August 31, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.

August 31, 1997: Princess Diana, the beloved Princess of Wales, tragically dies in a car accident in Paris, sparking worldwide mourning.
August 31, 1896:  Klondike, gold discovered.

Maria Montessori, educator, b. 1870.
Richard Gere, actor, b. 1949.

A blue supermoon and soaring ocean temperatures created a perfect storm for Hurricane Idalia
The storm intensified overnight and made landfall near Keaton Beach, Florida, on the morning of Aug. 30.  Read More.

‘Blue moon’ lights up the night sky:  The rare blue moon was a magnificent sight Wednesday, but don’t fret if you missed it. Here are the dates of the four full moons remaining in 2023.

Wreckage from Tuskegee airman’s warplane recovered from Lake Huron
The recovered wreck will help tell the full story of America’s first Black military pilots. Read More.

Hackers attack 2 of the world’s most advanced telescopes, forcing shutdown
It’s unclear exactly what the nature of the cyberattacks were or from where they originated. Read More.

Every year, dozens of female hammerhead sharks mysteriously convene in French Polynesia under the full moon
The critically endangered and typically solitary species appears in the Rangiroa and Tikehau atolls every summer. Read More.

Painting bought at thrift store for $4 could fetch $250,000 at auction:   A lucky woman was surprised to learn a painting she bought at a thrift store was actually an authentic piece by prolific artist N.C. Wyeth.

This tropical Caribbean island has a domain name everybody wants.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
​​​​​​​
Sydney, Australia
A rare blue supermoon appears in the night sky over Ben Buckler Cliffs at Bondi Beach.  Photograph: Dan Himbrechts/EPA

Rare blue supermoon illuminates sky
The Apollo temple in Ancient Corinth, Greece. Photograph: Valérie Gache/AFP/Getty Images

Rare blue supermoon illuminates sky
An ancient fortress in Migdal Tsedek national park near Rosh Haayin, Israel
Photograph: Abir Sultan/EPA
Market Closes for August 31^st, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1897, Thomas Edison received a patent for his kinetoscope, the predecessor to the motion-picture camera.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2% at 20,292.62 in Toronto, ending a 4-day gain.
The loss follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2%.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.2%. Parkland Corp. had the largest drop, falling 4.5%.
Today, 146 of 227 shares fell, while 78 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 1.6%
* So far this week, the index rose 2.3%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended June 30
* The index advanced 5% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.6% below its 52-week high on Feb. 2, 2023 and 13.5% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.6% in the past 5 days and fell 1.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.3 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 11.33% compared with 11.34% in the previous session and the average of 10.91% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -45.0650| -0.7| 11/17
Industrials | -21.6117| -0.8| 7/19
Materials | -14.1767| -0.6| 13/37
Utilities | -8.3197| -1.0| 3/13
Consumer Staples | -7.2614| -0.8| 1/10
Energy | -6.5651| -0.2| 23/15
Communication Services | -5.9940| -0.8| 1/4
Real Estate | -5.7540| -1.2| 2/19
Health Care | 1.2492| 2.0| 1/3
Consumer Discretionary | 2.1891| 0.3| 8/6
Information Technology | 73.6188| 4.7| 8/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | -12.9400| -1.2| 25.9| -6.0
RBC | -12.0700| -1.0| -31.0| -4.4
CIBC | -11.3600| -3.2| 237.4| -2.2
Canadian Natural Resources | 3.3770| 0.5| 10.2| 16.3
Bank of Montreal | 3.3950| 0.6| 69.4| -5.1
Shopify | 72.8700| 10.7| 93.8| 91.2
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks churned at the end of a challenging month, with traders parsing mixed economic data and awaiting a key jobs reading to gauge the outlook for Federal Reserve policy.
Bond yields fell.
The dollar rose.
The S&P 500 finished with a small loss on Thursday, while notching its first monthly slide since February.
Aside from consolidation after this year’s rally, traders cited concern that the Fed will keep interest rates higher for longer to  prevent a flare-up in price pressures.
Treasury 10-year yields extended their retreat after hitting an almost 16-year high last week.

The Fed’s preferred measure of underlying inflation saw the smallest back-to-back increases since late 2020, encouraging consumer spending.
Markets took the report in stride, with the numbers illustrating the divergence within the US economy, according to Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial.
Wall Street is now bracing for Friday’s labor-market data, which will provide further insights on the Fed’s next steps.
The report is forecast to show employers boosted their payrolls by nearly 170,000 in August, while the unemployment rate held at a historic low of 3.5%.
“Given the continued strength in the labor market and the fact that the economy is still growing above trend, the Fed will view inflation as cooling, but not sufficiently cool,” said George Mateyo, chief investment officer at Key Private Bank.
More than 60% of investors surveyed by 22V Research expect softer-than-estimated August payrolls data, while 78% see wage inflation at or below consensus.
Meantime, 49% of them said the report will be “risk-on” and only 24% expect a “risk-off” reaction.
The Fed may be slower to cut rates than many market participants expect, said Bridgewater Associates Co-Chief Investment Officer Karen Karniol-Tambour.
“When you look at what it takes to get fast rate declines, usually you need the economy collapsing pretty quickly,” she said in an interview for an upcoming episode of Bloomberg Wealth ith David Rubenstein. “That’s very far from where we are today.”
Swap markets placed roughly even odds the Fed will boost rates in November by a quarter point.

Corporate Highlights
* Intel Corp. climbed as its chief said he’s “feeling good” about the chipmaker’s quarterly outlook.
* Software companies Salesforce Inc. and CrowdStrike Holdings Inc. gained on bullish forecasts.
* Ciena Corp. rallied after the communications-equipment company reported results that beat expectations.
* Dollar General Corp. fell after cutting its profit forecast for the second straight quarter amid rising labor costs and “softer sales trends.”
* Palantir Technologies Inc. dropped after being downgraded to underweight at Morgan Stanley — the latest indication of how Wall Street is skeptical of the software company, which has touted itself as a major player within artificial intelligence.
Key events this week:
* 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 fell 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.7% to $1.0843
* The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.2668
* The Japanese yen rose 0.5% to 145.49 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 4.1% to $26,135.27
* Ether fell 2.8% to $1,656.46
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.09%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 2.47%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 4.36%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.4% to $83.56 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,966.70 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
There is a crack in everything.  That’s how the light gets in. –Leonard Cohen, 1934-2016.

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