January 7, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Jan. 7, 1979, Vietnamese forces captured the Cambodian capital of Phnom Penh, overthrowing the Khmer Rouge government. Go to article »

Tomorrow’s radical architecture, today.

Why “Peanuts” endures.

In the past, we’ve asked artists and notable figures to choose the five minutes they would play to make their friends fall in love with classical music, the piano, Mozart and more. Now we want those friends to fall for an instrument based on the most fundamental sign of life: breath.
“No matter the style of the music or the cultural context it sings from, it’s the flute’s ability to pierce the heart that moves me most,” says the flutist and composer Nicole Mitchell. Her pick: “The Price of Everything” by James Newton.

“Remind me: Are we great again yet?” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“The America that so many aspire to will be back,” he said. “It’s just been hijacked by a lunatic.”  –JAMES CORDEN

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A car drives through a field of solar panels at a solar energy power plant (GES) in Edremit district of Van, Turkey
CREDIT: OZKAN BILGIN/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

St Michael’s Tower, a Grade I listed building, is surrounded by freezing fog at Glastonbury Tor in Somerset
CREDIT: SPLASHNEWS.COM

People enjoy the snow  in Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
CREDIT: REY SOTOLONGO/EUROPA PRESS VIA GETTY IMAGES

Market Closes for January 7^th, 2021 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1825, the nation’s first great nonfinancial IPO was sold, as the Delaware & Hudson Canal Co. went public at $100 per share. The stock hit $112 that May, slid to $71 over the next three years, then went on to be a stable growth stock for decades.

Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rallied to an all-time high along with shares in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world as investors focused on the prospect for increased government spending to stimulate the economy once Joe Biden is inaugurated president in less than two weeks. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 1.1% to record high of 18,027.57. The index was driven by tech and energy shares, while communication services underperformed. Meanwhile, Canada’s largest pension plan is expanding its holdings of hard assets, plowing around $850 million into property, wind farms and logistics facilities to kick off the year.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $15.10 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,914.50 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was little changed at C$1.2675 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 4 basis points to 0.792%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 1.1 percent, or 199.46 to 18,027.57 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 1.3 percent on Nov. 16. Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 9 of 11 sectors gained; 153 of 221 shares rose, while 68 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 6.9 percent. Ballard Power Systems Inc. had the largest increase, rising 15.7 percent.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 3.4 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 6
* The index advanced 5 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 19 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1 percent below its 52-week high on Jan. 7, 2021 and 61.4 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.7 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.5 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 17.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.75t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.87 percent compared with 8.81 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.87 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 77.9142| 4.5| 8/2
Energy | 42.1166| 2.0| 21/1
Industrials | 36.6312| 1.7| 24/5
Financials | 21.6940| 0.4| 22/4
Materials | 10.2129| 0.4| 29/23
Consumer Discretionary | 8.2831| 1.2| 10/3
Utilities | 6.2684| 0.7| 11/5
Health Care | 3.4896| 1.6| 6/3
Real Estate | 1.3230| 0.2| 18/8
Consumer Staples | -2.2509| -0.3| 2/9
Communication Services | -6.2349| -0.7| 2/5

US
By Rita Nazareth and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied a day after violence rocked the U.S. Capitol, with investors firmly focused on the prospect for more stimulus and the likelihood that calm will prevail as Joe Biden takes the presidency. All major U.S. equity benchmarks notched all-time highs, with about 70% of the companies in the S&P 500 in the green and the Nasdaq 100 jumping 2.5%. The Dow Jones Transportation Average — a proxy for economic activity — also hit a record, while the Russell 2000 Index of small caps extended a three-day advance to almost 8%. Tesla Inc. surged after RBC Capital Markets upgraded the stock, noting it was “completely wrong” with a previous bearish view. Another notable call came from Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said banks have “moved back into vogue” due to optimism about fiscal aid and rising rates. Bitcoin pared gains after topping $40,000.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer demanded that President Donald Trump’s cabinet immediately remove him from office and threatened a new drive to impeach him if they don’t act. Democrats, who already have a majority in the House, are set to take control of the Senate and presidency, paving the way for Biden to bring his legislative agenda to life and reshape the economy. While campaigning in Georgia before the runoff elections, he vowed that $2,000 stimulus checks would be sent out “immediately” if his party won the state. “Markets (rightly, in our view) see the U.S. government as ultimately a stable-enough set of institutions even if things occasionally go pear-shaped,” Nick Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research, wrote in a note to clients. “Politics play second fiddle to economic and corporate fundamentals when it comes to setting asset prices. The country’s economic future coming out of the pandemic remains promising.”
Data Thursday showed that growth at U.S. service providers unexpectedly accelerated as gains in business activity and new orders helped offset a decline in a measure of employment. Friday’s jobs report is forecast to show a sharp slowdown in hiring. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said officials shouldn’t intervene to slow rising bond yields because that’s expected to happen as the economy recovers.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 1.5% at 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.5%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.8%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index jumped 0.6%.
* The euro declined 0.5% to $1.2266.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.8% to 103.82 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 1.08%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined less than one basis point to -0.52%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield climbed four basis points to 0.284%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $50.95 a barrel.
* Gold lost 0.2% to $1,914.70 an ounce.
–With assistance from Gregor Stuart Hunter, Andreea Papuc, Anchalee Worrachate, Claire Ballentine, Katherine Greifeld, Nancy Moran and Sophie Caronello.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Because of his compassion, a man can become courageous.
Because of his economy, a man may become generous.  Because of his humility,
a man can become a leader.   -Lao Tzu, 6^th c. 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