April 12, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
April 12,1981: Nasa launches the first space shuttle.   The space shuttle Columbia blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on its first test flight.  Go to article »
1961: First man in space, Yuri Gagarin, USSR.

1955: polio vaccine.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, d.1945.
David Letterman, comedian, b. 1947.

Twitter hilariously reacts to police pulling over a driverless car.  What do police do when there’s no one to ticket? Watch this and enjoy.

Neptune just experienced an unexplained temperature shift.  We have a new space mystery on our hands… Astronomers say this is the first time they’ve seen this kind of polar warming on Neptune.

Knives are humanity’s oldest tool, dating back millions of years. A group of scientists in Maryland have produced a version made of hardened wood,  
which they say is sharper than steel. (Source: nytimes.com)

Apple Watch’s hotly anticipated blood pressure feature is delayed.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

One of a pair of residential towers called Bosco Verticale or Vertical Forest, in the Porta Nuova district. The building was inspired by Italo Calvino’s 1957 novel The Baron in the Trees
CREDIT: Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images

Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster’s Alienarium 5 at Serpentine South. It transforms the gallery into an immersive, sensory environment, incorporating visual, sonic, olfactory, tactile and live engagements that help the audience to imagine alternative forms of life and alien encounters
CREDIT:  Guy Bell/Rex/Shutterstock

An aerial view of the Dead Sea 50 km from the Jordanian capital, Amman. The Dead Sea, famous for its mud used for skin treatment, is one of the most visited places in Jordan by tourists
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Market Closes for April 12^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1948, the National Labor Relations Board ruled that Inland Steel must include pensions on its agenda during negotiations with the United Steel Workers labor union. Before long, unions across the country were demanding that blue-collar workers be allowed to participate in corporate pension plans, which traditionally had been available only to senior executives.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks slipped in a late-day selloff Tuesday, led by banks and financial stocks ahead of a scheduled Bank of Canada rate decision Wednesday.
The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.3%, or 75.08 to 21,715.41 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since March 16.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.2%.
Shopify Inc. had the largest percentage drop, falling 4.2%.
Today, 128 of 239 shares fell, while 107 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 13% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 5.3% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.2% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 14.5% above its low on April 20, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1% in the past 5 days and rose 1.2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.3 on a trailing basis and 13.9 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$3.48t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.63% compared with 11.05% in the previous session and the average of 12.35% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | -78.0744| -1.1| 3/25
* Information Technology | -22.9740| -1.6| 5/11
* Industrials | -14.7998| -0.6| 9/21
* Communication Services | -7.9923| -0.7| 1/6
* Consumer Staples | -6.7290| -0.8| 1/10
* Consumer Discretionary | -4.5277| -0.6| 3/11
* Utilities | -2.8160| -0.3| 8/8
* Health Care | -2.1752| -1.5| 1/7
* Real Estate | -2.1426| -0.4| 9/13
* Materials | 18.0600| 0.6| 36/14
* Energy | 49.0904| 1.4| 31/2
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | -26.2200| -2.2| 99.6| -2.5
* Shopify | -25.7000| -4.2| -5.6| -57.1
* Royal Bank of Canada | -10.8400| -0.8| 11.9| 1.6
* Cenovus Energy | 6.5870| 3.7| 5.2| 39.2
* Suncor Energy | 8.5250| 2.1| -24.7| 30.7
* Canadian Natural Resources | 21.1900| 3.4| -43.2| 52.5
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks closed down as a surge in oil above $100 a barrel reignited inflation worries, while big banks dropped ahead of the start of the financial earnings season on Wednesday.
The S&P 500 erased gains that were earlier driven by speculation that price pressures could be near a peak.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. will be the first among the top six banks to report results, with Wall Street focused on how volatility triggered by the war in Ukraine affected investment-banking and trading operations. Treasury 10-year yields slumped after touching the highest since December 2018. Oil topped $100 a barrel.
The jump in crude alongside other commodities has fanned inflation fears, which could put pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more aggressively.
Gasoline costs drove half of the monthly increase in the U.S. consumer-price index in March.
Still, core inflation increased less than forecast, due in large part to the biggest drop in used-vehicle prices since 1969 and a deceleration in price growth in other merchandise categories.
Comments:
* “The persistent inflationary pressures may continue to weigh on investor sentiment,” said John Lynch, chief investment officer at Comerica Wealth Management. “First-quarter earnings calls will be important to get an understanding of input costs, pricing power and margin pressures.”
* “Inflation is noise for the long-term stock investor,” said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer for Defiance ETFs.  “If you’re a short-term trader, sort of proceed with caution because you do have these short-term volatile price-action swings. I am most interested in seeing what earnings will look like.”
* “While today’s inflation print hit a four-decade high, there was a sigh of relief as some components of core inflation weakened,” said Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management. “Regarding peak inflation, we have been at this juncture before where subtle shifts within the data make it appear that the level of inflation has reached its peak for the cycle only to keep marching higher.”
On the geopolitical front, Russian President Vladimir Putin said peace talks with Ukraine are stalled and vowed to continue his “military operation” there even as he called the conflict “a tragedy.”
Meantime, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy again called for further European Union sanctions on Russia to include oil as well as all banks.
Events to watch this week:
* Bank of Canada rate decision, Wednesday
* EIA crude oil inventory report, Wednesday
* Reserve Bank of New Zealand rate decision, Wednesday
* China trade, medium-term lending facilities, Wednesday
* ECB rate decision, Thursday
* Bank of Korea policy decision, Thursday
* U.S. retail sales, initial jobless claims, business inventories, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Thursday
* Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker due to speak Thursday
* U.S. stock and bond markets are among those closed for Good 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 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.0830
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3002
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 125.33 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined six basis points toV2.73%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 0.79%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 1.80%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 6.7% to $100.61 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1.2% to $1,971.80 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Abigail Moses, Isabelle Lee and Vildana Hajric.
Have a  lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Forgive, son; men are men, they must err. –Euripides, c. 484 BCE-406 BCE.

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