April 14, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
April 14, 1828: First Webster’s Dictionary published.
The mind is the great lever of all things. -Daniel Webster, 1782-1852.

On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next day.
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ICYMI: A livestream of Andrea Bocelli’s Easter Sunday concert at Milan’s empty Duomo Cathedral drew more than 26 million views on YouTube. -Bloomberg.

From today’s Seattle Times:
Coronavirus nixed your social life, but a virtual dinner party can restore your spirits. Here’s how to host one, from picking the guests to planning the menu and avoiding (or laughing at) the awkwardness. In these weeks when quirky rituals matter more than ever,  what’s keeping you sane?

Bright side. Amid the daily chaos in the Mount Sinai ER, one NYC doctor is finding comfort over the hospital’s loudspeaker that plays The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” every time a COVID-19 patient is discharged. -Bloomberg.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

New Forest ponies grazing during the corona virus lockdown over the Easter bank holiday weekend in Bournemouth, Dorset.
CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER FOR THE TELEGRAPH

People walk along Beachy Head, close to Eastbourne on the south coast of England.
CREDIT: BEN STANSALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Swans courting on the Brocas in Eton as early morning mist swirls across the River Thames.
CREDIT: MAUREEN MCLEAN/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Market Closes for April 14th , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1720, the first great secondary offering of stock took place. The South Sea Co. opened its subscription books in London, hoping to raise £2 million. With ladies pawning jewelry and farmers selling livestock to raise the cash to buy shares, the offering was more than 10% oversubscribed.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities advanced Tuesday as leaders across Europe weighed steps to exit quarantines, with Denmark set to reopen daycare centers and primary schools. Meanwhile, Spain, Germany and Italy all reported fewer infections, suggesting the crisis continues to ease. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the domestic economy is still weeks away from being reopened. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 1.3% in Toronto to its highest level since March 11. All 11 sectors closed higher, with information technology leading the gains. Oil declined as projections for the steepest recession in almost a century outweighed planned output cuts from the world’s biggest producers. Gold extended its rally to hit the highest in more than seven years on concern that the coronavirus pandemic will have a deep effect on the global economy. As Stephen Poloz goes into his penultimate policy decision as Bank of Canada governor on Wednesday, economists are trying to gauge how much of a buying mood he’s in.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $15 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.7% to about $1,726.75 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.1% to C$1.3886 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield edged lower to 0.75%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.3 percent at 14,258.43 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 11 after the previous session’s decrease of 0.6 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 11.3 percent. Lightspeed POS Inc. had the largest
increase, rising 14.0 percent. Today, 142 of 230 shares rose, while 82 fell; all sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15 times. The next day, it declined 10 times for an average 3.8 percent and advanced five times for an average 2.2 percent
* The index declined 13 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 3.9 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 20.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 27.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 4.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.2 on a trailing basis and 16.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.7 percent on a trailing 12- month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.15t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 90.67 percent compared with 90.50 percent in the previous session and the average of 83.76 percent over the past month
==========================================
|Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
==========================================
Information Technology | 64.8177| 6.7| 10/0
Industrials | 26.2870| 1.6| 19/12
Financials | 22.9346| 0.5| 15/11
Materials | 14.1387| 0.7| 26/18
Communication Services | 10.8444| 1.3| 7/1
Energy | 10.4572| 0.6| 8/22
Utilities | 7.9626| 1.0| 14/2
Real Estate | 6.9534| 1.5| 18/7
Consumer Discretionary | 6.8267| 1.4| 11/4
Consumer Staples | 6.5664| 1.1| 8/2
Health Care | 4.6938| 3.2| 6/3
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied on some signs the coronavirus outbreak is either leveling off or easing, with traders assessing the first reports of the cloudy corporate earnings season. The S&P 500 jumped to a one-month high while giant technology companies pushed the Nasdaq 100 through its 50, 100 and 200-day moving averages. Johnson & Johnson surged after posting stronger sales and boosting its quarterly dividend. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. slumped as their profits were hit by major provisions. Treasuries rose, the U.S. dollar retreated against its major peers and oil tumbled. Equities extended gains after a report that President Donald Trump will make some “important announcements” in the next few days regarding state guidelines on reopening the economy. Separately, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said that a May 1 target to reopen is “a bit overly optimistic” for many areas of the country. As the earnings season gets under way, investors will get a sense of how bad the pandemic could hit global companies. The International Monetary Fund said the “Great Lockdown” recession would be the steepest in almost a century and warned the world economy’s contraction and recovery would be worse than anticipated if the coronavirus lingers or returns. Traders also focused on whether trillions of dollars in stimulus and rescue plans will sustain the rally in risk assets amid uncertain corporate profits. “This will be a unique earnings season,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote in a note. “But it remains critically important because it’ll give us microeconomic insight into the question of ‘How bad is the damage?’ — which remains the single most important question we all need to answer to successfully navigate this market over the medium and longer term.” Investor pessimism over the pandemic’s economic damage is at “extreme” levels with cash positions at the highest since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a Bank of America Corp. survey.
In focus this week:
* Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. report results Wednesday; BlackRock Inc.’s earnings are set for Thursday.
* South Korea holds parliamentary elections and the Bank of Canada has a rate decision Wednesday.
* Also Wednesday, U.S. retail sales are poised to fall in March by the most ever.
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 3.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 2.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%.
* The euro increased 0.7% to $1.0986.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.6% to 107.15 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 0.75%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to -0.38%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield gained four basis points to 0.341%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index decreased 0.5%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 7.7% to $20.68 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.5% to $1,753.40 an ounce.

–With assistance from Cormac Mullen, Ranjeetha Pakiam, Todd
White, Yakob Peterseil, Claire Ballentine and Sarah Ponczek.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  Twenty-six times, I‘ve been
trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. 
And that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan, b. 1963

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