April 28, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.

1789: Mutiny on the Bounty.
1945: Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and his mistress, Clara Petacci, were executed. Go to article »

2019: TV series “Game of Thrones: The Long Night”, the third episode of the 8^th season debuts with the longest battle ever screened (nearly 80 minutes), surpassing “Lord of the Rings” Battle of Helm’s Deep (44 minutes).  “The Long Night” takes place entirely at Winterfell and depicts the final battle between the Army of the Dead and the combined armies of the living, ending one of the series’ primary storylines.

We’re starting to explore what’s in the moon’s permanent shadows.

VR researchers figure out how to simulate kisses.

Rare blue diamond has sold at auction for $57.5 million.  Just look at this stunning gem. It’s worth every penny, if you ask me.

1 in 5 reptile species is under threat of extinction, turtles are among them.  Aw, not the turtles!

Millennials are ahead of their parents in retirement savings.  Don’t underestimate them. Maybe that avocado toast isn’t so bad, after all.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Competitors take part in the Glacier Patrol race in Ober Stafel, above Zermatt. Highly experienced hiker-skiers trek over a distance of 57.5km (35 miles) on the Haute Route along the Swiss-Italian border from Zermatt to Verbier
CREDIT: Valentin Flauraud/EPA

A regional train travels through the outskirts of Frankfurt on a misty morning
CREDIT: Michael Probst/AP

Muslims perform late-night prayers in the Grand Mosque
CREDIT: Saudi Press Agency/Reuters

Market Closes for April 28^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
If past history was all there is to the investment game, the richest people would be librarians. –Warren Buffett.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 1.8%, or 376.83 to 21,121.06 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.9% on Dec. 21.
Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 9 of 11 sectors gained; 210 of 239 shares rose, while 28 fell.
Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 12.0%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain once
* This month, the index fell 3.5%
* So far this week, the index fell 0.3%
* The index advanced 9.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 0.7% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.9% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 10.9% above its low on May 4, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.4% in the past 5 days and fell 3.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.4 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.32t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 12.97% compared with 12.47% in the previous session and the average of 11.66% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | 119.8807| 3.3| 34/0
* Financials | 111.1392| 1.7| 28/0
* Materials | 39.2171| 1.4| 47/5
* Industrials | 37.8662| 1.5| 27/3
* Information Technology | 36.8795| 3.2| 14/2
* Consumer Staples | 11.9139| 1.4| 10/1
* Real Estate | 9.9450| 1.7| 22/1
* Consumer Discretionary | 8.4451| 1.2| 12/2
* Utilities | 3.6681| 0.4| 9/7
* Health Care | -0.8608| -0.7| 5/3
* Communication Services | -1.2667| -0.1| 2/4
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Suncor Energy | 50.2600| 12.0| 278.6| 49.2
* TD Bank | 37.2600| 3.3| -10.3| -3.5
* Shopify | 27.0600| 6.5| 29.3| -67.4
* Teck Resources | -1.8680| -1.2| 21.7| 37.9
* Bausch Health | -2.2150| -4.3| 194.4| -27.7
* Constellation Software | -4.0190| -1.4| 0.3| -11.8

US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied the most in seven weeks as strong earnings from tech heavyweights bolstered optimism corporate profits can withstand an aggressively restrictive Federal Reserve.
The S&P 500 jumped more than 2% for its best day since March 9, while the Nasdaq 100’s advance topped 3%.
Meta Platforms Inc. surged 18% in the biggest rally since 2013 after Facebook added more users than anticipated.
PayPal Holdings Inc. rose 11% on a sales beat, Qualcomm Inc. led U.S. chip stocks higher, and Twitter Inc. missed revenue estimates, reflecting a slowdown in advertising.
Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc. will report after the bell.
The rally came as investors saw evidence of solid consumer demand masked by the surprise contraction in economic growth last quarter, the first pullback since 2020.
The gain left the S&P 500 higher for the week, though it remains down more than 5% in April, on track for the worst month since the pandemic bear market.
Volatility has been a persistent feature in markets all year, with investors on edge over China’s struggle to suppress Covid, Russia’s war in Ukraine and worries that central-bank tightening may tip the U.S. economy into a recession.
“We’ve corrected a lot in a very short period of time and given the oversold levels, if we continue to have better-than-feared earnings, I think we can be poised for a bounce,”  Anastasia Amoroso, chief investment strategist at iCapital, said in an interview. “The problem is: how long is this bounce going to last?”
Roughly 50% of the S&P 500’s market capitalization has reported earnings, with 76% of firms topping projections, according to Credit Suisse. “The earnings season overall has delivered more good news than bad, and could help shift
investors focus from the macro headwinds that have battered the major indexes this month,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities.
Yet, a contraction in gross domestic product data could complicate efforts to combat inflation as a ballooning trade deficit and softer inventory growth is undercutting an otherwise solid consumer and business demand picture.
It’s “not a strong departure point for the real economy that will be facing a far tighter monetary policy backdrop as  the Fed proceeds with rate hikes,” BMO’s Ian Lyngen wrote of the first-quarter GDP print.
“The Fed has only delivered a single 25 bp hike.”
Treasuries reversed losses, with the yield on the 10-year benchmark little changed.
Oil prices rose to trade over $105 a barrel.
And in currency markets, the yen’s plunge to a 20-year low could signal a rewrite of the global currency playbook.
The offshore yuan sank, the euro retreated along with the pound, and the ICE dollar index hit a two-decade high.
The Nasdaq’s average daily move over the last 100 trading days reached close to 1.6%, the highest such reading since the early days of the pandemic, according to Bespoke Investment Group.
There have only been four other periods that averaged such daily volatility — besides the pandemic, they include the dot-com bust, the 2008 crisis and 2011.
“Volatility like we have seen in the last four months doesn’t come around very often,”  Bespoke strategists wrote in a note.
In Europe, natural gas prices declined following two days of gains as buyers considered options to keep getting supply from Russia without violating sanctions.
European Union members are pushing the bloc to deliver clearer guidance over Russia’s demand for payments in rubles, and Germany has signaled it’s open to a phased-in ban on Russian oil imports.
Events to watch this week:
* Tech earnings include Amazon, Apple
* EIA oil inventory report, Wednesday
* U.S. 1Q GDP, weekly jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB publishes its economic bulletin, Thursday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 2.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.0508
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.2465
* The Japanese yen fell 1.9% to 130.89 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 2.84%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 0.90%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 1.88%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.4% to $105.45 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.4% to $1,896.60 an ounce
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Cecile Gutscher, Charlotte Yang, Macarena Munoz, Andreea Papuc and Kat Van Hoof.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The beauty of the soul shines out when a man bears with composure one heavy mischance after another, not because he does not feel them,
but because he is a man of high and heroic temper.-Aristotle, 384 BC-322 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