January 18, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1964: The Beatles make their fist appearance on US Billboard Chart with single “I want to Hold Your Hand” at #45.

2005 The world’s largest commercial jet, an Airbus A380 that can carry 800 passengers, was unveiled in Toulouse, France. Go to article »

Area town to fight crow infestation with laser beams. (h/t Alistair Lowe)

Scientists find evidence of non-random DNA mutations.

Cats are using Starlink satellite dishes as warming beds.

Mars rover’s latest discovery.  Aliens! Well, maybe. A new analysis of the rover’s samples from the planet point to the possible existence of ancient life.

Stunning new Maldives resorts to visit in 2022.  Treat yourself! Here are some options for the warm island vacation you’re likely dreaming about.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A woman jogs with her dog during on a snowy day in Quebec. Millions across Canada’s south-eastern provinces and the US east coast hunkered down as a huge winter storm continued on Monday morning, disrupting travel and cutting power to thousands of homes
CREDIT: Andrej Ivanov/AFP/Getty Images

After a heavy overnight frost, the dawn sky turns pink over the ancient clapper bridge that leads towards the hillside market town in Wiltshire
CREDIT: Terry Mathews/Alamy Live News

A drone view of people trying to find their way out of the biggest snow maze in the world. The maze measures 3,000 sq meters
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Market Closes for January 18^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1956, after more than a half-century as a private company, Ford Motor went public when the Ford Foundation sold 10.2 million shares at $64.50.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities tumbled Tuesday, led by declines in information technology and health-care stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite fell 1.2% to 21,274.57 in Toronto, its biggest drop since a 2.3% fall on Nov. 30.
Every sector in the index retreated except for communications services, which eked out a 0.1% gain.
Of the 241 stocks in the index, 185 fell and 51 rose.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index’s retreat, sliding 4.9%.
Lightspeed Commerce Inc. had the largest percentage drop at 8.1%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss eight times. The next day, it advanced five times for an average 1% gain and declined three times for an average 0.6% loss
* The index advanced 19% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 19% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.4% below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021, and 23% above its low on Jan. 29, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is unchanged in the past five days and rose 2.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.2 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% 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 11.90% compared with 11.39% in the previous session and an average of 14.49% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | -77.9289| -4.0| 0/16
* Financials | -70.3748| -1.0| 3/25
* Industrials | -55.9279| -2.2| 5/25
* Materials | -19.1742| -0.8| 13/40
* Energy | -17.2529| -0.6| 7/25
* Consumer Staples | -7.9537| -1.0| 1/10
* Consumer Discretionary | -6.8274| -0.9| 3/11
* Health Care | -5.4875| -3.5| 2/6
* Real Estate | -1.8889| -0.3| 10/12
* Utilities | -1.2994| -0.1| 6/9
* Communication Services | 1.2260| 0.1| 2/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | -53.3900| -4.9| 37.6| -24.2
* Brookfield Asset Management | -29.1400| -4.0| 90.4| -9.0
* Canadian Pacific | -23.7100| -3.8| 18.0| 4.0
* Rogers Communications| 2.4760| 1.7| 7.1| 4.5
* Tourmaline Oil | 2.4810| 2.6| 84.5| 15.6
* Nutrien | 4.9350| 1.4| 12.7| -2.3
US
By Vildana Hajric and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell across the board and Treasury yields surged amid a ramp-up in speculation that central banks will have to boost interest rates sooner than earlier anticipated.
All but one of the 11 industry groups in the S&P 500 fell, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average headed for its biggest daily decline in a month.
The Nasdaq 100 sank more than 2%, dragged lower by big-techs such as Apple Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc.
Microsoft Corp. retreated, spending $69 billion to buy Activision Blizzard Inc., while Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s worse-than-expected fourth-quarter trading revenue weighed on banks.
Higher oil prices helped underpin gains in energy stocks.
Treasuries fell along the curve, pushing yields up to levels last seen before the pandemic roiled markets and benchmark German yields rose to within one basis point of turning positive for the first time since May 2019.
Focus is sharpening on the U.S. Federal Reserve’s March meeting, with markets starting to consider pricing more than a 25-basis-point increase

“Higher interest rates are going to be here to stay and that has to factor into everyone’s decisions — not just those that are borrowing capital but mostly in terms of valuations,” Julie Biel, portfolio manager and senior research analyst at Kayne Anderson Rudnick, said on Bloomberg TV. “So those super high-flying narrative-driven tech stocks are going to continue to take a beating.”
Oil surged to the highest level in seven years, underscoring the inflation challenges facing the Fed.
Meanwhile, a gauge of New York state manufacturing slumped in January as measures of orders and shipments retreated sharply, suggesting the omicron variant of the coronavirus caused a pullback in activity.
Global equities have had a volatile start to the year as investors shift out of more expensive and rates-sensitive
sectors such as technology into cheaper, so-called value shares.
Bank of America’s January global fund manager survey showed that net overweight positioning in the tech sector fell to 1%, the lowest since 2008, though they expect inflation to fall this year and are placing record bets on a boom in both commodities and stocks overall.
“The question investors are wrestling with most is if the Federal Reserve will need to tighten monetary policy to guide inflation lower, or if a softening in economic growth will allow the central bank to be less aggressive in tightening, according to Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research.
The former would be “terrible” for cyclical and technology shares, he said.
The closely watched short-end of the Treasury saw the two-year yield surge to trade back above 1% for the first time since February 2020.
The 10-year yield reached a two-year high of 1.86%.

“The really big thing, in my opinion, is to see the 2-year rate back where we saw it in February 2020,” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said by phone. “The 2-year is closer to what the Fed will be doing so I think it really signals something that’s aggressive.”
A gauge of the dollar rose.
The yen was little changed after initially declining when the Bank of Japan stood pat on policy while nudging up its inflation projection. 
Some other company and stock news:
* Global gaming stocks rallied after Microsoft’s landmark takeover deal for Activision, a move that could help enliven the technology sector.
* AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. have agreed to temporarily delay switching on hundreds of 5G cell towers near U.S. airports
* Kohl’s Corp. gained amid pressure from activist investor Macellum Advisors and following a Reuters report that Acacia Research has reached out to express interest in the retailer.
* Shopify Inc. slumped as tech stocks tumbled on the outlook for interest-rate hikes and Credit Suisse slashed the Canadian e-commerce giant’s price target.
* Chinese tech stocks listed in the U.S. fell as a report on Washington’s probe into the potential national security risk of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s cloud business weighs on sentiment.

What to watch this week:
* Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, UnitedHealth Group and Netflix are among companies publishing earnings during the week
* U.S. data includes housing starts Wednesday and jobless claims Thursday
* Interest-rate decisions due from nations including Indonesia, Malaysia, Norway, Turkey and Ukraine, Thursday
* EIA crude oil inventory report, Thursday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.7% as of 3:34 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.8% to $1.1321
* The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.3587
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 114.63 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 1.87%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.02%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 1.22%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.4% to $85.86 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
–With assistance from Akshay Chinchalkar, Sunil Jagtiani and Abigail Moses.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Age only matters when one is aging.  Now that I have arrived at a great age, I might just as well be twenty. –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