July 19, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
July 19, 1999~ David Cone of the New York Yankees pitched the 14th perfect game in modern major league baseball history in a game against the Montreal Expos. Go to article »

Charles Mayo, surgeon, b. 1865.
Edgar Degas, painter, b. 1834.

Fossilized “megaripples” hint at a dinosaur-killing asteroid.

U.S. proposal to legalize cannabis isn’t making anyone happy.

The City of London is pretty empty despite restrictions being lifted.

When Wally Funk blasts off tomorrow in a rocket built by Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos’s company, she will be, at 82, the oldest person ever to go into space. But that is not what makes her so special.
In 1961, three years before Mr. Bezos was born, Ms. Funk excelled in a series of tests to see if women would be good candidates for space travel. But the U.S. government shut down the program, and she has spent the past 60 years trying to find another way into space.  Now she’s found it. -The New York Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A plane has drawn a smiley face over Cambridge today as England celebrates Freedom Day. The image appeared in the skies over the historic city as many of the pandemic restrictions are finally relaxed
CREDIT: GEOFF ROBINSON PHOTOGRAPHY

The Beefeaters return to the Tower of London, first Yeoman Warder Barney Chandler leads a tour of the Tower of London for the first time in 16 months 
CREDIT: JOE MAHER/GETTY IMAGES

Shaolin monks practice martial arts at Pagoda Forest of Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng City, central China’s Henan Province
CREDIT: XIHUA NEWS AGENCY / EYEVINE

Market Closes for July 19^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1990, Wall Street set a new record as six IPOs were issued in a single day. The companies—Command Security, In-Store Advertising, MECA Software, Modtech Holdings, O’Charley’s and Wisconsin Pharmacal—raised a total of $100.4 million. Never before had a half-dozen stocks gone public in one day.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks tumbled on Monday after the delta coronavirus variant raised concern about the economic recovery, while tension between the U.S. and China escalated. The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 1.3%, the most since Feb. 25.  Energy stocks were hit worst as crude oil’s price fell the most in 10 months after OPEC+ agreed to boost supply and a resurgent virus shook investor confidence about economic growth. Tech was the only sector that was in the green on Monday as investors rushed to safe havens. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government presented a road map to reopening Canada’s borders to non-essential international travel beginning next month.
Commodities:
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $13.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold was flat around $1,811 an ounce
FX/ Bonds:
* The Canadian dollar fell 1% to C$1.2745 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 10 basis points to 1.144%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 1.3 percent, or 259.09 to 19,726.45 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 1.4 percent on Feb. 25. Today, financials stocks led the market lower, as 10 of 11 sectors lost; 203 of 231 shares fell, while 26 rose. Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.6 percent.  Hudbay Minerals Inc. had the largest drop, falling 7.2 percent.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss nine times. The next day, it advanced five times for an average 1.1 percent and declined four times for an average 0.8 percent
* The index advanced 22 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 33 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.2 percent below its 52-week high on July 7, 2021 and 27.9 percent above its low on Oct. 30, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.5 percent in the past 5 days and fell 1.4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.7 on a trailing basis and 16.2 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$3.14t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.42 percent compared with 7.48 percent in the previous session and the average of 7.35 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | -122.3397| -2.0| 0/28
* Energy | -68.5612| -2.8| 1/22
* Materials | -42.2201| -1.8| 2/51
* Industrials | -28.2188| -1.2| 3/27
* Real Estate | -13.9541| -2.1| 0/26
* Consumer Discretionary| -8.3767| -1.1| 2/10
* Communication Services| -5.7039| -0.6| 1/6
* Consumer Staples | -4.8375| -0.6| 3/10
* Utilities | -3.2228| -0.3| 3/12
* Health Care | -1.4395| -0.6| 6/4
* Information Technology| 39.7806| 1.8| 5/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | -27.9800| -2.6| 37.6| 13.8
* Royal Bank of | | | |
* Canada | -19.8100| -1.6| 207.8| 20.0
* Enbridge | -15.6400| -2.3| 231.4| 18.5
* Ballard Power | | | |
* Systems | 0.5260| 1.6| -14.6| -34.8
* Kinaxis | 0.5470| 1.8| -28.0| -11.1
* Shopify | 43.5600| 3.1| 24.5| 30.5

US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks slumped around the world as investors rushed into haven assets after the delta coronavirus variant cast a pall over the economic recovery,  while tension between the U.S. and China escalated. In a reversal of the reopening trade that has powered this year’s equity rally, cyclical companies bore the brunt of the rout on Monday. Commodity, financial and industrial shares led losses in the S&P 500, which fell the most in two months.  The Dow Jones Industrial Average had its biggest decline since October, while small caps extended a slide from March’s peak to nearly 10%. After recently plunging to pre-pandemic levels, the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX, soared. With the risk-off sentiment spreading across global markets, long-term Treasury rates spiraled to their lowest since February — dragging the yield curve flatter.  Ten-year yields tumbled as much 12 basis points to as little as 1.17%. The dollar rose alongside the yen and the Swiss franc.  Despite the classic safety trade, gold retreated. Oil sank after OPEC+ agreed to boost supply into 2022. Meantime, Bitcoin’s slide pushed the world’s largest digital currency closer to $30,000.
The resurgence of Covid-19 is unsettling global investors, who are considering whether new lockdown restrictions will sap the economic rebound and reverse an equity rally that had driven stocks to a record. Matt Miskin, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management, told Bloomberg Television that the move to “higher-quality assets” such as Treasuries is justified.  Americans should avoid traveling to the U.K. because of a surge in that nation’s spread of Covid-19, U.S. government and health officials warned. “Risk aversion is firmly in place as the Delta Covid variant spread is triggering a flight to safety,” wrote Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda.  “Equities were ripe for a pullback given Wall Street was in agreement that this is ‘as good as it gets’ for peak earnings, economic growth, monetary stimulus.  It is hard to hold risky assets over the short-term now.” Geopolitical jitters also resurfaced on Monday after the U.S., the U.K. and their allies said the Chinese government has been the mastermind behind a series of malicious ransomware, data theft and cyber-espionage attacks against public and private entities — including the sprawling Microsoft Exchange hack earlier this year.

Some key events to watch this week:
* Reserve Bank of Australia meeting minutes Tuesday
* European Central Bank rate decision Thursday
* Bank Indonesia rate decision Thursday
* U.S. existing home sales Thursday
* The Tokyo Summer Olympics begin Friday

Here are some of the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 2.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1798
* The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.3671
* The Japanese yen rose 0.5% to 109.49 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 10 basis points to 1.19%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to -0.39%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 0.56%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7.6% to $66.34 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.2% to $1,812 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Robert Brand, Kamaron Leach, David Wilson, Natalia Kniazhevich and Nancy Moran.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Perhaps someday it will be pleasant to remember even this. –Virgil, 70 BCE-19 AD.

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