Author: Carolann

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

October 1, 1949: Mao Zedong declares the establishment of the People’s Republic of China.
October 1, 1962: Johnny Carson takes over as host of NBC’s Tonight Show, with Grouch Marx as his first guest.
October 1, 2008: A $700 billion financial industry bailout won lopsided passage in the Senate, 74-25, after it was loaded with tax breaks and other sweeteners.   Go to article >>

1890: Yosemite National Park established.

Jimmy Carter, 39^th President of the USA, b.1924.
Julie Andrews, b. 1935.

Can you see Earth’s new ‘minimoon’ with the naked eye?
On Sunday, Sept. 29, Earth captured a new “minimoon” called 2024 PT5. The bus-size asteroid is expected to orbit our planet for 57 days, but is too small to be visible to amateur skywatchers. Read More.

50 Viking Age burials discovered in Denmark, including a woman in a rare ‘Viking wagon’
Finding a Viking Age burial ground of this size is rare, in part because Scandinavian soil doesn’t preserve skeletons well. Read More.

Are there any planets in the universe that aren’t round?
Earth is round, but are there any planets in the universe that aren’t? Read More.

History of quantum computing: 12 key moments that shaped the future of computers
Although quantum computing is a nascent field, there are plenty of key moments that defined it over the last few decades as scientists strive to create machines that can solve impossible problems. Read More.

Thousands of kids made cards for Jimmy Carter’s 100th birthday
More than 4,000 students from coast to coast got creative and sent hand-drawn birthday cards to celebrate the former president. Empaths, this sweet gesture is so heartwarming … you may need a tissue to crayon.

LeBron James and son Bronny share special moments during Lakers media day
The pair is expected to soon make history as the first father-son duo to play together on an NBA team. Nineteen-year-old Bronny James shared his hopes for the upcoming season at his first Lakers media day on Monday

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Suffolk, UK
‘One evening, this barn owl was standing at the entrance to her nest, waiting for the rain to stop. It felt like a rare opportunity to see this. Photo taken in Great Livermere.’
Photograph: Mara Puiu

Ladakh, India
‘The Tsarap River, fed by melting snow, flows below the Phuktal monastery. Unusual for this arid, high-altitude region are the lowering rain clouds. The overcast lighting brings out the subtle shades of the bare sedimentary rock strata.’
Photograph: Timothy A Gonsalves

​​​​​​​Pont Drift, Botswana
‘A very young elephant enjoying a mid-morning bath at the hide waterhole in Mashatu game reserve.’
Photograph: Frank Warwick
Market Closes for October 1^st, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42156.97	-173.18
		-0.41%
S&P 500	5708.75	-53.73
		-0.93%
NASDAQ	17910.36	-278.81
		-1.53%
TSX	24033.99	+33.62
		+0.14%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	38651.97	+732.42
		+1.93%
HANG SENG	21133.68	+501.38
		+2.43%
SENSEX	84266.29	-33.49
		-0.04%
FTSE 100*	8276.65	+39.70
		+0.48%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.945	2.957
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.119	3.140
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7315	3.7809
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0716	4.1191

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7410	0.7393
US $	1.3495	1.3527

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4933	0.6696
US $	1.1066	0.9037

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2629.95	2661.85
Oil
WTI Crude Future	69.83	68.18

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1928, the Dow Jones Industrial Average assumed its modern form, adding 10 new members so that it comprised 30 stocks. Among them were Nash Motors, Texas Gulf Sulphur and Victor Talking Machine.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.1%, or 33.62 to 24,033.99 in Toronto.
Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 2 of 11 sectors gained; 129 of 223 shares rose, while 92 fell.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 4.5%.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 15%, heading for the best year since 2021
* The index advanced 23% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 32% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.3% below its 52-week high on Sept. 26, 2024 and 28.6% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 2.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.81t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.70% compared with 9.81% in the previous session and the average of 12.05% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 96.9008| 2.4| 39/1
Materials | 29.2935| 1.0| 40/11
Utilities | -0.1849| 0.0| 9/6
Health Care | -0.8344| -1.1| 1/3
Real Estate | -2.0929| -0.4| 10/10
Communication Services | -3.4721| -0.5| 2/3
Consumer Staples | -4.6238| -0.5| 2/9
Consumer Discretionary | -5.6796| -0.7| 3/9
Financials | -17.6653| -0.2| 14/13
Industrials | -23.4898| -0.8| 9/17
Information Technology | -34.5303| -1.7| 0/10
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | 29.8800| 4.5| -48.8| 8.1
Suncor | 17.7500| 4.0| -50.8| 22.3
Enbridge | 8.6710| 1.0| -23.2| 16.4
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -13.6900| -1.8| -15.2| 8.3
RBC | -17.0000| -1.0| 30.7| 24.7
Shopify | -20.0400| -2.2| -17.6| 2.7
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — The persistent rally in stocks was knocked for a loop Tuesday as investors retreated to safer corners of the market when the conflict in the Middle East intensified.
Haven assets were bid up with bonds, oil, gold and the US dollar all advancing after Iran fired a barrage of missiles at Israel following an advance of armed forcesinto Lebanon.
The US is actively supporting preparations to defend Israel, according to an earlier report.
Gold climbed above $2,670 an ounce during the trading day while oil briefly topped $71 a barrel.
“Markets are in wait and see mode,” said Kathleen Brooks, research director at XTB. “The next 24 hours will be critical to see how far this situation escalates and whether the rush to safe havens was justified.”
If the conflict blows over, she expects stocks and tech shares to recover.
The tech sector was the session’s worst performer with Apple Inc. and Nvidia Corp. sinking around 3%.
The Nasdaq 100 trimmed a more than 2% loss to a 1.4% drop in afternoon trading.
The S&P 500 fell 0.9% while Treasuries held onto an advance.
The clash eclipsed the signals from Tuesday’s economic data.
The US ISM price index fell by the most since May 2023, while US job openings rose in August to a three-month high, at odds with other readouts indicating slowing demand for workers.
Treasury yields remained lower with the 10-year hovering around 3.74%.
“Today’s reports should weigh down the 10-year yield, dollar, and employment service stocks, though the payroll release is more influential,” according to Evercore ISI’s Stan Shipley, alluding to Friday’s highly anticipated employment readout. “However, geopolitical stories out of the Mideast are more important for Treasury markets.”
A longshoremen’s strike was also stirring up angst as the longer traffic at major US container ports is shuttered, the bigger the economic losses.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. estimates the stoppage will cost as much as $4.5 billion a day.
Investors will also get a chance to hear from vice presidential nominees JD Vance and Tim Walz in their sole debate of this election season in US afterhours.
The would-be VPs are trying to win crucial swing voters in the lead up to November.
Shares of Nike Inc. weakened in post market trading after the athleticwear maker reported quarterly revenue that missed estimates.
Wall Street’s fear gauge — the VIX — spiked higher, touching a key level that usually indicates more market swings are in store.
Tuesday kicks off a historically positive, though often volatile, period for equities.
The S&P 500 set its 43rd closing record on Monday notching a third-quarter rally that capped the longest such winning stretch since 2021.
“October has been a much friendlier month to bulls from start to finish, but in between it hasn’t been a walk in the park,” according to Bespoke Investment Group strategists.
The S&P 500’s average intramonth peak-to-trough decline of around 4.6% is the largest of any month, according to Bespoke data going back to 1945.
In money markets, swaps trader are wagering on a one-in-three chance the Fed will deliver another half-point cut in November, but that may not pan out as expected, Larry Fink warned.
“The amount of easing that’s in the forward curve is crazy,” Fink, the chief executive officer of BlackRock Inc. said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “There’s room for easing more, but not as much as the forward curve would indicate.”
Rate-Cut Bets Elsewhere, Euro-area inflation slowed below the European Central Bank’s 2% target for the first time since 2021, prompting money markets to add to bets on another quarter-point decrease by the ECB this month.
ECB President Christine Lagarde said the bank is growing more optimistic about reining in price pressures. 

Key events this week: 
* South Korea CPI, S&P Global Manufacturing PMI on Wednesday
* Fed speakers include Richmond’s Thomas Barkin, Cleveland’s Beth Hammack, St. Louis’s Alberto Musalem and Fed Governor Michelle Bowman on Wednesday
* US nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.1068
* The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.3282
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 143.55 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 3.2% to $61,750.38
* Ether fell 4.8% to $2,488
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 3.74%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 2.04%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 3.94%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.2% to $70.37 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $2,658.81 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alexandra Semenova, Allegra Catelli, Alice Atkins, Cecile Gutscher and Margaryta Kirakosian.
Have a lovely evening everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
When you betray somebody else, you also betray yourself. – Isaac Bashevis Singer, 1904-1991.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.

September 30, 1927:  Babe Ruth of the New York Yankees hit his 60th home run of the season to break his own major-league record.  Go to article >>

September 30,1938: The Munich Agreement, signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Daladier, and Chamberlain, forces Czechoslovakia to give territory to Germany.  Chamberlain declares “Peace for our time.”
Germany breaks the deal within six months.

September 30, 1452: Gutenberg Bible published.
Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor & activist, b. 1928.
Truman Capote, b. 1924.
September 30, 1955: James Dean killed in car crash.

China’s astronauts are aiming to land on the moon by 2030
And they now have a new advanced spacesuit to do it.

Pictures reveal the dramatic shrinking of major Amazon rivers
River levels in the Amazon are at record lows, upending lives and endangering wildlife. See before-and-after photos of Brazil’s worst drought on record.

‘LibraryTok’ is building school-age nostalgia on the internet
Welcome to “LibraryTok,” where school librarians are also viral stars. Their nostalgia-inspiring videos are encouraging adults to return to the library or donate to schools in need.

America’s Greyhound bus stations are disappearing
Chicago is on the verge of losing its only intercity bus terminal. Its closure could threaten access for low-income and elderly travelers with few other transportation options.

Razed city that rebelled against Rome ‘remained uninhabited for over 170 years,’ excavations reveal
The ancient city was besieged and destroyed in 125 B.C., probably in a dispute over the rights of Roman citizenship. Read More.

Scientists confirm there are 40 huge craters at the bottom of Lake Michigan
Researchers recently surveyed the bottom of Lake Michigan after spotting strange circles on the lakebed in 2022. New observations show the circles are craters, but how they formed remains unclear.
Read More.

Newest Starlink satellites are leaking even more radiation than their predecessors — and could soon disrupt astronomy
A new study reveals that Generation 2 Starlink satellites are leaking up to 30 times more radio waves than their predecessors. If SpaceX continues to deploy the newer versions as planned, we could reach an “inflection point” where astronomers can no longer properly study the cosmos, researchers warn. Read More.

Why do leafy green vegetables interact with blood thinners?
Leafy green vegetables can affect the way certain anticoagulant (blood thinning) medications work. But why? Read More.

RIP Kris Kristofferson.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Fluffy brown penguin chick Pesto, who shot to fame for his massive weight of 22.5kg. The nine-month-old chick is the largest penguin Sea Life Melbourne has ever seen.
Photograph: Sea Life Melbourne/AFP/Getty Images

Swimmers take to the water at Bondi beach in early September after Australia reported its hottest August on record. According to official data released by the Bureau of Meteorology, the national average temperature in August was 3.03C above the long-term average for the month.
Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Łódź, Poland
People gather around an installation called Back to Childhood at the city’s annual festival of light
Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for September 30^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42330.15	+17.15
		+0.04%
S&P 500	5762.48	+24.31
		+0.42%
NASDAQ	18189.17	+69.58
		+0.38%
TSX	24000.37	+43.55
		+0.18%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	37919.55	-1910.01
		-4.80%
HANG SENG	21133.68	+501.38
		+2.43%
SENSEX	84299.78	-1272.07
		-1.49%
FTSE 100*	8236.95	-83.81
		-1.01%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.957	2.957
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.140	3.140
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7809	3.7506
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.1191	4.1038

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7393	0.7398
US $	1.3527	1.3517

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5063	0.6639
US $	1.1136	0.8980

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2661.85	2663.75
Oil
WTI Crude Future	68.18	68.18

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1981, the U.S. issued 20-year Treasury bonds at a 15.78% yield, an all-time high. Analysts predicted yields would have to go higher to attract stronger demand. Yields promptly fell, and kept going down for the next 12 years.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2% at 23,998.13 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.3%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.2%.
BlackBerry Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 5.6%.
Today, 131 of 223 shares rose, while 89 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 15%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.7%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.8%
* The index advanced 23% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 33% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.5% below its 52-week high on Sept. 26, 2024 and 28.4% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.4% in the past 5 days and rose 2.8% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.8t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 9.81% compared with 9.81% in the previous session and the average of 12.25% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 23.2741| 1.2| 9/1
Energy | 18.2366| 0.5| 31/8
Industrials | 17.9903| 0.6| 21/6
Financials | 14.9357| 0.2| 18/8
Consumer Staples | 2.9515| 0.3| 10/1
Consumer Discretionary | 2.6068| 0.3| 8/4
Health Care | 0.5598| 0.7| 3/1
Real Estate | 0.0000| -0.6| 14/6
Communication Services | -2.6467| -0.4| 3/2
Utilities | -3.1865| -0.3| 2/13
Materials | -36.1275| -1.2| 12/39
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 10.4900| 1.2| -14.3| 5.0
RBC | 9.4910| 0.6| 23.3| 26.0
Constellation Software | 8.4200| 1.4| -8.8| 33.9
Barrick Gold | -5.6330| -1.7| -0.9| 12.4
Wheaton Precious Metals | -5.8630| -2.2| 57.5| 26.4
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | -5.8780| -1.5| 48.8| 50.0
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — Stocks eked out a gain in the final minutes of US trading, even after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell signaled, he was in no hurry to make further interest-rate cuts.
Powell said the central bank will lower interest rates “over time,” while re-emphasizing that the overall economy remains on solid footing.
The S&P 500 closed the third quarter with a more than $2.5 trillion rally, shrugging off the central banker’s cautious stance.
Despite weakness earlier in the day, the S&P 500 secured its fourth-consecutive quarter of gains — the longest such winning stretch since 2021.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 notched a similar run.
“The bull market has survived the year’s historically weakest quarter, the third quarter, and it is likely to remain intact through at least the end of the year, as earnings remain strong, interest rates are moving lower and consumers are still spending,” said Emily Bowersock Hill at Bowersock Capital Partners.
“We expect the fourth quarter to be quite similar to the third quarter – elevated volatility, but with a strong finish,” she added.
Meanwhile, the world’s biggest bond market pared a historic gain after Powell’s comments.
Treasury yields were higher, led by the policy-sensitive two-year note which traded around 3.64% after Powell said the US didn’t have the data yet to make a call on the November meeting.
Still, Treasury debt returned 1.4% this month this month through Friday, as measured by the Bloomberg US Treasury Total Return Index.
If the advance holds it will be the market’s longest streak of monthly gains since 2010.
Powell was “a tiny bit hawkish at the margin, but the Fed still has a lot of cutting to do,” according to Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli.
The Fed Chair’s remarks seemed to suggest markets should think about a half-point cut instead of three-quarters of a point for the rest of the year, he added.
Swaps traders reined in their rate cut bets which had traded closer to a three-quarter point move before the US open.
“Powell won’t end the 25 bp versus 50 bp debate this afternoon. Or at least it is very unlikely,” BMO’s Ian Lyngen wrote in a note before the meeting.  Friday’s employment report is the main event this week, he said, adding Tuesday’s JOLTS figures from August “should reinforce the idea that a cooling labor market has become the new norm.”
While gauging the outlook for Fed rate cuts, investors must contend with a cocktail of risks, including rising tensions in the Middle East and a looming dockworkers’ strike in critical US ports Tuesday.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee voiced his concerns about a supply shock if a strike drags on.
“That’s going to raise the cost of doing business and lead to shortages,” he told Fox Business.
Meanwhile, Raphael Bostic of the Atlanta Fed told Reuters he was open to another half-point of policy easing at the central bank’s November meeting if the upcoming data showed slower-than-expected job growth.
To Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists led by David Kostin, a strong print Friday may help fuel risk-on bets and embolden investors to move “out of expensive ‘quality’ stocks into less-loved lower quality firms.”
European stocks dropped some 1% after Jeep maker Stellantis NV cut its profit margin forecast.
On Friday, Volkswagen AG had issued its second profit warning in three months.
Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. slumped in US trading.
That was in contrast to the mood in China, where the CSI 300 Index jumped as much as 9.1%, the most since 2008, fueled by the stimulus package.

Corporate Highlights
* Verizon Communications Inc., the biggest wireless carrier in the US, has agreed to sell thousands of mobile phone towers to digital infrastructure firm Vertical Bridge.
* DirecTV and Dish have agreed to combine in a deal that will create the biggest pay-TV provider in the US.
* REA Group Ltd. walked away from its pursuit of Rightmove Plc after being repeatedly rejected by the UK property portal.

Key events this week: 
* Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic, Fed Governor Lisa Cook, Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin and Boston Fed President Susan Collins attend conference on Tuesday
* ECB policy makers speaking at various locations include Olli Rehn, Luis de Guindos, Isabel Schnabel and Joachim Nagel on Tuesday
* BOE chief economist Huw Pill speaks at Confederation of British Industry economic growth board on Tuesday
* Bank of Japan issues summary of opinions for September on Tuesday
* South Korea CPI, S&P Global Manufacturing PMI on Wednesday
* Fed speakers include Richmond’s Thomas Barkin, Cleveland’s Beth Hammack, St. Louis’s Alberto Musalem and Fed Governor Michelle Bowman on Wednesday
* US nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 4:02 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1133
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3371
* The Japanese yen fell 1% to 143.68 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 3.5% to $63,554.51
* Ether fell 2.4% to $2,598.86
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 3.79%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 2.12%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 4.00%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
* Spot gold fell 1% to $2,631.75 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Michael Mackenzie, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Kit Rees, Margaryta Kirakosian and Catherine Bosley.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
The only limit to the height of your achievements is the reach of your dreams and your willingness to work hard for them. –Michelle Obama, b. 1964.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

September 27, 1905:  Albert Einstein publishes his paper on special relativity, fundamentally changing the understanding of time, space, and energy in physics.
On Sept. 27, 1964, the Warren Commission issued a report concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone in assassinating President John F. Kennedy. Go to article >>

1964: Warren Report issued.

James Webb telescope spots rare ‘missing link’ galaxy at the dawn of time
Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope have spotted a rare galaxy at the dawn of time that may be a “missing link” between the oldest generation of stars and the ones
we see near Earth. Read More.

‘People should not be there’: ‘Unsurvivable’ 20-foot storm surge predicted as ferocious Hurricane Helene heads to Florida
Hurricane Helene has been intensifying with the help of unprecedentedly warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico and is now barreling toward Florida. Read More.

Astronomers spot a possible ‘future Earth’ — 8 billion years into its future
The rocky planet, roughly twice Earth’s size, has offered astronomers a glimpse of one of Earth’s possible futures — if it doesn’t get engulfed by our expanding sun. Read More.

Watch extremely rare footage of a big fin squid ‘walking’ on long, spindly arms deep in the South Pacific
While exploring the Tonga Trench in the Southwestern Pacific Ocean, researchers captured extremely rare footage of a Magna pinna squid with arms several times the length of its body. Read More.

Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards finalists announced
A smiling seal, a stuck squirrel and a contemplative chimpanzee are among the images shortlisted for this year’s Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

Shohei Ohtani’s record-setting 50-50 baseball is up for auction
The ball that made MLB star Shohei Ohtani the first member of the 50-50 club and placed him firmly in the history books (again) is up for sale — and could be yours for a mere $4.5 million.

Former league MVP Derrick Rose retires from the NBA
Derrick Rose, longtime NBA veteran and former league MVP, announced his decision to retire from professional basketball. Read his statement here.

Many parents are worried their kids don’t have enough friends, poll finds
Forming friendships can be difficult for some kids on the heels of a pandemic and in the age of social media. These are some things parents can do to help their children form connections.

RIP  MAGGIE SMITH

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lianyungang, China
Sunlight shines through the morning mist above residential buildings in Lianyungang
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

A bee considers the nectar potential of a flower at a park in Seoul, South Korea
Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

​​​​​​​I’ll tell you a secret
A tiny raccoon whispers into her mother’s ear in Germany
Photograph: Jan Piecha
Market Closes for September 27^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42313.00	+137.89
		+0.33%
S&P 500	5738.17	-7.20
		-0.13%
NASDAQ	18119.59	-70.70
		-0.39%
TSX	23956.82	-77.01
		-0.32%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	39829.56	+903.93
		+2.32%
HANG SENG	20632.30	+707.72
		+3.55%
SENSEX	85571.85	-264.27
		-0.31%
FTSE 100*	8320.76	+35.85
		+0.43%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.957	3.019
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.140	3.200
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7506	3.7963
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.1038	4.1308

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7398	0.7415
US $	1.3517	1.3487

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5095	0.6625
US $	1.1168	0.8954

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2663.75	2661.45
Oil
WTI Crude Future	68.18	67.67

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1985: tobacco giant Philip Morris agreed to buy General Foods for $5.75 billion, the largest-ever takeover outside the oil industry at the time. Many Philip Morris investors were angry it was moving into the slow-growing processed food business.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3% at 23,956.82 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 0.4% on Sept. 18 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.5%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.6%.
Fortuna Mining Corp. had the largest drop, falling 5.4%.
Today, 127 of 223 shares fell, while 92 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 14%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.5%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.6%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.4%
* The index advanced 23% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 33% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.6% below its 52-week high on Sept. 26, 2024 and 28.2% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.2 on a trailing basis and 16.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.81t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 9.81% compared with 9.71% in the previous session and the average of 12.57% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -64.3137| -2.1| 9/42
Information Technology | -35.6394| -1.7| 1/9
Financials | -9.6936| -0.1| 11/15
Industrials | -8.7593| -0.3| 7/20
Real Estate | -3.3125| -0.6| 6/14
Consumer Staples | -0.5834| -0.1| 3/8
Health Care | 0.2858| 0.4| 2/2
Consumer Discretionary | 1.2722| 0.2| 6/5
Utilities | 3.1929| 0.3| 9/5
Communication Services | 7.5710| 1.0| 5/0
Energy | 32.9686| 0.8| 33/7
To see sector information, click here.
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -14.6300| -1.6| -36.1| 3.8
Constellation Software | -13.1700| -2.2| -29.3| 32.1
Barrick Gold | -11.7600| -3.4| -46.3| 14.3
Suncor | 5.3260| 1.2| -33.9| 17.3
Tourmaline Oil | 5.4850| 4.0| -49.1| 5.6
Canadian Natural Resources | 13.6800| 2.1| -52.5| 3.4
US
By Rheaa Rao and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — US stocks gained for a third consecutive week — despite languishing on Friday — as investors were repeatedly reassured that the economy is cooling without falling off a cliff.
Treasuries rallied as data cemented bets of further interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Yields are lower across the curve, with the 10-year rate hovering around 3.75%.
The dollar declined for a fourth week.
The Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying US inflation rose mildly in August, as did inflation-adjusted consumer spending.
Those figures confirmed what traders already knew about the health of economy after parsing a slew of data earlier this week.
A read on US consumer sentiment on Friday matched the optimism.
Commentary from Fed officials this week did little to sway existing perceptions on the central bank’s trajectory.
On Friday, St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said he favors ‘gradually’ lowering rates after a big cut last week.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, meanwhile, restated her view that the US economy is still strong.
On Thursday, Fed Chair Jerome Powell didn’t offer any details on the economic outlook or path for monetary policy during a pre-recorded speech.
Other catalysts this week included daily stimulus announcements from China that kept sentiment largely upbeat.
Several central banks across the globe — in Switzerland, Mexico, Hungary and Czech Republic — also lowered interest rates this week.
Despite an overall sanguine week, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 ended Friday’s session lower, weighed down by Nvidia Corp.
Its shares fell on news that China is urging local companies to stay away from its chips.
Even after a flood of data this week, markets are still pricing in a split chance between a quarter point and half point cut at the Fed’s next meeting.
Economists now see inflation reaching the US central bank’s 2% target next year.
“Add today’s PCE price index to the list of economic data landing in a sweet spot,” said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E*Trade. “Inflation continues to keep its head down, and while economic growth may be slowing, there’s no indication it’s falling off a cliff.”
Damian McIntyre, a portfolio manager at Federated Hermes, said that while a soft landing for the economy is never guaranteed, investors should find solace in the strength of recent economic data.
“Today’s inflation print confirms what Jerome Powell told us last week: inflation is falling, the consumer is strong, and the labor market remains resilient,” he said. A key driver of markets later next week will be jobs data, which will provide further clues on the state of the labor market.
Elsewhere, China’s CSI 300 Index concluded its best week since 2008.
In Europe, stocks closed at a fresh all-time high on Friday, capping off their best week in more than four months.
In commodities, oil declined for the week. On Friday, however, its prices jumped after Israel said its military struck
Hezbollah’s main headquarters in southern Beirut, ramping up tensions in the Middle East. 

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.1163
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.3373
* The Japanese yen rose 1.8% to 142.22 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $65,722.96
* Ether rose 2.6% to $2,700.82
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 3.75%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 2.13%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.98%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.3% to $68.58 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.8% to $2,651.82 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Winnie Hsu, Divya Patil, Alex Nicholson, Sujata Rao, Margaryta Kirakosian and Edward Bolingbroke.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
It is better to fail in originality than to succeed in imitation. –Heman Melville, 1819-1891.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
September 26, 1983: Soviet officer Stanislav Petrov decides not to retaliate during a false alarm of U.S. missiles, preventing a potential nuclear disaster in the Cold War.

1960: First televised Presidential debate.
Johnny Appleseed, farmer, b. 1774.
T.S. Eliot, poet, b
George Gershwin, composer, b.1898.
Jane Smiley, writer, b.1949.

Meta is upgrading its AI chatbot
Facebook and Instagram users will now be able to chat with voices that sound like celebrities Judi Dench, John Cena and Keegan-Michael Key.

Dubai’s millionaires are fueling a private jet boom
In the United Arab Emirates, the millionaire’s club is growing faster than anywhere else in the world, and with it the demand for corporate and luxury private aviation.

Bankruptcy judge approves Infowars auction
Alex Jones’ conspiracy theory empire Infowars will be sold for parts to help pay the nearly $1.5 billion he owes to Sandy Hook families.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Wraxall, UK
Staff at Noah’s Ark zoo farm harvesting 10,000 pumpkins that have been sustainably grown using elephant and rhino dung as fertiliser
Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Mumbai, India
A mural painted on a wall. The city is renowned for its colourful street art
Photograph: Punit Paranjpe/AFP/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Easy fellas – Hajime
Hajime is the term used by the referee in Judo to invite opponents to start fighting. Here, the standing polar bear appears to adopt the gesture to prepare the other bears to fight (Arctic wildlife refuge, Alaska)
Photograph: Philippe Ricordel
Market Closes for September 26^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42175.11	+260.36
		+0.62%
S&P 500	5745.37	+23.11
		+0.40%
NASDAQ	18190.29	+108.08
		+0.60%
TSX	24033.83	+127.95
		+0.54%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	38925.63	+1055.37
		+2.79%
HANG SENG	19924.58	+795.48
		+4.16%
SENSEX	85836.12	+666.25
		+0.78%
FTSE 100*	8284.91	+16.21
		+0.20%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.019	3.010
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.200	3.202
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7963	3.7849
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.1308	4.1398

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7415	0.7415
US $	1.3487	1.3487

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5012	0.6661
US $	1.1131	0.8984

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2661.45	2635.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	67.67	70.32

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1955: The stock market plunged almost 7%, its worst one-day decline since the crash of 1929, after news that President Dwight D. Eisenhower had a heart attack over the weekend. He recovered and was re-elected in 1956.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.5% at 24,033.83 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.2%.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 10 of 11 sectors gained; 155 of 223 shares rose, while 67 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.8%.
Hudbay Minerals Inc. had the largest increase, rising 7.6%.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 15%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.9%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.9%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.7%
* The index advanced 23% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 34% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 28.6% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 2.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.2 on a trailing basis and 16.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.79t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.71% compared with 10.15% in the previous session and the average of 12.76% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 69.2142| 0.9| 22/5
Materials | 46.8758| 1.5| 42/9
Information Technology | 37.3006| 1.8| 10/0
Industrials | 15.3442| 0.5| 21/6
Consumer Discretionary | 12.3140| 1.5| 12/0
Utilities | 11.4503| 1.2| 14/1
Consumer Staples | 2.3132| 0.2| 9/2
Real Estate | 1.3881| 0.3| 16/4
Communication Services | 0.5673| 0.1| 2/3
Health Care | 0.3749| 0.5| 3/1
Energy | -69.1928| -1.7| 4/36
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 16.4900| 1.8| 31.3| 5.5
Brookfield Corp | 15.1900| 2.1| -25.0| 35.4
Teck Resources | 12.1000| 5.5| 33.8| 29.5
Cenovus Energy | -8.9890| -4.3| -8.6| -0.1
Suncor | -11.4500| -2.6| -33.4| 15.9
Canadian Natural Resources | -22.1500| -3.3| -71.3| 1.3
US
By Rheaa Rao and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks clung onto some of its earlier gains as traders await bigger clues about the health of the economy after upbeat data on Thursday.
The S&P 500 rose 0.4%, closing at its 42nd record high of this year.
The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.7%.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell.
The 10-year US Treasury yield advanced to around 3.79%.
Markets were ebullient earlier after data highlighted a resilient US economy and China’s top leaders pledged to support fiscal spending.
US stock indexes were also propelled higher by Micron Technology Inc., which gave a strong forecast aided by AI demand.
On the other hand, news of the Justice Department’s probe of Super Micro Computer Inc. — also a beneficiary of the AI boom — pushed its shares lower.
Now, traders are awaiting the next batch of catalysts that could give them hints about the Federal Reserve’s path ahead.
Those include the US central bank’s preferred price metric and a snapshot of consumer demand releasing on Friday.
“We think there is the potential that economic data will be more resilient, especially on jobs, than the market is expecting,” said Peter Tchir, head of macro strategy at Academy Securities.
Earlier, revised data showed the US economy emerged from the pandemic in better shape than initially expected.
A decline in US jobless claims underscored the resilience of the labor market.
But investors who were waiting for commentary from Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Thursday didn’t get any details on the economic outlook or path for monetary policy.
Elsewhere, the Swiss National Bank cut borrowing costs by a quarter point at a third straight meeting and warned of more to come if needed in its attempt to contain the strength of the franc.
The Mexican peso briefly extended gains Thursday after the nation’s central bank lowered borrowing costs by a quarter percentage point, joining easing steps by Hungary and the Czech Republic earlier this week.
Among commodities, oil slid for the second day as Saudi Arabia was reportedly committed to increasing output in December, while Libya named its new central bank governor, opening the way to reviving some crude production.

Key events this week: 
* China industrial profits, Friday
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday
* US PCE, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets: 
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 4:02 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.1178
* The British pound rose 0.7% to $1.3415
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 144.71 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.2% to $64,870.28
* Ether rose 2.9% to $2,655.06
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.79%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.18%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 4.01%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.4% to $67.32 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,673.48 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alex Nicholson, Denitsa Tsekova, Margaryta Kirakosian, Winnie Hsu, Divya Patil, Richard Henderson, Ben Priechenfried, James Hirai and Sujata Rao.

Have  a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Change is the end result of all true learning. –Leo Buscaglia, 1924-1998.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
September 25, 1066: The Battle of Stamford Bridge:  King Harold II defeats the Norwegian invaders led by Harald Hardrada, but the victory weakens his army ahead of the Norman invasion.
September 25, 1513: Spanish explorer Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama to reach the Pacific Ocean.  Go to article >>

Starting this Sunday (September 29^th, 2024), the Earth will temporarily gain a second moon for 57 days, in the form of an asteroid named “2024 PT5.”

September 25, 1676: Greenwich Mean Time established.

William Faulkner, b. 1897.
Dmitri Shostakovich, b. 1906.
Christopher Reeve, Superman actor, is born in New York City, 1952.
Will Smith, actor, b.1968.
Catherine Zeta-Jones, b.1969.

Finland zoo struggles to afford its giant pandas
Incredibly cute but un-bear-ably expensive … A zoo in Finland will return two giant pandas to China because it can no longer afford their upkeep.

Milan Fashion Week highlights
No iron? No problem. Apparently, creases and wrinkled clothes are trending in the luxury fashion world.

Artificial intelligence is detecting new archaeological sites in the desert
Researchers in Abu Dhabi say they have found a faster way to search desert areas for important archaeological sites buried beneath the sand.

Mysterious ‘horseman’ from lead coffin unearthed in Notre Dame Cathedral finally identified
The centuries-old remains at Notre Dame have been identified as Joachim du Bellay, a French Renaissance poet who died at age 37. Read More.

1st-ever observation of ‘spooky action’ between quarks is highest-energy quantum entanglement ever detected
The discovery of two entangled quarks at the large Hadron Collider is the highest-energy observation of entanglement ever made. Read More.

Monkey study reveals science behind ‘choking under pressure’
When a person (or monkey) is facing stakes that are too high, the stress can interfere with neurons, affecting how they direct the body to execute movements, a study suggests. Read More.

Weird ‘zebra rock’ on Mars is unlike anything seen before on Red Planet, NASA says
NASA’s Perseverance rover has sent home pictures of a mysterious black-and-white striped rock, the likes of which scientists have never seen before on Mars. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Northamptonshire, UK
‘A shot of just a few of the 1,300 origami cranes made by family and friends of the bride and groom to decorate a marquee in a garden in Steane, where the best wedding of the year was held. What a day!’
Photograph: Neil Braithwaite

Fogo Island, Canada
‘Sunrise at Joe Batt’s Arm, which is in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador.’
Photograph: Kelley Butler

​​​​​​​London, UK
‘Dark clouds descend over Greenwich Park.’
Photograph: Jonathan Green
Market Closes for September 25^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	41914.75	-293.47
		-0.70%
S&P 500	5722.26	-10.67
		-0.19%
NASDAQ	18082.21	+7.68
		+0.04%
TSX	23905.88	-46.34
		-0.19%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	37870.26	-70.33
		-0.19%
HANG SENG	19129.10	+128.54
		+0.68%
SENSEX	85169.87	+255.83
		+0.30%
FTSE 100*	8268.70	-14.06
		-0.17%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.010	2.956
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.202	3.155
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7849	3.7280
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.1398	4.0842

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7415	0.7450
US $	1.3487	1.3423

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5012	0.6661
US $	1.1131	0.8984

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2635.95	2629.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.32	71.16

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1928, brothers Paul and Joseph Galvin incorporated the Galvin Manufacturing Corp., a company that would go on to popularize car radios. It was later renamed Motorola.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2% at 23,905.88 in Toronto, ending a 4-day gain.
The loss follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2%.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.3%.
Magna International Inc. had the largest drop, falling 5.5%.
Today, 134 of 223 shares fell, while 86 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by industrials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 14%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.3%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.4%
* The index advanced 21% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 31% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.4% below its 52-week high on Sept. 24, 2024 and 27.9% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.3% in the past 5 days and rose 2.7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.8t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.15% compared with 10.17% in the previous session and the average of 12.90% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Industrials | -19.4931| -0.6| 5/22
Energy | -18.1124| -0.4| 7/33
Information Technology | -12.3961| -0.6| 5/5
Consumer Discretionary | -7.9055| -1.0| 4/7
Communication Services | -3.4540| -0.5| 1/3
Real Estate | -2.4694| -0.5| 4/15
Consumer Staples | -0.5352| -0.1| 6/5
Health Care | -0.2418| -0.3| 0/4
Financials | 3.2678| 0.0| 16/11
Utilities | 4.8047| 0.5| 11/4
Materials | 10.2073| 0.3| 27/25
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -15.7600| -2.3| -56.1| 4.7
TD Bank | -11.2300| -1.1| 48.2| -0.9
Canadian National | -9.2890| -1.5| -55.0| -6.3
Barrick Gold | 5.5110| 1.6| -13.8| 16.7
Enbridge | 7.9110| 1.0| -58.1| 16.2
TC Energy | 9.2060| 2.0| -23.2| 24.5
US
By Rheaa Rao and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — The S&P 500 fell on Wednesday — after wavering for most of the session — as investors pondered the Federal Reserve’s path of rate cuts and digested housing-market data.
The Nasdaq 100 closed modestly higher.
The 10-year US Treasury yield advanced to hover around 3.79%.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose after a 0.5% drop on Tuesday.
Traders are now turning to earnings from Micron Technology Inc. and Jefferies Financial Group Inc., which posted results after the close.
Micron shares jumped more than 10% in post market trading after the largest US maker of computer memory chips gave a strong revenue prediction for the current period, aided by demand for AI gear.
Shares of Nvidia Corp. also climbed after the closing bell.
Investors parsed fresh data on Wednesday for clues on the economy and housing market.
Sales of new homes in the US fell last month while a separate set of data showed that mortgage rates have dropped for eight consecutive weeks, spurring demand for purchasing a home.
“One of the things we’re watching is buyers catching up to the idea that mortgage rates are lower and that the break we’ve recently gotten in mortgage rates might be a lot of what we are expecting to get,” Skylar Olsen, chief economist at Zillow, said on Bloomberg Television. “Mortgage rates are not expected to go too much lower from here because they moved early with that anticipation.”
Post-Rate-Cut Catalysts
Traders are still seeking fresh catalysts after last week’s half-point rate cut by the Fed and as growth concerns linger.
After China’s latest stimulus failed to ripple beyond Asian markets, investors are looking to a speech by Fed Chair Jerome Powell and price data at the end of the week.
“The market has been overestimating Fed easing for the last three years and I think probably continues to do so,” said Michael Rosen, chief investment officer at Angeles Investments.
“But what’s changed a bit with the 50 basis point move was a willingness by the Fed to move faster, to be more accommodative, to be more receptive to economic conditions, as opposed to just focusing on inflation.”
On Wednesday, Fed Governor Adriana Kugler said she “strongly supported” the central bank’s decision last week, adding it will be appropriate to make additional rate cuts if inflation continues to ease as expected.
Going forward, the Fed’s level of success in guiding the US to a soft landing will be important in determining the outlook for other asset classes, said UBS Group AG’s Solita Marcelli.
Gargi Chaudhuri, chief investment and portfolio strategist for the Americas at BlackRock, says the base case is for US growth to gradually slow but stay positive.
“However, a cooling economy is more vulnerable to exogenous shocks, and we look ahead to potential volatility-inducing events, including the US election,” she said.
ECB Wagers
In Europe, the region’s darkening economic outlook has fueled bets the European Central Bank will reduce rates again next month, while economists at HSBC Holdings Plc predict policy makers will start cutting interest rates at every meeting between October and April.
“The worry has been that all the economic data is looking quite shaky,” said Anwiti Bahuguna, global asset allocation CIO at Northern Trust Asset Management. “At the beginning of the year we did think we would see a nice uptick, but it started to slow down way more than any of us anticipated.”
Meanwhile, the Czech Republic indicated it will maintain a cautious approach to further monetary easing after cutting borrowing costs to the lowest level in almost three years.

Key events this week:
* ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks, Thursday
* US jobless claims, durable goods, revised GDP, Thursday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell gives pre-recorded remarks to the 10^th annual US Treasury Market Conference, Thursday
* China industrial profits, Friday
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday
* US PCE, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets: 
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.1126
* The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.3316
* The Japanese yen fell 1.1% to 144.77 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $63,226.86
* Ether fell 2.8% to $2,575.8
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 3.78%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.18%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 3.99%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.6% to $69.71 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,659.97 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Winnie Hsu, Sujata Rao, John Viljoen, Margaryta Kirakosian, Alex Nicholson and Cristin Flanagan

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for. –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 (Text Only)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

September 24, 1869: Financiers Jay Gould and James Fisk tried to corner the gold market, sending Wall Street into a panic and leaving thousands of investors in financial ruin. Go to article >>

September 24, 622: Prophet Muhammad completes his migration from Mecca to Medina, marking the start of the Islamic calendar. This pivotal event establishes the first Muslim community and sparks the spread of Islam.

1734: Thanksgiving, Pennsylvania-Dutch.

F. Scott Fitzgerald, b.1896.
Jim Henson, muppet creator, b. 1936.
Nia Vardalos, actress, b. 1962.

Winning images from Bird Photographer of the Year 2024
With their im-peck-able camera skills, these photographers were awarded top prizes for their rare and comical images of bird behaviors.

A ‘Friends’-themed game show is coming soon
A new game show looking for the Ultimate “Friends” Fan is coming to Max in honor of the 30th anniversary of the beloved NBC sitcom. (Max, like CNN, is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery.)

US to return antiquities to India
The US is returning 297 relics stolen or smuggled from India, many dating back centuries.

Miley Cyrus and Dolly Parton are apparently distant relatives
Dolly Parton has learned her special connection with goddaughter Miley Cyrus is even deeper than she originally thought.

Lost Biblical tree resurrected from 1,000-year-old mystery seed found in the Judean Desert
Scientists have grown an ancient seed from a cave in the Judean Desert into a tree — and it could belong to a locally-extinct species with medicinal properties mentioned several times in the Bible. Read More.

2,700-year-old shields and helmet from ancient kingdom unearthed at castle in Turkey
The martial artifacts found at the temple complex were likely offerings that an ancient kingdom made to their chief god. Read More.

‘Knife-wielding orca’ and alien-looking figures among 300 Nazca Lines discovered in groundbreaking AI study Scientists used AI to find 303 never-before-seen geoglyphs in Peru’s Nazca Desert, including abstract humanoid figures, ancient ceremonies, “decapitated heads” and a “killer whale holding a knife.”  Full Story: Live Science (9/24)

Bright comet Tsuchinshan-ATLAS could be visible without a telescope for the 1st time in 80,000 years. Here’s how to see it this week.
During late September and mid-October, the much-anticipated comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) could become visible to the naked-eye for skywatchers around the world. Read More.

Duck-billed dino with absolutely enormous honker unearthed in Mexico
The newly named dinosaur is unique to Mexico, and it’s helping change scientists’ understanding of dinosaur ranges across the Americas. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

London, UK
Sociomobile by Jasleen Kaur at the Turner prize exhibition at Tate Britain. The shortlisted candidates for the annual prize for British artists, in its 40th year, are Kaur, Pio Abad, Claudette Johnson and Delaine Le Bas
Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images

Swanception, Samual Stone, UK.
I conceived the idea for this image some time ago, but each time I attempted to turn it into reality one of the elements was not right. It felt like I was in a creative rut and I had not taken an image I was really happy with for a while. On this particular morning, I decided to return to this idea out of desperation. I spotted my local Mute Swans in their usual spot, preening in the morning light. Fortunately, it was also a crisp morning, and the mist was slowly descending, creating a soft morning glow. After so many attempts, everything finally came together when a swan swam into the perfect spot. Finally, I created the image I had pictured in my mind.
Location: London, UK
Photograph: Samual C Stone/Bird photographer of the year

​​​​​​​Human and nature (and dog), Emil Wagner, Germany.
I took this photo on a beautiful beach on the Baltic Sea. There are a number of waders and other birds here, but also many visitors who enjoy the beautiful landscape. In this case there was also a dog who initially did not notice the Grey Plover. The Grey Plover, however, did notice the dog and flew away shortly after I took the photo. While I do not believe this incident greatly stressed the bird, it is crucial to acknowledge the potential impact of human activity and tourism on protected species and their habitats. In my opinion, the scene represents this potential conflict between humans and nature.
Location: Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
Photograph: Emil Wagner/Bird photographer of the year
Market Closes for September 24^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42208.22	+83.57
		+0.20%
S&P 500	5732.91	+14.36
		+0.25%
NASDAQ	18074.52	+100.25
		+0.56%
TSX	23952.22	+57.51
		+0.24%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	37940.59	+216.68
		+0.57%
HANG SENG	19000.56	+753.45
		+4.13%
SENSEX	84914.04	-14.57
		-0.02%
FTSE 100*	8282.76	+23.05
		+0.28%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.956	2.948
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.155	3.143
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7280	3.7489
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0842	4.0958

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7450	0.7389
US $	1.3423	1.3533

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5019	0.6658
US $	1.1188	0.8938

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2629.95	2605.85
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.16	71.92

Market Commentary:
📈 Wall Street suffered its first “Black Friday” on this day in 1869. Word leaked that speculator Jay Gould, who was trying to corner the gold market, had sold two days earlier. Gold and stock prices plummeted
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.2%, or 57.51 to 23,952.22 in Toronto.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.9%.
Aya Gold & Silver Inc. had the largest increase, rising 9.0%.
Today, 155 of 223 shares rose, while 64 fell; 4 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 14%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.5%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.6%
* The index advanced 21% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 32% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 28.1% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.2% in the past 5 days and rose 2.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.79t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.17% compared with 10.43% in the previous session and the average of 13.03% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 52.9236| 1.8| 45/6
Energy | 18.1860| 0.5| 34/5
Industrials | 7.9388| 0.3| 22/5
Consumer Discretionary | 2.2405| 0.3| 9/3
Health Care | -0.0494| -0.1| 2/2
Real Estate | -0.0532| 0.0| 10/10
Utilities | -0.9447| -0.1| 8/7
Information Technology | -1.4596| -0.1| 5/4
Communication Services | -1.8392| -0.3| 2/3
Consumer Staples | -5.1270| -0.5| 7/4
Financials | -14.3049| -0.2| 11/15
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.6400| 1.9| -57.7| 7.2
Teck Resources | 6.9810| 3.3| 26.3| 23.3
First Quantum Minerals | 4.4370| 5.3| 11.4| 71.0
Waste Connections | -5.1200| -1.2| -9.1| 21.8
Couche-Tard | -6.6870| -1.6| -59.1| -3.4
TD Bank | -6.9560| -0.7| 63.8| 0.1
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — US stocks held onto gains buoyed by a jump in Nvidia Corp.’s shares as traders largely shrugged off a grim consumer confidence reading.
The S&P 500 Index edged up 0.3% — ending the day with its 41st record close — the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial average also notched a record with a 0.2% gain while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%.
A sweeping stimulus package from China helped shore up stocks with economic ties to the country.
The benchmarks had initially sold off after a Tuesday reading on the Conference Board’s gauge of consumer sentiment posted the biggest drop since August 2021 — only to reverse course after a report that Nvidia’s chief executive officer was done selling shares. That sent the stock up around 4% and dragged the S&P 500 higher.
The consumer confidence report flagged concerns about a slowdown in the labor market while manufacturing data also came in weaker than expected.
“The decay in the perceptions of jobs available was striking,” according to Carl Weinberg, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. “It also will deliver a warning message about the state of the economy to financial markets.”
Swaps traders increased their wagers to more than three-quarters of a point of policy easing by year-end, suggesting at least one more major cut is in store, after the data.
To BMO’s Ian Lyngen the report did little to change the Fed’s trajectory.
“Unless and until flagging confidence translates into lower consumer spending, the shift in sentiment won’t become a monetary policy influence,” Lyngen wrote.
The report contrasted with the views of Fed Governor Michelle Bowman, the only policymaker to dissent on last week’s half a percent cut. She said the central bank should lower interest rates at a “measured” pace, arguing that inflationary risks remain and that the labor market has not shown significant weakening.
A handful of other policymakers, including Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, have said the focus needs to shift from inflation to jobs.
Goolsbee said the central bank may need to cut rates “significantly.”
In individual stock moves, Visa Inc. slumped 5.5% on a report that the US Justice Department plans to file a lawsuit over its alleged monopoly on debit cards.
Estee Lauder Cos was among equities rallying after China’s stimulus package.
The beauty company generates nearly a third of its sales from Asia.
US bond yields were mostly lower with the biggest drop seen in shorter dated securities after a $69 billion auction of two-year notes.
Investors are awaiting data on the Fed’s preferred price metric and US personal spending later this week for further clues on the depth of future reductions.
Elsewhere, the mood was risk-on as equities climbed after China’s stimulus plan. European stock gauges traded higher as sectors exposed to the Chinese economy rallied.
A gauge of the dollar slumped against a basket of Group-of-10 currencies.
China’s broad package of monetary stimulus on Tuesday included reduced reserve requirements for banks and at least 800 billion yuan ($114 billion) of liquidity support for stocks.
A gauge of the nation’s stocks had its best day since July 2020.
Still, Michael Sneyd, head of cross-asset and macro quantitative strategy at BNP Paribas, said it would take time for the economic impact of stimulus to feed through.
“That China stimulus news is probably not enough to take off those downside risks in the European economy just yet.”
Oil prices climbed on hopes of a stronger Chinese economy and as a major Israeli strike on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon kept tensions high in the Middle East.
Gold hit a record trading above $2,662 an ounce.

Key events this week:
* Australia CPI, Wednesday
* China medium-term lending facility rate, Wednesday
* Sweden rate decision, Wednesday
* Switzerland rate decision, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks, Thursday
* US jobless claims, durable goods, revised GDP, Thursday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell gives pre-recorded remarks to the 10^th annual US Treasury Market Conference, Thursday
* Mexico rate decision, Thursday
* Japan Tokyo CPI, Friday
* China industrial profits, Friday
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday
* US PCE, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%
* The euro rose 0.6% to $1.1177
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.3415
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 143.23 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.6% to $64,313.82
* Ether fell 0.4% to $2,651.4
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.73%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.15%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.94%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.7% to $71.54 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.3% to $2,663.07 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Mark Cudmore, Alexandra Semenova, Aya Wagatsuma, Margaryta Kirakosian and John Viljoen.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
No advance in wealth, no softening of manners, no reform or revolution has ever brought human equality a millimeter nearer. –George Orwell, 1903-1950.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday!
Carolann is away from the office; I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

September 23, 1911: Earle Ovington was designated as “Official Air Mail Pilot #1” by the United States Post Office Department. Read more.

James Webb Telescope goes ‘extreme’ and spots baby stars at the edge of the Milky Way
The James Webb Space Telescope has taken things to the extreme, studying the outer edge of our own galaxy, the Milky Way and producing a stunning new image. Read more.

2,700-year-old shields and helmet from ancient kingdom unearthed at castle in Turkey
The martial artifacts found at the temple complex were likely offerings that an ancient kingdom made to their chief god. Read More.

Cave of Swimmers: 9,000-year-old rock art of people swimming in what’s now the arid Sahara
This series of paintings, found inside a cave in the Sahara, shows a pair of swimmers. Read more.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Munich, Germany
Crowds are seen among the neon lights of the Oktoberfest grounds in an image taken from the tower of St Paul’s Church
Photograph: Stefan Puchner/AP

London, UK
Andy Warhol’s Flowers go on view at Sotheby’s as part of the prints & multiples auction taking place on 25 September.
Photograph: Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

​​​​​​​Groveland, US
Edoardo Marenzi of Italy slalom skis during the World Water Skiers Travers Cup at the Jack Travers waterski school in Florida
Photograph: Johnny Hayward/Getty Images
Market Closes for September 23^rd, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42124.65	+61.29
		+0.15%
S&P 500	5718.57	+16.02
		+0.28%
NASDAQ	17974.27	+25.95
		+0.14%
TSX	23894.71	+27.34
		+0.11%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	37723.91	+568.58
		+1.53%
HANG SENG	18247.11	-11.46
		-0.06%
SENSEX	84928.61	+384.30
		+0.45%
FTSE 100*	8259.71	+29.72
		+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.948	2.952
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.143	3.144
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7489	3.7413
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0958	4.0833

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7389	0.7370
US $	1.3533	1.3568

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5040	0.6649
US $	1.1113	0.8998

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2605.85	2575.35
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.92	71.92

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1998, Wall Street’s top investment banks, encouraged by the Federal Reserve, completed marathon negotiations for a $3.65 billion bailout of the hedge fund Long-Term Capital Management, which lost nearly $2 billion in a single month when the mathematical models designed by two Nobel laureates failed.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.1%, or 27.34 to 23,894.71 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.4%.
Secure Energy Services Inc. had the largest increase, rising 4.3%.
Today, 118 of 223 shares rose, while 100 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 14%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.2%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.3%
* The index advanced 21% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 31% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 27.8% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.8% in the past 5 days and rose 2.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.78t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 10.43% compared with 10.44% in the previous session and the average of 13.22% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 36.9079| 0.9| 23/17
Information Technology | 17.9957| 0.9| 8/2
Consumer Staples | 8.6549| 0.9| 9/2
Utilities | 5.1816| 0.6| 13/1
Consumer Discretionary | 1.4091| 0.2| 8/4
Real Estate | 0.7538| 0.1| 11/7
Health Care | -0.6163| -0.8| 0/4
Communication Services | -4.4647| -0.6| 2/3
Industrials | -4.6148| -0.1| 12/15
Financials | -11.8032| -0.2| 14/12
Materials | -22.0695| -0.7| 18/33
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 12.4300| 1.4| -35.8| 4.9
RBC | 10.4800| 0.6| 10.4| 24.1
TC Energy | 7.0310| 1.6| 123.9| 22.9
Bank of Nova Scotia| -4.2090| -0.7| -0.3| 13.0
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -5.6060| -0.7| 37.5| 10.3
TD Bank | -15.1300| -1.4| 68.8| 0.8
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — US equities eked out a gain as traders parsed commentary from Federal Reserve policymakers and saw scope for further easing after last week’s half a percentage point interest-rate cut.
The S&P 500 advanced 0.3%, a whisker away from last week’s all-time high as Fed officials reflected on the central bank’s policy path.
In a sign that the market’s gains may be broadening out, an equal-weighted version of the benchmark — that gives Bath & Body Works Inc. the same sway as Nvidia Corp. — rose 0.5% to close at a record.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average also closed at a record while the Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%.
Among individual movers, shares of Intel Corp. climbed 3.3% after Apollo Global Management Inc. was said to have offered to make a multibillion-dollar investment in the chipmaker.
Boeing Co. advanced some 2% after offering sweetened deal terms to striking workers.
Data showing US business activity is robust even as growth moderates stoked confidence the world’s largest economy can nail a soft landing.
US business activity expanded at a slightly slower pace in early September, according to data released Monday, while expectations deteriorated and a gauge of prices received climbed to a six-month high.
“This is a somewhat inconclusive report, and therefore it shouldn’t alter Fed expectations dramatically,” according to Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli. “The flash PMIs do suggest the US economy is on reasonably sound footing, especially compared to Europe.”
Traders have been wagering on nearly three-quarters of a point of policy easing by year end, suggesting at least one more jumbo rate cut is in store.
Wall Street and policymakers alike are awaiting jobs data for more clues on the direction of the economy.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said with inflation approaching the central bank’s target the focus should turn to the labor market and “that likely means many more rate cuts over the next year.”
Neel Kashkari at the Minneapolis Fed also pointed to weakness in the job market, he backs lowering interest rates by another half percentage point by year end.
His counterpart at the Atlanta Fed, Raphael Bostic took a moderate stance.
Starting the central bank’s cutting cycle with a large step would help bring interest rates closer to neutral levels, but officials should not commit to a cadence of outsize moves, according to Bostic.
Later this week, investors will get data on the Fed’s preferred price metric and data on US personal spending, due on Friday. 
Yields on the policy-sensitive US two-year fell to 3.58% while longer dated Treasuries were little changed.
US government bonds had been under pressure with the Treasury slated to auction $183 billion in front-end supply and up to $25 billion of new issuance in corporates expected this week.
“With the Fed’s first rate cut since 2020 in the history books, many investors may be thinking, ‘Now what?’,” said Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley. “That will keep the spotlight on economic growth, especially the jobs market.”
Wall Street strategist Ed Yardeni had a warning for central bankers, saying last week’s aggressive rate cut could cause inflation to resurface if central bankers don’t tread carefully.
The Fed is ignoring the upcoming presidential election where both candidates are proposing policies that could trigger inflation, he added.
In Europe, the euro slumped while European stocks notched small gains after weak PMI data for France and Germany was followed by numbers that showed the euro-area’s private-sector economy shrank for the first time since March.
The common currency weakened as much as 0.7% against the dollar amid wagers on more aggressive rate cuts from the European Central Bank.
“The market is almost demanding a more aggressive rate cut, especially after what we have seen the Fed has done,” Marija Veitmane, senior multi-asset strategist at State Street, said on Bloomberg Television. The ECB “is definitely behind the curve,” she said. 

Corporate Highlights:
Apollo Global Management Inc. has offered to make a multibillion-dollar investment in Intel Corp., according to people familiar with the matter, in a move that would be a vote of confidence in the chipmaker’s turnaround strategy.
Boeing Co. offered its largest union a 30% wage hike in a bid to break a stalemate that has shut down its aircraft manufacturing across the Pacific Northwest.
Brookfield Asset Management has raised an initial $2.4 billion for a fund dedicated to investing in clean energy and transition assets in emerging markets, about halfway to its goal.
Palantir Technologies Inc.’s co-founder and chief executive officer Alex Karp, has a love-hate relationship with Wall Street. He’s said that analysts don’t understand the company and that he prefers Palantir’s loyal army of retail investors.
StandardAero Inc. is seeking to raise $1.1 billion in its initial public offering, after its backer Carlyle Group Inc. had decided to pursue a listing for the aircraft maintenance services provider rather than a sale.
Elsewhere, Asian markets were lifted by speculation China is close to announcing fresh stimulus, after a cut to a short-term policy rate and a rare economic briefing scheduled for Tuesday.
Gold reached another record high as the worsening strife in the Middle East fueled wagers on further price gains in the metal due to its haven status.
US oil and gas stocks outperformed. 

Key events this week:
* Australia rate decision, Tuesday
* Japan Jibun Bank Manufacturing PMI, Services PMI, Tuesday
* Mexico CPI, Tuesday
* Bank of Canada Governor Tiff Macklem speaks, Tuesday
* Australia CPI, Wednesday
* China medium-term lending facility rate, Wednesday
* Sweden rate decision, Wednesday
* Switzerland rate decision, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks, Thursday
* US jobless claims, durable goods, revised GDP, Thursday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell gives pre-recorded remarks to the 10^th annual US Treasury Market Conference, Thursday
* Mexico rate decision, Thursday
* Japan Tokyo CPI, Friday
* China industrial profits, Friday
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday
* US PCE, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1114
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3347
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 143.51 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.1% to $63,287.82
* Ether rose 3.8% to $2,672.08
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.75%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 2.16%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.92%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% to $70.55 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,626.58 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alyce Andres, Margaryta Kirakosian, Alex Nicholson, John Viljoen, Catherine Bosley and Alice Gledhill.

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Shab
“The most damaging phrase in the language is ‘We’ve always done it this way.'”– Grace Hopper

Shabnam Mohammadpour
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.

340A – 730 View Street
Victoria BC  V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778-430-5851
Fax: 778-430-5828

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.  Sunday marks the first day of Autumn.

September 20, 1873: Panic swept the New York Stock Exchange in the wake of railroad bond defaults and bank failures. Go to article >>

Alexander the Great, b. 356 BC.
Sophia Loren, actress, b.1934.

🎨 Hidden meaning? The turbulent skies of Vincent van Gogh’s masterpiece “The Starry Night” are believed to align with a scientific theory. Take a closer look.

Mysterious sound coming from the Mariana Trench has finally been explained
A new study has revealed the exact origin of the Pacific Ocean’s mysterious “biotwang” noises, which were first detected by underwater surveys near the Mariana Trench in 2014. Read More.

Man buried with large stones on his chest to prevent him from ‘rising from the grave’ unearthed in Germany
Archaeologists in Germany have unearthed a “revenant” grave where a man was buried with large stones on his chest to prevent him from rising from the dead. Read More.

Scientist who discovered body’s ‘fire alarm’ against invading bacteria wins $250,000 Lasker prize
One of this year’s coveted Lasker Awards has gone to Zhijian “James” Chen, a scientist behind a key immune-system discovery. Read More.

Oprah Winfrey joins Kamala Harris at star-studded online rally
Vice President Kamala Harris sought to capitalize on the star power of Oprah Winfrey and Hollywood celebrities to win over potential voters during an online rally Thursday. Here’s what they discussed.

Why we’re so fascinated by spy stories
“The name’s Bond, James Bond.” From the 007 franchise to “Mission: Impossible” and “Slow Horses,” here’s why we love watching spies.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Frankfurt, Germany
Fog shrouds the landscape on the outskirts of the city
Photograph: Michael Probst/AP

A meadow brown butterfly. Butterfly Conservation has announced that 2024 has seen the lowest numbers of butterfly populations in its 14-year history in the UK. It follows the conclusion of the Big Butterfly Count, which sees participants logging numbers and types spotted across the country. Those taking part spotted seven butterflies per 15 minutes, a reduction of nearly 50% on last year’s average of 12
Photograph: Geoffrey Swaine/Rex/Shutterstock

​​​​​​​Bramble Bank, UK
Members of the Royal Southern Yacht Club and the Island Sailing Club take part in the annual Brambles cricket match on the sandbank in the middle of the Solent at low tide. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the first game being played
Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA
Market Closes for September 20^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42063.36	+38.17
		+0.09%
S&P 500	5702.55	-11.09
		-0.19%
NASDAQ	17948.32	-65.66
		-0.36%
TSX	23867.55	+1.28
		+0.01%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	37723.91	+568.58
		+1.53%
HANG SENG	18258.57	+245.41
		+1.36%
SENSEX	84544.31	+1359.51
		+1.63%
FTSE 100*	8229.99	-98.73
		-1.19%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.952	2.927
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.144	3.133
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7413	3.7131
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0833	4.0505

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7370	0.7375
US $	1.3568	1.3560

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5158	0.6597
US $	1.1171	0.8952

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2575.35	2570.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.92	70.91

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1873, the stock market crashed and the New York Stock Exchange Board of Governors closed the market for the first time on record. The cause of the plunge: A third of all money on loan from New York banks had gone into buying stocks on margin.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 23,867.55 in Toronto.
Cameco Corp. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 8.1%.
Today, 112 of 226 shares rose, while 113 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 14%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.1%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* This month, the index rose 2.2%
* So far this week, the index rose 1.3%
* The index advanced 18% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 29% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2% below its 52-week high on Sept. 19, 2024 and 27.7% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19 on a trailing basis and 16.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.78t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.44% compared with 10.43% in the previous session and the average of 13.48% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 16.4109| 0.6| 30/22
Energy | 11.5871| 0.3| 19/21
Consumer Staples | 4.2595| 0.4| 6/5
Utilities | 4.2359| 0.5| 12/3
Financials | 1.7085| 0.0| 13/14
Communication Services | 0.8391| 0.1| 3/2
Real Estate | 0.4017| 0.1| 11/9
Health Care | -0.7252| -1.0| 2/2
Consumer Discretionary | -2.8981| -0.4| 6/7
Information Technology | -6.5954| -0.3| 2/8
Industrials | -28.1171| -0.9| 8/20
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Cameco | 13.7600| 8.1| 391.5| 5.4
TC Energy | 11.7400| 2.7| 479.0| 21.0
Bank of Nova Scotia| 11.5100| 1.9| 196.4| 13.7
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -9.0590| -1.2| 363.9| 11.1
Canadian National | -10.0000| -1.6| 244.2| -4.6
RBC | -16.1100| -1.0| 173.1| 23.4
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — US stocks churned in Friday’s final minutes of trading amid expiring derivatives contracts and a big rebalancing.
Gold set an all-time high as traders contemplated the central bank’s next move.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 both ended the session down 0.2% with the broader benchmark fresh off its 39th record high of 2024.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average eked out a 0.1% gain — enough for a closing record. More than 20 billion shares changed hands on US exchanges, the busiest session since January 2021.
Friday’s quarterly “triple witching” saw about $5.1 trillion derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures mature, according to an estimate from derivatives analytical firm Asym 500.
At the same time another $250 billion in index trades were being digested.
The event has a reputation for causing sudden price moves as contracts disappear and traders roll over their existing positions or start new ones.
While US equities were able to extend a rally into its second week, gauges lost traction during the session after a handful of disappointing earnings reports.
FedEx Corp. plunged 15% after the economic bellwether missed profit estimates and cautioned that its business would slow.
Lennar Corp. slipped after quarterly home orders fell short of Wall Street expectations Intel Corp. was among the session’s advancers after a report of a Qualcomm Inc. takeover approach while Constellation Energy Corp., the biggest US operator of reactors, closed at a record on plans to put Three Mile Island back into service.
Traders picked at the differing views offered by Fed Governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman.
Waller told CNBC it was favorable inflation data that convinced him to support the Fed’s decision for a half percentage point interest- rate cut this week. Bowman, the lone dissenting voice against the jumbo rate cut, said the move was declaring victory over inflation too early.
Confidence has been growing that the central bank will be able to engineer a soft landing, but warnings such as the one from FedEx underscore lingering concerns.
Fed policymakers have projected a further half point of reductions this year.
“A sustained melt-up in risk is unlikely into peak election uncertainty that may generate a soft patch in the data,” Evercore ISI’s Krishna Guha wrote. “Investors should view the gains in risk post-Fed as a down payment, with a check in the mail for the balance after election day.”
Evercore ISI’s vice chairman sees another half-point cut as possible if labor or inflation data come in weak.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Officer Jamie Dimon registered his doubts that the world’s largest economy can straddle slowing growth without tipping into a recession.
“I hope it’s true,” he said at an event. “But I’m also more skeptical that inflation is going to go away so easily, not because it hasn’t come down — it has — and it can come down more.”
Gold traded above $2,600 an ounce, extending gains after an Israeli strike on a Beirut suburb. Meanwhile, a gauge of dollar strength edged higher while Treasuries were mixed.
For Bank of America Corp.’s Michael Hartnett, the optimism in equity markets following the Fed’s move is stoking the risk of a bubble, making bonds and gold an attractive hedge against any recession or renewed inflation.
The strategist said stocks are now pricing in more Fed easing and about 18% earnings growth for the S&P 500 by end-2025.
It doesn’t “get much better than that for risk, so investors are forced to chase” the rally, Hartnett wrote in a note.
He also said stocks outside the US and commodities were a good way to play a possible soft economic landing, with the latter being an inflation hedge.
International equities are cheaper and starting to outperform US peers, according to Hartnett.
The yen slid after Governor Kazuo Ueda proved less hawkish than some traders expected. Ueda signaled little urgency to hike rates, and said that upside risks to inflation are easing.
Investors will get fresh data on PMI, GDP and the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge, PCE, next week.
They will also hear from a number of policymakers including Fed Presidents Raphael Bostic and Austan Goolsbee.

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 fell 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1161
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3316
* The Japanese yen fell 0.9% to 143.91 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.3% to $62,856.63
* Ether rose 3.1% to $2,543.12
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.73%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.21%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 3.90%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
* Spot gold rose 1.3% to $2,621.47 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Lu Wang, John Viljoen, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Edward Bolingbroke.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

Carolann
A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. -Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.

September 19, 1759 The French surrendered Quebec to the British. Go to article >>
September 19, 1783: The Montgolfier brothers send aloft a balloon with a rooster, a duck, and a sheep aboard, rapidly advancing French aeronautics.
September 19, 1969: The Guggenheim Museum opens a solo exhibition of the work of  Roy Lichtenstein.

1985: Mexico City earthquake: 10,000 killed.

Wm. Golding, author,  b. 1911.
Twiggy, model, b. 1949.

Fans await ‘SNL’ Season 50 and its star lineup
Everyone likes a good laugh, and “Saturday Night Live” promises to provide many of them when the show returns later this month. These stars are set to host or perform during the show’s historic 50th season.

How to win the fight with kids over phone use
Many young kids spend too much time in front of their screens — siri-ously. Here’s how you can set rules for smartphone use in your household.

The Smoky Mountains’ highest peak returns to Native American name
Great Smoky Mountains National Park, on the Tennessee-North Carolina border, is America’s most visited national park. Its highest peak is now officially reverting to its Cherokee name after more than 150 years.

Meet the billionaire building Bangkok’s newest megamall
While malls shutter in the US, it’s a different story in Asia. Thai billionaire Elle Supaluck Umpujh tells CNN how she found “a winning formula for retail” before she became chairwoman of The Mall Group.

1.5 billion:

That’s at least how many golf balls are lost in the US each year, according to Found Golf Balls CEO Shaun Shienfield, whose company recovers and resells millions of lost balls across the US and Canada. A course manager for the Danish Golf Union — which has researched the sport’s environmental impact — said “the worldwide figure could easily exceed 3 to 5 billion golf balls lost each year.”

Record-breaking fires engulf South America, bringing black rain, green rivers and toxic air to the continent
The Amazon fires, fueled by severe drought exacerbated by climate change, have created a toxic smoke cloud spanning about 4 million square miles — an area larger than the entire United States. Read More.

Biggest black hole jets ever seen are as long as 140 Milky Ways
The largest-ever black hole jets ever seen hint that these cosmic monsters may play an even more significant role in shaping galaxies than previously thought. Read More.

‘What is normal today may not be normal in a year’s time’: Dr. Dinesh Bhugra on the idea of ‘normal’ in psychiatry
Live Science spoke with leading psychiatrist Dr. Dinesh Bhugra ahead of his appearance at the HowTheLightGetsIn festival in London. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The supermoon between cathedral towers in Molfetta, Italy.
Photograph: Davide Pischettola/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

London, UK
Stags clash antlers as the annual deer rutting season begins in Richmond Park
Photograph: Toby Melville/Reuters

​​​​​​​Barcelona, Spain
Construction workers at the Sagrada Família Basilica, on which construction began in 1882. It has been announced that the cathedral’s largest and last spire, the Jesus Christ spire, will be finished in 2025, with a viewpoint from which 11 people at a time will be able to look over the city. The following year, a 17-metre cross will be placed on top of the spire and the cathedral completed, to coincide with the centenary of the death of its architect, Antoni Gaudí
Photograph: Alejandro García/EPA
Market Closes for September 19^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	42025.19	+522.09
		+1.26%
S&P 500	5713.64	+95.38
		+1.70%
NASDAQ	18013.98	+440.68
		+2.51%
TSX	23866.27	+273.67
		+1.16%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	37155.33	+775.16
		+2.13%
HANG SENG	18013.16	+353.14
		+2.00%
SENSEX	83184.80	+236.57
		+0.29%
FTSE 100*	8328.72	+75.04
		+0.91%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.927	2.926
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.133	3.123
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7131	3.7038
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0505	3.0205

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7375	0.7356
US $	1.3560	1.3594

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5134	0.6608
US $	1.1161	0.8960

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2570.10	2574.55
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.91	70.91

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1974, Treasury Secretary William E. Simon predicted that interest rates, then around 8%, would soon fall. The Dow leapt 3.4% on the good news. Over the next seven years, interest rates proceeded to double.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.2% at 23,866.27 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest gain since Aug. 15 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 8 of 11 sectors gained; 183 of 226 shares rose, while 40 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.1%.
Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 6.5%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 13 times. The next day, it advanced 11 times for an average 0.6% and declined twice for an average 1%
* This year, the index rose 14%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 9.1%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2020
* So far this week, the index rose 1.3%
* The index advanced 18% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 28% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 27.7% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.7% in the past 5 days and rose 3.2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.1 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.74t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.43% compared with 10.82% in the previous session and the average of 13.66% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 101.8220| 1.3| 25/2
Information Technology | 65.3807| 3.3| 10/0
Materials | 45.2221| 1.6| 47/4
Industrials | 33.8767| 1.1| 25/3
Energy | 29.1200| 0.7| 35/5
Consumer Discretionary | 9.6100| 1.2| 11/2
Real Estate | 2.8398| 0.5| 16/4
Health Care | 0.4351| 0.6| 3/1
Consumer Staples | -3.4259| -0.4| 4/7
Communication Services | -4.5676| -0.6| 3/1
Utilities | -6.6600| -0.7| 4/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 35.8300| 4.1| 120.1| 3.5
Brookfield Corp | 27.6500| 4.1| 18.0| 33.2
TD Bank | 25.5100| 2.4| 41.7| 2.0
BCE | -5.0360| -1.6| 28.1| -8.5
Enbridge | -5.3480| -0.7| -37.4| 14.9
TC Energy | -12.0300| -2.7| 64.0| 17.9
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders betting the Federal Reserve will be able to engineer a soft landing spurred a rally in riskier corners of the market, with stocks hitting all-time highs.
The S&P 500 climbed 1.7% — notching its 39th record in 2024 and extending this year’s surge to about 20%.
Tech led gains, while defensive industries underperformed.
The Nasdaq 100 added 2.6% and the Russell 2000 of small caps rose 2.1%.
In late hours, FedEx Corp. tumbled on a bearish outlook. Nike Inc. surged after saying longtime executive Elliott Hill is coming out of retirement to replace John Donahoe as chief executive officer.
While a relative sense of calm prevailed, traders also braced for a quarterly episode known as “triple witching” in which derivatives contracts tied to stocks, index options and futures will mature — potentially amplifying market moves.
About $5.1 trillion are set to expire Friday, according to an estimate from Asym 500.
The options expiry coincides with the rebalancing of benchmark indexes.
The Fed’s bold start to cutting interest rates and its determination not to fall behind the curve re-ignited hopes the central bank will be able to avoid a recession.
Data Thursday showing a slide in jobless claims to the lowest since May signaled the labor market remains healthy despite a slowdown in hiring.
“Despite some volatility after the Fed’s rate cut, the S&P 500’s bullish trend remains intact,” said Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com. “The Fed’s decision to deliver a 50- basis point rate cut was largely welcomed by investors.
The move was seen as a bold but necessary step to ease economic concerns without sending panic signals reminiscent of the 2008 financial crisis.”
The S&P 500 topped 5,700. The Dow Jones Industrial Average finished above 42,000. Wall Street’s favorite volatility gauge — the VIX — sank to around 16.
Treasuries were mixed, with shorter-maturities outperforming longer ones.
The dollar fell.
The pound rose as the Bank of England held rates steady and said it won’t rush to ease policy.
The yen dropped ahead of the Bank of Japan policy decision.
Bitcoin jumped 5%.
Equities tend to respond positively to falling policy rates over the next year if a recession is avoided, according to Keith Lerner at Truist Advisory Services Inc.
There have been six rate cutting cycles for the Fed since 1989 and stocks have been up a year later in four of six instances, he noted.
Looking a bit more granularly, US large caps have outperformed small caps in the year following the first rate cut in four of the previous six instances.
Small caps outperformed, counterintuitively, into the 2001 and 2008 recessions.
“On a short-term basis, small-cap stocks may see a greater boost from rate cuts given these companies generally have a greater proportion of floating rate debt relative to large caps,” he said. “However, small-cap earnings trends are still lagging, and a cooling economy is historically a headwind for the asset class. Thus, we still prefer large caps longer term.”
On a forward price-to-sales measure, the Russell 2000 is trading at the steepest discount to S&P 500 in more than 20 years.
“Historically, equity markets have performed well in periods when the Fed was cutting rates while the US economy was not in recession. We expect this time to be no exception,” said Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Our base case remains for the S&P 500 to reach 5,900 by year-end and advance to 6,200 by June 2025.”
Marcelli says she believes equity gains will broaden out, with continued potential for growth stocks, particularly in the technology sector, to rise further.
“Within tech, we expect AI to be a key driver of equity market returns over the coming years and recommend strategic exposure to this theme,” she said. “Investors may use tech sector volatility, which could rise in the months ahead on cyclical and geopolitical risks, to build up long-term exposure to AI at more favorable prices.”
Meantime, the latest MLIV Pulse survey showed that 57% of the 173 respondents believe a rotation into value stocks is likely to accelerate now that the Fed started the easing cycle.
The majority of survey participants, 75%, expect the US to manage a soft landing after the 50 basis-point rate cut, but even those favor value over AI stocks, according to the poll conducted immediately after the decision.
Value was especially popular among those expecting the US to hit a recession.

Key events this week:
* Japan CPI, rate decision, Friday
* China loan prime rates, Friday
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday
* Canada retail sales, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.3%
* The MSCI World Index rose 1.7%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 3.4%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 2.1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.1162
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.3281
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 142.65 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 5% to $63,253.46
* Ether rose 5.9% to $2,461.98
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.72%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.20%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 3.89%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $72.01 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.2% to $2,588.78 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
A gem cannot be polished without friction, nor a man perfected without trials. -Confucius, c. 551 BCE-c. 479 BCE.

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Respect for the Aged Day, Japan.

September 18, 1759: The French surrendered Quebec to the British. Go to article >>

1851: NY Times first published.

1947: U.S. Air Force established.

Seattle-born rock guitarist Jimi Hendrix, 27, dies in 1970 in London,   Hendrix learned his art playing with Seattle bands and jazz orchestras. His last Seattle concert was two months earlier  at Sicks’ Stadium, then an outdoor baseball park. He is buried at Greenwood Memorial Park in Renton. (Compiled from HistoryLink.org),

September 18, 2014: Scottish  voters reject a referendum that would have made Scotland an independent country.

Samuel Johnson, essayist, b. 1707.
Greta Garbo, actress, b. 1905
Lance Armstrong, cyclist, b. 1971.

Why parents should be concerned about trampolines
The nation’s leading group of pediatricians warns that “the home use of trampolines is strongly discouraged.” A doctor explains why.

India celebrates Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi
Devotees gathered across India this month to celebrate the Hindu festival Ganesh Chaturthi, marking the birth of the deity Ganesha, the elephant-headed, round-bellied god of prosperity and wisdom.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ciudad Juárez, Mexico
People watch the full moon rise ahead of the lunar eclipse at the Samalayuca Dunes
Photograph: José Luis González/Reuters

Sydney, Australia
A surfer lit by a supermoon as he sits on his board at Manly Beach
Photograph: David Gray/AFP/Getty Images

​​​​​​​London, UK
‘Late commuters and evening shoppers mix on the golden sunlit streets of Canary Wharf.’
Photograph: Colin Page
Market Closes for September 18^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	41503.10	-103.08
		-0.25%
S&P 500	5618.26	-16.32
		-0.29%
NASDAQ	17573.30	-54.76
		-0.31%
TSX	23592.60	-85.11
		-0.36%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	36380.17	+176.95
		+0.49%
HANG SENG	17660.02	+237.90
		+1.37%
SENSEX	82948.25	-131.41
		0.16%
FTSE 100*	8253.68	-56.18
		-0.68%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.926	2.892
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.123	3.076
U.S. 10 Year Bond	3.7038	3.6456
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.0205	3.9586

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7356	0.7356
US $	1.3594	1.3594

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5115	0.6616
US $	1.1119	0.8994

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2574.55	2584.00
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.91	71.19

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1873, Jay Cooke & Co. stunned Wall Street by suspending deposit withdrawals. This set off at least 100 bank failures and triggered one of the worst depressions in U.S. history.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4%, or 85.11 to 23,592.60 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 0.9% on Sept. 6.
Canadian National Railway Co. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.5%.
Aya Gold & Silver Inc. had the largest drop, falling 4.5%.
Today, 148 of 226 shares fell, while 70 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 13%, heading for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 7.8%, heading for the biggest advance since the fourth quarter of 2020
* The index advanced 15% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9% below its 52-week high on Sept. 17, 2024 and 26.2% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.6% in the past 5 days and rose 2.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.9 on a trailing basis and 16.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.75t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.82% compared with 10.87% in the previous session and the average of 13.80% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -23.8505| -0.8| 8/43
Industrials | -22.8157| -0.7| 12/15
Financials | -20.5917| -0.3| 10/17
Energy | -19.9695| -0.5| 10/29
Utilities | -7.9314| -0.8| 1/12
Consumer Staples | -0.0012| 0.0| 4/6
Real Estate | 0.6887| 0.1| 12/7
Consumer Discretionary | 0.9066| 0.1| 6/7
Information Technology | 1.3110| 0.1| 5/5
Health Care | 2.0701| 2.9| 1/3
Communication Services | 5.0937| 0.7| 1/4
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian National | -9.9620| -1.5| -24.9| -4.3
Waste Connections | -8.0770| -1.8| 88.8| 22.4
Constellation Software | -7.8510| -1.3| 38.1| 29.6
Bausch Health | 2.3870| 11.8| 302.4| 2.6
BCE | 10.0100| 3.3| 252.8| -7.0
Shopify | 10.3900| 1.2| 9.3| -0.6
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell as Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve is not in a rush to ease policy after cutting rates by a half-point.
The S&P 500 wiped out a gain of as much as 1% as the Fed chief cautioned against assuming big rate cuts would continue.
Treasury 10-year yields advanced seven basis points to 3.71%.
The dollar rose.
Projections released following the Fed’s two-day meeting showed a narrow majority, 10 of 19 officials, favored lowering rates by at least an additional half-point over their two remaining 2024 meetings. Policymakers penciled in an additional percentage point of cuts in 2025, according to their median forecast.
The S&P 500 fell 0.3%.
The Nasdaq 100 dropped 0.5%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.2%.
A gauge of the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps slid 0.1%.
The Russell 2000 of small firms was little changed.

Wall Street’s Reaction to Fed:
* Bret Kenwell at eToro:
After a rally ahead of today’s Fed announcement, it wouldn’t be unreasonable for the market to pull back a bit. However, the long-term outlook remains promising. As rate-cut bets have fluctuated throughout 2024, solid earnings growth and a strong performance from a larger number of sectors have powered the S&P 500 to new high after new high. So long as the economy holds up and inflation doesn’t roar back to life, lower rates and strong earnings growth can continue to drive stocks higher over the long term.
* Jack McIntyre at Brandywine Global:
It now will be a battle between market expectations and the Fed, with employment data — not inflation data — determining which side is right. Since this policy move was mostly telegraphed, there is no outsized move in financial markets. Now, everyone is back to data dependency.
* Giuseppe Sette at Toggle AI:
The Fed comes in strong with a large rate cut, while trying to reassure the economic outlook is strong. But the two facts don’t jive well together. Be careful, a big rate cut in a slowing environment has always preceded a market drop. It’s possible we’ve seen the peak of the market today. History shows the market peaks very close to the first rate cut. In fact, the market might be peaking just at the rate cut this time. Be wary of your equities. The times, they are a- changing.
* Krishna Guha at Evercore:
The big move out the gates takes out some insurance on the soft landing, is risk on, and should particularly benefit risky assets geared into the cycle, such as small caps, cyclicals, commodities and commodity currencies.
* Jamie Cox at Harris Financial Group:
The Fed was more aggressive than I expected, since 50 basis point cuts are historically associated with crises.I don’t consider 2% GDP, 4.2% unemployment rate, and 15% profit growth forecasts for 2025 as a crisis.  As a result, I’m still skeptical of the extent of expected rate cuts next year. Lower market interest rates should help housing and employment.  We look for traditional beneficiaries including small caps, value, cyclical sectors, and the equally-weighted S&P 500 Index to experience tailwinds.
* Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance:
The Fed front-loaded this rate cutting cycle with a jumbo 50 bps rate cut and signaled in their statement that they are focused squarely on the labor market, saying they are “strongly committed to supporting maximum employment” Although they pay lip service to the other part of their dual mandate (i.e. inflation), clearly they have taken their eye off that ball and although inflation is much lower now than the peak we saw in 2022, igniting a stock market rally and goosing a growing economy with lower rates risks letting inflation come roaring back before this bull market ends. We believe that the market will undergo some volatility as we get closer to the election, however, lowering interest rates now – and telegraphing another 50 bps in cuts by the end of this year and a total of 150 bps more by the end of next year.
* Sameer Samana at Wells Fargo Investment Institute:
The 50bps cut should reduce the odds of a hard landing and the equity market is encouraged by that prospect, given that the economy and corporate earnings tend to move in lockstep. Consistent with the fall in hard landing odds, cyclical sectors were leaders on the day, while defensives were laggards. We see this as confirmation that equities can make further gains in 2025, led by U.S. large-caps and a combination of growth and cyclical sectors.
* Seema Shah at Principal Asset Management:
Despite the scepticism around the economic need for an aggressive 50bps cut, markets can and should only celebrate today’s move – and will continue to celebrate over coming months. We have a Fed that will go to historic lengths to avoid a hard landing. Recession, what recession?”
* Rajeev Sharma at Key Wealth:
By cutting rates by 50 basis points (rather than 25 bps), the Fed satisfied market expectations of a larger rate cut to begin a rate cutting cycle. The Fed has shown today that they are very concerned with trying to protect maximum employment and have effectively put inflation fears on the backburner. What may be even more important than the magnitude of the first rate cut of this cycle is the revision to the Fed’s dot plot, pointing to a Fed ready to be aggressive with 50 more basis points of rate cuts by year-end.
* Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial:
Equity markets applauded the Fed’s decision to initiate its easing cycle with 50 basis points. Given how much discussion has surrounded this move the announcement certainly wasn’t a surprise, however the lack of guidance by Fed officials indicates that although there was only one dissent there must have been a forceful discussion and work towards building a consensus.
* Nancy Tengler at Laffer Tengler Investments:
Stocks love a good Fed put. I think the Fed may have jumped the gun at 50 bps. The economy is slowing but still strong. My criticism of the Fed has been a myopic focus on backward looking data. This feels like that. A single weak employment report and here we are.
* Sonu Varghese at Carson Group:
A 50 bps cut to start the rate cut cycle is significant because historically, the Fed was playing catch up at the start of rate cut cycles. The message here is that the Fed’s got the labor market’s back.
* Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley:
The markets got what they wanted — a big first cut by the Fed. Now we’ll see if they remain satisfied. The Fed has a well- deserved reputation for not rushing, so there’s the potential for some disappointment if it’s seen to be moving too slowly, especially if economic data continues to soften. But today they delivered.
* Ashish Shah at Goldman Sachs Asset Management:
Dialing back restrictive monetary policy could extend the US economic cycle – benefiting both bonds and risk assets – but investors should pay attention to tail risks. Yet positive catalysts in a stable economic backdrop and now falling interest rates continue to line up around the “soft-landing” narrative. Easy money from retail bank savings accounts and certificates of deposit will decline. Investors should seek to lock in higher rates for their cash with shorter-term fixed income allocations. A focus on bond market opportunity over benchmark orientation can help drive income and total return. Across the credit spectrum, both macro and spread opportunities should attract investors. A stable economic backdrop and lower interest rates should broaden the opportunity in equities. In small-cap stocks, a favorable valuation envelope is meeting an improved 2025 earnings outlook and creating opportunities in health care, particularly biotech, along with the software sector in technology and insurance stocks in financials.

Corporate Highlights:
* A US security panel has granted Nippon Steel Corp. permission to refile its plans to purchase United States Steel Corp., for $14.1 billion, likely pushing a decision on the politically contentious takeover past the US elections in November, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Google won a court fight with the European Union over a €1.5 billion ($1.7 billion) fine for thwarting competition for online ads, partly making up for last week’s crushing defeat in a separate judgment for abusing its monopoly powers.
* Qualcomm Inc. lost a European Union court fight over a multi million euro fine over allegations the US firm priced some chips low enough to squeeze out a smaller rival.
* T-Mobile US Inc. outlined its growth ambitions for the next three years on Wednesday, forecasting higher profit fueled by customer gains and enhanced by new technologies, including artificial intelligence.
* Elliott Investment Management still wants to replace Southwest Airlines Co. Chief Executive Officer Bob Jordan, according to a union official, suggesting changes the carrier has already promised aren’t enough to satisfy the activist shareholder.
* 23andMe Holding Co. co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki told employees that she remains committed to taking the genetic testing company private following the resignation of its independent board members.

Key events this week:
* UK rate decision, Thursday
* US Conf. Board leading index, initial jobless claims, existing home sales, Thursday
* FedEx earnings, Thursday
* Japan rate decision, Friday
* Eurozone consumer confidence, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.4%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index fell 0.1%
* The Russell 2000 Index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1105
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.3187
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 142.46 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.1% to $60,055.19
* Ether fell 1.3% to $2,314.6
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.71%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.19%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 3.85%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.7% to $70.01 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.8% to $2,549.44 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
Have a lovely evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Don’t mind anything anyone tells you about anyone else.  Judge everyone and everything for yourself. -Henry James, 1843-1916.

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)
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com