April 23, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Today is St. George’s Day, for England’s Patron Saint.

Today also  marks the beginning of the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims. -CNN.
The Muslim holy month begins with the appearance of the crescent moon.

Michael Moore, filmmaker, b. 1954.

2005 – Co-founder Jawed Karim uploaded the first video to YouTube.com. Go to article »

Hospitals around the New York area have adopted anthems like the Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun,” Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’s “Empire State of Mind” or “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” to celebrate patients’ victories in the battle against the coronavirus.
The victories differ — from getting off life support or a ventilator to being discharged — but the purpose is the same: an anthem of affirmation for the medical professionals and a tribute to the resilience of the patients. -The New York Times.

Social Distancing Has Become Second Nature for Remote-Home Owners. “It’s The Biggest Luxury”:  The coronavirus pandemic has spiked buyer interest in off-the-grid properties like these. -Wall Street Journal.

William Shakespeare, b. April 23, 1564, d. April 23, 1616:
The theory that William Shakespeare was not the writer of the works attributed to him, based on the assumption that he did not possess the knowledge and culture revealed in those works, was first put forward by Herbert Lawrence in 1769.  In 1857 William Henry Smith suggested that the only writer of that age competent to produce such writings was Francis Bacon.  Thus the Baconian theory began its lengthy career.  In 1887 Ignatius Donnelly, a former senator of Minnesota, published The Great Cryptogram, which professed to show that cryptograms in the plays revealed Bacon as the undoubted author.  The cryptographic method was further advanced by Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence in Bacon is Shakespeare (1910), where he claimed that the all-revealing cryptic word was Honorificabilitudinitatibus. 
This is a concocted word based on the Latin honorificabilitudo, “honourableness”, found in Shakespeare.  Sir Edwin Durning-Lawrence discovered this to be the all-revealing word, since its 27 letters were clearly an anagram of “Hi ludi F Baconis nati tuiti orbi”, “These plays, F. Bacon’s offspring, are preserved for the whole world.” -from Brewer’s 16^th ed.
The Baconians still persist today.

Thou are not so long by the head as honorificabilitudinitatibus.  –Love’s Labour’s Lost, V, I (1594).
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A man cycles between rapeseed fields in Grantchester near Cambridge, parts of the UK will enjoy 24C over the coming days, as the hottest April in six years continues
CREDIT: JOE GIDENS/PA

A mural to honor the medics currently helping to fight COVID-19 is seen on in Melbourne, Australia
CREDIT: ROBERT CIANFLONE/GETTY IMAGES

P person runs near the Dhauladhar mountain range at Jalot village, Himachal Pradesh, India
CREDIT: SANJAY BAID/EPA

This combination of pictures taken through the car window of a taxi shows the deserted Paris monuments, on the thirty-fifth day of a lockdown in France, aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 disease
CRESIT: CHRISTOPHE ARCHAMBAULT/AFP
Market Closes for April 23rd, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1985, amid huge fanfare, Coca-Cola boss Roberto Goizueta introduced New Coke at the Vivian Beaumont Theatre in Manhattan’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “The best,” he declared, “has been made even better.” When it became clear that the company was replacing its original formula, rather than offering New Coke alongside it, the company’s Atlanta headquarters was deluged with thousands of angry telephone calls from consumers. As one customer complained, “Changing Coke is like God making the grass purple or putting toes on our ears or teeth on our knees.”
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks ended Thursday’s session slightly lower, pairing earlier gains, after a Chinese trial of Gilead’s promising Covid-19 drug appeared to be a failure.
The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 0.3% in Toronto, after rising as much as 0.9% in early trading. Gilead Sciences Inc.’s antiviral drug remdesivir flopped in its first randomized clinical trial, the Financial Times reported, citing draft documents published accidentally by the World Health Organization. However, the drug company disputed that characterization.
The only sectors that were positive within the index were mining and energy, as oil and metal prices rose. Shopify contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9%, while Alaris Royalty had the largest drop, falling 7.8%. Gold miners Agnico Eagle Mines provided one of the biggest boosts to
the index, advancing 5.5%. Baytex Energy had the biggest gain, rising 15%.
Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar got a boost from the recovering oil prices, even as the crash in crude has put the country’s stellar AAA credit rating on the line.
The loonie advanced 0.7% to C$1.4070 per U.S. dollar while the 10-year government bond yield fell about 2.5 basis points to 0.601%.
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3 percent at 14,251.09 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 2.5 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9 percent. Alaris Royalty Corp. had the largest drop, falling 7.8 percent.
Today, 95 of 230 shares fell, while 131 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.8 percent, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended March 20
* This month, the index rose 6.5 percent
* The index declined 15 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6.3 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 2.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 27 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.1 on a trailing basis and 17.7 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$2.18t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 73.63 percent compared with 84.19 percent in the previous session and the average of 86.95 percent over the past month

===============================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
===============================================
Financials | -34.7985| -0.8| 9/17
Utilities | -12.8173| -1.7| 3/13
Consumer Staples | -12.0581| -1.8| 4/7
Information Technology | -10.4538| -0.9| 6/4
Communication Services | -8.2136| -1.0| 4/4
Industrials | -4.6963| -0.3| 19/11
Consumer Discretionary | -3.8179| -0.7| 7/8
Real Estate | -2.4045| -0.6| 10/15
Health Care | -0.9653| -0.7| 4/6
Energy | 18.1627| 1.0| 26/2
Materials | 34.9911| 1.7| 39/8
US
By Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks closed mostly lower after a report said that a leading experimental coronavirus drug performed poorly in a test. Crude oil climbed back above $16 a barrel.
The benchmark S&P 500 finished in the red after whipsawing investors between gains and losses in the last few hours of trading. Gilead Sciences Inc.’s antiviral drug remdesivir flopped in its first randomized clinical trial, the Financial Times reported, citing draft documents published accidentally by the World Health Organization. The drug company disputed that characterization.
“Investors have pinned their hopes on continued progress toward curve flattening and eventually a vaccine. They are willing to look past negative economic prints for now and focus on more favorable developments that suggest current headwinds could prove transitory,” said Adam Phillips, director of portfolio strategy at EP Wealth Advisors. “Today’s sudden reaction illustrates how fickle investors are in the current environment.”
The S&P 500 had been on pace for a second consecutive gain before the Gilead news. Exxon and Chevron were the biggest gains in the energy sector. Crude oil climbed in New York, two days after futures dropped below zero. Equities had gained earlier even after a report showed U.S. jobless claims surged by 4.4 million last week. Total job losses now exceed 26 million in the wake of the economic shutdown prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Elsewhere, the dollar was little changed against most major peers. Gold managed its first back-to-back gain in over a week as investors weighed the prospects of another wave of stimulus in virus-hit economies.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks:
*The S&P 500 Index fell 0.1% to 2,797.80 as of 4:13 p.m. New York time.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.2% to 23,515.26.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index was little changed at 8,494.75.
*The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 0.2% to 470.08.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.1% to 1,261.12, the highest in two weeks.
*The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 107.62 per dollar.
*The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.0773, the weakest in four weeks.
*The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.2346.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries gained less than one basis point to 0.22%.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased two basis points to 0.59%.
*Britain’s 10-year yield dipped four basis points to 0.292%, the lowest in more than five weeks.
*Germany’s 10-year yield fell two basis points to -0.42%.
Commodities
*Brent crude rose 6.8% to $21.79 a barrel, the biggest advance in more than two weeks.
*Gold strengthened 1.1% to $1,731.65 an ounce, the highest on record.
* West Texas Intermediate crude for June rose 23% to $17 a barrel.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

To live is the rarest thing in the world.  Most people exist, that is all.
                                                          -Oscar Wilde, 1854-1900

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