February 05th, 2020 Newsletter

Dear  Friends,

Tangents:

DEPENDING ON THE WIND
            -by James Galvin

I

A score of years ago I felled a hundred pines to build a house.

Two stories, seven rooms in all.
                                              I built my love a home.
                                                                                 Our
daughter was in orbit in the womb.
                                                   Mountains spun off like the arm
of a galaxy into the emptiness our windows framed.
                                                                           “What a
view!” our friends exclaimed, and “Sunsets to die for every single night!”

2

Vertigo of solitude, distillate of loneliness for blood, my wife
untrue, my daughter flown, I, like a widower or worse, move
among the rooms I made.
                                     Where once I was not alone, now each
closed door is panic, and spaces grow immense with memory, like
shadows at dusk.
                         Gone that arrangement of allegiances called family
we never really know before it ends.
                                                        Like love itself, it isn’t true till
then.
       I have no family now but remembrences of tiny joys, tinier
dramas we used to call our life, like pollen over everything: brightly
colored clothespins on the line, a cross-shaped coral earring whose
match is lost, books of fairy tales we read aloud at night.
                                                                                  I must be
dumb as a gunnysack of hammers.
                                                   Wind still blows through open
windows like it always used to do.
                                                 What did I love that made me
believe it would last?

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Benidorm, Alicante Province, Spain. As the temperature soars to an unseasonal24 Celsious, the beaches draw bigger than average crowds of tourists and the sunbeds haven’t even been put out for the new season yet.
CREDIT: MICK FLYNN/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

A plume of water sprays from the Jordan River diversion dam, just below the reservoir, at the BC Hydro Jordan River Generating Station in Jordan River, British Columbia, Canada.
CREDIT: JAMES MACDONALD/BLOOMBERG

African penguin chick with speakers hidden inside a cuddle penguin while learning its own language by listening to recordings of adult birds.
CREDIT: LIVING COASTS/SWNS

An Afgan boy removes snow from his tea stall at Qargha Lake in Kabul, Afghanistan.
CREDIT: REUTERS/MOHAMMAD ISMAIL

Market Closes for February 05^th , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 2001, it was time for eine kleine IPO as the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Gruppe Deutsche Börse) went public, selling 2.8 million shares at €335 (roughly $290) per share. The Deutsche Börse became the largest stock exchange yet to sell its shares to the public—naturally, just after the global market boom peaked. Still, the stock climbed 11% on its first trading day.
Canada
By Kristine Owram
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks regained the ground they’ve lost since a coronavirus-related sell-off began two weeks ago, hitting a fresh high amid surging energy stocks. The S&P/TSX Composite Index added 0.8% to 17,651.59, led by a 1.9% gain in the energy sector. Crude prices reversed five days of losses amid ongoing OPEC+ talks on how to address the impact of the coronavirus. Today, 8 of 11 sectors gained; 168 of 232 shares rose, while 59 fell. Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.8%. Semafo Inc. had the largest increase, rising 10.3%.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $17.75 discount to WTI, the narrowest gap since November
* Spot gold rose 0.4% to $1,561.20 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.1% to C$1.3290 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 6 basis points to 1.39%
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 53.3066| 1.9| 27/3
Financials | 51.6167| 0.9| 26/1
Materials | 17.7387| 0.9| 33/11
Industrials | 17.6786| 0.9| 24/6
Consumer Discretionary | 8.0762| 1.2| 14/3
Communication Services | 2.2714| 0.2| 7/1
Real Estate | 2.2325| 0.4| 16/9
Utilities | 1.0427| 0.1| 10/5
Health Care | -1.2367| -0.6| 4/6
Consumer Staples | -1.4132| -0.2| 5/6
Information Technology | -12.4309| -1.1| 2/8

US
By Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied to an all-time high, while Treasuries slumped on speculation efforts will succeed at minimizing the economic impact from the coronavirus. Crude oil rallied after tumbling into a bear market. The S&P 500 Index’s three-day gain topped 3%, and the Nasdaq indexes added to records. Risk sentiment got a boost overnight after a string of reports on possible vaccines, but the World Health Organization later said there are no proven therapeutics. Treasuries retreated, sending 10-year yields above 1.64%, even as more quarantines were announced in an effort to control the virus. Energy producers surged as crude rallied the most in almost a month on the prospect of OPEC output cuts. Havens including the yen and Swiss franc slipped. The dollar rose, with data showing U.S. firms added more jobs than economists’ forecasts in January. Copper jumped 1.7%.
Why Reports of Drugs for Virus Are Premature U.S. stocks continued their torrid rebound from the virus- fomented sell-off as optimism mounted that the spread will be contained and more central banks signaled a willingness to act if the virus undermines demand, inflation and financial markets. Better-than-forecast corporate earnings also continued boost equities. “The market is shrugging it off. You can see that the effort is there and the market is saying that this isn’t going to break out into a pandemic,” Michael Pytosh, chief investment officer of equities at Voya Investment Management, said by phone. “It’s not going to cause some cataclysmic medical problem in the world.”
Here are some key events coming up:
* The Reserve Bank of India’s interest rate decision is due Thursday.
* German factory orders for December are due Thursday, followed by industrial production on Friday.
* The U.S. employment report for January is set for Friday release.

And these are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 1.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index added 0.4%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 1.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.6%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.2%.
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2992.
* The euro declined 0.4% to $1.0998.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.3% to 109.806 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose five basis points to 1.65%.
* The two-year rate added three basis points to 1.44%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield increased four basis points to -0.36%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 2.9% to $51.04 a barrel.
* Copper rose 1.7% to $2.578 a pound.
* Gold added 0.2% to $1,556.47 an ounce.
–With assistance from Todd White and Brendan Walsh.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time;  it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.
                                         -Sydney J. Harris, 1917-1986

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
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com