December 9, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Dec. 9, 2000, the United States Supreme Court voted, 5 to 4, to stop the vote counting in Florida, ending Vice President Al Gore’s presidential hopes. Go to article »

2019: World Anti-Doping Agency bans Russia from all major sporting events – including 2020 Tokyo Olympics and 2022 football World Cup om Qatar – for manipulating laboratory data.

Pantone unveils ‘Very Peri’ as its Color of the Year for 2022.   Let’s all have a mellow purple kind of year!

Real Christmas trees may be better for your mental health than fake ones.  Tell that to the millions of pine needles collecting on the floor. 
 
Or, hear me out, let’s try a different extreme sport! It’s called “standing on the ground and being very safe.”

Reviewed: the worst Michelin-starred restaurant ever. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
The International Space Station passes the crescent moon as seen from Washington DC
CREDIT: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA
Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako look at traditional crafts at the Imperial Palace before the empress’s 58th birthday
CREDIT: Reuters
The visual theatre troupe Mummenschanz, known as the Mumms, perform their stage show 50 Years at Theater 11
CREDIT: Michael Buholzer/EPA

Market Closes for December 9^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1906, Grace Murray Hopper (nee Grace Brewster Murray) was born in New York City. She later served in the U.S. Navy, rising to the rank of rear admiral, and invented the Cobol computer language, one of the first software programs enabling computers to be used by non-mathematicians. She also invented the term “bug” for a glitch when, in 1945, she opened a malfunctioning computer and captured a moth inside that had been causing electrical relays to fail.
Canada
By Stefanie Marotta
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities slumped for the second day as global markets fell under the weight of potential omicron variant restrictions. The S&P/TSX Composite dropped 0.7 percent, or 151.86 to 20,925.49 in Toronto, the most in more than a week. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.2 percent. Kinross Gold Corp. had the largest drop, falling 10.2 percent after announcing plans to acquire gold and precious metals mining company Great Bear Resources Ltd. Today, 184 of 233 shares fell, while 45 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* This year, the index rose 20 percent, heading for the best year in at least 10 years
* This quarter, the index rose 4.3 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 1.4 percent
* The index advanced 19 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 21 percent above its low on Jan. 29, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.8 percent in the past 5 days and fell 3.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.9 on a trailing basis and 15.9 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$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.46 percent compared with 14.48 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.99 percent over the past month

================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | -47.3104| -1.7| 2/21
* Materials | -40.8487| -1.7| 10/44
* Information Technology | -29.7716| -1.2| 1/14
* Industrials | -10.0650| -0.4| 9/21
* Communication Services | -9.4252| -0.9| 0/7
* Financials | -6.2308| -0.1| 4/23
* Health Care | -6.1149| -3.4| 2/7
* Utilities | -4.6445| -0.5| 2/14
* Consumer Discretionary | -3.6885| -0.5| 2/11
* Real Estate | -1.7742| -0.3| 6/16
* Consumer Staples | 8.0013| 1.0| 7/6
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | -18.1500| -1.2| -37.8| 32.1
* Enbridge | -8.5750| -1.3| 4.1| 18.0
* Kinross Gold | -6.6550| -10.2| 237.4| -28.4
* Dollarama | 2.3770| 2.1| 54.6| 12.7
* Bank of Nova Scotia| 2.8670| 0.4| 10.8| 24.7
* Couche-Tard | 5.5780| 1.8| 532.6| 20.6

US
By Emily Graffeo and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell and bonds gained as the economic threat of restrictions to control the new omicron variant outweighed optimism about the efficacy of vaccines.  Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 retreated, ending a three-day rally, as losses in consumer discretionary and real estate stocks led the market lower.  Treasuries pared back a rally after a lackluster sale of 30-year bonds. Meanwhile, the Cboe Volatility Index inched higher toward 22. The cost to contain the omicron strain is being tallied up amid mounting concern it will crimp the economic rebound. New work-from-home guidance in the U.K., for instance, could cost the country’s economy £2 billion ($2.6 billion) a month, according to Bloomberg Economics. A study has found omicron is 4.2 times more transmissible than the delta variant in its early stages. “Ultimately the issue from a health perspective is that even if Omicron does prove to be less severe — which the initial indications so far have pointed to — a rise in transmissibility could offset that,” said a team of Deutsche Bank strategists including Jim Reid. That could mean that more people are in the hospital, “even if a lower proportion of them are severely affected.”
The global equity rally faces further potential road bumps ahead from U.S. consumer inflation numbers on Friday and a Federal Reserve meeting next week that may provide clues on the pace of tapering and interest rate increases. The dollar rose Thursday after a report showed applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits declined to the lowest level since 1969. However, economists flagged difficulties in seasonal adjustments to arrive at that figure. On an unadjusted basis, initial claims climbed. “With jobless claims hitting the lowest level in over five decades, this is a loud and clear sign that we’re making strides toward a full economic recovery despite some bumps along the way,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*TRADE Financial. “As full employment seemingly becomes a reality, the Fed will be forced to focus more on taming inflation, which has no doubt been an ongoing concern for investors.”
In Europe, stocks reversed earlier gains to trade slightly lower. Among individual moves, Electricite de France SA fell with the government considering a cap on regulated power tariffs to help curb soaring electricity prices. Meanwhile, UniCredit SpA rose after saying it will return at least 16 billion euros ($18.1 billion) to shareholders by 2024. In Asia, China Evergrande Group and Kaisa Group Holdings Ltd. officially defaulted on their dollar debt, while the People’s Bank of China raised its foreign currency reserve requirement ratio for a second time this year after the yuan climbed to the highest since 2018. 

Here are some key events to watch this week:
* U.S. CPI Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index fell 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1294
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3218
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 113.45 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 1.49%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to -0.35%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.76%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.6% to $70.47 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,775.90 an ounce
–With assistance from Abigail Moses and Andreea Papuc.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

One important key to success is self-confidence.  An important key to self-confidence is preparation. –Artur Ashe, 1943-1993.

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