April 9, 2025, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: It’s International Unicorn Day!

April 9, 1860: The world’s first recording of the human voice is created as French inventor Édouard-Léon Scott de Martinville uses his phonautograph to capture the French folk song “Au Claire de la lune.”
April 9, 1865: US Civil War ends.
April 9, 1866: Civil Rights Bill passed.
April 9, 1959: NASA announced the selection of America’s first seven astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra,
Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton.  Go to article.
April 9, 2000: The New Yorker publishes “One Day – and one Night – in the Kitchen at Les Halles” by Anthony Boudrain.

Charles Beaudelaire, writer, b. 1821.
J. William Fullbright, politician, b.1905.

One of the largest carnaval celebrations on East Coast canceled
Organizers of El Carnaval de Puebla decided to call off the popular event celebrating Mexican culture and history out of fear ICE agents might show up and try to arrest attendees.

How to avoid this ‘silent killer’ while traveling
Carbon monoxide, which has no taste, odor or color, has been tied to the recent deaths of several Americans who were traveling abroad. Here are some precautions you can take to limit exposure on the road.

British pop star diagnosed with ‘17th century pirate disease’
Robbie Williams recently sought help to find out why he was feeling so anxious and depressed lately. Turns out his diet was part of the problem.

Scientists reveal new hydrogen-powered ‘robot horse’ that could one day take you up a mountain
Japanese engineers have unveiled a concept design of the Corleo, a four-legged robotic horse that could one day carry people across a vast range of terrains. Read More.

NASA rover watches ‘fiendish’ Martian ‘dust devils’ collide in rare case of extraterrestrial cannibalism
Video footage captured by NASA’s Perseverance rover shows a small “dust devil” merging with a much larger twister on the surface of Mars. Read More.

Amateur astronomer discovers bright green comet SWAN25F — and you can see it too
Comet SWAN25F was discovered using photos from the European Space Agency’s SOHO spacecraft and can currently be spied using backyard equipment — but it could also become visible to the naked eye in the next few weeks. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sakarya, Turkey
An aerial view of the meanders of the Sakarya River on the Karagol Plateau. The river originates in central Anatolia and reaches the Black Sea
Photograph: Seyit Konyali/Anadolu/Getty Images

London, UK
She says: ‘Everything feels so dark right now, it’s good to know the light is coming back’
Photograph: Sarah Lee/The Guardian

​​​​​​​Jabalpur, India
Devotees from the Jain community take part in a mass recitation of a mantra on Vishwa Navkar Mahamantra Day
Photograph: Uma Shankar Mishra/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for April 9^th, 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
You are as old as the risks you take.  In many ways, aging is not the process of growing old, but rather the slow death of becoming overly protective, scared, and worried about losing what you have.  Youth is found in the energy of going for it, taking the risk, and trusting that you’ll figure it out along the way. –James Clear.
Canada
By Stephanie Hughes
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities staged their strongest rebound in five years as US President Donald Trump’s move to pause tariffs on many countries triggered a broader market relief rally.
Canada’s benchmark S&P/TSX Composite index gained 5.4% over the trading day on Wednesday, closing at 23,727.
The gauge joined other North American markets in rallying after Trump said he would halt levies for 90 days on countries that didn’t retaliate against his so-called reciprocal tariffs.
Brian Madden, chief investment officer at First Avenue Investment Counsel Inc., said the market’s reaction is “directionally logical,” and “the magnitude is roughly proportional to what we saw in the downdraft earlier this week and last week.”
Technology stocks led the index higher, buoyed by Celestica Inc.’s 18% gain, which closed out the trading day at C$115.90.
Shopify Inc. also rose by 18%, to C$129.09, and BlackBerry Ltd. jumped 12% to C$4.60.
Some of Canada’s most tariff-exposed names also enjoyed a relief rally.
Bombardier Inc., which sources aircraft parts from Canada and the US, gained 14% and closed at C$85.51. BRP Inc., which has deep product manufacturing and distribution roots in Mexico and the US, gained 11%.
Canadian automakers also rose, with Linamar Corp. gaining 9.1%, Magna International Inc. 8.1% and Martinrea International Inc. 7.3%.
“We don’t anticipate a full recovery to the February high in the short term — rather gradually as the chaos dissipates,” said Philip Petursson, chief investment strategist at IG Wealth Management.
But Colin Cieszynski, chief market strategist at SIA Wealth Management Inc., is still cautious.
“The market seems to be treating this like it’s over and I’m not convinced it’s over yet,” he said.
Markets at a Glance:
* S&P/TSX Index rose 5.4% to 23,727
* 11 of 11 sectors rose
** Information technology gained, up 13%
** Materials gained, up 6.6%
* Crude oil rose 4.7% to $62/bbl
* Natgas rose 8.5% to $3.76/mmbtu
* Gold rose 4% to $3,087/oz
* Silver rose 4.2% to $31/oz

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 5.4%, with 11 of 11 sectors higher, led by information technology stocks.
As of market close, 186 of 218 stocks fell, while 30 rose.
Quebecor Inc. led the declines, falling 2.1%, while Baytex Energy Corp. increased 22%.
Advancers:
* Baytex Energy Corp. (BTE CN) +22%: Baytex Energy Affirmed at BB- by Fitch
* Vermilion Energy Inc. (VET CN) +20%
* Aritzia Inc. (ATZ CN) +19%
* Celestica Inc. (CLS CN) +18%
* Shopify Inc. (SHOP CN) +18%: Affirm & Shopify Accelerate Global Expansion of Shop Pay
Decliners:
* Quebecor Inc. (QBR/B CN) -2.1%
* Hydro One Ltd. (H CN) -2%: Ontario Spread Tightens: Canada Provinces
* Emera Inc. (EMA CN) -1.5%
* Fortis Inc/Canada (FTS CN) -1.2%
* Great-West Lifeco Inc. (GWO CN) -1.1%
US
By Natalia Kniazhevich, Norah Mulinda, Bernard Goyder and Jessica Menton
(Bloomberg) — The wild ride on US stock markets took a dizzying turn Wednesday afternoon when President Donald Trump announced a pause on some of his harshest tariffs, propelling the S&P 500 Index to its biggest one-day gain since 2008.
The S&P 500 closed 9.5% higher and the Nasdaq 100 Index surged 12%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rallied 7.9%.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 18.7% and marked the biggest jump on record.
Roughly 30 billion shares traded on US exchanges on Wednesday.
That’s the most ever, according to data compiled by Bloomberg going back nearly 17 years.
Trump on Wednesday afternoon said he “authorized a 90 day pause” on reciprocal tariffs for countries that didn’t retaliate against the US.
The pause does not include tariffs on China, which the White House raised to 125% after the Asian nation retaliated earlier in the day with an 84% levy on US imports.
“It’s crazy!” said Frank Monkam, head of Macro Trading at Buffalo Bayou Commodities, who was rushing back to his desk from a meeting after seeing a headline.
“Eventually it does look like a Trump put but I don’t think we’re out of the woods.”
The President’s post fueled buying across all types of investors, from the retail crowd to hedge funds to algorithmic trading strategies.
The S&P 500 notched its biggest bottom-to-top intraday reversal — at nearly 11% — since the height of the global financial crisis in November 2008 and even higher than the Flash Crash in May 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s basket of the most-shorted stocks jumped 17.34%, beating the S&P 500’s gain.
The move comes as traders rushed to cover short positions they accumulated amid the market downturn.
last week, hedge funds registered short bets in US macro products such as indexes and ETFs at the highest weekly volume on record.
“We currently have aggressive covering among hedge funds and long only buying in tech that is ramping with each leg higher in the market,” Goldman Sachs Group Inc. partner John Flood wrote in a note to clients at 2:15 p.m., after Trump announced the pause.
On Tuesday, JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s prime brokerage desk warned that a market rally would force hedge funds to cover short positions that have been added “aggressively.”
Rapid stock buying by leveraged exchange-traded funds also contributed to the velocity of the move.
“Levered ETFs mechanically adding long equity exposure supercharged the rally,” according to Daniel Kirsch, head of options for the brokerage Piper Sandler & Co.
He said traders moved quickly to unwind downside hedges, which also contributed to the move.
UBS Group AG’s trading desk also sees clients unwinding hedges, while “a high level of skepticism remains despite the headlines,” said Michael Romano, the firm’s head of hedge fund equity derivative sales.
Retail traders were among the most active buyers Wednesday.
As of 2:00 p.m. Wednesday they already bought $3.3 billion of equities, which hit the third-largest amount on record for the first 4.5 hours of US trading, according to Emma Wu, JPMorgan’s global quantitative and derivatives strategist.
Shares of Nvidia Corp. soared 18.03%, Delta Air Lines Inc. jumped 23.38%, Advanced Micro Devices added 23.82% and Tesla Inc. rallied 22.69%%.
Wall Street’s so-called fear gauge, the Cboe Volatility Index, or VIX collapsed to 35 from 50.
Fast-money Commodity Trading Advisers, or CTAs, which follow the market direction rather than fundamental factors, also turned into buyers after the S&P 500 hit 5,425.
Before today’s jump, their positioning dropped to the lowest levels since March 2023.
“The Trump put potentially catalyzed a massive whipsaw in CTA positioning,” said Daniel Ghali, senior commodity strategist at TD Securities.
“Expect CTAs to be forced to buy risk assets including equity indices.”
Earlier in the session, Trump indicated he was at least paying attention to the market volatility, writing on Truth Social that “this is a great time to buy” and urging Americans to “BE COOL” amid the turbulence.
The latest change of direction shook investors across Wall Street.
“It feels like his advisers have talked Trump off the cliff,” said Laura Lau, senior vice-president and chief investment officer at Brompton Corp.
She said there was still a lack of clarity on which countries were spared from tariffs for now, and how dramatically Trump is still prepared to escalate his trade war with China.
“It’s hard to have a fundamental view,” she said.
That the reprieve excludes China was cause for some concern on Wall Street.
“Respite? Further economic suicide? It will all depend on where you source product from of course, and unfortunately about $450 billion is still being imported from China,” Peter Boockvar of Bleakley Financial Group wrote in a note titled “Dramamine Please.”
Brent Kochuba, Founder of SpotGamma, said the pause was “very bullish for markets short-term” but “it doesn’t solve the tariff problem.”
The sharp rally comes as US stocks had been at the most oversold since the depths of the pandemic, and traders were looking for a market bottom.
–With assistance from Matthew Griffin and Esha Dey.
By Anand Krishnamoorthy(Bloomberg):

By Rita Nazareth, Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee and Denitsa Tsekova (Bloomberg):
Key Events This Week:
* US CPI, jobless claims, Thursday
* Fed’s Michelle Bowman’s nomination hearing in Senate for the position of vice chair for supervision, Thursday
* Fed’s Austan Goolsbee, Patrick Harker, Lorie Logan, Jeff Schmid speak, Thursday
* US PPI, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Major banks reporting earnings include JPMorgan, Bank of New York Mellon, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Friday
* Fed’s John Williams and Alberto Musalem speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 9.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 12%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 7.9%
* The MSCI World Index rose 6.3%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 14%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 8.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0934
* The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.2800
* The Japanese yen fell 1.1% to 147.90 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 6.8% to $82,312.53
* Ether rose 11% to $1,647.34
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.33%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.59%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 17 basis points to 4.78%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.8% to $62.45 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 3.7% to $3,093.53 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Katie Greifeld, Robert Brand, Julien Ponthus, Anand Krishnamoorthy, Winnie Hsu, Ruth Carson, Rob Verdonck and Phil Kuntz.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
You were born to win, but to be a winner, you must plan to win, prepare to win, and expect to win. –Zig Ziglar, 1926-2012.

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)
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com