Dear Friends,
Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
August 13, 1521: Spanish forces under Cortes capture Tenochtitlan after a long siege, ending the Aztec empire and reshaping the history of the Americas.
On Aug. 13, 1961, Berlin was divided as East Germany sealed off the border between the city’s eastern and western sectors in order to halt the flight of refugees. Go to article.
August 13, 1965: Teens (mostly girls) attempt to crash the Warwick Hotel in NYC where the Beatles are staying ahead of their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
Alfred Hitchcock, director, b.1899.
Fidel Castro, dictator, b. 1926.
| Totality! See incredible photos of the Aug. 12 total solar eclipse from across Europe |
From Baily’s Beads, a bright-pink prominence to awe-struck eclipse-watchers from across the European continent, check out these stunning images from yesterday’s total solar eclipse.
| ‘No longer will anything seem impossible or marvelous’: How an ‘immoral, foul-mouthed and violent man’ wrote the first eyewitness account of a total solar eclipse |
In this excerpt from the book "Solar Eclipses" by William Sheehan, we learn of how an ancient Greek poet, who wrote a series of scurrilous songs and deserted the field of battle, became a hero among eclipse-watchers today
| How to see and photograph the partial lunar eclipse on August 27-28 |
It may not be a ‘blood moon’ total lunar eclipse, but with more than 96% of the moon immersed in Earth’s shadow, it promises a fine lunar observing and photography opportunity. Here’s what to know.
| This mummy had something unexpected inside of it |
Archaeologists are calling this an "exceptional" find! For the first time a copy of Homer’s "Iliad" has been found inside the abdomen of a mummy. It was discovered in a cemetery from the ancient Egyptian city, Oxyrhynchus. Watch now.
| New ‘magnetoelastic’ tent generates electricity from wind, body movement and sound to power small devices |
A magnetoelastic tent concept could one day turn wind, movement and fabric flexing into usable electricity.
Ambition is the germ from which all growth of nobleness proceeds. -Oscar Wilde.
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PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Prague, Czechia
Prague Castle is silhouetted against a partial solar eclipse
Photograph: Martin Divíšek/EPA
Saltburn, UK
‘One of the many and varied stalls from the annual food festival, which gathers large crowds from across the country. Artisan makers take over the streets of the town for the day.’
Photograph: Paul Wheatcroft
Ethere Madivaru bay, Maldives
‘A school of fish scatters as male reef manta rays chase a female while feeding on plankton. These mantas swim along just below the surface when they find thick swarms of plankton to eat.’
Photograph: Mark Obstfeld
Market Closes for August 13th, 2026
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
53839.99 | +69.72 |
| +0.13% | ||
| S&P 500 | 7798.99 | +50.49 |
| +0.65% | ||
| NASDAQ | 26803.03 | +214.54 |
| +0.81% | ||
| TSX | 36759.29 | +97.15
+0.26% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 68308.59 | +784.53 |
| +1.16% | ||
| HANG SENG |
25396.51 | -43.66 |
| -0.17% | ||
| SEN SEX | 78079.96 | +113.61 |
| +0.15% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 10772.67 | -60.48 |
| -0.56% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.625 | 3.691 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
4.043 | 4.094 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.6427 | 4.3817 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
5.2125 | 4.6928 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7177 | 0.7173 |
| US $ |
1.3931 | 1.3941 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6225 | 1.6062 |
| US $ |
0.8673 | 1.1530 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
4356.10 | 4404.74 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 81.25 | 83.27 |
Market Commentary:
On this day in 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed into law the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981, the biggest tax cut in American history. It streamlined income tax brackets, lowered the top rate to 36% and created the universally deductible Individual Retirement Account.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fifth day, climbing 0.3%, or 97.15 to 36,759.29 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.3%.
Bird Construction Inc. had the largest increase, rising 11.4%.
Today, 103 of 218 shares rose, while 111 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1%
* The index advanced 31% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 21% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 32.2% above its low on Aug. 20, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.7% in the past 5 days and rose 4.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.6 on a trailing basis and 17.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.79t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 10.60% compared with 10.60% in the previous session and the average of 10.26% over the past month
Index Points
Information Technology| 124.0105| 4.2| 8/1
Financials | 58.4331| 0.5| 18/4
Industrials | 23.1313| 0.6| 18/12
Energy | 8.6730| 0.1| 11/25
Utilities | 7.9899| 0.6| 11/3
Communication Services| 5.5691| 1.0| 4/1
Consumer Staples | 5.2620| 0.5| 7/3
Real Estate | 3.2895| 0.7| 12/4
Consumer Discretionary| 1.7172| 0.2| 3/5
Health Care | -0.2506| -0.2| 2/3
Materials | -140.6603| -2.2| 9/50
Shopify | 95.5200| 5.3| -18.3| 0.0
RBC | 18.4900| 0.6| -8.4| 28.0
Suncor | 17.4300| 2.4| 22.7| 49.8
Wheaton Precious Metals | -12.7700| -2.1| -24.4| 13.9
Pan American Silver| -21.0900| -9.8| 161.6| -7.3
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | -22.4200| -2.4| -3.2| 8.1
MT Newswires:
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed at a fresh record high on Thursday as a strong rally in technology stocks helped lift the benchmark, offsetting weakness in base metals and lower oil prices.
The index closed up 97.15 points, or 0.3%, to 36,759.29, with most sectors closing higher.
Information Technology led gainers, up 3.1%, while Telecom and Energy were up 0.8% each. Base Metals closed down 2.8%.
In commodities, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent crude fell on Thursday as weaker global demand forecasts and a sharp build in US crude inventories weighed on prices.
Oil pared steeper losses later in the session after reports of a Houthi drone attack on Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery renewed concerns over potential supply disruptions in the Middle East.
September WTI crude oil contract settled down $2.02, or 2.4%, at $81.25 per barrel, while October Brent oil was last seen down $0.70, or 1.9%, at $87.28 per barrel.
Meanwhile, December Comex gold futures dropped 1.4%, or $62.40, to $4,405.10 per ounce.
In currencies, the US dollar edged lower 0.07% against the Canadian dollar, with USD/CAD at 1.3931 at last look.
The Canadian dollar’s medium-term recovery will likely depend less on oi prices and more on whether the broader economic recovery can be sustained, Commerzbank Research wrote in a Thursday note.
"It is only once the Canadian real economy has recovered sustainably that the Bank of Canada is likely to consider interest rate hikes, and it is only then that the CAD is likely to recover," wrote Commerzbank FX Analyst Michael Pfister.
On the consumer front, Canadian spending remained resilient despite pressure from higher energy costs and weak real wage growth, with RBC card data showing an increase in expenditures.
Retail sales, excluding gasoline stations, rose 2.4% in Q2 from Q1, while spending on essentials and discretionary services both increased 2.2%, said RBC Economics.
Discretionary goods spending also rebounded 3.7%, driven by stronger household, construction and apparel purchases.
UBS Global Research said it expects the Canadian headline consumer price index to tick higher next week, but the bank sees the increase as temporary.
The July headline CPI is forecast to rise 0.4% on a monthly non-seasonally adjusted basis.
Statistics Canada is slated to release the July CPI on Monday.
In stocks Brookfield (BN.TO) closed up C$0.44 to C$62.82 after posting Q2 net
income of $0.14 per share from $0.10 in the previous year.
Revenue for the quarter ended June 30 rose to $19.41 billion from $18.08 billion.
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders drove stocks higher and bond yields fell as more evidence of moderating inflation reinforced bets the Federal Reserve will refrain from raising interest rates next month.
Back-to-back gains in equities drove the S&P 500 to a record.
The Nasdaq 100 added 1.1%.
Money markets priced in less than a 40% chance of a September Fed hike.
While Treasuries rose, the US sold 30-year bonds at the highest rate in a quarter of a century — a testament to investors’ demand for compensation to finance the nation’s deficit.
Oil dropped to around $81.
US wholesale inflation decelerated in July by more than estimated as energy and food costs fell.
The producer price index rose 4.7% from July 2025 after a 5.5% annual increase in June.
On a month-over-month basis, the PPI was unchanged.
The report showed that inflation, while still way above the Fed’s 2% target, is showing signs of stabilization following the oil-driven surge since the start of the Iran war, according to Glen Smith at GDS Wealth Management.
Long-term yields surged past 5% this year on worries that higher energy prices would boost cost pressures, forcing the Fed to keep rates elevated.
That’s on top of heightened Treasury supply from years of fiscal deficits and a ramp-up of corporate borrowing to fund the artificial-intelligence boom.
Thursday’s tame inflation prints, paired with last week’s softer-than-expected jobs report, will give Fed Chair Kevin Warsh more breathing room, and may just be enough to keep rates on hold, according to Arun Sundaram at CFRA.
“But the Fed’s decision is far from settled,” he said.
“Investors still have several potential plot twists to digest.”
While inflation doesn’t seem to be reaccelerating — which is a step in the right direction — traders will monitor one more set of data in September, which will be key before the Fed decision, said Mona Mahajan at Edward Jones.
Fed Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin laid out an argument to hold rates steady in light of signs that inflation is declining but also acknowledged the risk that some price pressures could become embedded, eventually forcing officials to tighten policy.
His Cleveland counterpart Beth Hammack questioned whether recent signs of a slowdown in inflation will continue and reiterated her call to raise rates now.
Corporate Highlights:
* Advanced Micro Devices Inc. raised $4.75 billion in its biggest-ever US dollar bond offering, adding to a wave of debt tied to the AI boom.
* Workday Inc. surged after a Reuters report that private equity firm Silver Lake is in talks to purchase the software provider.
* Hertz Global Holdings Inc. tumbled as Pershing Square Inc.’s chief investment officer said the asset management firm has sold its stake in the car-rental company.
* Cisco Systems Inc. projected $7.5 billion in sales tied to the AI data center boom this fiscal year, disappointing investors who’ve seen the world’s largest networking gear supplier amass $9.3 billion in artificial intelligence-related orders over the past year.
* Cerebras Systems Inc. sank after projecting slower growth than some investors anticipated, a sign it’s still in the early stages of popularizing a novel chip design.
What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“The US stock market has all the ingredients to rally another 10% in the coming months, as profit projections are rising faster than share prices can keep up.”
—Tatiana Darie, Macro Strategist, Markets Live
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.1529
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3488
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.51 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $63,346.06
* Ether was little changed at $1,886.15
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 4.64%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.13%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.95%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.5% to $81.18 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 1.3% to $4,349.88 an ounce
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
To achieve great things, two things are needed: a plan, and not quite enough time. -Leonard Bernstein, 1818-1990.
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)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828