August 12, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: UN World Youth Day.
1851 Isaac Singer was granted a patent on his sewing machine.  Go to article »

August 12, 1676~King Philip assassinated.

Mackenzie Scott’s money bombs are helping reshape America.

Meet the woman who gets your $30 million Ferrari to Pebble Beach.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A plane streaks through the sky during the Perseid meteor shower over the archaeological site Stobi in the Republic of North Macedonia. The Perseid meteor shower occurs every year in August when the Earth passes through debris and dust of the Swift-Tuttle comet
CREDIT: GEORGI LICOVSKI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

A digital render of the “Shishigami Shoes” made by the digital fashion company Auroboros, Auroboros said the shoes were inspired by Studio Ghiblis infamous forest spirit that appears in the animated film, Princess Mononoke 
CREDIT: AUROBOROS/HANDOUT VIA REUTERS

A newly hatched turtle makes its way to the sea at Davultepe coast in Mersin, Turkey
CREDIT: MUSTAFA UNAL UYSAL/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAHES

A man rides his bike on a small road in the outskirts of Frankfurt, Germany,
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/MICHAEL PROBST

Market Closes for August 12^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1920, Charles Ponzi was arrested for financial fraud in Boston after taking in more than $6 million from thousands of investors. He repaid each $1,000 invested with $1,500 just 90 days later—but only by taking more money from newcomers or, as a judge later put it, “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” Such pyramid arrangements have ever since been known as “Ponzi schemes.”
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities declined Thursday, led by commodity-exposed sectors including energy and materials. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.2%, with seven of 11 sectors dropping. Oil closed lower as traders assess how the spreading delta variant will impact world fuel demand the rest of the year. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. aims to reap $25 billion from commercial property sales, banking on a rebound for pandemic-hit assets like malls and office towers to power its next stage of growth. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to call a snap election this weekend, seeking to capitalize on polls showing his Liberal Party with a large enough lead to retake a majority in Canada’s legislature.
Commodities:
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $13.35 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to $1,753.41 an ounce
FX/Bonds:
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% to C$1.2515 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell to 1.254%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2 percent at 20,520.60 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.3 percent. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.3 percent. Northland Power Inc. had the largest drop, falling 5.7 percent. Today, 122 of 229 shares fell, while 102 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index advanced 24 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 33 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on Aug. 11, 2021 and 33.1 percent above its low on Oct. 30, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.8 on a trailing basis and 16.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.5 percent 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 rose to 8.89 percent compared with 8.86 percent in the previous session and the average of 8.63 percent over the past month ================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | -32.7226| -1.3| 1/22
* Materials | -19.6289| -0.8| 13/38
* Utilities | -3.9714| -0.4| 8/8
* Financials | -1.8750| 0.0| 13/15
* Health Care | -1.2055| -0.5| 2/6
* Industrials | -1.0592| 0.0| 21/9
* Consumer Discretionary | -0.1973| 0.0| 8/5
* Consumer Staples | 0.4775| 0.1| 7/6
* Communication Services | 0.7660| 0.1| 3/4
* Real Estate | 2.1300| 0.3| 17/6
* Information Technology | 23.8736| 1.0| 9/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Brookfield Asset | | | |
* Management | -9.4120| -1.3| 32.1| 35.6
* TC Energy | -4.9800| -1.2| -34.4| 16.4
* CAE | -4.0900| -5.2| -1.8| 3.5
* Canadian National | 2.1250| 0.3| 10.0| -3.1
* Intact Financial | 4.6650| 2.6| 115.1| 15.7
* Shopify | 18.8900| 1.3| -58.9| 30.9

US
By Lu Wang and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks set another record high even as the S&P 500 Index settles into the narrowest trading range since before the Covid pandemic roiled global financial markets.  The dollar strengthened and Treasury yields were mostly higher. Health care and technology shares helped push the S&P to a closing high for a third consecutive session and for the 47^th time this year.  The benchmark has almost doubled in value from the pandemic lows reached in March last year, though the rate of change is slowing.  It has swung an average 0.5% each day in August, and is poised for the calmest month since November 2019. Micron Technology led chipmakers lower amid concern over the market for memory chips. “Equities become the proverbial term — there is no alternative — and that’s ultimately a money-flow story,” David Kostin, chief equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, said during a Bloomberg TV interview. “From a valuation perspective, equities are reasonably valued in the context of interest rates.” Treasuries were mostly lower. An earlier report showed applications for U.S. state unemployment benefits dropped for the third week in a row. “This is yet another data point indicating continued labor market recovery,” Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network, said of Thursday’s jobless claim data. Investors are continuing to evaluate the implications of a likely Federal Reserve tapering announcement in the months ahead, the spread of the delta virus variant and China’s clampdown.  Global stocks are up about 90% since the pandemic nadir in March 2020, spurring questions about how much further they can climb.     
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1734
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.3805
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 110.42 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 1.36%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.46%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 0.60%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5% to $68.91 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
–With assistance from Kamaron Leach and Natalia Kniazhevich.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

A woman would have run through fire and water for such a kind heart. –William Shakespeare, 1564-1616.

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