August 20, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Happy Friday.

St. Stephen’s Day, Hungary.

August 20, 1998~Retaliating for deadly embassy bombings in East Africa, the United States launched cruise missile strikes against al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan and what was described as a chemical plant in Sudan.  Go to article »
1942~Plutonium first weighed.

Tesla plans to build robots

City life is making animals fatter. (Same.) (h/t Ellen Kominers)

It rained on the summit of the Greenland ice sheet for the first time.

Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are arguing over the moon already.  “Mom, the billionaires are fighting again!” 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The World’s Best Self Portraits- A self portrait of Paul Zizka at the Greenland Ice Sheet
CREDIT: PAUL ZIZKA / CATERS NEWS AGENCY

Fargradalsfjall volcano spews molten lava near Grindavik, Iceland
CREDIT: SEAN HALLUP/GETTY IMAGES

Magic Mountain by Craig Bill, the Shiprock formation right outside Shiprock, New Mexico, wins platinum in the Long Exposure Photography/Professional category 

Two year old Eva Genuardi pictured enjoying the colourful 25 acre British lavender at Mayfield Lavender Farm in Banstead, Surrey as wet weather is expected over the weekend
CREDIT: OLIVER DIXON

Market Closes for August 20^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt kicked off his presidential campaign with a fiery speech in Columbus, Ohio, putting forth a nine-point plan for economic recovery. Among his proposals: reforms of Wall Street underwriting and trading practices, increased regulation of commercial banks, a more aggressive role for the Federal Reserve and a crackdown on utility companies. 
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.6 percent at 20,339.02 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 0.8 percent on July 21 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4 percent. Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as all sectors gained; 169 of 229 shares rose, while 56 fell.New Gold Inc. had the largest increase, rising 5.3 percent.

Insights
* This month, the index rose 0.3 percent
* So far this week, the index fell 0.9 percent, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended July 16
* The index advanced 22 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 32 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.1 percent below its 52-week high on Aug. 13, 2021 and 31.9 percent above its low on Oct. 30, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.8 on a trailing basis and 16.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.5 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.18t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.18 percent compared with 8.49 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.00 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | 56.9997| 0.9| 24/4
* Energy | 17.5656| 0.7| 18/5
* Materials | 7.9756| 0.4| 30/20
* Utilities | 7.8370| 0.8| 13/2
* Industrials | 7.7769| 0.3| 20/10
* Real Estate | 6.5918| 1.1| 23/2
* Communication Services | 6.5653| 0.7| 7/0
* Consumer Discretionary | 5.4356| 0.7| 9/4
* Consumer Staples | 3.1741| 0.4| 7/6
* Information Technology | 2.0428| 0.1| 11/1
* Health Care | 1.6876| 0.8| 7/2
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Brookfield Asset | | | |
* Management | 13.7600| 1.9| -35.0| 36.7
* Royal Bank of Canada | 13.6000| 1.1| -43.5| 25.9
* Enbridge | 9.5970| 1.4| -60.8| 19.3
* Franco-Nevada | -2.6620| -1.1| 2.1| 13.5
* Canadian National | -3.5570| -0.5| -37.7| -2.9
* Shopify | -15.0600| -1.0| -28.2| 29.5

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks climbed as dip buyers resurfaced at the end of a week marked by a surge in global volatility. All major groups in the S&P 500 advanced, while the NYSE FANG+ Index of giants such as Apple Inc. and Facebook Inc. halted a five-day slide. Chinese shares listed in the U.S. rallied Friday, but still suffered their longest streak of weekly losses in a decade. Both the dollar and Treasuries were little changed. Financial markets were rattled this week by speculation the global recovery could lose momentum just as central banks get ready to reduce support measures. Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said he’s open to adjusting his view that the Fed should start tapering its asset-purchase program sooner rather than later if the delta variant persists and hurts economic progress. While risks to the economy are mounting, money managers in search of returns are sticking to equities. U.S. stock-fund data collected before the Fed signaled it could potentially start tapering this year showed investors have confidence in policy support to buy the dip, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists. “While investors have understandably been worrying about the Federal Reserve’s potential tapering plans, against the backdrop of persistent Covid-19 cases, we believe the Fed is unlikely to announce tapering plans until case counts fall back to early-summer levels,” said Rod von Lipsey, managing director at UBS Private Wealth Management. Traders are eagerly awaiting the Aug. 26-28 Jackson Hole symposium, which may offer clues on the central bank’s timeline for tapering stimulus. The topic of this year’s event is “Macroeconomic Policy in an Uneven Economy.” 

Some corporate highlights:
* Cryptocurrency-exposed companies Coinbase Global Inc. and Riot Blockchain Inc. joined a rally in Bitcoin.
* Deere & Co., the largest maker of agricultural machinery, dropped amid concerns that rising costs and supply-chain snags will intensify going into next year.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1701
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3625
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 109.78 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.25%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.49%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.52%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.2% to $62.32 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
–With assistance from Sunil Jagtiani, Srinivasan Sivabalan, Vildana Hajric and Heather Burke.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

All the lessons of history in four sentences:
Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad with power.
The mills of God grind slowly, yet they grind exceedingly small.
The bee fertilizes the flower it robs.
When it is dark enough, you can see all the stars. –Charles Beard, 1874-1948.

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