June 4, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
June 4, 1942- The Battle of Midway.
Tara Parker-Pope — the Well columnist — keeps hearing from readers who are anguished about their inability to visit and touch family members. It’s particularly painful for grandparents, who often live alone. “So many of them told me that life on indefinite lockdown, without hugs and time with family, is just not worth living,” Tara says.
In response, she has written a guide to safer hugging, and it’s delightful. –The NY Times.

In the absence of New York City’s usual roaring traffic, a new urban soundtrack is flourishing: bird song. You can listen to the birds here. –The NY Times.

On June 4, 1989, Chinese army troops stormed Tiananmen Square in Beijing to crush the pro-democracy movement; hundreds – possibly thousands – of people died. Go to article »

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lightning hits the ground during a thunder storm in Ourense, Spain
CREDIT:SXENICK/EPA
Swiss artist Frank and Patrik Riklin pose in the bedroom of their Zero-Real-Estate land art installation, in front of the Churfirsten mountain range and Lake Walen new Walenstadt, Switzerland
CREDIT: REUTERS/ARND WIEGMANN

Russian’s in Cossack costume pose for a photograph in the port of Vladivostok during a ceremony marking the arrival of the tallship Pallada from a round-the-world voyage.
CREDIT: YURI SMITYUK\\TASS VIA IMAGES
Market Closes for June 4th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1953, Woodcock, Hess & Co. of Philadelphia incorporated, becoming the first firm that was a member of the New York Stock Exchange to do so. Until then, all NYSE member firms had been structured as partnerships.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks declined, snapping three straight days of gains, in tandem with a drop U.S. and Europe equity markets amid concern that the recent rally had gone too far.
The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 0.3% in Toronto. Tech and consumer staples were the worst-performing sectors, while real estate, health care and materials were the best.
One of Canada’s largest private lenders wants sell as much as 11% of its loans to help ride out the coronavirus crisis. Bridging Finance Inc. has already sold C$30 million in loans ($22 million) and plans to offload a further C$170 million to other direct lenders and institutional investors, Chief Executive Officer David Sharpe said by phone. The firm, which has C$1.8 billion in assets under management, froze redemptions on its funds in April.
Canadian banks’ exposure to oil-and-gas loans has surged to a record as energy firms tapped credit lines to combat plunging oil prices. Energy loans at the country’s six largest lenders jumped 23% to C$71.6 billion ($52.9 billion) in their fiscal second quarter from the prior period, disclosures show
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold climbed 1% to $1,716.80 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% to C$1.3505 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield surged to 0.677%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3 percent at 15,527.87 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 1.2 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6 percent. First Quantum Minerals Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 4.6 percent.
Today, 101 of 229 shares fell, while 124 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 2.2 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 16 percent, heading for the biggest advance in at least 10 years
* The index declined 3.9 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 9.7 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 13.6 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 39 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.7 percent in the past 5 days and rose 5.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.4 on a trailing basis and 25.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.4 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.36t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 19.65 percent compared with 19.64 percent in the previous session and the average of 28.81 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -34.3465| -2.4| 2/8
Consumer Staples | -14.2412| -2.1| 2/9
Consumer Discretionary | -8.5337| -1.5| 2/12
Utilities | -5.8675| -0.7| 8/8
Energy | -4.8921| -0.2| 15/13
Industrials | -2.8343| -0.2| 17/14
Communication Services | 0.1722| 0.0| 4/3
Financials | 1.2604| 0.0| 14/12
Health Care | 1.7273| 1.1| 7/2
Real Estate | 7.5678| 1.6| 17/9
Materials | 12.7629| 0.6| 36/11
US
By Claire Ballentine and Katherine Greifeld
(Bloomberg) — Stocks slumped in the U.S. and Europe as concern the recent rally had gone too far overshadowed new stimulus measures and encouraging economic data.
The S&P 500 Index fell less than half a percentage point, still its biggest drop in two weeks, snapping a four-day winning streak. Treasury yields rose as weekly jobless claims fell. The Stoxx 600 stayed lower even as the European Central Bank moved to add 600 billion euros to its pandemic purchase program, more than expected.
After exceptional gains for equities in the past week took valuations to the highest since 2000 and pushed technical levels on the S&P 500 toward overbought levels, traders are searching for further tailwinds to drive gains.
The moves from the ECB and the slowdown in job losses weren’t enough. “We had stocks make a miraculous recovery from their March 23 lows and so it makes sense that we’re unlikely to see the rally continue at the pace it has,” said Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco. “We’re probably going to see more of a plateauing, more of trading in a range until there’s a catalyst that moves them forward.”
Investors are awaiting plans for the next round of U.S. economic stimulus, but Trump administration officials have postponed discussions scheduled for this week, according to people familiar with the matter.
Elsewhere, gold gained along with silver. Stocks in Asia were mixed. West Texas oil slumped from a three-month high as OPEC+ unity was threatened by a long-running feud over compliance with production cutbacks.
Here are some key events coming up:
* The U.S. labor market report on Friday will probably show American unemployment soared to 19.5% in May, the highest since the 1930s.

Here are the major moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.3% at the close of trading in New York.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.8%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.7%.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.4%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%.
* The euro rose 0.9% to $1.1336.
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2602.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 109.13 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose seven basis points to 0.81%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to -0.33%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to 0.30%.
* Australia’s 10-year yield rose five basis points to 1.01%.
Commodities
* WTI crude fell 0.4% to $37.13 a barrel.
* Gold strengthened 0.9% to $1,715.59 an ounce.

–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Adam Haigh, David Wilson and Vildana Hajric.

Have a great evening.

Be  magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

What is right to be done cannot be done too soon.
                                 -Jane Austen, 1775-1817

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