March 12, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

And don’t forget, daylight saving time begins Sunday, giving you an extra hour of daylight to enjoy the outdoors.

1755 – first steam engine in US installed, to pump water from a mine.
1938 – Nazi Germany invades Austria (Anschluss).March 12, 2009 Disgraced financier Bernard Madoff pleaded guilty in New York to pulling off perhaps the biggest swindle in Wall Street history. Go to article »

Jack Kerouac, writer, b. 1922
James Taylor, singer, songwriter, b. 1948

The Grammys are on Sunday: Trevor Noah will host, almost two dozen stars will perform, and the Weeknd is boycotting the awards

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People dine around a table suspended by a crane at 50 meters above the ground, at the Dinner in the Sky restaurant, in the Gulf emirate.
CREDIT: GIUSEPPE CACACE/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

A glowing river of lava gushes from the slopes of Mt Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, near Zafferana Etnea, Sicily.
CREDIT: SALVATORE ALLEGRA/ AP

Hindu devotees light oil lamps during Lakshadeepotsava, the festival of a hundred thousand lamps, during the Shivarathri festival at the Basavanna Temple on the outskirts of Bangalore.
CREDIT: MAJUNATH KIRAN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

The evening sunset lighting up mammatus clouds seen from Rustington, West Sussex.
CREDIT: STEVEN PASTON/EMPICS ENTERTAINMENT
Market Closes for March 12^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1986, Oracle went public on the Nasdaq at an initial price of $15 a share. The stock closed the day at $20.75, setting the stage for another software company, Microsoft, to go public the following day.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose for a second straight week, closing out the period at a fresh record high. The S&P/TSX Composite Index was little changed Friday, gaining less than 0.1%, with utilities rising while cannabis shares retreated.  Yields on 10-year Canadian notes rose and are fast approaching parity with the 10-year Treasuries. Oil in London fell for the first week in two months as signals of a patchy demand rebound across the globe  and a stronger dollar held back a crude’s rally.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,724.70 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.4% to C$1.2483 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 14 basis points to 1.583

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 18,851.32 in Toronto. Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7 percent. BlackBerry Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 10.8 percent. Today, 117 of 219 shares rose, while 99 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.1 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 2.6 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Feb. 5
* The index advanced 51 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 62 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on
March 11, 2021 and 68.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.8 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.92t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.69 percent compared with
14.18 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.38 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 16.4992| 0.3| 18/8
Utilities | 3.1997| 0.4| 11/5
Energy | 2.9690| 0.1| 10/12
Real Estate | 1.7453| 0.3| 15/11
Consumer Staples | 1.2740| 0.2| 6/5
Materials | 0.8565| 0.0| 26/22
Consumer Discretionary | -1.2126| -0.2| 7/6
Health Care | -3.3673| -1.1| 5/4
Communication Services | -3.9675| -0.4| 5/1
Information Technology | -4.3807| -0.2| 3/7
Industrials | -6.8533| -0.3| 11/18

US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks eked out a record, though rising Treasury yields continued to weigh on technology stocks. The dollar jumped. The S&P 500 closed higher amid rallies in financial and industrial shares as the rotation into value shares resumed. The Nasdaq 100 Index gauge slumped after accelerating vaccinations in the U.S. and the passage of the $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill sent Treasury yields past 1.64%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added to its all-time high. “There’s been a little more volatility than usual, particularly because there’s a number of crosscurrents both tailwinds and headwinds,” said Michael Reynolds, chief investment officer at Glenmede Trust Co. European shares ended lower, with tech the biggest decliner following the Tencent news. A resurgence of the virus in Italy coupled with division over AstraZeneca Plc’s Covid-19 vaccine also hit sentiment. Burberry Group Plc rose following an announcement that the rebound in its fourth quarter has been stronger than analysts expected.
Markets were jolted on Friday by the surge in yields, after relatively smooth bond sales this week had eased concerns on the fixed-income outlook. The wave of stimulus and vaccine rollout in the U.S. is once more forcing investors to confront the prospect of excessive inflation. The focus now turns to the Federal Reserve decision next week. “We think the U.S. 10-year yield has further room to go and  could reach 1.80%,” said Sebastien Galy, a senior macro strategist at Nordea Investment Funds. “Growth stocks maintain a high sensitivity to rates, which continues to suggest that they are quite overvalued.” Elsewhere, European debt dropped after authorities were said to have no intention of expanding stimulus despite their pledge to keep yields in check. Oil fell below $66 a barrel.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.9% in a sixth straight advance.
The Nasdaq 100 Index fell 0.9%.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.3% to 423, the first retreat in a week.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%.
The euro declined 0.2% to $1.1959.
The British pound declined 0.5% to $1.3928, the largest decrease in more than two weeks.
The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 109.02 per dollar, the weakest in about nine months.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries gained one basis point to 0.15%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased nine basis points to
1.63%, the highest in 13 months on the biggest climb in more than two weeks.
The yield on 30-year Treasuries jumped nine basis points to
2.39%, the highest in more than 14 months on the largest surge in more than two months.
Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to -0.31%, the biggest rise in more than a week.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% a barrel to $65.62.
Gold futures were flat at $1,722.60 an ounce.
Copper fell 0.6% to $4.11 a pound.
–With assistance from Anchalee Worrachate.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

If you live your life fully, you will die only once.   But if you are scared at every step,
fear will kill you day after day. -Paulo Coelho, b. 1947

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