December 21, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy First Day of Winter!

Look for the convergence of the planets Jupiter and Saturn tonight – known as the Christmas star because they will appear as one bight star in the night sky.  This is the brightest they will be in 800 years.
The winter solstice, a meteor shower and the alignment of our solar system’s two biggest planets all converge at once in a convenient holiday package.
Jupiter and Saturn will look as if they are practically touching, in their closest visible proximity since the year 1226. A bit later in the evening, you might see some fireballs from the Ursid meteor shower, which peaks tonight.
But for many of us, the night’s best gift is that daylight hours will now start to lengthen in the Northern Hemisphere, until the summer solstice in June. J

1620: Pilgrims land at Plymouth, Mass.

On Dec. 21, 1988, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people. Go to article »

Looking for a new hobby? Knitting is relatively inexpensive and has great mental health benefits.

PICTURES OF THE DAY

The annual Santa Run takes place with socially distanced households running together at staggered intervals, rather than the usual mass start, North Berwick, East Lothian, Scotland.
CREDIT: SALLY ANDERSON/EDINBURGHELITEMEDIA.CO.UK

Norway’s Halvor Egner Granerud competes in the men’s FIS Ski Jumping World Cup competition in Engelberg, central Switzerland.
CREDIT: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A Christmas decoration is illuminated in Szekesfehervar, Hungary.
CREDIT: TAMAS VASVARI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Market Closes for December 21^st, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1998, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index closed above 1200 for the first time, finishing the day at 1202.84. 

Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell along with global equities as a new variant of the coronavirus in the U.K. raised investor worry of further lockdowns and travel restrictions. The S&P/TSX Composite index shed 0.2%, paring back earlier losses of as much as 1.3%. Tech and materials were the only two sectors in the green on Monday. Energy stocks were the worst performers as crude oil prices slumped the most in six weeks. Meanwhile, Oxford Properties Group Inc. is proposing to turn an area of midtown Toronto that’s mostly parking lots into a mix of apartments, offices and retail space, a major bet that demand for dense urban living will rebound after the pandemic.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $14.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,876.31 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.5%. It was at C$1.2854 per U.S. dollar as of 4:05pm New York time.
* The 10-year Canada government bond yields fell 3 basis points to 0.724%.

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.2 percent, or 33.74 to 17,500.89 in Toronto. TC Energy Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.3 percent. Enerplus Corp. had the largest drop, falling 7.2 percent. Today, 143 of 222 shares fell, while 77 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 1.8 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 8.6 percent
* This year, the index rose 2.6 percent, poised for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 2.2 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 16 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.6 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 56.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.8 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.1 on a trailing basis and 23.5 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 fell to 9.89 percent compared with 10.02 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.02 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -42.1440| -2.1| 0/23
Financials | -13.1128| -0.3| 8/17
Industrials | -9.1258| -0.4| 8/21
Communication Services | -8.3224| -1.0| 0/7
Real Estate | -6.9270| -1.3| 2/24
Health Care | -3.4902| -1.7| 2/7
Consumer Discretionary | -3.0740| -0.5| 4/9
Consumer Staples | -1.2846| -0.2| 3/8
Utilities | -0.7781| -0.1| 5/11
Materials | 13.8825| 0.6| 39/12
Information Technology | 40.6299| 2.2| 6/4

US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slumped, joining a global decline as a new variant of the coronavirus in the U.K. and a wave of lockdowns and travel restrictions damped spirits. The S&P 500 Index dipped about 0.4%, dragged lower by losses for Tesla Inc., which fell more than 6% on its first day after being added to the U.S. benchmark. The Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a gain as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. rallied after regulators approved a stock buyback. The yield on 10-year Treasuries retreated and the dollar climbed. The weakness in U.S. markets was minor compared to the rout seen in Europe, where the Stoxx 600 Index slumped the most since October as Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and France closed their borders to the U.K. Travel and leisure stocks were hard hit.
Bulls did have some reason for optimism, including progress on a $900 billion U.S. economic aid package. Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE’s Covid-19 vaccine also won the backing of a key European review panel, and a first wave of inoculations continued in the U.S. Despite the positive developments, the emergence of the variant coronavirus strain in Britain put a damper on the return-to-work trade that’s lately taken hold. After global equities reached a record last week, traders pulled back to monitor the latest virus news. “Fiscal stimulus is clearly fading as a catalyst, with Covid trends dictating the direction of markets,” said Emily Roland, the co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management. “Risk assets had been shrugging off worsening virus trends, but are now showing some signs of vulnerability.” The pound pared losses as U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered a fresh proposal to secure an 11th-hour trade deal with the European Union. Crude oil tumbled.

Here are some key events coming up:
* EIA crude oil inventory report is due Wednesday.
* U.S. jobless claims, durables, personal income data comes Wednesday.
* U.S. bond and stock trading and markets in other parts of the world will shut
early on Thursday for the Christmas holidays. Most global markets are shut Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index retreated 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slumped 2.3%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.4%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index dropped 0.9%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%.
* The euro decreased 0.2% to $1.2235.
* The British pound decreased 0.5% to $1.3454.
* The Japanese yen fell less than 0.1% to 103.34 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased one basis point to 0.94%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to -0.58%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased four basis points to 0.20%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude sank 2.8% to $47.74 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.2% to $1,877,.11 an ounce.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Anchalee Worrachate, Cecile Gutscher, Yakob Peterseil and Sophie Caronello.

Have a  great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Never ruin an apology with an excuse.
       -Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

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