May 25, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Full Moon tonight – an extraordinary one:  In the early hours of May 26, 2021 a total lunar eclipse—also known as a “Blood Moon—will be visible from North America. One of the astronomical highlights of 2021, it won’t just be any full Moon, but a combination of a full Moon—May’s full Flower Moon—a “supermoon” and a total lunar eclipse.
At 4:11 a.m., the moon will fall completely within Earth’s inner umbral shadow and its full face will become a deep, dark red. The quirks of the moon’s orbit mean this total eclipse will be relatively short, lasting about 14 minutes and ending by 4:25 a.m. Pacific time. 

Also, Venus will be impressively bright in the night sky starting this week.  Look skyward and gaze upon our hot, gassy, noxious neighbor. 

Descendants of a feudal lord hit an Italian town for back taxes.

Algae proteins partially restore a man’s eyesight. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fishermen on stilts cast their nets as the sun rises above the horizon at Quang Lang beach in Vietnam
CREDIT: BANG NGUTEN TRONG/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

Lava gushes from the southern side crater of Mt. Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano, near Catania in Sicily
CREDIT: SALVATORE ALLEGRA/AP

The Super Flower Moon, the second of two consecutive supermoons,  rises over Blackburn Tower on Tuesday morning. It will be at its peal at noon on Wednesday. And in some parts of the world will coincide with a lunar eclipse, creating a blood moon, but sadly not in the UK
CREDIT: The Telegraph
Market Closes for May 25^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1763, The Dismal Swamp Co., one of the nation’s first corporations, was formed in Williamsburg, Va. to finance the development and resale of swampland in Virginia and North Carolina. Despite its distinguished founders who included George Washington, the company earned virtually no money until 1810, then fizzled out in 1814.

On May 25, 2006, Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, the chief executives who guided Enron through its spectacular rise and even more stunning fall, were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy.
Go to article »
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares rose to a record after a comeback in information technology and cannabis stocks. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.2%, with eight of 11 sectors higher. The U.S. moved to set up a dispute-settlement panel to review Canada’s dairy quotas, which Washington alleges undermine the ability of American dairy exporters to sell a wide range of products to Canadian consumers.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at about a $14.25discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1% to $1,899.92 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% to C$1.2068 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 8.3 basis points to 1.460%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2 percent at 19,564.12 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.1 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.6 percent. Aurora Cannabis Inc. had the largest increase, rising 6.0 percent. Today, 106 of 229 shares rose, while 120 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2.4 percent
* The index advanced 31 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 43 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.6 percent below its 52-week high on May 25, 2021 and 31.9 percent above its low on May 22, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.3 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.06t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 9.57 percent compared with 9.57 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.05 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | 22.1898| 1.2| 7/4
* Industrials | 13.4331| 0.6| 11/19
* Financials | 7.4395| 0.1| 15/12
* Health Care | 3.9306| 1.6| 6/3
* Consumer Staples | 3.4480| 0.5| 9/3
* Communication Services | 2.3689| 0.2| 5/3
* Materials | 1.6509| 0.1| 32/19
* Real Estate | 0.4347| 0.1| 10/16
* Utilities | -0.8022| -0.1| 6/10
* Consumer Discretionary | -6.1406| -0.8| 3/10
* Energy | -11.1357| -0.5| 2/21

US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks retreated as inflationary signals from the latest economic reports overshadowed dovish reassurances from several Federal Reserve officials. Treasuries climbed. The S&P 500 fluctuated throughout most of the trading session after a gauge of new U.S. home sales slid by more than forecast as higher prices restrained demand. Separate figures showed that consumer confidence slipped for the first time this year, with inflation concern and elevated unemployment likely curbing improvement in sentiment. Meanwhile, Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said price pressures would “prove to be largely transitory.” His remarks echoed those of Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, the central bank’s Vice Chair for Supervision Randal Quarles and three other Fed officials who this week played down the risk that higher inflation would persist. Still, investors have been concerned about how long the central bank can keep stimulative monetary policy in place if economic data continue to show price pressures. “The data remains ‘volatility,’ and that should be expected as we deal with the pandemic exit and the uncertainties that surround that,” said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI.
Some corporate highlights:
* Amazon.com Inc. was sued by the attorney general for Washington, D.C., who accused it of engaging in anticompetitive
practices that have raised prices for consumers.
* Moderna Inc. rallied as its Covid-19 vaccine was found highly effective in 12 to 17 year-old adolescents in a large study,
paving the way for regulatory submissions around the world by early June.

Here are some events this week:
* Reserve Bank of New Zealand policy decision Wednesday, Bank of Korea rate decision Thursday.
* CEOs of the largest U.S. banks, including JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs, will testify before lawmakers in the Senate Banking and
House Financial Services committees Wednesday.
* U.S. initial jobless claims, GDP, durable goods, pending home sales on Thursday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.2246
* The British pound was little changed at $1.4144
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 108.75 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 1.56%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to -0.17%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.79%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $66 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.9% to $1,903 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc and Robert Brand.
Have a lovely evening.

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-4^th century BCE.

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