June 19, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

Planets with oceans are probably common in the galaxy.

The galaxy may have 36 alien civilizations capable of communicating with us.

The “Into the Wild” bus has been removed from the Alaska wilderness.

On June 19, 1964, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was approved after surviving an 83-day filibuster in the United States Senate.  Go to article »

Numbers:
59.5: percentage of New Zealanders in a recent poll who approve of the job being done by Prime Minister Jacinda Arden in light of her handling of the pandemic.  That makes her the nation’s most popular leader ever.

2000: Age (in years) of paving stones exposed after a sinkhole opened up in front if the Pantheon in Rome.  Nobody was injured because the typically busy piazza was empty due to the coronavirus pandemic.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The pelicans that live in St. James’ Park, London, UK, decided to take a walk across The Mall, stopping traffic. Park wardens had to move them back.
CREDIT: AVPICS/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Alpha jets from the French Air Force Patrouile de France and the Royal Air Force Red Arrows perform a flypast over the statue of Charles de Gaulle on the Champs Elysees avenue to celebrate the 80^th anniversary of wartime leader’s appeal to the French people to resist the Nazi occupation, broadcast from London, in Paris France.
CREDIT: REUTERS/CHRISTIAN HARTMANN

Three owl chicks born at The Scottish Owl Center in West Lothian, Scotland, UK, snuggle together. Five-week-old Tropical Screech Owl, six-week-old Band-Bellied Owl and three-week-old Snowy Owl. These cute baby owls were relaxing in the summer warmth.
CREDIT: KATIELEE ARROWSMITH, SWNS
Market Closes for June 19th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1969, the New York Stock Exchange, so far behind on its antiquated paperwork that it had to close each Wednesday so that clerks could process trades, appropriated the unprecedented sum of $7.5 million to upgrade its computer systems.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares closed little changed Friday after swinging between gains and losses as Apple Inc. said it would close stores in some U.S. states, renewing fears of coronavirus risks.
The S&P/TSX Composite index was flat at 15,474.20 in Toronto. The index pared earlier gains after Apple said it would temporarily close 11 stores in Florida, Arizona, North Carolina and South Carolina after cases of Covid-19 spiked in some areas.
Materials was the best performing sector in the index, led by mining stocks. Consumer discretionary fared the worst.
In Canada, sustainable investing is exploding as the coronavirus and an anti-racism movement highlight long-standing social inequalities. Net inflows into Canadian exchange-traded funds that track companies focusing on environmental, social and governance factors has surged to C$740 million ($544 million).
That has already outstripped the C$200 million invested in 2018 and the C$142 million last year, excluding seed capital, according to TD Securities Inc.
Meanwhile, the extra pay that Canada’s largest banks have been giving to employees required to work at branches or offices during the Covid-19 pandemic is coming to an end.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1.1% to $1,742.63 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was flat at C$1.3609 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose slightly to 0.532%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 15,474.20 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.3 percent.
Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.2 percent. Bombardier Inc. had the largest drop, falling 5.1 percent.
Today, 112 of 229 shares fell, while 115 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.4 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 16 percent, heading for the biggest advance in at least 10 years
* The index declined 6.3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 4.9 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 13.9 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 38.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.3 on a trailing basis and 25.8 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$2.35t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 20.87 percent compared with 20.99 percent in the previous session and the average of 22.37 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -28.5567| -1.4| 16/14
Financials | -19.0627| -0.4| 9/16
Industrials | -16.3492| -0.9| 13/18
Utilities | -10.1237| -1.3| 5/11
Consumer Discretionary | -8.6895| -1.6| 5/9
Real Estate | -7.7155| -1.6| 3/23
Health Care | -0.9253| -0.6| 4/6
Communication Services | 3.8030| 0.4| 5/3
Consumer Staples | 9.4129| 1.4| 9/2
Information Technology | 20.4874| 1.4| 5/5
Materials | 52.0836| 2.6| 41/5
US
By Claire Ballentine and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks dropped the most in more than a week amid a renewal of uncertainty over how quickly states can emerge from lockdowns. Oil rallied for a second day.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6% in volatile trading, led by declines in utilities, energy and industrial shares. On the week, the benchmark index closed up 1.9%. Stocks had rallied amid reports that China plans to accelerate purchases of American farm goods to comply with the phase one U.S. trade deal, only to have the gains erased after data show record levels of Covid 19 in Florida and Arizona. Investors were whipsawed by bouts of volatility as a welter of options expired in a quarterly event know as quadruple witching.
“That’s a worrisome sign for markets,” said Matt Forester, chief investment officer of BNY Mellon’s Lockwood Advisors. “This is a continuation of the first wave, this is not a second wave.”
In Europe, investors focused on negotiations over the EU’s proposed 750 billion-euro ($840 billion) program to help economies rebound from lockdowns, which helped send the Stoxx 600 Index up 0.6%.
Investors have been betting that governments will be able to put their economies back on track with enough stimulus at their disposal. U.S. and European benchmarks clawed back a portion of last week’s losses that were spurred by concern over a second wave of coronavirus infections.
Elsewhere, crude oil settled at the highest level in a week after briefly advancing beyond $40 a barrel.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index fell 0.6% to 3,097.74 as of 4:15 p.m. New York time, the largest fall in more than a week.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8% to 25,871.46, the biggest fall in more than a week.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index was little changed at 9,946.13, hitting the highest in more than a week with its sixth consecutive advance.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,220.40, the highest in three weeks.
*The euro decreased 0.2% to $1.118, the weakest in more than two weeks.
*The Japanese yen appreciated 0.1% to 106.86 per dollar, reaching the strongest in six weeks on its fifth straight advance.
Bonds
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased two basis points to 0.69%, the lowest in more than a week.
*Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to -0.42%.
*Britain’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 0.238%, the highest in more than a week.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.9% to $39.57 a barrel, the highest in more than a week. Gold strengthened 1.2% to $1,742.91 an ounce, the highest in a month on the largest increase in more than a week.
Have a  wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The world is a  dangerous place, not because of those who do evil,
but because of those who look on and do nothing. -Albert Einstein,  1879-1955

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