August 28, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday
Feast of St. Augustine.

On Aug. 28, 1963, 200,000 people participated in a peaceful civil rights rally in Washington, D.C., where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech
in front of the Lincoln Memorial. Go to article »
“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” -Martin Luther King Jr., 1929-1968.

The latest entry in our architecture critic Michael Kimmelman’s virtual tour of New York City: Jackson Heights, Queens. –The NY Times.

Amazon’s new wearable health device can judge the tone of your voice .  Why pay for that feature when we already have in-laws and workplace rivals to do it for free? –CNN

Johann W. von Goethe, b.1749.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A photographer snapped a herd of deer bathing in a picturesque loch with the water so calm it perfectly mirrored the animals. Paul Young captured the striking image while vising Glencoe, Scottish Highlands, UK.
CREDIT: PAUL YOUNG/ SWNS.COM

Two jay birds battling mid- air for food in the British countryside. Gary Jones, 54, snapped the birds “locked together in combat” in Galloway Forest Park, Scotland after they both spotted food.
CREDIT: GARY JONES/ CATERS NEWS

People watch the sunset from a park in Kansas City, Missouri, as a hot summer day comes to an end. Sunsets have been a bit more colorful than normal as smoke from California wildfires drifts into the central part of the country.
CREDIT: AP PHOTO/CHARLIE RIEDEL

A coastal roll cloud passes over the Puertito del Buceo marina during a storm in Montevideo, Uruguay.
CREDIT: MARIANA SUAREZ/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for August 28th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 2000, the New York Stock Exchange began trading in decimals, ending the two-century-old practice of pricing stocks in increments of 1/8th of a dollar. In theory, investors would benefit from lower trading costs, but cynics worried that brokers would make more money than ever. The first to adopt decimal pricing: Anadarko Petroleum, FedEx, Forest City Enterprises, Gateway, Hughes Supply and MSC Software.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell Friday as a rally in materials shares failed to offset a drop in consumer staples.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.2%, as consumer staples led seven of eleven sectors lower. George Weston Ltd fell 2.6% to its lowest since June 11.
Gold climbed, recovering from Thursday’s drop, as the dollar sank with investors weighing the impact of the Federal Reserve’s new approach to setting U.S. monetary policy.
Stock-market bull Brian Belski is reinstating his year-end target for Canadian stocks and he expects the S&P/TSX Composite to rise 8.8% over the next four months.
Gross domestic product plunged by an annualized 38.7% in the three months through June, adding to an 8.2% drop in the first quarter, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa. But household disposable income surged on the back of state transfers, much of which has yet to be spent.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1.8% to $1,964.84 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.3% to $1.3084 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 3.2 basis points to 0.634%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.2 percent, or 25.7 to 16,705.79 in Toronto.
Today, financials stocks led the market lower, as 7 of 11 sectors lost; 95 of 221 shares fell, while 123 rose.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.3 percent. OceanaGold Corp. had the largest drop, falling 6.2 percent.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.1 percent
* This month, the index rose 3.3 percent
* The index advanced 2.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 21 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 49.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.7 on a trailing basis and 24.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.55t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.46 percent compared with 9.53 percent in the previous session and the average of 11.31 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -33.8213| -0.7| 7/18
Information Technology | -14.7068| -0.9| 5/5
Consumer Staples | -13.8828| -2.0| 1/10
Industrials | -11.3443| -0.6| 10/17
Utilities | -9.3379| -1.1| 2/13
Communication Services | -7.3812| -0.8| 1/7
Real Estate | -0.5032| -0.1| 21/5
Health Care | 1.9137| 1.2| 7/2
Consumer Discretionary | 2.6966| 0.5| 8/5
Energy | 4.1208| 0.2| 18/6
Materials | 56.5512| 2.3| 43/7
US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks capped the week with fresh highs and the dollar weakened to a more than two-year low as the Federal Reserve’s new inflation approach rippled through global markets.
The benchmark S&P 500 closed at an all-time high for a sixth consecutive trading session, while the Nasdaq Composite also reached unseen levels a day after Jerome Powell signaled that the Fed will stay accommodative for longer through more tolerance toward consumer-price increases. The Dow Jones Industrial Average turned positive for the year. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index retreated as the euro strengthened against the dollar, which posted its worst daily decline in about three months against a basket of its peers. Gold advanced.
“Stocks seem to be enjoying the best of both worlds as they are seeing signs of improving economic momentum while monetary stimulus continues to be very accommodative — and more fiscal stimulus is likely on the way,” said Yousef Abbasi, global market strategist at StoneX. “Yesterday’s action by the Fed likely provides risk-assets with the assurance they need – easy money is here to stay.”
The greenback was also hurt by a surge in the yen on news that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will resign due to health reasons. European bonds pared earlier declines after a euro-area economic-confidence measure improved. Powell’s shift provided another tailwind for stocks globally, which are heading for a fifth week of gains as investors monitor progress on vaccine developments for the pandemic. It also helped move the U.S. yield curve to its steepest in two months.
Treasury securities mostly rebounded from Thursday’s rout, benefiting from some buying to match duration changes in benchmark indexes at month-end. “The Fed still has the market’s back and the market is responding positively to that prospect,” said Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation strategy for Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “That was confirmation that yes, we are going to see these lower rates for longer.”
Elsewhere, crude oil fluctuated as Hurricane Laura weakened while crossing over land in the refinery and LNG-rich Gulf of Mexico region. Emerging-market currencies gained, with South Africa’s rand strengthening as much as 2%.

     Here are the main market moves:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index rose 0.7% to 3,507.95 as of 4:01 p.m. New York time, hitting the highest on record with its seventh consecutive advance.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.6% to 28,653.32, the highest in about six months.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.6% to 11,695.63, the highest on record.
*The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 0.5% to 368.80, the lowest in a week.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.9% to 1,161.61, the lowest in more than two years on the largest decrease in more than three months.
*The euro jumped 0.6% to $1.1898, the strongest in more than a week on the biggest increase in a month.
*The Japanese yen appreciated 1.1% to 105.36 per dollar, the strongest in more than four weeks on the largest jump in five months.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries decreased two basis points to 0.13%, the lowest in more than two weeks on the biggest tumble in more than 11 weeks.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 0.73%, the first retreat in a week and the largest drop in more than a week.
*The yield on 30-year Treasuries decreased less than one basis point to 1.51%, the first retreat in a week.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 0.1% to $42.98 a barrel.
*Gold strengthened 1.8% to $1,963.79 an ounce, the highest in more than a week on the biggest increase in more than a week.
*Copper increased 1.3% to $3.03 a pound, hitting the highest in more than a week with its fifth straight advance and the largest climb in more than a week.
–With assistance from Katherine Greifeld and David Wilson.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

However impenetrable it seems, if you don’t try it, then you can never do it.
                                                                     -Andrew J Wiles, b. 1953

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