April 3,2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Happy Monday.  Happy April.
April 3, 1860: Pony Express established.
On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries.  Go to article >  
April 3, 1973: The first public telephone call is placed on a Manhattan sidewalk.  Motorola’s Martin Cooper called Joel Engle of Bell Labs.  He later told the BBC that his first words were “Joel, I’m calling you from a ‘real’ cellular telephone.  A portable handheld telephone.”

J. Goodall, conservationist, b. 1934.
Marlon Brando, actor, b. 1924.

Laughter is therapy for the mind and body.  Remember to smile today! Giggling and having a positive mood is a great way to enhance your physical and mental well-being, researchers say.

Sarah Polley told to return Oscar statue in April Fools’ Day prank.  Speaking of laughing, this filmmaker’s 11-year-old child pulled off a prank as good as Oscar gold.

Ancient fish hook suggests sharks were hunted off Israel’s coast 6,000 years ago
Shark was likely on the menu around 6,000 years ago in what is now Israel, according to researchers who uncovered a large copper fishing hook in a previously unknown ancient village.
Experts say the “shark hook” could be one of the first of its kind made in the area.  Full Story: Live Science (3/31)

How long will it take for humans to colonize another planet?
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk wants to have a city of a million people on Mars by 2050.  But is it feasible? How long would it take for humans to colonize another planet? And could it ever be possible for people to colonize worlds outside the solar system?  Full Story: Live Science (4/2)

Newly discovered ‘einstein’ tile is a 13-sided shape that solves a decades-old math problem.  Look carefully! Mathematicians have invented a new 13-sided shape that can be tiled infinitely without ever repeating a pattern. They call it “the einstein.”  The new shape solves a decades-old math problem.  Full Story: Live Science (3/31)

Rare blood-red arc of light shines in the Scandinavian sky. What is it?   A bright red streak of light appeared in the sky above parts of Scandinavia last week after a surprise solar storm smashed into Earth and triggered stunning auroras across the planet.  But the bright red band was not an aurora — it was something much rarer.  Full Story: Live Science (3/31)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

New York, US
Lightning bolts strike One World Trade Center, as seen from Hoboken, New Jersey
Photograph: Gary Hershorn/Getty Images

Florida, US
Competitors take part in the annual Seven Mile Bridge run
Photograph: Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau/AFP/Getty Images

Paris, France
Eiffela, a replica of the city’s tower a tenth its size, created by Philippe Maindron
Photograph: Stéphane de Sakutin/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for April 3^rd, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1948: Congress passed the Marshall Plan to finance the reconstruction of Western Europe after the devastation of World War II, laying the groundwork for the global economic boom of the 1950s.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the seventh day, climbing 0.9%, or 178.39 to 20,278.28 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 8.
Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 4 of 11 sectors gained; 118 of 234 shares rose, while 114 fell.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 6.2%.
Teck Resources Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 18.7%.
Insights
* The index declined 7.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 10% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 8.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 13.5% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.3% in the past 5 days and fell 1.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 13.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.57% compared with 12.84% in the previous session and the average of 10.96% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 122.2919| 3.6| 34/6
Materials | 55.3982| 2.2| 41/10
Financials | 39.0599| 0.6| 18/11
Communication Services | 0.7403| 0.1| 4/2
Consumer Discretionary | -1.3691| -0.2| 6/9
Health Care | -1.6780| -2.5| 1/5
Real Estate | -3.6321| -0.7| 3/17
Consumer Staples | -4.3161| -0.5| 1/10
Utilities | -8.2887| -0.9| 0/15
Industrials | -8.4155| -0.3| 7/20
Information Technology | -11.3940| -0.8| 3/9
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | 35.2500| 6.2| 12.4| 5.6
Teck Resources | 28.7300| 18.7| 108.2| 15.7
Suncor Energy | 21.8000| 5.6| 1.9| 3.1
Brookfield Asset Management | -3.4170| -3.1| -55.1| 10.6
Brookfield Corp | -6.5080| -1.5| -49.3| 1.9
Shopify | -6.8520| -1.3| -0.6| 36.1
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Treasuries rose as a gauge of US factory activity contracted by more than expected, tempering inflation concerns fueled by OPEC+’s surprise plan to cut oil production.
Policy-sensitive two-year yields reversed course after earlier climbing as much as 11 basis points.
Energy shares led gains in S&P 500, with US crude hitting $80 a barrel.
The Nasdaq 100 underperformed major benchmarks as Tesla Inc. sank on data showing its price cuts barely boosted deliveries.
The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge of manufacturing activity decreased to 46.3 in March, below the median estimate of 47.5 in a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Readings below 50 indicate contraction.
Measures of new orders and employment retreated.
“The main takeaway from this report is the job market is slowing,” said Jeffrey Roach, chief economist at LPL Financial.  “A cooler job market should release some of the inflationary pressure the Fed is working hard to conquer.”
The government’s monthly employment report will be released Friday and will give a fuller picture of the job market.
Swaps linked to Fed interest-rate expectations showed a quarter-point hike in May as more likely than not.
Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard told Bloomberg Television Monday that OPEC+’s decision was unexpected and an increase in oil prices could make the Fed’s job of lowering inflation more challenging.
“Whether it will have a   lasting impact I think is an open question,” he said.
To Paul Nolte at Murphy & Sylvest Wealth Management, the fact that the Fed has indicated its data dependent means two things.
“First, every data point is important. And second, they have no real long-term plan for the economy,” Nolte added. “The lack of a plan means investors are left to guess what the Fed will do based on the latest piece of economic data. This is giving rise to wild swings in the markets.”
As the possibility of a recession looks more certain, the upcoming earnings season may be the first of several difficult quarters, according to Chris Harvey, head of equity strategy at Wells Fargo & Co.
“We have been seeing for a number of quarters, margins starting to compress, and we think this is where it comes to roost,” Harvey said on Bloomberg Television. “This is the period where if you can’t make numbers, if margins get compressed, this is where you get penalized.”
Key events this week:
* Eurozone PPI, Tuesday
* US factory orders, US durable goods, Tuesday
* Australia rate decision, Tuesday
* Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester speaks, Tuesday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, Wednesday
* US trade, Wednesday
* UBS annual general meeting, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* St. Louis Fed President James Bullard speaks, Thursday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday
* Good Friday. US stock markets closed, bond markets close for part of the day

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro rose 0.6% to $1.0906
* The British pound rose 0.7% to $1.2421
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 132.44 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin was little changed at $28,088.66
* Ether rose 1.6% to $1,818.94
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 3.42%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.25%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 3.43%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 6.3% to $80.46 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.8% to $2,002.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Srinivasan Sivabalan, Isabelle Lee, Vildana Hajric, Carly Wanna, and Peyton Forte.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
The rock of the world was founded securely on a fairy’s wing. –F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940.

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