April 6, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
April 6, 1896 – Frist Modern Olympics held in Athens, Greece.
Raphael, painter, b. 1483.
On April 6, 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. The claim, disputed by skeptics,
was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation.   Go to article »

          April

Now out of this vast silence
the cherry trees scraping their gnarled limbs
on the sky, and the wind hurls down
a flurry of petals, a snowstorm really,
a thousand prints on the wet pavement,
each one a pair of white shutters, opening.
Numinous, the souls of the dead, and now you,
. . . among them—an intake of breath.
How little it seems to me now,
we knew each other.
But still, it is so beautiful, the place where you were—
a table, two chairs, a tree growing up
right through the floor, and outside,
a flicker of swallows in the hedgerows,
the tulips’ purple chevrons a row of arrowheads.
. . . It is wherever you
want to be, although by now you are
beyond wanting. Or at least that’s
what they say of the dead.
The place where you were holds the light
the way the leaves do after dusk
when small animals conduct
their assignations—the shrew, the mouse, the mole
running their études in the mossy shadows.
. . . You were always so
afraid of falling short. If only you hadn’t
done such a good job of dying.
      But it is so
beautiful where you were, above
the garden, where it is snowing, this morning in April,
on the bleached white pansies,
the downed cherry blossoms
. . . .
where you so often sat,
talking and talking.
                                   -by Cynthia Zarin

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Snow falls as a police officer stands guard near the entrance of the Grand Hotel in Vienna 
CREDIT: JOE KLAMAR/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

28-day bear cub “Boncuk”, a new addition to the zoo, plays with his friend, a chimpanzee named “Can”, at Gaziantep Zoo in Turkey
CREDIT: ADSIZ GUNEBAKAN/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

A hungry heron has been caught gobbling down a 20-year-old pet fish.
CREDIT: GARY CLARKE / CATERS NEWS

Sarah Hayden, from London, won the Mobile category in the Mammal Society’s annual photography contest for this photo of a cat and squirrel facing off through a window
CREDIT: SARAH HAYDEN/MAMMAL SOC/BAV MEDIA

Market Closes for April 6^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1988, the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index was overhauled. Instead of being made up of 400 industrial stocks, 40 utilities, 40 financial stocks and 20 transportation issues, its industry weights began to float freely, so that stocks from all sectors are represented by market value.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose Tuesday for a third straight session, aided by rising commodity prices. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.4%, with 7 of 11 sectors advancing. Tech also climbed, while health care fell. Oil rose as a brighter economic growth outlook and calls for a summer travel pickup eased concerns around the impact of a resurgent coronavirus. Copper rallied to the highest in two weeks in London as the market reopened after the Easter break, rising alongside growing euphoria about a post-pandemic U.S. recovery.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $9.90 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $1,743.61 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.4% to C$1.2570 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 6.9 basis points to 1.488%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.4 percent, or 77.35 to 19,104.14 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3 percent. OceanaGold Corp. had the largest increase, rising 6.8 percent. Today, 163 of 230 shares rose, while 65 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 41 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 56 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.3 percent below its 52-week high on April 6, 2021 and 43.6 percent above its low on April 6, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.1 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.2 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.96t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.89 percent compared with 12.00 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.33 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Materials | 46.1557| 2.0| 46/6
* Information Technology | 19.1435| 1.0| 9/2
* Energy | 10.0264| 0.4| 16/8
* Utilities | 6.2402| 0.7| 15/1
* Communication Services | 5.2000| 0.6| 7/1
* Consumer Discretionary | 2.8536| 0.4| 9/4
* Real Estate | 2.3456| 0.4| 18/8
* Consumer Staples | -1.3996| -0.2| 8/5
* Financials | -1.4714| 0.0| 13/13
* Health Care | -5.0896| -1.8| 2/7
* Industrials | -6.6551| -0.3| 20/10
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks dropped after a rally that drove the equity market to all-time highs. Treasuries climbed, while the dollar fell. Technology companies led losses in the S&P 500, offsetting gains in retailers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq 100 also retreated. Stocks tied to the Archegos Capital Management crisis whipsawed after Credit Suisse Group AG unloaded more than $2 billion of the shares in the latest block trades stemming from the liquidation of Bill Hwang’s fund. ViacomCBS Inc., Vipshop Holdings Ltd. and Farfetch Ltd. bounced after slumping in early trading. Investors bought stocks in record amounts in the first quarter of 2021 as a combination of generous stimulus and bets on an economic recovery drove $372 billion into global equity funds, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists.
The data confirm the bullish market sentiment that has pushed shares to fresh highs, with optimism over vaccination efforts outweighing the fear that higher bond yields can interfere with the rally. “Stocks’ momentum is strong, no doubt about that,” said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest. “But the market may be ready to take a breather as investors digest all the good news, determine how much of that is priced in and weigh it against uncertain risks like inflation.” The rally that lifted the S&P 500 above 4,000 for the first time is unusually broad.
That’s evident from the percentage of the index’s component stocks that closed higher than their 200- day moving average, a gauge of price trends. Last week’s readings peaked at 94.4%, the highest since January 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. They were the first to surpass 94% since May 2013 and contrasted with levels as low as 3.2% in March 2020. On the economic front, data showed U.S. job openings rose to a two-year high in February, led by gains in some of the industries hardest hit during the pandemic. The International Monetary Fund upgraded its global growth forecast for the second time in three months, while warning about widening inequality and a divergence between advanced and lesser-developed nations.
Some key events to watch this week:
* The 2021 Spring Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank Group take place virtually. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell  takes part in a panel about the global economy on Thursday.
* The Fed publishes minutes from its March meeting on Wednesday.
* Japan releases its balance of payments numbers Thursday.
* China’s consumer and producer prices data are due Friday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 0.7%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index gained 0.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dropped 0.2%.
* The euro gained 0.5% to $1.1868.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.3% to 109.85 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 0.16%.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased five basis points to 1.65%.
* The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell three basis points to 2.32%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.2% to $59.35 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.8% to $1,741.59 an ounce.
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Joanna Ossinger, Robert Brand, Kamaron Leach, Claire Ballentine, Vildana Hajric and Olivia Raimonde.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, and knowledge without integrity
is dangerous and dreadful. –Dr. Samuel Johnson, 1709-1784.

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