April 24, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!
On April 24, 1898, Spain declared war on the United States after rejecting America’s ultimatum to withdraw from Cuba. Go to article »

1916-Easter Rising of Irish republicans against British occupation begins in Dublin.
1934-Shirley MacLaine b.
1942-Barbra Streisand b.

A giant asteroid that will whiz by Earth next week looks like it’s wearing a face mask 
That’s some astronomical social distancing.-CNN

Flour demand spike reopens thousand-year-old mill.-Bloomberg.
How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master.-Bloomberg.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A sun halo appears over the Couple sculpture at Newbiggin-by -the Sea in Northumberland, UK. Sun halos are produced by light interaction with ice crystals in the atmosphere.
CREDIT: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA WIRE

Sea of Bluebells in Dorset, UK, basking in hot weather today, as temperatures rose to as high as 24C. The warm weather has help provide a breathtaking amount bluebells at Eype Down in Dorset. The sea of flowers transformed a hillside opposite the historic Colmers Hill.
CREDIT: BPNS

With only four wagons, the narrow-gauge railway Molli runs through a rape field. Due to corona protection measures and the lack of tourists, the railway currently has only a few passengers and runs according to a special corona timetable. For almost 135 years the trains have been running between Bad Doberan and Heilingendamm, in 1910 the line was extended to Kuhlungsborn in Heiligendamm, Germany
CREDIT: TELEGRAPH.CO.UK APRIL 24, 2020

A man drives an auto-rickshaw depicting the coronavirus to create a awareness about staying at home during a nationwide lockdown to slow the spreading of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Chennai, India
CREDIT: REUTERS/P. RAVIKUMAR
Market Closes for April 24th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1990, Michael Milken, former king of the junk-bond underwriting business, pleaded guilty to five technical counts of violating securities laws. He was later sentenced to ten years in federal prison but was released early for good behavior.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks rose in Toronto, capping a fifth straight week of gains, the longest stretch in over a year.
The S&P/TSX Composite index added 1.2% on Friday, with the health-care and technology sectors posting the biggest increases. Tech stocks have gained 25% this year, led by e-commerce company Shopify Inc.’s more than 75% surge. The e-commerce sector has been a favorite play on Wall Street during the coronavirus pandemic amid a growing consensus that upcoming results will reveal a potentially permanent shift in consumer behavior toward online shopping.
Oil prices edged lower for the week after paring losses following the dramatic collapse on Monday that saw prices in New York plunge below zero for the first time in history.
Meanwhile, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled a government program on Friday that aims to reduce rents for the country’s small businesses by 75%. Commercial property owners will be eligible for loans to cover 50% of the rent over three months beginning in April, Trudeau said Friday in Ottawa. Finance Minister Bill Morneau also said on Friday that the Canadian government hopes to avoid bailing out any particular sector.
On the debt side, private and structured credit offer the best value in fixed income, while the pain isn’t over yet for public debt markets, according to the investment head   of Sun Life Financial Inc.
The Canadian dollar weakened slightly to C$1.4087 per U.S. dollar. The 10-year government bond yield fell 2.3 basis points to 0.576%.

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.2 percent at 14,420.36 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 10 after the previous session’s decrease of 0.3 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.3 percent. BRP Inc. had the largest increase, rising 10.7 percent.
Today, 159 of 230 shares rose, while 68 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 18 times. The next day, it declined 12 times for an average 3.3 percent and advanced six times for an average 1.8 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 0.4 percent
* This month, the index rose 7.8 percent
* The index declined 13 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 4.8 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 19.8 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 29.1 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.2 on a trailing basis and 17.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.17t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 68.50 percent compared with 73.63 percent in the previous session and the average of 86.69 percent over the past month
=============================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
=============================================
Materials | 39.8171| 1.9| 37/9
Information Technology | 31.1061| 2.6| 8/2
Financials | 29.9428| 0.7| 15/11
Industrials | 23.0095| 1.4| 23/7
Energy | 11.1947| 0.6| 10/20
Consumer Discretionary | 11.0735| 2.2| 12/2
Consumer Staples | 7.5755| 1.1| 10/1
Communication Services | 6.9734| 0.8| 6/2
Real Estate | 5.0762| 1.2| 21/5
Health Care | 4.4029| 3.1| 8/2
Utilities | -0.8997| -0.1| 9/7
US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Technology and consumer shares pushed U.S. stocks higher as investors assessed the latest batch of earnings reports and efforts to reopen the American economy. Oil gained after a week of wild price swings.
The S&P 500 gained 1.4% Friday, but still finished down 1.3% in a week that brought fresh evidence of deep damage to the American economy. In an optimistic sign, President Donald Trump signed a $484 billion spending package that includes more money for small businesses, the latest bid by lawmakers to rescue an economy devastated by the coronavirus pandemic.
“The stability and resilience of the market in the face of what is still horrific economic data is probably a function of an assumption or hope that the compression in earnings and the economy, although deep, won’t be long lasting,” said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “The market is sort of looking through the valley.” Apple and Microsoft were the biggest percentage gainers in the tech sector of the benchmark index. Earnings continued to roll in, with Intel Corp. joining the ranks that have withdrawn full-year guidance. West Texas Intermediate crude futures hovered around $17 a barrel in New York, after collapsing earlier this week. Treasury yields fell and the dollar strengthened on the week.
In Europe, leaders signed off on a 540 billion-euro ($580 billion) plan tackling the immediate fallout from the pandemic, but failed to come up with a longer-term rebuilding program.
Stocks slumped and bonds rose. Data showed German business confidence fell to record low while virus cases in the region’s biggest economy rose by the most in nearly a week.
A global stock rally built on optimism that infection rates were slowing faltered this week amid mounting evidence of a deep economic slowdown. With total job losses in the U.S. now exceeding 26 million, investors are focusing on effects of lockdowns and will study earnings for the effects of consumer-credit deterioration.
In China, there was limited reaction to the central bank’s partial roll-over of maturing medium-term funding to banks, at a lower interest rate. Japanese bonds rallied after a Nikkei report that the Bank of Japan may replace its government bond- purchase target to allow for unlimited buying.
These were the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index climbed 1.4% to 2,836.60 as of 4:00 p.m. New York time.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1% to 23,771.36.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 1.6% to 8,634.52.
*The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.2% to 472.66.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1% to 1,261.12, hitting the highest in two weeks with its fifth straight advance.
*The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 107.40 per dollar.
*The euro increased 0.3% to $1.0809, the first advance in a week.
*The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2366.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries decreased one basis point to 0.21%.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased one basis point to 0.59%.
*Britain’s 10-year yield declined less than one basis point to 0.291%, the lowest in more than five weeks.
*Germany’s 10-year yield dipped five basis points to -0.47%.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 3.6% to $17.06 a barrel.
*Brent crude rose 2.4% to $21.84 a barrel.
*Gold weakened 0.2% to $1,727.95 an ounce.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The two most important days in your life are the day
you are born and the day you find out why.
                                      -Mark Twain, 1835-1910

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