Dear Friends,
Tangents:
March 24, 1958: Elvis Presley was inducted into the Army in Memphis, Tenn. Go to article.
March 24, 1989: Exxon Valdez oil spill.
William Morris, founder of the Arts & Crafts Movement, b. 1834.
Harry Houdini, magician, b. 1874
| Antarctica could warm 1.4 times faster than the rest of the Southern Hemisphere in the coming decades, study finds |
Antarctica could warm much faster than its surroundings over the next few decades due to a phenomenon known as polar amplification that is well established in the Arctic. Read More.
| Why do some people still believe that aliens shaped ancient civilizations? |
Two archaeologists explore the enduring myth that extraterrestrials contributed to the various ancient cultures around the world. Read More.
| Why are humans the only species with a chin? |
Potential explanations abound, yet recent research has shed new light on the question. Read More.
| Chemistry student develops clear polish that turns your fingernail into a touch-screen stylus |
Researchers have developed a prototype nail polish to help more people access electrically-charged touch screens. Read More.
| ‘That’s why there’s 9 billion of us and not 9 billion of some other primate’: Why our ability to adapt is humanity’s ‘superpower’ |
Q&A | Live Science spoke with Herman Pontzer, an evolutionary anthropologist and author of the book "Adaptable," about the science of human diversity. Read More.
Video: Volcano eruption creates ‘lava haze’ as it reaches ocean
Lava from one of the world’s most active volcanoes, Piton de la Fournaise, recently poured into the Indian Ocean. See the rare spectacle.
The US broke the all-time heat record for March
Yes, it’s climate change.
Two simple strength tests predict longevity in older women
A surprisingly simple measure may offer clues about a woman’s risk of death.
England was last conquered in 1066. The story of that famous battle needs an update
The tale of King Harold, who lost England to William the Conqueror, still looms large in British popular culture. But the story may need a reset, according to new research.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Tokyo, Japan
A weeping cherry blossom tree during a night-time viewing at Rikugien Gardens
Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
Pampore, India
Mustard plants in full bloom in Pampore, south of Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir
Photograph: Basit Zargar/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
Edinburgh, UK
‘A detail of the memorial to the Marquis of Montrose in the Chapman Aisle of St Giles cathedral, enhanced by pools of light from the nearby stained glass.’
Photograph: Stuart Neville
Market Closes for March 24th, 2026
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
46124.06 | -84.41 |
| -0.18% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6556.37 | -24.63 |
| -0.37% | ||
| NASDAQ | 21761.89 | -184.87 |
| -0.84% | ||
| TSX | 31941.59 | +57.79 |
| +0.18% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 52252.28 | +736.79 |
| +1.43% | ||
| HANG SENG |
25063.71 | +681.24 |
| +2.79% | ||
| SEN SEX | 74068.45 | +1372.06 |
| +1.89% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 9965.16 | +71.01 |
| +0.72% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.569 | 3.543 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.965 | 3.935 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.3599 | 4.3420 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.9274 | 4.9131 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7267 | 0.7285 |
| US $ |
1.3759 | 1.3727 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6256 | 1.5982 |
| US $ |
0.8608 | 1.1616 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
4466.25 | 4562.55 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 93.33 | 89.22 |
Market Commentary:
On this day in 1881, the University of Pennsylvania’s trustees received a $100,000 gift from the businessman Joseph Wharton. That funding enabled Penn to establish Wharton, the world’s first collegiate business school.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.2%, or 57.79 to 31,941.59 in Toronto.
Nutrien Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.7%. Methanex Corp. had the largest increase, rising 9.2%.
Today, 144 of 221 shares rose, while 74 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 0.7%
* This month, the index fell 7%, heading for the biggest decline since June 2022
* The index advanced 26% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 14% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.5% below its 52-week high on March 2, 2026 and 43.7% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 3% in the past 5 days and fell 6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21 on a trailing basis and 16.4 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$5.05t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 18.68% compared with 18.83% in the previous session and the average of 19.17% over the past month
Index Points
Energy | 80.4192| 1.4| 33/3
Materials | 79.2558| 1.4| 51/9
Financials | 20.4736| 0.2| 16/6
Utilities | 12.2254| 1.1| 13/1
Communication Services | 0.8166| 0.1| 2/3
Real Estate | -0.8188| -0.2| 7/12
Health Care | -1.0920| -1.3| 0/4
Consumer Staples | -12.0183| -1.1| 3/7
Industrials | -26.9232| -0.8| 13/16
Consumer Discretionary | -33.4450| -3.2| 5/4
Information Technology | -61.0910| -2.5| 1/9
Nutrien | 19.2900| 5.7| 81.5| 24.8
Celestica | 16.7400| 5.3| 16.3| 2.1
Canadian Natural Resources | 14.4400| 1.5| -6.0| 45.1
Constellation Software | -13.5100| -3.8| -27.9| -26.1
Dollarama | -34.2600| -9.6| 254.6| -17.8
Shopify | -54.4500| -3.8| 16.2| -27.7
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange was up for a second session Tuesday, buoyed by a rebound in oil prices, but even still Rosenberg Research became the second entity in as many days to rebalance its model portfolio away from equities.
The resources-heavy S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 57.78 points to 31,941.59, adding to the near 566 points gained Monday when it returned to being positive for the year to date after big losses last week.
West Texas Intermediate oil closed higher Tuesday, rebounding from a day-prior 10% drop as the U.S.-Israel war on Iran continues even as U.S. President Trump said talks with Iran are underway, a claim Iran denied.
WTI crude oil for May delivery closed up US$4.22 to settle at US$92.35 per barrel, while May Brent oil was last seen up US$4.67 to US$104.61.
Gold traded lower for a fifth-straight session by midafternoon Tuesday as the metal sheds its safe-haven status with the war on Iran threatening higher inflation and rising interest rates.
Gold for April delivery was down US$9.50 to US$4,430.00 per ounce.
Rosenberg Research in a ‘Model Portfolio Update’ said after its recent move to de-risk the Rosie Model Portfolio by trimming several equity and duration exposures, it decided to redeploy cash into the short end of the U.S. and Canadian yield curves, where markets appear to be pricing in excessive rate hike expectations.
In the view of Rosenberg Research, those expectations are "misguided" and "reflect an overreaction in bond markets to oil-price volatility".
Rosenberg Research said it is taking this opportunity to park cash in two-year U.S. and Canadian government bonds.
"We expect yields to compress once this quarter’s economic data begin to arrive and rate hike expectations adjust to a weaker growth outlook, driven by tighter financial conditions and geopolitical uncertainty on top of an already weakening growth trend in both the U.S. and Canada."
It added: "This is a tactical trade aimed at increasing exposure to highly liquid bond positions that appear obviously dislocated from the macro outlook because of market volatility."
This comes a day after National Bank of Canada said it is recalibrating its asset mix this month by "fully unwinding last month’s risk addition", moving the exposure added to Europe and emerging markets back into cash.
The escalation in the Iran war has materially increased downside risks to global growth and, in the IEA’s words, is creating the largest supply disruption in the history of the global oil market, the bank noted.
"History offers little comfort here: major oil shocks have typically coincided with S&P 500 bear markets, even if oil alone was not the sole cause," it added, noting the recent surge in oil prices was reviving "unwelcome memories" of the 2022 bear market for equity investors.
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders grappling with a range of possible outcomes for the war in Iran drove stocks away from session lows amid hopes for talks to end a conflict that kept dragging on. Oil rose. Bonds fell.
The S&P 500 pared a drop that earlier approached 1%.
President Donald Trump signaled that Iran had offered a “present” as a show of good faith in negotiations, noting it was related to Strait of Hormuz flows.
The US and regional mediators are discussing the possibility of holding high-level peace talks as soon as Thursday, but await a response from Tehran, Axios reported.
As the 25-day conflict that’s upended markets raged on, Trump said Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance alongside special envoys are involved in negotiations.
Still, the US is planning to deploy about 3,000 troops from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Iran has started charging transit fees on some commercial vessels passing the Strait of Hormuz, people familiar with the matter have said, the latest sign of its control over the most- important maritime energy route.
Yet Tehran said non-hostile foreign ships are allowed to cross the waterway on its terms.
“It all comes down to the re-opening of the Strait of Hormuz,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak.
“So, if we hear that ‘good progress is being made’ in the negotiations at the end of this week, it won’t be enough, if the Strait remains very restricted.”
Aside from the geopolitical risks, Maley also noted that the issues facing the private-credit market are not receding, so brushing these problems aside “is not a good idea.”
Two of the biggest names in private credit, Ares Management Corp. and Apollo Global Management Inc., blocked investors from getting even half of the money they wanted out of their funds, a sign of mounting strain in the $1.8 trillion market.
Any optimism about the war in the Middle East ending without the US first making an attempt to secure and control the Strait of Hormuz, or without getting first more leverage in talks with Iran, still seems misplaced, according to Thierry Wizman at Macquarie Group.
“The longer oil prices stay high, the longer central banks will feel obligated to sound as if they will tighten policy,” he said.
Yet Wizman noted that hawkish policies that come in response to supply-side induced inflation have been proven to be the cause of much more financial stress than when monetary policy comes in response to an inflation that is demand driven.
In the wake of the war, growth in US business activity slowed in March to an almost one-year low and prices paid for materials and other inputs picked up.
“If this proves to be a short-term disruption, as markets are currently pricing, then the baseline outlook still assumes moderate global growth,” said Tiffany Wilding and Andrew Balls at Pacific Investment Management Co.
“However, a prolonged disruption would pose more significant challenges and increase global recession risks.”
Barclays Plc’s Venu Krishna raised his year-end S&P 500 target to 7,650 despite growing macroeconomic risks from the war, AI disruption and private-credit stress.
“The macro backdrop has become more fragile,” he wrote.
“But we believe the US continues to offer stronger nominal growth than other major economies and a secular growth engine in technology that shows few signs of stopping.”
The US equity benchmark closed at 6,556.37 Tuesday.
Corporate Highlights:
* United Airlines Holdings Inc. Chief Executive Officer Scott Kirby said ticket prices may have to go up by 20% if jet fuel prices remain elevated for longer.
* Amazon Web Services is developing an AI agent to automate some of functions for sales, business development and other groups that have been targeted in the tech giant’s sweeping job cuts, the Information reported.
* Arm Holdings Plc, which made its name licensing technology to semiconductor makers, will begin selling its own chips for the first time, adding a business that it expects to generate about $15 billion annually within five years.
* OpenAI is nearing a deal to raise about $10 billion from venture investors, according to people familiar with the matter, bringing the total haul from its latest funding round to roughly $120 billion.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1584
* The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.3381
* The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 159.02 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.3% to $69,276.63
* Ether fell 2.1% to $2,115.14
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 4.40%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.03%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.96%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.3% to $91.91 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $4,401.07 an ounce
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Beauty, which is what is meant by art, using the word in its widest sense is, I contend, no mere accident to human life, which people can take or leave as they choose, but a positive necessity of life. –William Morris, 1834-1896.
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