March 24, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
On March 24, 1989, one of the nation’s worst oil spills occurred as the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a reef in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and began leaking 11 million gallons
of crude. Go to article »

2002: Halle Berry, then 35,becomes the first woman of color to win the best actress  Oscar award for her role in Monster’s Ball and remains the last.  Denzel Washington also becomes the first black actor to win a lead acting award on the same night for Training Day.

Crows know the content of their own minds.

Somebody just found an Easter egg in Windows 1.0, 37 years after its launch.

Everything you ever wanted to know about baby carrots.

A dinosaur bigger than T. rex swam and hunted its prey underwater.  Oh, how lovely. That’s not terrifying at all…

Mackenzie Scott has given $3.8 billion to 465 organizations since June.  The billionaire philanthropist, and ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, now has an estimated net worth of $55 billion even after the sizable donations.

Arizona is the first state to accept digital driver’s licenses on iPhones.  It’s a complicated process, but Apple is working to make the feature available in several other states as soon as possible.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A worker attaches prayer petitions to lotus lanterns at a temple in preparation for the upcoming birthday of Buddha
CREDIT: Heo Ran/Reuters

The German astronaut Matthias Maurer on a six-hour spacewalk
CREDIT: Sachelle Babbar/Zuma/Rex/Shutterstock

A giant sand drawing on South Bay Beach, created by Sand in Your Eyes for UK Youth for Nature, highlights young people’s alarm at the loss of wildlife
CREDIT: Lee Smith/Reuters

Market Closes for March 24^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1777, the U.S. foreign debt was born, as the Farmers General of France, a group that collected taxes from French citizens on salt, tobacco and other products, agreed to lend the United States 2 million livres (roughly $381,000 at the time). The loan was repayable in bales of tobacco.
Canada
By Stefanie Marotta
(Bloomberg) — Canada stocks closed slightly higher as cannabis stocks surged and companies in the energy and financial sectors rose.
The S&P/TSX Composite advanced to 21,937.89 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.6%.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3%.
Tilray Brands Inc. had the largest increase, rising 22.4%.
Eighty nine of 239 shares rose on Thursday, while 148 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 3.4%
* This month, the index rose 3.8%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.5%
* The index advanced 18% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 15% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1% below its 52-week high on March 22, 2022 and 18.8% above its low on March 25, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.8% in the past 5 days and rose 5.7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.6 on a trailing basis and 14.2 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$3.49t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.92% compared with 12.97% in the previous session and the average of 13.40% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | 7.5670| 0.1| 11/17
* Health Care | 7.1688| 5.1| 6/2
* Consumer Staples | 4.3530| 0.5| 2/9
* Energy | 1.3829| 0.0| 21/13
* Communication Services | 0.5118| 0.0| 3/4
* Utilities | -0.0510| 0.0| 5/11
* Materials | -0.1501| 0.0| 15/35
* Consumer Discretionary | -0.6475| -0.1| 3/11
* Industrials | -1.7508| -0.1| 15/15
* Information Technology | -5.2567| -0.3| 8/8
* Real Estate | -7.4209| -1.2| 0/23
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Brookfield Asset Management | 8.7410| 1.3| -36.4| -7.6
* Couche-Tard | 5.8920| 2.0| -20.5| 0.8
* Nutrien | 5.3120| 1.1| -5.3| 40.8
* Intact Financial | -3.8420| -1.7| -43.5| 12.6
* Canadian Natural Resources | -4.6600| -0.7| -51.7| 47.6
* Constellation Software | -5.4030| -1.8| -17.1| -9.5

US
By Stephen Kirkland and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks gained as investors weighed economic resilience against the threats of rising rates and the impact of the war in Ukraine.
The S&P 500 advanced, clawing back Wednesday’s losses as all the 11 main industry groups rose.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 gained the most among major benchmarks, climbing 2.2%.
Treasuries resumed their slide, with the 10-year benchmark yield rising as much as 10 basis points to 2.39%.
Oil fell about 3% in New York, while Bitcoin climbed to a three-week high.
While bonds have suffered unprecedented losses globally, shares have rallied to levels seen before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Data Thursday showed applications for U.S. state unemployment insurance fell last week to the lowest since 1969, while a measure for business activity advanced to an eight-month high in early March as fewer Covid-19 restrictions and less severe supply chain disruptions supported demand and production.
Investors are selling bonds as Federal Reserve officials warn steeper rate hikes may be necessary to subdue the hottest inflation in four decades.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell explicitly put a half-point hike on the table in May if needed, saying the economy is strong enough to weather higher borrowing costs.
“We always knew rates are going to head higher, and the main question or concern is what happens to growth,” Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank, said by phone.  “Powell has continued to say that he believes the U.S. economy is strong enough to withstand higher rates and now we’ll get a chance to see. The war in Ukraine certainly has pushed commodity prices higher — how much that will impact consumer spending” remains a big question. “So far it doesn’t seem like it’s slowed them down too much.”
According to Pimco, the tightening cycle may end with the Fed hoisting its key rate to 2.75% by the end of 2023 – despite distress signals from the bond market. Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said Thursday he’s “comfortable” with raising rates in quarter-point increments, while being “open” to a 50 basis-point move if needed.
The U.S. central bank raised the benchmark rate a quarter point to 0.50% last week, the first increase since 2018.
Oil slipped, with futures in New York trading to near $112 a barrel in a choppy session, as traders weighed the impact of rising trading costs on the major exchanges.
Commodity prices have staged erratic rallies amid supply pressures and sanctions as Russia’s attacks on Ukraine show no sign of abating.
On the geopolitical front, the U.S. announced a new package of sanctions on Russian elites, lawmakers and defense companies designed to ramp up pressure on Moscow.
NATO agreed to boost its deployments in the eastern portion of the defense alliance, as the U.S. said it is working with NATO to prepare for possible biological or nuclear incidents by Russia.
Bitcoin climbed to more than $44,000 for the first time in almost a month, breaking out of its recent narrow trading range amid a renewal of risk appetite.
Russian equities rose more than 4% after Moscow Exchange resumed shortened four-hour trading in 33 out of 50 equities listed on the benchmark. Russian government intervention to prop up the stock market helped lift shares on the first day of trading since Feb. 28.
More commentary:
“Markets seem encouraged by oil continuing to come back down from the really high levels we saw earlier this month and I think there is a renewed belief among equity investors that the Fed is going to aggressively fight inflation,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. “We’re not as sanguine and think it will be more difficult than most equity investors are assuming, but we do agree that a more aggressive Fed is necessary as inflation is the number one problem facing the U.S. economy.”
“Stocks are pushing higher and oil prices fall as the market breaths a sign of relief following Biden’s diplomatic marathon in Brussels.” Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index,. Whilst NATO, Biden and the EU leaders agreed to strengthen forces and tighten sanctions to bring Russia to its knees economically, oil has managed to stay out of the equation, which is the point of relief for the markets.”.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.0999
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3188
* The Japanese yen fell 1% to 122.32 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 2.36%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 0.53%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 1.65%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3% to $111.45 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1.3% to $1,967.30 an ounce
–With assistance from Jan-Patrick Barnert, Alice Atkins, Tom Mackenzie, Matthew Miller, Kailey Leinz, Anchalee Worrachate, Peyton Forte, Isabelle Lee and Michael Msika.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Illness is the doctor to whom we pay most heed: to kindness, to knowledge
we make promises only: pain we obey. –Marcel Proust, 1871-1922.

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