April 4th, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve!
Carolann is away from the office for a conference, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

April 4^th, 1975: Microsoft is founded as a partnership between Bill Gates and Paul Allen to develop and sell BASIC interpreters for the Altair 8800.
April 4^th, 1973: World Trade Center, then the world’s tallest building, opens in New York (110 stories). Later destroyed in 9/11 terrorist attacks.
April 4^th, 1968: US civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated by James Earl Ray at the Lorraine Hotel in Memphis, Tennessee.
April 4^th, 1887: Susanna Madora Salter elected 1st US woman mayor in Argonia, Kansas.
April 4^th, 1850: City of Los Angeles incorporated.
Read more.

Some stars may be ‘infected’ with black holes that destroy them from within, new study hints
Could dark matter be made of mini black holes that formed in the early universe? One way to find out is to look for missing stars, destroyed by primordial black holes, a new study suggests.

NASA to create a new time zone for the moon by 2026
The moon’s lower gravity means that time runs slower on its surface. With more moon missions planned, NASA has now been tasked by the White House to create a lunar time zone by 2026.

Error-corrected qubits 800 times more reliable after breakthrough, paving the way for ‘next level’ of quantum computing
Scientists have created a set of “logical qubits” that have error rates 800 times lower than physical qubits — paving the way for useful, fault-tolerant quantum computers in the near future.

Underwater robot in Siberia’s Lake Baikal reveals hidden mud volcanoes — and an active fault
Video cameras mounted on an autonomous underwater robot captured footage of cracks associated with mud volcanism close to a potentially active fault on the shores of Lake Baikal.

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Martin Luther King, Jr.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lehde, Germany
Andrea Bunar, a postal worker, delivers mail via canal in the Spree Forest region
Photograph: Tobias Schwarz/AFP/Getty Images

Iran’s Chabahar Mountains
This region is also known in Iran as the Martian mountains. The dramatically lit peaks are captured here by Chee
Photograph: Callie Chee

​​​​​​​Dog Sleds in Greenland
Inuit hunters in north-west Greenland still travel by dog sled on sea ice in winter. Itkonen, a photographer from Finland, has been documenting Greenland and its inhabitants for 30 years, and captures here a moment of rest for the dogs on their arduous journey
Photograph: Tiina Itkonen
Market Closes for April 4^th, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1877, the world’s first regular telephone line went into service. It connected Charles Williams’ metalworking shop in Boston with his home. Within weeks Alexander Graham Bell began signing up his first paying customers.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3% at 22,051.79 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since March 26 after the previous session’s increase of 0.2%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.0%.
Novagold Resources Inc. had the largest drop, falling 8.4%.
Today, 141 of 224 shares fell, while 78 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.5%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Dec. 8
* The index advanced 8.8% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 18% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 2.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.6 on a trailing basis and 15.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.51t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 7.08% compared with 7.17% in the previous session and the average of 10.48% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -20.8776| -1.1| 2/8
Materials | -18.8174| -0.7| 10/39
Industrials | -12.3870| -0.4| 8/19
Consumer Staples | -9.9212| -1.1| 3/8
Financials | -8.0151| -0.1| 7/20
Utilities | -3.0788| -0.4| 8/6
Real Estate | -1.1902| -0.2| 12/7
Health Care | -1.0462| -1.4| 2/2
Communication Services | 1.5935| 0.2| 3/2
Energy | 2.2702| 0.1| 21/19
Consumer Discretionary | 10.8013| 1.4| 2/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -8.4450| -1.0| -29.2| -1.7
Brookfield Corp | -7.8990| -1.4| -51.9| 2.3
Canadian National | -7.6350| -1.1| -2.5| 5.0
Canadian Natural Resources | 8.2520| 1.0| 28.0| 25.0
RBC | 10.6200| 0.8| 39.9| 2.1
Dollarama | 19.6800| 10.0| 219.4| 15.6
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell ahead of Friday’s jobs report as a rally in oil amid geopolitical tensions triggered a flight to the safest corners of the market.
Treasuries climbed and the dollar ended near session highs.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.2%, erasing gains.
Brent crude topped $90 a barrel as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a security cabinet meeting his country will operate against Iran and its proxies and will hurt those who seek to harm it.
President Joe Biden told Netanyahu on a call that US support for his war would depend on new steps to protect civilians.
“The real issue lies in the reason WHY oil is rising again,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co. “If we get a direct conflict between Israel and Iran, that’s something that will likely restrict the supply of oil coming from the Middle
East. That has not been an issue up until now, but it could become one very quickly.”
Bond yields dropped across the US curve — even after Federal Reserve Bank Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said rate cuts may not be needed this year if progress on inflation stalls.
He was among the more than a half-dozen central bank officials speaking ahead of the release of the March jobs data.
Healthy US employment gains likely continued in March while wage growth moderated, according to a Bloomberg survey of economists.
Payrolls are seen increasing by at least 200,000 for a fourth straight month.
Average hourly earnings are projected to climb 4.1% from the same month last year, the smallest annual advance since mid-2021.
“As always, the monthly jobs report will have the final say,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
“Investors will be looking for a ‘Goldilocks’ number that won’t give the Fed any reason to delay rate cuts, but also doesn’t suggest the labor market is taking a serious downturn.”
A survey conducted by 22V Research shows there’s no clear consensus on the market reaction to Friday’s jobs report.
Among the investors surveyed, 29% think the response will be “risk- on,” 32% said “risk-off,” and 39% are betting on a “mixed/negligible” reaction.
“Average hourly earnings has supplanted payrolls as the most important labor indicator,” said Dennis DeBusschere at 22V. “That’s consistent with inflation being investors’ biggest concern. But investors are also watching labor data the closest.”
Bond investors are strongly inclined to buy Treasuries on any selloff resulting from the March employment data, according to a survey conducted by Vail Hartman and Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.
They found that 57% of respondents would buy if Treasuries fall after the release.
If bonds rally following the report, around two-thirds of investors said they’d do nothing.

Corporate Highlights:
* The US Federal Trade Commission warned hundreds of companies including Pfizer Inc., Baxter International Inc. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. that it could challenge their acquisitions even after the deadline for the agency’s antitrust review had passed.
* Alphabet Inc. is talking with financial advisers about potentially making an offer for HubSpot Inc., an online marketing software company valued at about $34 billion, Reuters reported on Thursday.
* Ford Motor Co. is delaying the rollout of an electric three- row sport utility vehicle by two years, extending the layoff of 2,700 workers in Canada who were set to begin building it in 2025.
* Boeing Co.’s latest 737 Max crisis has worsened an airline shortage of popular narrowbody aircraft, sending the cost of used-jet rentals to the highest level in years.
* Levi Strauss & Co. jumped after cost-cutting measures boosted profitability and a bet on baggy jeans and denim skirts drove higher-than-expected sales.
* Amylyx Pharmaceuticals Inc. will pull its drug for a progressive, fatal nerve disease from the market after a trial showed that patients taking it fared no better than those getting a placebo on a variety of measures.

Key events this week:
* Eurozone retail sales, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday
* Fed’s Michelle Bowman, Thomas Barkin and Lorie Logan speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.0835
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.2639
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 151.25 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 4.3% to $68,560.51
* Ether rose 1.9% to $3,370.09
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.30%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.36%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 4.02%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.4% to $86.64 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.6% to $2,285.89 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Craig Stirling, Vince Golle, Edward Bolingbroke, Carter Johnson, Julia Fanzeres, Felice Maranz and Liz Capo McCormick.

Have a wonderful evening everyone!

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Shabnam
” The more I study, the more insatiable do I feel my genius for it to be.” — Ada Lovelace

Shabnam Mohammadpourmarzbali
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.

340A – 730 View Street
Victoria BC  V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778-430-5851
Fax: 778-430-5828