December 23, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Night of the radishes, Mexico.

Yousuf Karsh, photographer, b. 1908.
Akihito, Japanese emperor, b. 1933.

On Dec. 23, 1986, the experimental airplane Voyager, piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager, completed the first non-stop, around-the-world flight without refueling as it landed safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Go to article »

Did you miss Jupiter and Saturn’s great conjunction? 
We’ve got you: Check out these stunning images of the “Christmas Star.” You’ll also be able to see it again in the sky tonight. 

Looking to fall in love with Mozart, opera or the piano? Five minutes of listening is all it will take, and this list is a great place to start.

Da Vinci drawings have their own microbiomes.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Trees covered with hoar-frost on Galyateto Mountain, Hungary
CREDIT: PETER KOMKA/MTI VIA AP

A Lebanese man dressed with a Santa Claus outfit rides on a standup paddle in Lebanon’s northern coastal city of Batroun 
CREDIT: IBRAHIM CHALHOUB/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Tel Aviv, Israel: A group of professional volleyball players at the beach play volleyball on a sunny day, wearing Santa Claus costumes, three days prior to Christmas.
CREDIT: ZIV KOREN/POLARIS

Christmas illuminations and decorations are on display at a roadside in Colombo, Sri Lanka
CREDIT: CHAMILA KARUNARATHNE/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Incredible images capture the northern lights (aurora borealis) seen from the United Kingdom. The stunning colours were seen from Cullivoe, Yell, Shetland Islands, Scotland.
CREDIT: RYAN NISBET/TRIANGLE NEWS
Market Closes for December 23^rd, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Federal Reserve Act, authorizing the creation of the Federal Reserve System to monitor the nation’s banks and modulate the money supply.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets climbed for second straight day after health care stocks gained.
The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.2% in Toronto. Pot stocks led the outperformance in the health care sector.
Meanwhile, tech stocks slumped, led by Shopify.
Magna International rose 9% after LG Electronics said it plans to spin off some its electric-car components business into a new joint venture with the Canadian group.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $14.75 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $1,872.12 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.4%. It was at C$1.2852 per U.S. dollar as of 4pm New York time.
* The 10-year Canada government bond yields rose 3 basis points to 0.729%.

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.2 percent, or 41.11 to 17,593.57 in Toronto.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 151 of 222 shares rose, while 65 fell. Magna International Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 8.5 percent. MEG Energy Corp. had the largest increase, rising 9.4 percent.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2.3 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 9.1 percent
* This year, the index rose 3.1 percent, poised for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 2.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 16 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.1 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 57.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 2.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.5 on a trailing basis and 23.6 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$2.7t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.71 percent compared with 9.61 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.68 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 50.9218| 1.0| 21/5
Energy | 35.4633| 1.8| 22/1
Materials | 33.9235| 1.4| 46/5
Consumer Discretionary| 14.0630| 2.1| 6/7
Utilities | 4.9412| 0.6| 13/3
Health Care | 4.2862| 2.1| 8/1
Communication Services| 3.5129| 0.4| 4/2
Real Estate | -0.5140| -0.1| 11/13
Industrials | -0.5572| 0.0| 14/13
Consumer Staples | -3.1978| -0.5| 5/6
Information Technology| -101.7245| -5.1| 1/9
US
By Kamaron Leach
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for the first time in four days even as uncertainly surrounded President Donald Trump’s demand for changes to pandemic relief legislation. The pound gained as an outline of the post-Brexit trade deal was reached.
The benchmark S&P 500 managed to finish marginally higher despite a late session slide amid a flurry of headlines on the status of the aid package. The Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 indexes set intraday record highs. Trump is demanding that lawmakers increase the stimulus checks due to go out to most Americans to $2,000 from $600 in the same week that Congress passed the $900 billion bipartisan package. “By and large the market has continually seemed to focus on the more positive bull cases around each macro event,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of E*Trade Financial’s trading and investing product. “We’re seeing the market choosing to see the cup half full, as it shrugs off the possibility of the stimulus bill failing, and instead viewing it as a catalyst for larger stimulus cash in the pockets of consumers.” Read more: Wall Street Shrugs Off Worry About Trump’s Stimulus Critiques
The dollar stayed lower after initial jobless claims came in better than expected. Personal income for November fell by 1.1%. Treasury yields rose. European stocks rose as trade and transport links between the U.K. and its neighbors reopened and Brexit negotiators put
the finishing touches to an accord, said officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Travel firms and automakers led gains, with Daimler AG rising on a report the German carmaker is considering an initial public offering of its truck unit. Investors were are looking past the president’s comments to the promise of pandemic relief that will come sooner or later. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi seized on Trump’s call for larger individual checks and said the House would try to pass this
additional measure during a pro forma session on Thursday. “He’s historically, as I believe, negotiating as he always does,” said Todd Morgan, Chairman and founding member of Bel Air Investment Advisers. “You have to look beyond the next few weeks with this president because I think good things are going to come straight ahead.”
Elsewhere, crude oil reversed an earlier decline. Gold snapped a three-day slide.
     Here are some key events coming up:
* 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.

Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index increased 0.1% to 3,690.01 as of 4:07 p.m. New York time.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced 0.4% to 30,129.83.
* The Nasdaq Composite Index declined 0.3% to 12,771.11, the largest decrease in two weeks.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 1.1% to 395.49.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 0.4% to 636.07.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4% to 1,127.31, the biggest fall in more than a week.
* The euro gained 0.2% to $1.2191.
* The British pound surged 1% to $1.3498, the biggest jump in almost seven weeks.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 103.53 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased three basis points to 0.94%, the biggest increase in almost three weeks.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed five basis points to -0.55%, hitting the highest in three weeks with the first advance in a week and the largest surge in more than six weeks.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped 10 basis points to 0.286%, the biggest surge in about nine months.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude gained 2.2% to $48.04 a barrel, the largest rise in almost two weeks.
* Gold strengthened 0.6% to $1,872.33 an ounce.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

In the end these things matter most: How well did you love? 
How fully did you live?  How deeply did you let go?
                -Siddhārtha Gautama, c. 5^th century BC.

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