August 3, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1987~ The Iran-Contra congressional hearings ended with none of the 29 witnesses tying President Ronald Reagan directly to the diversion of arms-sales
profits to Nicaraguan rebels.  Go to article »

Martha Stewart, lifestyle maven, b. 1941.
Maggie Kuhn, founder of the Gray Panthers, b. 1905.

Minivans are making a comeback.  And so many people want them that they’re selling above sticker price.

450,000 honeybees have been living in the walls of a home for 35 years.  A couple discovered the bee colonies after they recently moved in.

See endangered orangutans on Sumatra, the only place on Earth where great apes, elephants, rhinos and tigers coexist.

We might need mushrooms for space travel.
Area German fined for having a WWII tank at his house. (h/t Scott Kominers)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Cast members, including (left to right) Kevin Clifton, Adam Cooper and Charlotte Gooch at the rehearsals for Singin’ in the Rain, before it re-opens later this week at Sadlers Wells Theatre in London
CREDIT: YUI WOK/PA

Salcombe Yawls taking part in one of Tuesday heats in the Salcombe Gin SYC Regatta, historic five-day long sailing event of competitive daily races during the first week of August around the stunning Salcombe Estuary 
CREDIT: JEFF GILBERT FOR THE TELEGRAPH

Sketch on the Square – Bringing art outdoors as part of the Inside Out festival, a month of free interactive art sessions in Trafalgar Square.
CREDIT: GUY BELL / ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Simone Biles of the United States on the balance beam during training.
CREDIT: REUTERS/MIKE BLAKE

Market Closes for August 3^rd, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1977, Tandy introduced one of the earliest affordable personal computers, the TRS-80 (soon to be affectionately nicknamed the “Trash 80”). It had four kilobytes of memory, a black-and-white monitor, and used floppy disks that truly flopped when you shook them. It retailed for just $599.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks reached a record high on Tuesday as consumer staples and tech shares advanced. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.4% to 20,365.85, an all-time high for the close. Consumer staples stocks were the best performers, led by grocery retailers.  Health care and real estate were the worst performers. Meanwhile, Canada’s securities regulators plan to merge two industry groups that oversee financial advisers into a single organization,  a move intended to address years of complaints about the overlapping roles and higher costs of the groups.
Commodities:
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $14.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,810.68 an ounce
FX/ Bonds:
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% to C$1.2539 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield slid about 8 basis points to 1.121%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite is rising 0.3 percent at 20,340.50 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.4 percent. Crescent Point Energy Corp. had the largest increase, rising 6.8 percent. In midday trading, 95 of 229 shares rose, while 130 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 26 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 35 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on July 7, 2021 and 31.9 percent above its low on Oct. 30, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 0.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.3 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$3.18t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.78 percent compared with 9.04 percent in the previous session and the average of 8.17 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | 20.5817| 0.8| 18/5
* Financials | 18.2667| 0.3| 15/12
* Information Technology | 17.4395| 0.7| 7/4
* Consumer Staples | 6.9851| 0.9| 6/7
* Communication Services | 6.4236| 0.7| 4/3
* Consumer Discretionary | 0.1968| 0.0| 5/8
* Utilities | -0.6929| -0.1| 8/8
* Industrials | -1.9460| -0.1| 9/20
* Real Estate | -3.5211| -0.6| 5/20
* Materials | -4.8946| -0.2| 17/35
* Health Care | -8.2876| -3.5| 1/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | 19.8700| 1.4| 15.4| 32.1
* Canadian Natural | | | |
* Resources | 7.9350| 2.3| -2.1| 37.7
* Brookfield Asset | | | |
* Management | 7.8940| 1.2| 32.4| 30.4
* First Quantum | | | |
* Minerals | -3.3490| -3.3| 58.4| 13.1
* Restaurant Brands | -3.6410| -2.0| 35.8| 7.2
* Bausch Health | -5.9650| -7.6| 397.8| 27.7

US
By Jennifer Bissell-Linsk and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities gained on Tuesday as mostly positive earnings were able to offset fresh concerns about China’s technology clampdown and the delta virus variant. The S&P 500 rose to a record as Ralph Lauren Corp., Gartner Inc. and Under Armour Inc. gained after earnings.  Meanwhile, the Nasdaq 100 also recovered from earlier losses after the Chinese state media criticized the “spiritual opium” of gaming and the U.K. was said to be considering a block on Nvidia Corp.’s $40 billion deal to acquire Arm Ltd. Crude oil pared back some of its earlier losses, helping to propel energy shares higher. Earlier the sector pushed the Stoxx Europe 600 to a record after BP Plc followed its Big Oil peers by increasing dividends and share buybacks. However, a slide in oil prices weighed on the gains as the spread of the delta virus variant continued to pose a risk to demand. Markets had also slumped earlier on news New York City will require proof of vaccination for customers at indoor restaurants and gyms. “I think what you’re going to continue to see is this continued volatility.
For a while, the primary volatility focus was is there inflation or isn’t there?” JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, said in an interview.  “This week it’s the good earnings versus the variant, and will it pause the reopening of businesses?” The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell to 1.17% after dipping as low as 1.15%.
Meanwhile the dollar was slightly weaker against major peers. Second-quarter earnings have been robust for the most part, but the months-long advance in Treasuries could point to a weaker period ahead. Traders are awaiting key U.S. jobs data this week to gauge the recovery and are monitoring the impact of price pressures sparked by pandemic-related disruptions.  Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said he could back a tapering announcement by September, if the next two monthly U.S. employment reports show continued gains. “Recent weeks and months have been a churning and choppy time for equities,” wrote Willie Delwiche, an investment strategist at All Star Charts. “Large-cap U.S. indexes have chopped and churned higher, while beneath the surface (and overseas) the chopping and churning have had a downward bias. Strong convictions about either breakouts or breakdowns have not been rewarded.” Crude oil fell to less than $71 a barrel in New York.Bitcoin hovered around $38,000.

Here are some key events to watch this week:
* Bank of England is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate and its bond-buying target unchanged Thursday
* Reserve Bank of India monetary policy decision, briefing Friday
* The U.S. jobs report is expected to show another robust month of hiring Friday

Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.1866
* The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.3918
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 109.06 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 1.17%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.48%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.52%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $70.62 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.5% to $1,814 an ounce
–With assistance from Kamaron Leach.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view. -Harper Lee, 1926-2016.

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