December 14, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Nostradamus, astronomer, b. 1503.
1774: first incident of American Revolution – 400 attack Fort William and Mary, New Hampshire.
1911: Amundsen reaches the South Pole.
1979 The album “London Calling” by the Clash was released. Go to article »

Astronomers find “superhighways” for fast space travel. –Bloomberg.

Your brain makes you a different person every day.

Europe’s sleeper trains are back.

And here is our ranking of Netflix’s original holiday movies out this year, from best to worst.

Happy 250th, Ludwig. –from The NY Times:
He was the son of a harsh father who had a disappointing music career and a mother who died of tuberculosis when he was a teenager.
He got his break when he managed to put one of his cantatas into the hands of Joseph Haydn, then perhaps the world’s greatest composer, who agreed to teach him.
He received a note from a patron, as he was leaving his native Bonn for the Haydn tutelage in Vienna, that read, “With the help of unceasing diligence you will receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn.”
Ludwig van Beethoven made good on that prediction, somehow overcoming the slow, agonizing loss of his hearing over the next 35 years to compose symphonies, marches, fugues, concertos, sonatas and, of course, cantatas that have endured for centuries.
This week brings Beethoven’s 250th birthday (the exact date most likely being tomorrow or Wednesday), and The Times has a panoply of coverage to celebrate: a (pre-pandemic) road trip retracing his steps; a profile of the woman who made pianos for him; an interview with a conductor who uses period instruments to recapture the original sound; an appreciation by Anthony Tommasini, the Times critic; and much more.
A good place to start: A selection of Beethoven’s greatest music, curated by The Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A red squirrel imitates a superhero as it flies through the air. The athletic ‘super squirrel’ was caught on camera leaping to collect nuts in a woodland clearing near the Dutch town of Berghem
CREDIT: JENS STAHL/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

A visitor looks up at a illuminated lantern of the White Rabbit that forms part of the enchanting Alice in Winterland Christmas Lights Trail at Lightwater Valley in North Yorkshire.
CREDIT: DANNY LAWSON/PA

Kyrgyz men on horseback compete during the Chui Oblast Kok Boru Championships in the village of Chokmorov, some 20 kilometers from Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan.

Kok-boru is a traditional riding game in Central Asia in which players grab a goat carcass from the ground while riding on their horses and try to score by placing it in the opponent’s goal
CREDIT: IGOR KOVALENKO/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Market Closes for December 14^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1900, German physicist Max Planck, in a lecture at the German Physical Society, introduced the theory of quantum mechanics. Today its principles of discontinuity and packets of emitted energy underlie an estimated 30% of the U.S. economy, including semiconductors, lasers and medical MRI devices.

Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell in a broad-based retreat to begin the week. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.9%, with energy, materials, and communication services leading the drop. Tech advanced. Gold fell to a one-week low as investors tracked the deployment of the first Covid-19 vaccines in the U.S. and the continuation of talks on a stimulus bill. On the deal front, Apollo Global Management Inc. is mulling an increase to its $2.5 billion takeover bid for Great Canadian Gaming Corp. but may walk away from the deal if it can’t win approval at an upcoming shareholder meeting, according to people familiar with the matter. Canada’s gross domestic product is expected to grow 2.6% on an annualized basis in the six months through March, down from a previous forecast of 3.3%, the monthly survey showed. That will be fully offset by stronger growth starting in the second quarter.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.65 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.6% to $1,828.94 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1% to C$1.2762 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield edged higher to 0.714%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.9 percent, or 161.52 to 17,387.40 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 1.2 percent on Nov. 30. Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.4 percent. Torex Gold Resources Inc. had the largest drop, falling 5.8 percent. Today, 133 of 222 shares fell, while 87 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.9 percent
* This year, the index rose 1.9 percent, poised for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 2.3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.2 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 55.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.1 percent in the past 5 days and rose 4.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.6 on a trailing basis and 23.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.69t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.09 percent compared with 11.01 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.26 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -56.7077| -1.1| 7/19
Energy | -49.6600| -2.3| 2/21
Materials | -43.6733| -1.9| 9/41
Communication Services | -15.5302| -1.7| 2/5
Industrials | -13.8227| -0.6| 14/14
Health Care | -2.6433| -1.3| 5/5
Consumer Staples | 2.2161| 0.3| 7/4
Real Estate | 2.2316| 0.4| 15/11
Utilities | 2.3553| 0.3| 10/6
Consumer Discretionary | 5.0719| 0.8| 9/4
Information Technology | 8.6441| 0.5| 7/3

US
By Kamaron Leach and Yakob Peterseil
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for a fourth day as investors assessed the prospects for a federal spending package and the likelihood for further virus-related economic restrictions. The S&P 500 Index capped its longest slide since September and is 1.5% below its Dec. 8 record. Drugmakers led the Nasdaq 100 Index higher after Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. agreed to be bought by AstraZeneca Plc. Energy producers tumbled after OPEC cut its demand forecast. Oil was lower most of the day before reversing. The dollar extended its slump with Treasuries. Brazil’s Ibovespa Index erased losses for the year.
Optimism from the start of Covid-19 shots gave way to concern over whether a relief bill from a bipartisan group of lawmakers would gain traction after its release later. The virus continued to rage in the U.S., threatening harsher restrictions across the nation. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that people should be prepared for a full shutdown and start making plans to work remotely. The Electoral College will officially elect Joe Biden president. “Signs of market fatigue are more prevalent today than a month ago, even as the popular average is near all-time highs,” wrote Paul Nolte, a portfolio manager at Kingsview Investment Management. “The much-awaited correction could come as investors tire of Washington, worry about the Covid cases over the holidays, or some other concern that is likely to pass in a few months rather than dominate the news cycle the way Covid has during the last nine.”
The head of the U.S. government’s vaccination drive said as much as 80% of the population could be given the shot by next summer, putting “herd immunity” within reach. Wall Street strategists are in broad agreement that vaccines will supercharge the economy next year. “There is huge pent-up investment demand across the entire institutional world,” Michael Strobaek, global chief investment officer at Credit Suisse Group AG, told Bloomberg TV. “We’re steering into year-end with still tons of liquidity on the sidelines. I would not be on the wrong side of that.”
Here are some key events coming up:
* Tuesday brings China industrial production and retail sales data for November.
* The Federal Reserve meets Tuesday and Wednesday, with markets widely expecting fresh guidance on its continued asset purchases.
* Policy decisions from the Bank of England and central banks in Mexico, Switzerland and Indonesia are due Thursday. Japan and Russia announce decisions Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.6%.The Nasdaq 100 Index climbed 0.7%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.4%.
The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.1%.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.2%
The euro climbed 0.3% to $1.2142.
The Japanese yen was unchanged at 104.06 per dollar.
The British pound jumped 0.8% to $1.3323, the biggest increase in more than five weeks.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained less than one basis point to 0.90%.
Germany’s 10-year yield climbed two basis points to -0.62%, the biggest increase in almost two weeks.
Britain’s 10-year yield jumped five basis points to 0.222%, the largest surge in five weeks.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.9% to $46.99 a barrel, the biggest dip in almost two weeks.
Gold futures depreciated 0.7% to $1,831 an ounce.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Consider the subtleness of the sea; how its most dreaded creatures
glide under water, unapparent for the most part, and treacherously
hidden beneath the loveliest tints of azure.
                                   -Herman Melville, 1819-1891, Moby Dick

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