April 12, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Franklin D. Roosevelt, d. 1945.
1955- Polio vaccine announced; given full approval by the U.S. FDA.
1961- First man in  Space, Yuri Gagarin USSR.
1981 The space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on its first test flight. Go to article »

Virtual Travel: See the Mesopotamian marshes, wetlands near Iraq’s southeastern border.

Some men started knitting in lockdown and haven’t stopped. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

Soon the Internet will make its own cat photos. 

Pizza Rat: the full story.

Old friends. New friends. Party friends and work friends. T Magazine’s Culture issue focuses on the special bonds that we rely on, and how the past year has changed them.
We also spoke to actors, musicians and others about their meaningful connections. Read five essays on the relationships that define their lives, and perhaps our own. -from The NY Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Snow on Dartmoor above Princetown on Monday morning
CREDIT: MARK SHACKLETON/BPM MEDIA

St Lawrence Church in Lechlade, Gloucestershire
CREDIT: MARK EBURNE/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

The snow capped Cambrian mountains are seen from Tynygraig in mid Wales on Monday morning
CREDIT: IAN JONES / ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Market Closes for April 12^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1837, immigrants William Procter, an English candlemaker, and James Gamble, an Irish soap maker, opened shop in Cincinnati. The business boomed, and soon each man put up $3,596.47 to launch Procter, Gamble & Co.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets declined on Monday, led by pot stocks and mining companies. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.1% in Toronto. The health-care sector was the worst performer, as pot stocks declined after Aphria’s earnings miss. Financials were the best performers, led by insurance companies. Meanwhile, business sentiment rose to near record levels at the start of 2021 on an improving outlook for both domestic and foreign demand, according to the Bank of Canada.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.30 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.7% to $1,732.29 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% to C$1.2560 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose to 1.513%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.1 percent, or 26.75 to 19,201.28 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 0.2 percent on March 29. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9 percent. Aphria Inc. had the largest drop, falling 14.2 percent. Today, 134 of 229 shares fell, while 91 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 36 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 51 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.3 percent below its 52-week high on April 12, 2021 and 38.4 percent above its low on April 16, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.5 on a trailing basis and 17.1 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$3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.66 percent compared with 10.20 percent in the previous session and the average of 11.46 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Materials | -38.7410| -1.6| 6/46
* Health Care | -14.4452| -5.4| 2/8
* Information Technology | -11.9723| -0.6| 6/5
* Energy | -5.7907| -0.2| 5/18
* Industrials | -1.8889| -0.1| 12/16
* Utilities | -1.7399| -0.2| 6/9
* Real Estate | -1.5828| -0.3| 8/18
* Communication Services | 0.4615| 0.0| 5/2
* Consumer Staples | 3.0441| 0.4| 9/4
* Consumer Discretionary | 3.9324| 0.5| 10/3
* Financials | 41.9599| 0.7| 22/5

US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slipped from record highs while investors weighed the start of corporate earnings season and an influx of bond supply that loom as speedbumps to a roaring rally. Intel Corp. led tech shares lower after Nvidia Corp. said it’s offering the company’s first server microprocessors, extending a push into Intel’s most lucrative market. The S&P 500 dipped into negative territory in the wake of a third straight week of gains for the benchmark index. In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index weakened. Yields were mostly higher as the U.S.
Treasury auctioned three- and 10-year notes at slightly lower demand than the previous sales of the securities. The government will offer 30-year bonds tomorrow. “We’re just kind of digesting,” said Marc Odo, client portfolio manager at Swan Global Investments. “This quiet period is just everyone digesting the first quarter and all of the news coming out of Washington about fiscal policy and monetary policy.” While the U.S. recovery is accelerating, parts of Europe and South America are beset by rising Covid-19 cases and troubled vaccination rollouts. The rotation toward cyclical and small-cap stocks appears to have stalled as well, prompting worry about the strength of the U.S. economic comeback at the start of earnings season.
At the same time, massive government spending and central- bank stimulus could stoke excessive inflation. In an interview aired Sunday with CBS’s 60 Minutes, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell sought to provide reassurance that any surge in price pressures won’t last. “Investors are concerned about the impact the proposed infrastructure bill will have on corporate profits,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. “If the corporate tax rate goes up by one-third from 21% to 28% then that will be a significant hit to earnings.” Elsewhere, oil rose with the dollar little changed. Bitcoin neared an all-time high before a listing by the largest U.S. cryptocurrency exchange.

Some key events to watch this week:
* Banks and financial firms begin reporting first-quarter earnings, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
* U.S. officials and company executives are due to discuss the global shortage of computer chips on Monday.
* The U.S. releases inflation data Tuesday.
* Chinese trade data are scheduled for Tuesday.
* Economic Club of Washington hosts Fed Chair Jerome Powell for a moderated Q&A on Wednesday.
* U.S. Federal Reserve releases Beige Book on Wednesday.
* U.S. data including initial jobless claims, industrial production and retail sales come Thursday.
* China economic growth, industrial production and retail sales figures are on Friday.

These are some of the main moves in financial markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index was little changed at 4,128.11 as of 4:01 p.m. New York time.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.2% to 33,745.86.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index dipped 0.2% to 13,819.35, the largest decrease in almost two weeks.
* The Nasdaq Composite Index decreased 0.4% to 13,850, the biggest dip in two weeks.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index sank 0.5% to 435.24, the largest decrease in more than three weeks.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,142.35 .
* The euro climbed 0.1% to $1.191.
* The British pound gained 0.2% to $1.3741, the first advance in a week.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 109.40 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 0.17%, the highest in more than a week on the biggest rise in more than a week.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased one basis point to 1.67%.
* The yield on 30-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 2.33%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.29%, the highest in more than a week.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped two basis points to 0.789%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.7% to $59.72 a barrel.
* Gold depreciated 0.7% to $1,732.51 an ounce, the weakest in a week.
–With assistance from Kamaron Leach.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point. -C.S. Lewis, 1898-1963

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