January 14, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
2005: A European space probe sent back the first detailed pictures of the frozen surface of Saturn’s moon, Titan.  Above is a view of Titan’s surface as the Probe was on approach.  Go to article » 

1963: “The Bell Jar” by Sylvia Plath based on the author’s own struggles with mental illness is published by Heinemann in the UK.  The novel ends with the protagonist entering a conference with her doctors, who will decide whether she can leave the hospital and return to school.  The author commits suicide a month later.

1784:  End of the American Revolution.

Coachella 2022 lineup announced.  You can tell how fast you are aging by how many artists you can’t recognize on major festival lineups. 

‘Exquisite’ 2,000-year-old Roman figure found during railway excavation.  Archaeology is cool, but so is leaving-cursed-objects-in-the-ground-where-you-found-them-ology! Let’s practice some of that! 
 
‘Baby Shark’ becomes the first YouTube video to hit 10 billion views.  That’s one view for every time it’s looped through your brain against your will

Homo sapiens may be even older than we thought.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Welsh mountain ponies graze in the mist and rain on the salt marsh near Crofty.
CREDIT: Joann Randles/Cover Images

A beluga whale hunts schools of fish under the frozen surface of Amur Bay, near the Tokarevskiy lighthouse, Russia
CREDIT: Yuri Smityuk/Tass

Migratory birds on a tree in a lake in front of one of the palaces of Iraq’s late deposed president Saddam Hussein, near Baghdad airport, as flocks of birds fly over Iraq in winter searching for warmer territories
CREDIT: Sabah Arar/AFP/Getty Images

Monkeys sit on a roadside in Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir, India
CREDIT: Nasir Kachroo/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

A fox is seen in a wintry forest, Kyiv region, central Ukraine
CREDIT: Future Publishing/Getty Images

Market Closes for January 14^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1982, in the depths of recession, Ford Motor said it would skip paying a quarterly dividend for the first time since it went public in 1956. The move would save Ford $36 million per quarter. 
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3 percent at 21,357.56 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.5 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.7 percent.
MEG Energy Corp. had the largest increase, rising 6.5 percent.
Today, 88 of 241 shares rose, while 150 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.3 percent
* The index advanced 19 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 20 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 23.5 percent above its low on Jan. 29, 2021
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.3 on a trailing basis and 15 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$3.41t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.88 percent compared with 12.31 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.69 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | 40.8851| 1.3| 26/4
* Information Technology | 37.4381| 2.0| 9/7
* Financials | 19.7318| 0.3| 14/14
* Communication Services | 3.5254| 0.3| 6/1
* Health Care | 0.7523| 0.5| 3/5
* Industrials | -3.7108| -0.1| 9/21
* Utilities | -4.5656| -0.5| 2/14
* Consumer Discretionary | -4.6393| -0.6| 5/9
* Consumer Staples | -5.3850| -0.7| 1/10
* Real Estate | -7.4284| -1.2| 2/22
* Materials | -12.0114| -0.5| 11/43
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | 38.2000| 3.7| 4.2| -20.6
* Royal Bank of Canada | 18.4700| 1.3| 132.9| 9.7
* Canadian Natural Resources | 18.3400| 3.6| 23.2| 21.9
* Intact Financial | -4.2870| -2.2| 72.5| -2.3
* TC Energy | -5.3060| -1.2| -50.2| 6.7
* Brookfield Asset Management | -13.0200| -1.8| -10.6| -6.2

US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Technology companies led a rebound in stocks at the end of a very volatile week, with investors recalibrating their strategies amid growing calls from prominent voices for higher interest rates.
The S&P 500 erased losses in the final few minutes of trading, while the Nasdaq 100 rose as dip buyers resurfaced after the tech-heavy gauge dropped to its lowest since October.
Disappointing trading results from JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. weighed on banks, though Wells Fargo & Co. rallied on a bullish forecast for a measure of lending.
Treasury yields climbed alongside the dollar.
JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon said the Federal Reserve could lift rates as many as seven times, warning that tightening won’t necessarily be as “sweet and gentle” as some might expect.
He didn’t specify how quickly that might happen.
Fed Bank of New York President John Williams noted that given the signs of a strong labor market, the central bank is approaching a decision to begin gradually hiking.
His Philadelphia peer Patrick Harker said “three and possibly four increases this year of 25 basis points” are “appropriate.”
“It’s clear the ground is shifting under investors’ feet,” wrote Callie Cox, U.S. investment analyst at eToro. “After all, the Fed’s expectation went from no hikes in 2022 to four in a matter of a few months. This could be a big change in how investors view the risk and reward of different markets. And change can be uncomfortable.”
U.S. retail sales stumbled at the end of 2021, factory output weakened and consumer sentiment deteriorated at the start of the new year, illustrating a loss of traction that many analysts view as temporary. The economy will take an early hit in 2022 from the omicron variant of coronavirus — but the damage shouldn’t last beyond the first quarter, according to Bloomberg’s latest monthly survey of forecasters.
Equities offer the best opportunity to outperform inflation, Goldman Sachs Asset Management said in an Investment Ideas 2022 report.
Cyclical shares — like financials, energy and resources companies — are especially well-suited to benefit from rising prices, it said.
These firms typically excel when the economy is doing well or recovering from a crisis.
Traders also monitored geopolitical news, with the U.S. warning Russian actors are preparing potential sabotage operations against their own forces and fabricating provocations in social media to justify an invasion into Ukraine if diplomacy fails.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1414
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3679
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 114.20 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 1.78%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to -0.05%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 1.15%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.7% to $84.30 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,816.40 an ounce

–With assistance from Emily Graffeo.
Have a great weekend.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

We all know that Art is not truth.  Art is a lie that makes us realize truth. –Pablo Picasso, 1881-1973.

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