September 27, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy.  Go to article »

Danish artist took a museum’s money and called it art.

The NASA probe Lucy will take a wild ride to Jupiter’s moons. (h/t Alistair Lowe) 

Meet the double-charm tetraquark.

A winged microchip is humanity’s smallest-ever flying structure. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ is the biggest movie of 2021 so far .  Who dares think they can best Marvel?!

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A ferocious gull dives in to face off with an arctic fox which is trying to steal a chick from its nest. With beak gaping, the large gull appears to roar at the fox, which bares its teeth in response as the two go head to head. The unusual encounter was captured by a lucky photographer on the Alkefjellet cliff, on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago. Despite its aggressive efforts, the gull was unable to scare off the fox which snatched a chick from the nest and swiftly killed it before skulking back off into the rocks with its prey.
CREDIT: RUSSELL MILLNER/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

Elisa Cosetti of Italy dives from the 21.5 metre platform during the final competition day of the sixth stop of the Red Bull Cliff Diving World Series at Polignano a Mare, Puglia, Italy.
CREDIT: RED BULL CONTENT POOL/INPHO/SHUTTERSTOCK

The British Royal Air Force Red Arrows flying display team performs during the Malta International Airshow off the coast of Qawra, Malta.

Market Closes for September 27^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1974, the field of behavioral finance was born, as Science, the journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, published “Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases.” This underwhelmingly titled article was the first major research paper to demonstrate that humans do not always make risky decisions rationally—a contention that is still disputed by mainstream economists.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks climbed on Monday, led by health care and energy stocks. The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3% to 20,463.42 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Sept. 17 after the previous session’s decline of 0.3%. Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%. Enerplus Corp. had the largest increase, rising 10%.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 17%, heading for the best year since 2019
* This quarter, the index rose 1.5%
* This month, the index fell 0.6%, heading for the biggest decline since October 2020
* The index advanced 27% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 35% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.1% below its 52-week high on Sept. 7, 2021 and 32.7% above its low on Oct. 30, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.5% in the past 5 days and fell 0.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.4 on a trailing basis and 16.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.5% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.21t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.71% compared with 8.67% in the previous session and the average of 6.82% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | 48.5358| 1.9| 22/1
* Financials | 34.7177| 0.5| 17/11
* Materials | 11.1899| 0.5| 30/22
* Industrials | 4.4511| 0.2| 16/14
* Health Care | 4.2480| 2.0| 6/2
* Consumer Discretionary | 4.2014| 0.6| 8/5
* Consumer Staples | -5.1531| -0.7| 5/8
* Communication Services | -5.6512| -0.6| 1/6
* Real Estate | -7.2579| -1.1| 4/21
* Utilities | -7.5786| -0.8| 2/13
* Information Technology | -20.9400| -0.9| 2/13
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | 17.5700| 1.7| 69.9| 17.7
* Suncor Energy | 9.5210| 3.6| -9.1| 24.2
* Canadian National | 7.3640| 1.2| -47.1| 6.0
* Shopify | -4.3960| -0.3| 11.4| 26.8
* Brookfield Asset | | | |
* Management | -7.1890| -1.0| -17.2| 34.3
* Waste Connections | -8.2820| -2.7| 4.4| 24.8

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — As Treasury yields pushed higher after a hawkish tilt from the Federal Reserve last week, some of the world’s largest technology companies continued to sell off. A slide in bonds sent the rate on the benchmark 10-year note briefly above 1.5% — a level not seen since June. That’s prompted the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 to underperform major equity benchmarks. Meantime, economically sensitive companies – like energy, financial and smaller firms — advanced. Traders pulled forward wagers on a rate hike after Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank could start tapering its asset purchases in November, while officials updated their forecasts — with half of them seeing tightening by the end of 2022. A spike in Treasury yields has added to concerns about lofty equity valuations, particularly in the tech industry, which has powered the bull-market rally. “Yields are rising sharply, reflecting investors’ expectations about monetary tightening amid surging inflationary pressures,” said Fawad Razaqzada, an analyst at ThinkMarkets. “If yields climb higher, this could weigh especially on the overstretched growth stocks in the technology sector, which have low dividend yields.” For Razaqzada, investors might prefer the relative safety of government debt and fixed-coupon payments — rather than buying severely overvalued stocks — just as the Fed starts to reduce the pace of its stimulus program. Fed Governor Lael Brainard said the labor market may soon meet her yardstick for scaling back asset purchases, while the Covid-19 delta variant could raise upside risks for inflation. New York Fed President John Williams noted that moderating bond-buying may soon be warranted, and his Chicago counterpart Charles Evans said he sees “a first move” on raising rates in 2023.

Some corporate highlights:
* Amazon.com Inc.’s price target was cut at Morgan Stanley, which said the online retailer’s profits could come under pressure as a result of a rising headcount and higher wages.
* Facebook Inc. is pausing work on rolling out an Instagram Kids site after the social-networking company came under criticism for its negative effect on children, especially on teenage girls.
* Wells Fargo & Co. agreed to pay $37 million to settle U.S. claims that it overcharged almost 800 commercial customers that used its foreign-exchange services.
     Elsewhere, Brent closed at the highest in nearly three years amid signs of a global energy crunch.
Though the oil benchmark met some resistance as it neared the $80-a-barrel level, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said it could hit $90 by year-end as the market is in a bigger deficit than many realize.

Here are some events to watch this week:
* Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen to testify at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Tuesday
* European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde speaks Tuesday at the ECB Forum on Central Banking
* Japan’s ruling party votes to elect leader, Wednesday
* Central bank chiefs Andrew Bailey (BOE), Haruhiko Kuroda (BOJ), Christine Lagarde (ECB) and Jerome Powell (Fed) participate in an ECB Forum panel, Wednesday
* House Financial Services Committee hearing on the Fed, Treasury’s pandemic response, Thursday
* China Caixin manufacturing PMI, non-manufacturing PMI, Thursday
* Univ. of Michigan sentiment, ISM manufacturing, U.S. construction spending, spending/personal income Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.2%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 1.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1698
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3705
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 111.00 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 1.48%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.22%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 0.95%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $75.50 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc and Srinivasan

Have  a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

For time is the longest distance between two places. –Tennessee Williams, 1911-1983.

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