November 5, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Guy Fawkes Day; Sadie Hawkins Day
1935 – Parker Brothers began marketing the board game “Monopoly.”  Go to article »

A ‘fast radio burst,’ complete with X-ray emissions, may have been detected from inside our galaxy for the first time.  Hello? Do we have some neighbors we haven’t met yet? -CNN
Prehistoric hunters weren’t all male. Women killed big game, too, a new discovery suggests.  Looks like our ancestors brought home the bacon — literally.

Archaeologists discovered a 9,000-year-old female skeleton buried with a “big-game hunting kit” in Peru, challenging a belief that male members of the ancient society hunted while females gathered.

Humans and Neanderthals may have been at war for 100,000 years.

Area man discovers it’s illegal to cook chickens in a Yellowstone hot spring. (h/t Mike Smedley)

And finally, 300 million potential exit strategies:

A new report from NASA on the number of possibly habitable planets in the Milky Way puts the total at more than double the estimate of seven years ago.

Out of at least 100 billion stars in our galaxy, about four billion are sunlike. Supposing that even 7 percent of them have an Earth-size object orbiting in their “goldilocks” zone — neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water — adds up to 300 million.

“We want to be very conservative in case nature has any surprises regarding habitability,” said one of the authors of the report, which was based on almost a decade’s worth of data collected by NASA’s Kepler spacecraft. “So we are lowballing the estimates intentionally.” –NYTimes.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Visitors enjoy the stunning autumn colour at Leonardslee Lakes and Gardens, near Horsham in West Sussex, England.
CREDIT: OLIVER DIXON

The 45-foot high inflatable sculpture aims to highlight primate species whose lives and habitats are under threat from the sprawling concrete jungles of the modern world. Golden Monkey installation, by Australian ecological artist Lisa Roet, which makes its UK debut on the exterior of Inverleith House at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
CREDIT: JANE BARLOW/PA WIRE

Hundreds of Hindu devotees gather in front of Shri Shri Loknath Brahmachari Ashram temple for the Rakher Upobash, a religious festival called as Kartik Brati, in Barodi. Sitting in front of candle light, they fast and pray in earnest to the gods for their favours during the ritual.
CREDIT: JOY SAHA/PACIFIC PRESS
​​​​​​​
Farmers harvest water lilies from Vam Co Dong River in Moc Hoa District, Long An Province, Vietnam. Water lilies are an iconic symbol in the country and the flowers are immediately sent to market before landing on meal tables.
CREDIT: NGUYEN SANH QUOC HUY/TRIANGLE NEWS

Market Closes for November 5^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1999 Webvan Group went public, selling 25 million shares at an initial offering price of $15. The stock soared to $34, giving the company a peak market capitalization of more than $8.5 billion, and closed at $24.875. But the online grocery-delivering service had so far generated only $4.2 million in sales—on which it made a net loss of $111.1 million. In July, 2001, with its stock down to five cents a share, Webvan filed for bankruptcy protection.

Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares rose for a fourth straight session Thursday as the U.S. has yet to declare a victor in its presidential election. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 1.9%, the most since June 5, with 10 of 11 sectors higher on the day. Materials led the way with a gain of 6.1%, while cannabis shares also surged. Gold touched a six-week high and copper advanced for a fourth straight session, boosted by a declining dollar and the outlook for further central-bank stimulus as investors await the final outcome of the U.S. presidential election.
CI Financial Corp. said it agreed to acquire Doyle Wealth Management Inc., a Florida-based registered investment advisory firm with around $1.1 billion in assets. Meanwhile, General Motors Co. says it will invest as much as C$1.3 billion ($997 million) to reopen its assembly plant in Oshawa, Ontario, under the terms of a tentative deal reached with its Canadian union. Bank of Canada senior deputy governor Carolyn Wilkins will be departing from the central bank in December, before her term officially ends next year.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9.75 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 2.5% to $1,949.70 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.6% to C$1.3048 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield was little changed around 0.613%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 1.9 percent, or 299.43 to 16,298.17 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 2.1 percent on June 5. Today, materials stocks led the market higher, as 10 of 11 sectors gained; 170 of 222 shares rose, while 52 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.8 percent. Aurora Cannabis Inc. had the largest increase, rising 40.6 percent.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15 times. The next day, it declined eight times for an average 4.1 percent and advanced seven times for an average 1.7 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 4.6 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended April 10
* This year, the index fell 4.5 percent, heading for the worst year since 2018
* The index declined 2.3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 14 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.3 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 45.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 4 percent in the past 5 days and fell 0.7 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.8 on a trailing basis and 22.2 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$2.46t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 15.36 percent compared with 14.45 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.92 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 149.1015| 6.1| 49/3
Information Technology | 46.4970| 2.9| 9/1
Industrials | 39.5787| 2.0| 25/3
Consumer Discretionary | 17.3157| 3.0| 10/3
Consumer Staples | 16.6063| 2.4| 9/2
Health Care | 9.5335| 5.8| 9/1
Energy | 8.1692| 0.5| 10/13
Utilities | 8.1505| 0.9| 11/5
Financials | 7.5871| 0.2| 14/12
Real Estate | 1.1444| 0.2| 18/8
Communication Services | -4.2508| -0.5| 6/1

US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied globally as investors rushed back into technology and health-care firms on bets that the U.S. election results will mean no major tax hikes or regulatory changes that would derail the sectors. The dollar weakened to  the lowest level in more than two years. The S&P 500 jumped more than 1% for a fourth consecutive day and is headed for the best week since April. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 surged 2.6%, pushing its advance this week more than 9%. Federal Reserve officials kept interest rates near zero and made no change to asset purchases as the results of U.S. presidential and congressional elections remain uncertain.
“We’re seeing a resumption in leadership from technology,” said Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy for Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “It appears markets really like the combination they think is most likely in terms of leadership going forward and that would be a Biden presidency with a Republican Senate.” Vote counting continues in a handful of key states, with Democrat Joe Biden potentially needing to win just one to unseat President Donald Trump. That outcome could be accompanied by a divided legislature that is less likely to pass a multi-trillion-dollar stimulus package. “In the short-run, the focus will remain on the prospects for a new fiscal package out of Congress, which may be possible before year-end once the election results are settled,” said Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede. “But for now, the size, scope, and timing of that next package still remains unclear.”
Tech Haters Schooled in Risk of Valuations as Timing Tool The dollar retreated the most versus the euro since March. Oil declined for the first time in four sessions. Increases in tech shares and some strong corporate results buoyed the Stoxx Europe 600 index. Uber Technologies Inc. and Peloton Interactive Inc. will release results after the close of U.S. trading. Elsewhere, U.K. government bonds reversed an early advance as investors shifted their focus to the slower pace of debt- buying implied by the Bank of England’s new asset-purchase targets. Bitcoin climbed by more than $1,000 to over $15,000, more than doubling its value in 2020.

These are some key events coming up:
* The key U.S. non-farm payrolls report is due Friday.
* Earnings are due this week from companies including Macquarie Group Ltd. and
Toyota Motor Corp. on Friday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index climbed 1.9% to 3,510.41 as of 4:02 p.m. New York time, the highest in more than three weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.9% to 28,390.51, the highest in almost three weeks.
The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 2.6% to 11,890.93, the highest in two months.
The Nasdaq 100 Index jumped 2.6% to 12,078.07, the highest in more than three weeks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1% to 367.12, hitting the highest in almost three weeks with its fifth straight advance.
The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 2.2% to 591.61, the highest in more than three weeks on the biggest climb in more than 20 weeks.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 1% to 1,153.07, the lowest in more than two years on the largest decrease in more than seven months.
The euro increased 0.9% to $1.1827, the strongest in almost two weeks on the biggest increase in five months.
The Japanese yen appreciated 1% to 103.53 per dollar, the strongest in eight months on the largest rise in almost 10 weeks.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries increased less than one basis point to 0.15%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained one basis point to 0.77%.
The yield on 30-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to 1.54%, the lowest in almost three weeks.
Germany’s 10-year yield advanced less than one basis point to -0.64%.
Britain’s 10-year yield jumped three basis points to 0.234%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $38.52 a barrel, the largest fall in a week.
Gold surged 2.5% to $1,950.65 an ounce, the highest in almost seven weeks on the biggest jump in more than seven months.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Only people who are capable of loving  strongly can also suffer great sorrow,
but this same necessity of loving serves to counteract their grief
and heals them.           -Leo Tolstoy, 1828-1910

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