April 15, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1452: Leonardo da Vinci born.
On April 15, 1912, the British luxury liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg. About 1,500 people died. Go to article »

1955: First McDonald’s opens.

Nourish what makes you feel confident, connected, contented.  Opportunity will rise to meet you. -Oprah.

-from The New York Times today: You’re stuck at home, but your mind can wander
Ciudad Perdida, an ancient city that predates Machu Picchu, is stunning in its scale and complexity. But to explore Colombia’s “Lost City,” first you have to hike nearly 30 miles through the rainforest. Stephen Hiltner, an editor on the Travel desk, did — back in February, before tourism was suspended.

And when we published our list of 52 Places to Go in 2020 three months ago, no one could have guessed how much our world would change. Here’s how to “visit” each of those places now

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A pair of gannets get close to each other after the male returns from a day of catching fish. The couple are one of thousands perched on a cliff face – before they land they hand in the air for a moment, calling to try and find their partner.
CREDIT: ALBERT BEUKHOF/SOLENT NEWS

Paris’ Cathedral Notre Dame at the sunrise on the eve of the first anniversary of the violent fire who destroyed a large part of the monument, on the twenty-nineth day of a lockdown in France to stop the spread of the COVID-19.
CREDIT: THOMAS COEX/AFP

Sunrise in Cabanas, northwestern Spain.

A mandarin duck unfolds its wings on the Solyonaya Protoka River; the birds have flown in to nest in the Primorye Territory and are pairing up to hatch ducklings in July; they will migrate to Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia after the first frosts hit in autumn. Russian laws ban hunting mandarin ducks, which are listed in the Red Book as an endangered species.
CREIT: YURI SMITYUK/TASS

Market Closes for April 15th , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1912, early in the morning, after striking an iceberg around midnight, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Making a cold calculation about the uninsured value of the vessel, and counting the 1,500 fatalities at zero, the stock market crunched $2.6 million off the total capitalization of International Mercantile Marine Co., the owner of the doomed ocean liner
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell Wednesday as a risk- off mood took hold while investors scoured the latest economic data and corporate earnings. The Bank of Canada is broadening the range of assets it will purchase in a bid to support an economy that could be heading for a deeper recession than previously expected. The S&P/TSX Composite Index retreated 2%, with consumer staples being the only sector to advance Wednesday. “Our hunch is that stock indexes become choppy from here, hence a stock picker’s market,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Martin Roberge told clients in a note. Reversing social distancing rules in Canada too soon would further damage the economy and could cause a second peak in Covid-19 infections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier. Canada’s gross domestic product declined by 2.6% in the three months ended in March compared with the previous quarter, according to preliminary estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada. The numbers, which aren’t annualized, are much worse than many economists had been forecasting.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $15 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.4% to about $1,720.40 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 1.5% to C$1.4099 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 11.8 basis points to 0.639%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 2.1 percent at 13,958.58 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 3.8 percent on April 1 and follows the previous session’s increase of 1.3 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6 percent. Secure Energy Services Inc. had the largest drop, falling 18.3 percent. Today, 198 of 230 shares fell, while 32 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 12 times. The next day, it advanced eight times for an average 4.7 percent and declined four times for an average 7.2 percent
* The index declined 15 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 22.3 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 24.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.8 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.9 on a trailing basis and 16.2 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$2.17t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 90.42 percent compared with 90.67 percent in the previous session and the average of 84.07 percent over the past month
=============================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
=============================================
Financials | -146.7318| -3.4| 0/26
Energy | -61.0683| -3.3| 3/27
Industrials | -30.7754| -1.8| 3/28
Utilities | -25.8477| -3.3| 0/16
Communication Services| -13.3657| -1.5| 1/7
Materials | -11.7241| -0.6| 9/38
Real Estate | -11.1040| -2.4| 3/23
Consumer Discretionary| -4.8517| -1.0| 3/12
Health Care | -4.0079| -2.7| 2/8
Information Technology| -0.2775| 0.0| 1/9
Consumer Staples | 9.9146| 1.6| 7/4
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks slumped, while Treasuries surged as bleak retail, manufacturing and homebuilding data from the world’s largest economy added to concern over a severe global recession. The S&P 500 Index sank from a one-month high, with all of its major groups dropping. Financial shares slid as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s investment portfolio took a hit from the coronavirus pandemic, while Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. followed rivals in setting aside billions for loan losses. Oil plunged to the lowest in two decades amid a record collapse in U.S. fuel demand. Treasuries surged with the dollar. Both earnings and economic data highlight the brutal impact of the economic stoppage designed to combat the virus outbreak. U.S. retail sales and factory output posted historic declines in March, and surveys in April looked even worse. Manufacturing in New York state and sentiment among American homebuilders plunged by previously unthinkable amounts. “The market mood has soured in the blink of an eye,” Mark McCormick, global head of currency strategy at Toronto Dominion Bank, said in a note. “It’s not surprising to us that the price action has started to wake up to the new realities of the environment: Unprecedented poor data and earnings guidance, a wobbly path from lockdowns to exit strategies and overpricing of the recent news cycle.”. U.S. stocks have gone through their biggest bout of weakness relative to Treasury securities in decades, according to a barometer cited by Talley Leger, a senior investment strategist at Invesco US. The indicator is the ratio between the S&P 500 and the reciprocal of the 10-year Treasury’s yield, which he presented in an April report on market gauges. The ratio started this month by closing at its lowest level since 1983 after tumbling 85% from a high in October 2018. A rebound is needed for stocks to recover, Leger wrote.
In focus this week:
* BlackRock Inc.’s earnings are set for Thursday.
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 sank 2.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 3.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.4%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index jumped 1%.
* The euro dipped 0.6% to $1.0912.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.3% to 107.56 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased 12 basis points to 0.63%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased nine basis points to -0.47%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell four basis points to 0.302%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index sank 1.7%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell to $19.87 a barrel.

–With assistance from Adam Haigh, David Wilson, Todd White,
Robert Brand, Claire Ballentine and Sarah Ponczek.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
                                                                                   -Paulo Coelho, b. 1947

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