April 16, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

April 16, 1917- Vladimir Lenin issues his radical “April Theses” calling for Soviets to take power during the Russian Revolution.

April 16, 1945 – World War II – German U-Boat U-190 torpedoes and sinks Royal Canadian Navy Bangor Class minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt 8 km off Chebucto Head, near the entrance to Halifax harbour and the Halifax lightship; forty-four of her ship’s company are lost in the last major naval loss of the War; U-190 will surrender May 11; will be sunk ceremonially on October 21, 1947 where she had destroyed the Esquimalt. Halifax, Nova Scotia. Go to article >>

With no tourists around, animals in Yosemite are ‘having a party’ -CNN.
Good, they deserve it.

Astronomers found the most Earth-like exoplanet yet. -Bloomberg.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sunrise in Ely, Cambridgeshire, by the River Great Ouse. The warm weather is set to continue until the weekend.

CREDIT: VERONICA JOHANSSON POULTNEY/ BAC MEDIA

Hamburg: Swan father Olaf Nieay and his staff accompanied the Alster swans with boat sin the direction of the Outer Alster. Every year, the animals are taken from their winter quarters at the Eppendorf mill pond back to the Alster and its side arms.

CREDIT: CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS/DPA

Workers remove weeds in a field of nemophila flowers at Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki prefecture.

CREDIT: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP

Market Closes for April 16th , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:

On this day in 1835 in Albany, New York State Senator Kemble earned $2,239 by opposing a bill permitting the Harlem Railroad to issue more shares—after he had sold the stock short. When the railroad’s lobbyists boarded the steamboat to return to New York with the bad news, Sen. Kemble bought back the stock at its newly depressed price. Then he reversed his opposition, allowing the bill to pass, and sold when the good news of the bill’s passage reached New York. A few months later, Sen. Kemble was expelled from the State Senate

Canada

By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities retreated Thursday despite multiple attempts at breaking upward. Concerns remain regarding he economic impact of the nation’s shutdown. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Canada should keep its borders closed to the U.S. until the coronavirus pandemic is contained.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.4%. Information Technology outperformed, climbing 3.9%, with BlackBerry Ltd. And Shopify Inc. both gaining more than 5%. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday his government will broaden its fiscal rescue plan to include commercial landlords and plans to lend more to small businesses. First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust is among firms with the most exposure to small business, BMO Capital Markets told clients.
Meanwhile, Ontario Municipal Employment Retirement System has put a team in place to analyze what the world will look like in the post-pandemic era. Over at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, internal teams have started to run stress tests with portfolio companies to see how they are being affected.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.30 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to about $1,718 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar edged higher to C$1.4113 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 3.1 basis points to0.611%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4 percent, or 59.26 to 13,899.32 in Toronto. The index dropped to the lowest closing level since April 7.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8 percent. Enerplus Corp. had the largest
drop, falling 10.9 percent.
Today, 122 of 230 shares fell, while 105 rose; 5 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 1.9 percent
* The index declined 16 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 5.6 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 22.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 24.4 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 12 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.8 on a trailing basis and 16.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.13t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 90.39 percent compared with 90.42 percent in the previous session and the average of 84.34 percent over the past month

=========================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
=========================================================

Financials | -100.0014| -2.4| 6/20
Energy | -34.1430| -1.9| 5/23
Communication Services| -6.9516| -0.8| 2/6
Real Estate | -4.4282| -1.0| 7/19
Health Care | -4.2288| -2.9| 2/8
Consumer Discretionary| 1.3137| 0.3| 5/10
Utilities | 4.8009| 0.6| 13/2
Consumer Staples | 7.9399| 1.2| 10/1
Industrials | 13.1301| 0.8| 20/11
Materials | 22.5350| 1.2| 26/21
Information Technology| 40.7802| 3.9| 9/1

US

By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed as President Donald Trump mapped out a phased country reopening amid dismal economic numbers.
In a very volatile session, the S&P 500 closed higher and Nasdaq 100 wiped out its losses for 2020. Traders also assessed a fresh batch of corporate earnings, with Morgan Stanley posting a 24% jump in trading revenue, while casting doubt on whether those gains can continue. Treasuries and the dollar rose. Oil closed under $20 a barrel for a second day.
Federal guidelines the Trump administration issued to states on Thursday recommend that they document a “downward trajectory” in cases of coronavirus and flu-like illnesses before relaxing stay-at-home orders. States could then proceed into a three-phase reopening process, according to the
guidelines, which Bloomberg News obtained. Trump will announce the plan during his daily news conference at 6 p.m. More than 5 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total in the month since the outbreak throttled the U.S. economy to 22 million. New home construction declined in March from the previous month by the most since 1984. “It’s like trying to fly a kite in a hurricane while you’re in the middle of an earthquake,” said Matt Lloyd, chief investment strategist at Advisors Asset Management.
Still to come this week:
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.8%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.4%.
* The euro dipped 0.7% to $1.0835.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.3% to 107.80 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped two basis points to 0.61%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to -0.47%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 0.302%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose 0.1%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $19.87 a barrel.

–With assistance from Gregor Stuart Hunter, Cormac Mullen,
Joanna Ossinger, Adam Haigh, Sam Potter, Yakob Peterseil, Lananh Nguyen, Nancy Moran, Sophie Caronello and Claire Ballentine

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.

-Louis Armstrong “Satchmo”,  1901-1971

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