April 7, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On this day…
1770 ~ William Wordsworth, poet, b.
1948 ~ W.H.O. founded.
1915 ~ Billie Holiday, singer, b.

2003 U.S. troops in more than 100 U.S. armored vehicles rumbled through downtown Baghdad and seized one of Saddam Hussein’s opulent palaces.  Go to article »

Archaeologists think an ancient slab is a 4,000-year-old 3-D map. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

Fruit flies could help us make self-driving cars. (h/t Mike Smedley)

Humans mated with Neanderthals much earlier and more often than we thought. 

Subatomic particle appears to break the known laws of physics

Tiny Singapore accounts for one-third of global cruise travelers. 

GOD BLESS THE CHILD
…Mama may have, papa may have
But God bless the child that’s got his own
That’s got his own…-Billie Holiday.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Snow cloud after a brief snow flurry on the Isle of Wight, passing St Catherine’s Lighthouse at the southern tip of the island. 
CREDIT: SIENNA ANDERSON/PICTUREEXCLUESIVE.COM

A colourful kingfisher dives into water after perching on a photographers camera lens to scour the lake for food. Photographer Larissa Rand was watching the bird at a small lake near the Dutch city of Naarden. The 46 year old was waiting in a hide for the perfect shot, when the brightly-coloured kingfisher landed right on top of her camera, using it as a vantage point to look for food and then as a diving board to spring into the water. She said: “I was in a special hide close to the breeding location of a couple of kingfishers. A perfect place to observe and photograph these kingfishers, without disturbing them. 
CREDIT: LARISSA RAND/SOLENT NEWS PHOTO ANGECY

That bush goes rhododendron and on and on:  Gardener Eloise Mercer with the UK’s largest rhododendron bush at South Lodge Hotel in Horsham, West Sussex. England’s biggest
CREDIT:JORDAN PETTITT/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

Fight Cub: The spectacular moment a pair of foxes fought at sunset has been caught on camera. Photographer, Menno Dekker, 50, took the images while visiting the dunes at the Dutch coast. The photos show two foxes play fighting as the sky fills with orange light as it sets. Menno, from Edam, Netherlands, said: “For me it’s the closest place to see wildlife nearby and also you get quite attached to these foxes as you follow them over time and see families developing, kind of real life soap. 
CREDIT:MENNO DEKKER / CATER NEWS

Market Closes for April 7^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     Trading volume on the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday was the lowest of the year, as 4,057,035,817 shares changed hands.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities posted a slight rise Wednesday as investors digested global vaccinations along with comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.1% with seven of 11 sectors higher. Consumer staples led the charge while health care retreated. Bank of Montreal’s CEO said Canada’s policy makers should work on preparing measures that could rein in the country’s surging home prices, but hold off on implementing solutions for at least a few weeks. Ontario is forcing most retailers to temporarily close or operate under a new set of restrictions as the province fights an accelerating wave of Covid-19.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.10 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.3% to $1,737.51 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.4% to C$1.2618 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 1.4 basis point to 1.502%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.1 percent, or 24.93 to 19,129.07 in Toronto. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.7 percent. West Fraser Timber Co. had the largest increase, rising 5.5 percent. Today, 103 of 230 shares rose, while 126 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials 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 7, 2021 and 41 percent above its low on April 7, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.3 percent in the past 5 days and rose 4.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.3 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$2.98t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.69 percent compared with 11.89 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.31 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | 14.9095| 0.3| 19/8
* Information Technology | 9.0956| 0.5| 7/4
* Consumer Staples | 7.4340| 1.1| 5/8
* Industrials | 5.8219| 0.2| 12/18
* Real Estate | 4.5755| 0.8| 22/3
* Communication Services | 3.8700| 0.4| 6/2
* Consumer Discretionary | 2.6397| 0.3| 6/7
* Utilities | -1.2888| -0.1| 5/11
* Energy | -4.5235| -0.2| 6/18
* Health Care | -5.8838| -2.1| 2/8
* Materials | -11.7248| -0.5| 13/39

US
By Rita Nazareth and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rose with the dollar and Treasuries fluctuated after the Federal Reserve refrained from signaling it will make any changes to its bond-buying program any time soon. The S&P 500 notched another record amid thin trading volume. A rally in giants such as Apple Inc. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. pushed the Nasdaq 100 higher. Benchmark 10-year government yields remained below 1.7%. Traders sifted through the minutes from the latest Fed meeting, which indicated there would likely be “some time” before the conditions are met for scaling back the asset- purchase program of $120 billion per month. Officials still saw elevated uncertainty in the growth outlook — in line with an “accommodative” stance.
Meanwhile, the central bank said the recent surge in Treasury yields reflected improved economic prospects. While Wall Street has been increasingly worried about inflation, policy makers saw those risks as balanced. “The rate side is still somewhat front and center, and probably the biggest risk to what is going on with equity valuations,” said Mark Heppenstall, chief investment officer at Penn Mutual Asset Management. “Clearly, there’s been a repricing of inflation expectations higher this year, and at times, the stock market has struggled with it. I would say that’s to me the biggest risk at this point — that inflation readings start to come in to the point where the Fed potentially has to alter their plans.”
Rates are going higher for the “next several months, just like they have over the previous several months,” Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research, said on a Bloomberg Television interview. Bond yields have recently fallen because they’ve had a “relentless rise,” he noted. If yields are going up because the economy is reopening and massive real growth is expected, that “won’t bother the economy or the stock market,” Bianco said. “But if interest rates are going up because of inflation,” which is a loss of purchasing power, “that’s a problem for the economy and the stock market, and we’re going to continue to have that debate.” Credit markets have yet to signal any type of impending weakness ahead for U.S. stocks, according to Ian McMillan, a market technician at Client First Tax & Wealth Advisors. He compared the S&P 500 with the yield gap between some of the lowest-rated high-yield bonds and Treasuries. This week began with the gap for the Bloomberg Barclays Caa U.S. High Yield Index moving to its narrowest level since July 2018. A widening of high-yield spreads would be a caution signal for equities, he wrote.
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.
* 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 gained 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.3%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.2%.
* The euro was little changed at $1.1871.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 109.80 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries declined less than one basis point to 0.15%.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 1.67%.
* The yield on 30-year Treasuries gained three basis points to 2.35%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $59.59 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.4% to $1,737.02 an ounce.

–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Andreea Papuc, Robert Brand, Emily Barrett and Alexandra Harris.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

If you want to be great at something, there’s a choice you have to make.
What I mean by that is, there are inherent sacrifices that come along with that. 
Family time, hanging out with friends, being a great friends, being a great son,
nephew, whatever the case may be.  –LeBron James, b. 1984.

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