April 19, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1775 -Start of the American Revolution – Battle of Lexington & Concord.
1932 – Herbert Hoover suggests a 5-day work week.
On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring 500. (Timothy McVeigh was later convicted of federal murder charges and executed.) Go to article »

It’s National Poetry Month in the U.S. These five poets can help you appreciate the form.

NASA conducted its first flight on another planet early Monday morning, a short hop for a small chopper named Ingenuity. The feat demonstrated technology that could prove critical to the future of space exploration. With the U.S. and other nations preparing to return humans to the moon, and eventually land on Mars, using drones will become much more important.

Watching light bend. 

Explore future worlds, get lost in a time loop, go to space: These science fiction movies are worth streaming.

I was impressed by this story that was in The NY Times this morning – thought you might like it too:
Guido Calabresi, a federal judge and Yale law professor, invented a little fable that he has been telling law students for more than three decades.  He tells the students to imagine a god coming forth to offer society a wondrous invention that would improve everyday life in almost every way. It would allow people to spend more time with friends and family, see new places and do jobs they otherwise could not do. But it would also come with a high cost. In exchange for bestowing this invention on society, the god would choose 1,000 young men and women and strike them dead.
Calabresi then asks: Would you take the deal? Almost invariably, the students say no. The professor then delivers the fable’s lesson: “What’s the difference between this and the automobile?”
In truth, automobiles kill many more than 1,000 young Americans each year; the total U.S. death toll hovers at about 40,000 annually. We accept this toll, almost unthinkingly, because vehicle crashes have always been part of our lives. We can’t fathom a world without them.
It’s a classic example of human irrationality about risk. We often underestimate large, chronic dangers, like car crashes or chemical pollution, and fixate on tiny but salient risks, like plane crashes or shark attacks.
One way for a risk to become salient is for it to be new. That’s a core idea behind Calabresi’s fable. He asks students to consider whether they would accept the cost of vehicle travel if it did not already exist. That they say no underscores the very different ways we treat new risks and enduring ones.
I have been thinking about the fable recently because of Covid-19. Covid certainly presents a salient risk: It’s a global pandemic that has upended daily life for more than a year. It has changed how we live, where we work, even what we wear on our faces. Covid feels ubiquitous.
Fortunately, it is also curable. The vaccines have nearly eliminated death, hospitalization and other serious Covid illness among people who have received shots. The vaccines have also radically reduced the chances that people contract even a mild version of Covid or can pass it on to others.
Yet many vaccinated people continue to obsess over the risks from Covid — because they are so new and salient.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Thousands of flamingoes flock into the shape of an eye during a beautiful sunset over a lake in Kenya. The incredible image was captured over Lake Natron by photographer Phillip Chang, 65, from California., with cloud in the sky reflecting back in the water in areas. Philip said, “The birds had surrounded a piece of dry land which you can see in the centre of the image. This lake is a breeding ground for them – and hundreds and thousands gather here.” “This is my favourite image of the flamingos because of the unique shape created by the birds.”
CREDIT: PHILLIP CHANG/SOLENT NEWS PHOTO AGENCY

Flames are seen close to the city fanned by strong winds after a bushfire broke out on the slopes of Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa
CREDIT: REUTERS/MIKE HUTCHINGS

Angel of the North sculpture designed by Antony Gormley during sunrise in Gateshead
CREDIT: REUTERS/LEE SMITH

A climber perches above an abandoned slate mine in a stunning picture taken as the adventurer desperately tries to stay still. The image was taken in the Cathedral Cave, the main chamber in a series of former slate mines close to Little Langdale in the Lake District. The main chamber is a staggering 40ft in height, proving an amazing adventure for climbers as well as a great photo opportunity.
CREDIT: EMILY HALL / TRIANGLE NEWS

Market Closes for April 19^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1933, the day after President Franklin D. Roosevelt devalued the U.S. dollar, the stock market soared, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average leaping 5.66 points, or a near-record 9%, to close at 68.31.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities dropped Monday led by a retreat in information technology stocks. The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.8% to its lowest level since April 14. Shopify and Lightspeed POS led tech shares lower, both down over 3.5%. Ten of eleven sectors dropped. Justin Trudeau’s government set the table for a possible election in Canada with a budget that promises big spending on new programs such as childcare and a return to small deficits by 2025. After the market close, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland outlined C$101.4 billion ($80.9 billion) in new policy actions over three years to aid the economic recovery. The plan includes more cash for pensioners, subsidies for businesses to rehire workers and billions for health care and infrastructure. The Canadian dollar maintained its 0.2% decline against the U.S. dollar after the release of the budget. Two shipments of AstraZeneca vaccines that were expected to arrive in Ontario in late-April and May are delayed, Premier Doug Ford’s office said in a statement Monday.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $11.70 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.3% to $1,770.92 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% to C$1.2534 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield edged lower to 1.536%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.8 percent at 19,204.42 in Toronto. The move was the biggest loss since March 23 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.2 percent. Boralex Inc. had the largest drop, falling 6.3 percent. Today, 168 of 229 shares fell, while 59 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 34 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 48 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9 percent below its 52-week high on April 16, 2021 and 37.8 percent above its low on April 21, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is unchanged in the past 5 days and rose 1.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.5 on a trailing basis and 17.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.02t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.36 percent compared with 7.92 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.75 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | -76.5715| -3.9| 0/11
* Financials | -22.4599| -0.4| 10/17
* Materials | -18.7733| -0.8| 9/43
* Industrials | -16.1311| -0.7| 5/25
* Utilities | -5.7149| -0.6| 4/11
* Real Estate | -3.0115| -0.5| 7/19
* Energy | -2.5274| -0.1| 5/18
* Consumer Discretionary | -2.3700| -0.3| 7/6
* Health Care | -2.1465| -0.8| 3/7
* Communication Services | -0.2875| 0.0| 4/4
* Consumer Staples | 3.0782| 0.4| 5/7

US
By Vildana Hajric and Kamaron Leach
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks retreated from an all-time high as investors awaited the heart of the earnings season and more economic data later in the week. The dollar fell. Technology shares dragged down the S&P 500, which posted its biggest drop in almost four weeks. Tesla Inc. contributed the most to the decline as one of its electric cars that “no one” appeared to be driving crashed and killed two passengers. Small caps underperformed, with more than three-quarters of the stocks in the Russell 2000 closing lower. Copper prices surged to a seven-year high on prospects for strong demand and a pickup in inflation as economies rebound. In the U.S., the economic calendar is light this week until Thursday, with reports on unemployment claims and home sales among those scheduled for release. Robust economic data helped push stocks to another record last week despite concerns surrounding the spread of Covid-19 variants. Traders will look for further confirmation of the private sector’s recovery from the pandemic as the earnings season gathers pace.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. are among those with reports after the closing bell on Monday. “With a deluge of earnings activity this week from across industries, we may be in a bit of a holding pattern until investors digest any beats or misses on that front,” said Chris  Larkin, managing director of trading and investing product at E*Trade Financial. “Bottom line is that short-term volatility is typical when we’re knocking around market highs as traders look to uncover value.” For Matt Maley, chief market strategist for Miller Tabak + Co., the sharp drop in Bitcoin over the weekend is having an impact on trading as well. “Whenever a headline-grabbing asset sees a big decline at a time when the broad market stands at an expensive level, it usually has a negative impact on the stock market, even if it’s only short-lived,” he wrote.

Here are some key events to watch this week:
* Apple’s first product unveiling of the year on Tuesday.
* Reserve Bank of Australia releases minutes of its policy meeting on Tuesday.
* EIA crude oil inventory report on Wednesday.
* European Central Bank rate decision and President Christine Lagarde briefing on Thursday.
* U.S. releases new home sales data

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.5% as of 4:03 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3%
* The Russell 2000 Index fell 1.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro rose 0.5% to 1.2037
* The British pound rose 1.1% to 1.3986
* The Japanese yen rose 0.6% to 108.17 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 2.1 basis points to 1.601%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 2.8 basis points to 0.235%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined 0.9 basis points to 0.755%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.5% to $63 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,771/oz
–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Cormac Mullen, Andreea Papuc, Emily Barrett and Yakob Peterseil.
Have  a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Do not wish for quick results, nor look for small advantages.  If you seek quick results,
you will not reach the ultimate goal.  If you are led astray by small advantages,
you will never accomplish great things. –Confucius, 551 BC-479 BC.

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