreed to a record release of emergency reserves, said it has more that can be made available if needed.
The US is letting Iran continue to ship its oil via the Strait of Hormuz, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told CNBC.
Asked if there were any tools to mitigate higher oil prices — beyond emergency reserves — he said it would depend on how long the war lasts. Bessent noted prices would be “probably much lower” than $80 in a couple of months’ time.
“While it’s possible for oil prices to exceed $100 in the near-term, we don’t expect prices to remain above this threshold for the long-term,” said Richard Saperstein at Treasury Partners.
“Oil prices will decline as tensions subside and oil flows return to pre-crisis levels.”
“While markets may experience some relief if the situation in the Middle East doesn’t notably deteriorate, any rebound in stocks risks being short-lived without clearer signs of an off- ramp that will allow oil prices to cool,” said Chris Larkin at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.
A prolonged war in the Middle East that dislodges inflation expectations could ultimately result in financial-market fallout and fiscal trouble, the Bank for International Settlements warned.
Oil-driven market volatility due to geopolitical tensions may not warrant central-bank tightening and investors should buy equities on weakness, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Mislav Matejka.
In the countdown to this week’s Federal Reserve decision, officials are widely expected to hold rates steady, as attention shifts to how they may respond if the fallout from the war in the Middle East pulls their goals in opposite directions.
Policymakers will likely avoid making bigger updates, reflecting uncertainty around the duration of the energy shock and weaker jobs data that underlines the ongoing need to balance inflation and labor risks, according to Krishna Guha at Evercore.
While the Summary of Economic Projections might see a “hawkish drift,” Guha expects the median forecast to continue showing a rate cut this year and another one in 2027.
Corporate Highlights:
* Meta Platforms Inc. will pay as much as $27 billion over the next five years for access to AI infrastructure from cloud provider Nebius Group NV.
* OpenAI is in advanced discussions to form a roughly $10 billion joint venture with private equity firms, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Elon Musk’s startup xAI is looking to hire bankers and private credit lenders to make its Grok chatbot better at finance strategy.
* Intel Corp. announced that its Xeon 6 chip is being used as the processor for Nvidia Corp.’s DGX Rubin NVL8 systems.
* CoreWeave Inc., Cerebras Systems Inc. and telecommunications firm BCE Inc. will collaborate on one of Canada’s most powerful data centers in Saskatchewan.
* Dollar Tree Inc.’s strategy to introduce higher-priced items is helping it increase sales, especially with wealthier shoppers.
* What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“A greater focus on fundamentals offers a welcome reprieve from jitters about higher oil prices and Treasury yields. And tech stocks are in a prime position to benefit from that as valuations have fallen.”
—Tatiana Darie, Macro Strategist, Markets Live.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.7%
* The euro rose 0.8% to $1.1510
* The British pound rose 0.7% to $1.3328
* The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 159.14 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 3% to $73,921.37
* Ether rose 9.2% to $2,325.47
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.22%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.95%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 4.77%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 5.3% to $93.52 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $5,013.42 an ounce
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
You always own the option of having no opinion. –Marcus Aurelius, 121 AD-180 AD.
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