August 30, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Rare Blue Supermoon to Rise In Wednesday Night Sky
Happy 93^rd birthday Warren Buffett!

August 30, 1991: The Republic of Macedonia declares independence from Yugoslavia, becoming a sovereign nation.

On Aug. 30, 2005, Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast with devastating force, killing more than 1,700 people and flooding New Orleans
after the city’s levees failed.  Go to article >>

Mary Shelley, writer, b. August 30, 1797: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, who wrote Frankenstein at age 18, was the love child of two great English thinkers – William Godwin, a political philosopher, and Mary Wollstonecraft, author of the first feminist treatise, The Vindication of the Rights of Women.  Both decried the confinement of marriage, but married when Wollstonecraft became pregnant.  Eleven days after Mary’s birth, her mother died.  Her father raised her among the intellectual elite and she and her half sister Fanny once hid under a table to listen to Samuel Coleridge recite The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

At 16, she et Percy Bysshe Shelley.  They declared their love, ran away to France, and later married.  Of her five pregnancies between the ages of 17 and  24, only 1 child survived.  She was widowed at 24 , when Percy drowned while sailing.  Although her husband had been an outspoken advocate of free love, it appears that Mary was devoted exclusively to him.  She never remarried, nor formed any lasting liaisons.  For the remainder of her life, she cared for her father and her son, wrote six more novels, and a body of criticism of Percy’s work.  Mary had her husband’s heart removed before his body was cremated on the shores of Italy, and she kept it with her until her death on February 1, 1851, at the age of 54.

The next iPhone could be just weeks away.  Apple is widely expected to unveil a new iPhone at a special event on September 12. These are the rumored upgrades it may have.

Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel come together for a strike-focused podcast.  Some of the biggest names in late-night TV are teaming up for a podcast while their shows remain on hold due to the ongoing writers’ strike.

3,000-year-old mummified bees are so well preserved, scientists can see the flowers the insects ate
The bees were preserved well enough for researchers to make out small features, like their legs and antennae. Read More.

Ancient Roman walls discovered in Swiss Alps are an ‘archaeological sensation’
Archaeologists have uncovered a large area of 2,000-year-old walls revealing an elite Roman population and trading network. Read More.

How old are the Egyptian pyramids?   And why did the ancient Egyptians build pyramids in the first place?  Full Story: Live Science (8/29)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

New Delhi, India
A cut-out of a langur is tied to a fence alongside a road to deter monkeys before the G20 summit.  Photograph: Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters.

Oregon, US
The Umpqua River reflects smoke and heat from the Cougar Creek wildfire burning in the Tyee Ridge Complex in a rural area north-west of Roseburg. 183 people have been evacuated owing to the blazes that were started by a series of lighting strikes.  Photograph: Robin Loznak/Zuma Press Wire/Shutterstock

​​​​​​​Valencia, Spain
Revellers throw tomatoes at each other during the annual Tomatina (tomato fight fiesta) in the village of Bunol.  Photograph: Alberto Saiz/AP
Market Closes for August 30^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1930, Warren Edward Buffett was born in Omaha, Neb. His father, Howard, was a stockbroker and his mother, Leila, was a homemaker.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.2%, or 39.91 to 20,330.32 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since Aug. 11.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.8%.
Tilray Brands Inc. had the largest increase, rising 10.5%.
Today, 119 of 227 shares rose, while 99 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 1.4%
* The index advanced 4.2% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.5% below its 52-week high on Feb. 2, 2023 and 13.7% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.3% in the past 5 days and fell 0.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.4 on a trailing basis and 14.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.21t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.34% compared with 11.46% in the previous session and the average of 10.89% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 19.9822| 0.6| 34/4
Information Technology | 17.6870| 1.2| 7/3
Industrials | 11.3097| 0.4| 14/11
Financials | 4.4758| 0.1| 20/9
Health Care | 1.3962| 2.3| 3/1
Real Estate | 0.1762| 0.0| 14/7
Consumer Discretionary | -0.5008| -0.1| 7/7
Consumer Staples | -1.8750| -0.2| 3/8
Communication Services | -2.1855| -0.3| 0/4
Materials | -3.8836| -0.2| 16/31
Utilities | -6.6697| -0.8| 1/14
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 12.0900| 1.8| 17.1| 72.8
Bank of Montreal | 6.9390| 1.2| -29.7| -5.7
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 6.4510| 0.9| 19.8| 7.4
Quebecor | -1.1100| -3.2| 17.0| 3.0
Waste Connections | -2.2170| -0.7| -28.9| 4.4
National Bank of Canada | -9.2890| -3.9| 178.3| 5.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rose for a fourth straight day as another batch of economic reports pointed to moderation, cementing bets the Federal Reserve is approaching the end of its interest-rate hikes.
The S&P 500 topped 4,500.Apple Inc. led gains in mega-caps, while regional banks fell. Bloomberg News reported the Fed issued a slew of private warnings to lenders with assets between $100 billion and $250 billion in a bid to tighten supervision.
Treasury yields edged lower.
Swap contracts priced in less than a 50% chance of another quarter-point US rate increase this year.
“Investors are reacting with a ‘bad news is good news’ approach, betting that a slowing economy will lead to a less aggressive Federal Reserve,” said Mark Hackett, chief of
investment research at Nationwide. “This has calmed investors, but adds an element of risk if the pendulum continues to swing, as an earnings recovery is critical for a continued strong market.”
The Citigroup Economic Surprise Index for the US extended its plunge below 50 after topping 80 earlier this month, showing recent reports have been worse than analysts had forecast.
That means economists have “adjusted expectations to reality” — and upward surprises are becoming more difficult, Hackett noted.
US gross domestic product rose at a revised 2.1% annualized pace in the second quarter — below the government’s previous estimate — amid a more moderate business investment.
American companies added the fewest jobs in five months, according to figures published by the ADP Research Institute in collaboration with Stanford Digital Economy Lab. Pending-home sales unexpectedly rose.
“The reality of the current state of the economy is likely in the middle,” said Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors. “To the extent that investors view any signs that the economy is moving into a ‘not too hot, not too cold’ phase that could bring an end to Fed tightening, it could be viewed as a positive, at least briefly.”
Elsewhere, the euro rose as inflation slowed less than expected in Germany and quickened in Spain, offering European Central Bank officials a partial picture of the region’s price pressures as they judge whether to raise interest rates again.
Oil edged up as the market took a substantial drop in US crude stockpiles in stride.

Corporate Highlights:
* A Tesla Inc. plan to purchase hard-to-get construction materials is being investigated by US prosecutors, who are looking at whether the project was an appropriate use of company funds. The shares halted a three-day advance.
* Apple is testing the use of 3D printers to produce the steel chassis used by some of its upcoming smartwatches, according to people with knowledge of the matter, heralding a major change to how the company manufactures products.
* Visa Inc. and Mastercard Inc. rose on plans planning to boost the fees that many retailers pay when accepting customers’ credit and debit cards.
* HP Inc. sank after cutting its profit outlook and acknowledging that a rebound in personal-computer demand isn’t coming as quickly as hoped.
* American Airlines Group Inc. flight attendants gave their union leaders approval to trigger a strike if the labor group is eventually allowed to end contract negotiations under federal labor law. The shares retreated.
Key events this week:
* China manufacturing PMI, non-manufacturing PMI, Thursday
* Japan industrial production, retail sales, Thursday
* Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Thursday
* ECB publishes account of July monetary policy meeting, Thursday
* US personal spending and income, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* China Caixin manufacturing PMI, Friday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, Friday
* South African central bank governor Lesetja Kganyago, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, BOE’s Huw Pill, IMF’s Gita Gopinath on panel at the South African Reserve Bank conference, Friday
* Boston Fed President Susan Collins speaks at virtual event, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, light vehicle sales, ISM manufacturing, construction spending, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.0922
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.2717
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 146.26 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.4% to $27,192.53
* Ether fell 1.4% to $1,702.19
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.12%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.54%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.42%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to $81.71 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,971.60 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Always bear in mind that your own resolution to success is more important than any other one thing. –Abraham Lincoln, 1809-1865.

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