October 22, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Franz Liszt, b. 1811
Sarah Bernhardt, b. 1844
Doris Lessing, b. 1919
Timothy Leary, b. 1920
Annette Funicello, b. 1942
Catherine Deneuve, b. 1942
Deepak Chopra, b. 1946

Egypt has added a restaurant to the site of the Giza pyramids.  Dinner with a view? That’s an understatement. 

On Oct. 22, 1962, President John F. Kennedy announced an air and naval blockade of Cuba, following the discovery of Soviet missile bases on the island.  Go to article »

How slow-breathing helps the body.
A green-furred puppy was born in Sardinia. 
A rare Shakespeare folio sold for a record $10 million. –Scott Kominers

Fabio Ferrari/LaPresse/AP
As sunlight weaves through Alpine peaks, so do cyclists racing in the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia, which runs from Pinzolo to Laghi di Cancano, in northern Italy, on Oct. 22, 2020.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A Scottish photographer has captured a stunning sunset selfie perching on 150-foot- tall cliffs. Steve Birrell, 44, from Shetland, set his camera up and walfer 40 meters away to the edge of Calders Geo, in Esha Ness, for this perfectly timed shot. Using a remote trigger Steve was able to perfectly frame himself in the shot at a gap in the cliffs level with the setting autumn sun.
CREDIT: STEVE BIRRELL//MAGNUS NEWS

The Peace Monument, and the US Capitol behind it, is enshrouded in fog in Washington.
CREDIT: JIM LO SCALZO/EPA – EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Long time exposure picture shows the buildings of the banking district in Frankfurt, Germany.
CREDIT: MICHAEL PROBST/AP
Market Closes for October 22nd, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1929, Yale professor Irving Fisher, one of the nation’s foremost economists, stated in the New York Herald Tribune, “The breaks of the past few days have driven stocks down to hard rock. I believe that we will have a ragged market for a few weeks and then the beginning of a mild bull movement that will gain momentum next year.” Prof. Fisher was half-right: The market was “ragged,” losing a quarter of its value by the end of the year. Then it stayed ragged for years on end.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks closed higher Thursday after turning negative earlier in the session, snapping a four-day losing streak.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.3%, with communication services leading the way. Rogers Communications rallied 12% after it reported earnings and said it plans to review its investments in Cogeco if the company won’t accept a takeover bid led by Altice USA. National Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer Louis Vachon expects a new burst of mergers and acquisitions to help fuel earnings in the bank’s capital-markets business, continuing the strength it showed in the early days of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Canada will start offering Covid-19 tests to travelers upon arrival in Alberta as part of a pilot program to reduce quarantine times and give the beleaguered province a boost.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $10.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 1% to $1,904.62 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1% to C$1.3134 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 4.3 basis points to 0.665%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3 percent at 16,279.36 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 0.6 percent on Oct. 8 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.3 percent.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 6 of 11 sectors gained; 116 of 223 shares rose, while 106 fell. Rogers Communications Inc. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 11.6 percent.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 1 percent, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Sept. 4
* This month, the index rose 1 percent
* This year, the index fell 4.6 percent, heading for the worst year since 2018
* The index declined 0.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 15 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 45.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.3 percent in the past 5 days and rose 0.8 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25 on a trailing basis and 23.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.49t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.94 percent compared with 13.42 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.97 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 39.3948| 0.9| 20/6
Energy | 34.3813| 2.0| 22/1
Communication Services | 29.0347| 3.5| 6/1
Health Care | 3.5314| 2.1| 8/2
Consumer Discretionary | 1.3271| 0.2| 7/6
Industrials | 0.3687| 0.0| 14/14
Utilities | -0.0366| 0.0| 8/8
Real Estate | -0.6342| -0.1| 10/16
Consumer Staples | -5.0003| -0.7| 3/8
Information Technology | -20.8275| -1.3| 5/5
Materials | -32.3999| -1.3| 13/39
US
By Vildana Hajric and Anchalee Worrachate
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose as banks rallied on a jump in Treasury yields jumped, while lawmakers in Washington continue to haggle over a spending bill.
The S&P 500 pared its weekly decline as financial firms rallied almost 2%. The 10-year Treasury yield popped to 0.84%, its highest since June. Energy producers also surged, rebounding with oil from a prior-day selloff. Small caps rose 1.5%.
Investors remained fixated on Washington, where lawmakers continue to work toward a package to bolster the economy. While House speaker Nancy Pelosi signaled optimism on a deal with the administration, opposition remains in the Republican-controlled Senate, making a pact before the election less likely. Tech shares underperformed. AT&T Inc. rallied after the phone giant added more wireless subscribers than analysts estimated. Data showed a drop in jobless claims, suggesting the
labor market is still gradually recovering.
“Earnings are heating up and they are generally coming in healthy and better than expected. But with the stimulus saga dragging on and the election looming, macro influences will continue to dominate market internals until there’s some clarity,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote in a note.
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index was lower. Luxury handbags and scarves house Hermes International rose after surpassing analysts’ sales estimates on a rebound in demand from Asia. The MSCI Asia Pacific Index slid. Gold declined, and copper slipped after topping $7,000 a ton for the first time in more than two years. With no meaningful progress on fiscal policy, markets “are reacting to the heightened political instability that comes with the confirmation of efforts to manipulate the presidential race,” said Eleanor Creagh, a Sydney-based strategist at Saxo Capital Markets. “The ability for either candidate to seize upon accusations of foreign interference is heightened and raises the probability of a contested outcome, particularly as the race could be closer than polls currently indicate.”
Around the world, there is also increasing evidence that the pandemic is worsening. German infections have jumped to a record and Spain’s heath minister said the spread of coronavirus is out of control in certain parts of the country. U.S. hospitalizations for Covid-19 have reached a two-month high.
Here are some key events coming up:
* The final presidential debate before the U.S. election, between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, will be live from Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday.

These are some of the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq 100 ended lower by 0.02%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dropped 0.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.8%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 0.4%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.2%.
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1822.
* The British pound decreased 0.4% to $1.3093.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.2% to 104.83 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries added two basis points to 0.84%.
* The two year rate added one basis point to 0.15%
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to -0.58%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield climbed three basis points to 0.27%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 1.4% to $40.60 a barrel.
* Gold futures weakened 1.4% to $1,902.20 an ounce.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.
                                                 –Winston Churchill, 1874-1965

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