April 21, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
April 21, 753 BC~ Romulus and Remus found Rome (traditional date) Go to article »

April 21, 1918~WWl German fighter ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen “The Red Baron” is shot down and killed over Vaux sur Somme in France.  Canadian pilot Arthur Roy Brown is credited with the strike.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Overlooking qingshuitan Wetland Park in the air, thousands of Chinese fir trees turn green. Gaoyou City, Jiangsu Province, China. April 22 is the World Earth day.
CREDIT: COSTFOTO/BARCROFT MEDIA VIA GETTY IMAGES

Cookie the cockapoo dog has a run through the bluebells in Peterborough. The country is on lockdown due to the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic. People are not allowed to leave home except for minimal food shopping, medical treatment, exercise – once a day, and essential work.
CREDIT: PAUL MARRIOTT PHOTOGRAPHY

Jack Harris and Alan Price cycle around the deserted streets if Westminster in London, UK, as they take their daily exercise on their Penny Farthings, as the Coronavirus lockdown continues.
CREDIT: STEPHEN LOCK/I-IMAGES

A beautiful sunrise over the compass stone on Glastonbury Tor, Somerset, UK. The good weather is set to last two weeks.
CREDIT: MICHELLE COWBOURNE/ SWNS.COM
Market Closes for April 21^st , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1982, futures contracts on the S&P 500 index became available for the first time, as they opened for trading in the pits of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Arbitrageurs and index fund managers could buy either the underlying stocks in the index, or a futures contract, whichever was cheaper. Program traders could also bet on the futures, helping worsen the October crash of 1987.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell the most since April 1 as investors found little to cheer in Tuesday’s session.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index dropped 3.1%, with all eleven sectors declining. Information technology retreated after strong gains prior to Tuesday’s session from Shopify Inc.
Canadian companies are starting to release financial results amid an precedented earnings season as coronavirus lockdowns bring the economy to a screeching halt.
Just a day after U.S. crude futures for May delivery plunged below zero for the first time ever, June futures plummeted 43% to close below $12 a barrel in New York.
Canada may need to create an emergency fund to help provincial governments, despite central bank moves that have cut borrowing costs, Newfoundland and Labrador’s finance minister said.
Meanwhile, elevated household debt combined with a surge in unemployment risks putting Canada in a precarious position amid the coronavirus shutdowns, said the head of domestic banking at Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9.75 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.6% to about $1,685 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.3% to C$1.4197 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 5.2 basis points to 0.576%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 3.1 percent at 13,940.06 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 3.8 percent on April 1 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 6.4 percent. Martinrea International Inc. had the largest drop, falling 9.5 percent.
Today, 202 of 230 shares fell, while 26 rose; all sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss eight times. The next day, it advanced seven times for an average 5.1 percent and declined 12.3 percent once
* This month, the index rose 4.2 percent
* The index declined 16 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.5 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 22.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 24.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.2 percent in the past 5 days and rose 18 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 17.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.19t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 84.98 percent compared with 85.02 percent in the previous session and the average of 87.72 percent over the past month
=============================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
=============================================
Financials | -172.7182| -4.0| 0/26
Information Technology| -68.8952| -5.7| 1/9
Energy | -41.7986| -2.3| 10/19
Industrials | -36.8269| -2.2| 1/30
Communication Services| -28.9552| -3.3| 0/8
Utilities | -27.3892| -3.5| 0/16
Real Estate | -21.9291| -4.8| 1/25
Materials | -17.6413| -0.9| 11/36
Consumer Discretionary| -14.0476| -2.7| 1/14
Consumer Staples | -12.8958| -1.9| 1/10
Health Care | -5.1368| -3.5| 0/9
US
By Jeremy Herron and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks tumbled the most in almost three weeks and Treasury bonds rallied as turmoil in the crude oil futures market triggered a fresh bout of risk aversion.
The S&P 500 fell 3.07%, with equity investors shrugging off a deal reached by the White House and congressional leaders on fresh spending to combat the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
The historic rout in crude rattled markets for a second day, with the June contract plunging almost 70% at one point after May contracts that expired Tuesday sank below zero for the first time in history. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield dropped below 0.55%. The gut-wrenching oil debacle may signal the hit to the global economy will be far worse than anticipated by investors who sent the S&P 500 up 28% from its March lows. While major economies around the world take tentative steps toward reopening, signs the U.S. is close to bolstering spending did little to offset fresh concerns over the depth of the recession.
“Markets appear to be taking a breather after that rapid recovery,” said Candice Bangsund, portfolio manager of global asset allocation at Fiera Capital Corp. “A lot of this is being driven by the profound and historic collapse in crude prices. That’s largely been the catalyst that’s roiled already fragile market sentiment.” President Donald Trump said his administration is working on a plan to make money available to the oil industry to prevent the loss of jobs after prices plunged.
Corporate earnings add to woes. Deep profit declines often come with no company insight into the remainder of the year and mounting signs that capital investment is set to plunge. Still, Netflix shares rose after the close of regular trading when the company said it added nearly twice as many subscribers as predicted in the first quarter. Chipotle withdrew its earnings guidance.
     Meanwhile, reports that North Korea’s Kim Jong Un was in critical condition added to the uncertainty. Shares in the region slumped. The dollar climbed against most major currencies, with the won and ruble tumbling and the yen edging up.
Elsewhere, the kiwi slumped after Reserve Bank of New Zealand Governor Adrian Orr said he was open-minded on the idea of directly monetizing sovereign debt.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index dipped 3.1% to 2,736.49 as of 4:01 p.m. New
*York time, the lowest in almost two weeks on the largestdecrease in almost three weeks.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 2.7% to 23,019.71, the lowest in almost two weeks on the biggest decrease in almost three weeks.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index dipped 3.5% to 8,263.23, the lowest in a week on the largest decrease in almost three weeks.
*The MSCI All-Country World Index dipped 3% to 460.91, the lowest in almost two weeks on the biggest decrease in almost three weeks.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.4% to 1,258.96, the highest in two weeks.
*The Japanese yen weakened 0.1% to 107.76 per dollar.
*The euro was little changed at $1.0861.
*The British pound decreased 1.1% to $1.2306, the weakest in two weeks on the biggest tumble in more than a month.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries declined less than one basis point to 0.20%.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased four basis points to 0.57%, the lowest in six weeks.
*Britain’s 10-year yield fell four basis points to 0.297%, the lowest in more than five weeks on the largest drop in more than a week.
*Germany’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to -0.48%, the lowest in three weeks.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude for June decreased 35% to $13.20 a barrel, its sixth straight decline.
*Brent crude fell 23% to $19.90 a barrel, the lowest on record with the biggest fall on record.
*Gold weakened 0.6% to $1,685.69 an ounce.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Thou art thy mother’s glass, and she in thee
Calls back the lovely April of her prime.
      -William Shakespeare, 1564-1616

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