Dear Friends,
Tangents: Lots going on: Full moon tonight the “pink” moon, Passover began last night and Easter weekend beckons with Good Friday tomorrow.
Happy Passover. Happy Easter.
April 2, 1917: the United States enters the First World War, a turning point that reshapes 20th-century geopolitics. President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress to declare war against Germany, saying, "The world must be made safe for democracy." Go to article.
| Artemis II blasts off: Humans are on their way back to the moon |
NASA’s Artemis II rocket has taken off in a historic launch on Florida’s Space Coast, sending humans back to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
April2, 1513: Juan Ponce de Leon reaches Florida.
Casanova, philanderer, b. 1725.
Hans Christian Anderson, writer, b. 1805
Emile Zola, writer , b. 1840
Emmylou Harris, vocalist, b. 1947.
Video: Robotaxi outage
A "system failure" caused a multi-vehicle robotaxi outage in the Chinese city of Wuhan, police said. See the moment vehicles stalled in the road.
What does it really mean to ‘age well’?
Shamita Sharmacharja, curator at London’s Wellcome Collection, explores this question in her latest exhibition, "The Coming of Age."
Inside one man’s journey traveling the world without flying
An Egyptian traveler set off in October on a quest to circle the globe without flying. Instead, he’s hopping on camels, sailboats and poultry trucks in search of a more immersive way to see the world.
Video: Schwarzenegger’s son wins gold in bodybuilding
Joseph Baena is following in his famous father’s footsteps, picking up the top prize in three categories at a bodybuilding competition in Colorado. Read More.
| Native Americans invented dice and games of chance more than 12,000 years ago, archaeological study reveals |
A new study shows that dice and games of chance date back thousands of years earlier than experts previously thought. Read More.
| Scientists cured type 1 diabetes in mice by creating a blended immune system |
By creating a hybrid immune system between the recipient and the donor, researchers were able to transplant insulin-producing cells that were not rejected. Read More.
| Astronauts can face ‘nearly lethal doses’ of solar radiation — so why launch Artemis II during the sun’s peak of activity? Space scientist Patricia Reiff explains. |
NASA’s Artemis II flight around the moon will expose astronauts to space weather. Space scientist Patricia Reiff tells Live Science how solar flares and radiation will impact the lunar mission. Read More.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Titusville, US
A full moon rises after the launch of Nasa’s next-generation Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule, marking the Artemis II lunar flyby mission’s departure from Kennedy Space Center
Photograph: Marco Bello/Reuters
Tokyo, Japan🌸
Boats drift along Chidorigafuchi, one of the scenic moats surrounding Imperial Palace
Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images
Seoul, South Korea🌼
A sparrow flits among blooming cherry blossoms
Photograph: Kim Hong-ji/Reuters
Market Closes for April 2nd, 2026
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
46504.67 | -61.07 |
| -0.13% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6582.69 | +7.37 |
| +0.11% | ||
| NASDAQ | 21879.18 | +38.23 |
| +0.17% | ||
| TSX | 33108.22 | +150.27 |
| +0.46% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 52463.27 | -1276.41 |
| -2.38% | ||
| HANG SENG |
25116.53 | -177.50 |
| -0.70% | ||
| SEN SEX | 73319.55 | +185.23 |
| +0.25% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 10436.29 | +71.50 |
| +0.69% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.482 | 3.501 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.911 | 3.929 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.3049 | 4.3186 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.8795 | 4.8978 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7184 | 0.7206 |
| US $ |
1.3918 | 1.3875 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6225 | 1.6064 |
| US $ |
0.8664 | 1.1540 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
4739.00 | 4608.35 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 111.54 | 101.38 |
Market Commentary:
| On this day in 1990, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand implemented the first inflation-targeting regime. The practice of setting explicit targets for rises in consumer prices spread like wildfire among global central banks in the decades that followed. |
🍒Canada🍓
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.5%, or 150.27 to 33,108.22 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 11.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.3%.
Transcontinental Inc. had the largest increase, rising 8.6%.
Today, 136 of 221 shares rose, while 83 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 3.6%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 28
* The index advanced 31% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.2% below its 52-week high on March 2, 2026 and 49% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.8% in the past 5 days and fell 4.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.7 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.22t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 18.53% compared with 18.59% in the previous session and the average of 19.05% over the past month
Index Points
Energy | 105.5439| 1.8| 32/4
Financials | 42.8701| 0.4| 18/6
Industrials | 18.2350| 0.5| 15/14
Information Technology | 11.9131| 0.5| 7/3
Utilities | 11.7309| 1.0| 12/2
Real Estate | 4.6085| 1.0| 18/1
Consumer Staples | 4.0000| 0.4| 7/3
Health Care | 1.1601| 1.3| 3/1
Consumer Discretionary | 0.8490| 0.1| 4/5
Communication Services | -19.8668| -3.1| 2/3
Materials | -30.7801| -0.5| 18/41
Canadian Natural | Resources | 22.0100| 2.3| -36.1| 42.3
TD Bank | 14.1000| 0.9| 130.8| 2.4
Enbridge | 13.1400| 1.2| -38.0| 14.8
Bombardier | -7.6740| -4.9| -5.8| 5.6
BCE | -7.8360| -3.4| 119.8| 4.0
Rogers Communications| -11.3900| -8.0| 118.3| -5.9
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange rose for a third-straight session on Thursday, gaining nearly 1,200 points over the three days as investors bid up stocks instead of spending too much time thinking about the Iran war, even as they brace for its impact on inflation readings.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 150.27 points, or 0.45%, to 33,108.22, adding to the more than 1,000 points gained over the prior two sessions.
According to FactSet going into Thursday the index was year-to-date up 1,245.19 points, or 3.93%.
Most sectors were higher, led for the second straight day by the Battery Metals Index, up near 2.8%, and then Energy, up 2%, as West Texas Intermediate crude oil surged after U.S. President Trump said he expects his war on Iran to last for up to more three weeks, continuing the largest-ever supply shock as the conflict keeps a fifth of global oil exports from the market.
WTI crude oil for May delivery closed up US$11.42 to settle at US$111.54 per barrel, the highest since June 2022, while June Brent oil was up US$7.58 to US$108.74.
Base Metals was modestly lower as gold traded lower by midafternoon Thursday, while the dollar rose. Gold for May delivery was last seen down US$113.60 to US$4,699.50 per ounce.
Looking ahead, BMO Capital Markets chief economist Douglas Porter, in his regular weekly column ‘Talking Points’, notes the wait to see how the events of the last few weeks will impact inflation will not be long.
He notes U.S. CPI for March is the headline release for the coming week (due Friday April 10), with the spike in gasoline expected to drive overall prices up 1.0% month over month, which will, in turn, lift the yearly inflation rate a point to 3.4%.
The preliminary result from the Euro Area showed a broadly similar move in March, with prices jumping 1.2% m/m, lifting the annual inflation rate six ticks to 2.5%.
Porter says Canada’s inflation rate will look very similar to Europe, with gasoline prices also rising by a record 21% last month, which could lift CPI by more than 1% in March alone, kicking the annual inflation rate to about 2.6% from 1.8%.
How long inflation stays at this higher level, or rises even further from here, of course all depends on how long oil prices remain elevated, notes Porter.
He says with the turn of the calendar to April, BMO has carefully reviewed its scenarios this week, discarding the most optimistic outlook and adjusting the weights on the various potential outcomes.
As a result, BMO is lifting its assumption on average WTI prices this year by US$10.00 to US$85.00 per barrel, and by almost as much next year to US$77.50.
"To be clear," he adds, "this change was in the works even prior to the latest spike in prices, although that move gave our call one last upward nudge, especially to next year’s projection."
Given its estimate that every 10% rise in oil adds about 0.2 percentage points to headline inflation, BMO revised up its call for U.S. and Canadian average inflation this year.
Porter says: "Adding a bit of juice is the fact that oil is not the only commodity being heavily affected by the conflict, as fertilizer and aluminum prices have also jumped.
Meantime, some product prices, such as diesel and jet fuel, have risen even more steeply than gasoline, in an echo of developments when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022."
BMO is now looking at average U.S. inflation this year of 3.4%, peaking at nearly 4% in the spring, up from 2.5% before the conflict began.
BMO is "a bit more contained" on Canada, but even there, the estimate for this year is now above 3% versus 2.4% in the days of yore (five weeks ago).
On the growth front, Porter says the impact on the outlook is "a bit more nuanced".
BMO had previously noted the models suggest roughly a one-tick trim in GDP growth for every 10% rise in oil.
"But it’s not quite that linear," he adds, "smaller moves have little impact (indeed, a modest increase in crude oil prices is arguably even a positive for Canadian growth).
But as oil forges higher and global activity becomes more disrupted, as financial markets shudder on inflation concerns, and as consumers are rattled by rising gasoline prices, the hit to growth can deepen more seriously than the mechanical estimates may imply."
At this point, Porter says, BMO has only been chipping away at its 2026 GDP growth calls, trimming Canada to 1% and the U.S. to around 2%.
"But the axe is poised above those estimates, and it may fall if financial markets and consumer sentiment truly crack in coming weeks," he adds.
Porter says one reason BMO is holding its fire on large revisions on the growth front is that the economies are "mostly holding up well, so far".
Echoing the trend seen in the rest of the industrialized world, Porter notes U.S. manufacturing activity actually firmed last month, with the factory ISM rising to a "sturdy" 52.7, the best reading in almost four years.
Consumers, Porter adds, "have not turned tail either" as March auto sales were "solid" at 16.4-million units, or in line with last year’s average.
He notes the job market "seems to be holding up fine", while noting his column is written a day before payrolls, with ADP reporting 62,000 new private-sector jobs and jobless claims easing to barely above 200,000 last week.
As a result, BMO still looks for U.S. GDP growth to hover around 2% in Q1, and dip just a bit below there in the next two quarters.
Perhaps reflecting the muted impact on activity so far, the Conference Board found that consumer confidence somehow edged up last month, even amid all the grumbling around US$4.00 gasoline, Porter notes.
US
By Ira Iosebashvili, Vildana Hajric and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — Stocks reversed sharp declines to close higher, as investors monitored fresh developments around the Strait of Hormuz and the war in the Middle East.
Oil prices held onto hefty gains.
The S&P 500 Index closed up 0.1% after tumbling earlier in the session.
The Nasdaq 100 ended 0.1% higher, also rebounding from a deep loss.
West Texas Intermediate was up 12% at around $112 per barrel.
Iran is drafting a protocol with Oman to monitor traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, having effectively shut it down since the start of the war, state-run IRNA reported.
That would require shippers to pay tolls to the Islamic Republic, Iran Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said in an interview with Sputnik.
The passage is officially international waters and any attempt by Iran to assert control over traffic would be opposed by Western powers and Gulf Arab states.
“Equity markets seem to be looking past the risk of a higher embedded premium in oil and more focused on the Strait reopening,” said Adam Turnquist, chief technical strategist for LPL Financial.
“With oil clearly in the driver’s seat of risk appetite, sustainability of the recovery in equity markets appears vulnerable.”
Stocks started off the session deep in the red after a Wednesday speech from President Donald Trump did little to reassure investors that the war in the Middle East was nearing a swift resolution, though he has previously set a two-to-three- week timeline for ending the conflict.
On Thursday, Trump issued fresh threats on Iranian infrastructure in a bid to pressure Tehran in negotiations.
“The upshot is that markets remain uncertain as to how long the acute disruptions we are seeing to global energy supplies will persist,” wrote James McCann, senior economist, Edward Jones.
“Against this backdrop, sentiment will likely remain headline-driven in coming sessions, with volatility likely to remain elevated over the short term at least.”
The two-year Treasury yield was little changed at 3.80%.
Shares of top asset managers slid after Blue Owl Capital Inc. said it will limit redemptions from two of its private credit funds after facing a surge in withdrawal requests.
War Pattern
The higher close for the S&P 500 runs counter to a pattern of late-week selloffs that have hit the market ever since the war began, as nervous investors unwind positions that could be upended if weekend developments threaten to worsen the hit to the global economy.
“While assets gyrate on every new headline, until a clear agreement is achieved with a palatable plan for reopening the Strait, there’ll be downward pressure on economic growth and upward pressure on headline inflation,” said Max Gokhman, deputy CIO, Franklin Templeton Investment Solutions.
“That spells indigestion for both equity and bond investors.”
Tesla Inc. shares fell after the company posted one of its worst sales quarters in years, missing Wall Street’s expectations, as it struggles to turn around its core business and navigate an increasingly challenged electric-vehicle market.
Ahead of Friday’s March payrolls report, jobs data on Thursday gave mixed signals on the labor market.
A report from Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. showed a 25% increase in job- cut announcements in March from the previous month.
Meanwhile, initial jobless claims unexpectedly fell in the week through March 28.
Corporate News:
* A group of private credit firms led by Blackstone Inc. has refused to extend another lifeline to software company Medallia amping up pressure on owner Thoma Bravo to inject more equity into the troubled business or hand over the keys via a debt restructuring.
* Stellantis NV is discussing options for building electric vehicles in Canada with its Chinese partner, Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co., according to people familiar with the matter.
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. has released its third proprietary AI model in as many days, reinforcing the company’s intent to focus on profiting off its flagship artificial intelligence services.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.1533
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.3222
* The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 159.68 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.8% to $66,924.45
* Ether fell 3.7% to $2,064.25
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.30%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.99%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.83%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 11% to $111.37 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 1.8% to $4,673.45 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Power always thinks it has a great soul and vast views beyond the comprehension of the weak;
and that it is doing God’s service when it is violating all his laws. –John Adams, 1735-1826.
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 (Text Only)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828