Category: Events

Dear Friends,

 

Tangents:

 

April 16, 1917- Vladimir Lenin issues his radical “April Theses” calling for Soviets to take power during the Russian Revolution.

April 16, 1945 – World War II – German U-Boat U-190 torpedoes and sinks Royal Canadian Navy Bangor Class minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt 8 km off Chebucto Head, near the entrance to Halifax harbour and the Halifax lightship; forty-four of her ship’s company are lost in the last major naval loss of the War; U-190 will surrender May 11; will be sunk ceremonially on October 21, 1947 where she had destroyed the Esquimalt. Halifax, Nova Scotia. Go to article >>

 

With no tourists around, animals in Yosemite are ‘having a party’ -CNN.
Good, they deserve it.

 

Astronomers found the most Earth-like exoplanet yet. -Bloomberg.

 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sunrise in Ely, Cambridgeshire, by the River Great Ouse. The warm weather is set to continue until the weekend.

CREDIT: VERONICA JOHANSSON POULTNEY/ BAC MEDIA

Hamburg: Swan father Olaf Nieay and his staff accompanied the Alster swans with boat sin the direction of the Outer Alster. Every year, the animals are taken from their winter quarters at the Eppendorf mill pond back to the Alster and its side arms.

CREDIT: CHRISTIAN CHARISIUS/DPA

Workers remove weeds in a field of nemophila flowers at Hitachi Seaside Park in Hitachinaka, Ibaraki prefecture.

CREDIT: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP

Market Closes for April 16th , 2020 

 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	23537.68	+33.33
		+0.14%
S&P 500	2799.55	+16.19
		+0.58%
NASDAQ	8532.363	+139.187   +1.66%
TSX	+13899.32	-59.26
		-0.42%

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19290.20	-259.89
		-1.33%
HANG SENG	24006.45	-138.89
		-0.58%
SENSEX	30602.61	+222.80
		+0.73%
FTSE 100*	5628.43	+30.78   +0.55%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.610	0.641
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.258	1.319
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.6157	0.6348
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.2104	1.2683

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.70906	0.70883
US $	1.41033	1.41078
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52872	0.65414
US $	1.08395	0.92255

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1718.65	1741.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	19.87	19.87

Market Commentary:

On this day in 1835 in Albany, New York State Senator Kemble earned $2,239 by opposing a bill permitting the Harlem Railroad to issue more shares—after he had sold the stock short. When the railroad’s lobbyists boarded the steamboat to return to New York with the bad news, Sen. Kemble bought back the stock at its newly depressed price. Then he reversed his opposition, allowing the bill to pass, and sold when the good news of the bill’s passage reached New York. A few months later, Sen. Kemble was expelled from the State Senate

Canada

By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities retreated Thursday despite multiple attempts at breaking upward. Concerns remain regarding he economic impact of the nation’s shutdown. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said Canada should keep its borders closed to the U.S. until the coronavirus pandemic is contained.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.4%. Information Technology outperformed, climbing 3.9%, with BlackBerry Ltd. And Shopify Inc. both gaining more than 5%. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Thursday his government will broaden its fiscal rescue plan to include commercial landlords and plans to lend more to small businesses. First Capital Real Estate Investment Trust is among firms with the most exposure to small business, BMO Capital Markets told clients.
Meanwhile, Ontario Municipal Employment Retirement System has put a team in place to analyze what the world will look like in the post-pandemic era. Over at Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, internal teams have started to run stress tests with portfolio companies to see how they are being affected.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.30 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to about $1,718 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar edged higher to C$1.4113 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 3.1 basis points to0.611%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4 percent, or 59.26 to 13,899.32 in Toronto. The index dropped to the lowest closing level since April 7.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8 percent. Enerplus Corp. had the largest
drop, falling 10.9 percent.
Today, 122 of 230 shares fell, while 105 rose; 5 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 1.9 percent
* The index declined 16 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 5.6 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 22.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 24.4 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 12 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.8 on a trailing basis and 16.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.13t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 90.39 percent compared with 90.42 percent in the previous session and the average of 84.34 percent over the past month

=========================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
=========================================================

Financials | -100.0014| -2.4| 6/20
Energy | -34.1430| -1.9| 5/23
Communication Services| -6.9516| -0.8| 2/6
Real Estate | -4.4282| -1.0| 7/19
Health Care | -4.2288| -2.9| 2/8
Consumer Discretionary| 1.3137| 0.3| 5/10
Utilities | 4.8009| 0.6| 13/2
Consumer Staples | 7.9399| 1.2| 10/1
Industrials | 13.1301| 0.8| 20/11
Materials | 22.5350| 1.2| 26/21
Information Technology| 40.7802| 3.9| 9/1

US

By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed as President Donald Trump mapped out a phased country reopening amid dismal economic numbers.
In a very volatile session, the S&P 500 closed higher and Nasdaq 100 wiped out its losses for 2020. Traders also assessed a fresh batch of corporate earnings, with Morgan Stanley posting a 24% jump in trading revenue, while casting doubt on whether those gains can continue. Treasuries and the dollar rose. Oil closed under $20 a barrel for a second day.
Federal guidelines the Trump administration issued to states on Thursday recommend that they document a “downward trajectory” in cases of coronavirus and flu-like illnesses before relaxing stay-at-home orders. States could then proceed into a three-phase reopening process, according to the
guidelines, which Bloomberg News obtained. Trump will announce the plan during his daily news conference at 6 p.m. More than 5 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week, bringing the total in the month since the outbreak throttled the U.S. economy to 22 million. New home construction declined in March from the previous month by the most since 1984. “It’s like trying to fly a kite in a hurricane while you’re in the middle of an earthquake,” said Matt Lloyd, chief investment strategist at Advisors Asset Management.
Still to come this week:
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.8%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.4%.
* The euro dipped 0.7% to $1.0835.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.3% to 107.80 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped two basis points to 0.61%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to -0.47%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield was unchanged at 0.302%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose 0.1%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude settled at $19.87 a barrel.

–With assistance from Gregor Stuart Hunter, Cormac Mullen,
Joanna Ossinger, Adam Haigh, Sam Potter, Yakob Peterseil, Lananh Nguyen, Nancy Moran, Sophie Caronello and Claire Ballentine

 

Have a great night.

 

Be magnificent!

 

As ever,

 

Carolann

 

If you have to ask what jazz is, you’ll never know.

-Louis Armstrong “Satchmo”,  1901-1971

 

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM

Senior Investment Advisor

 

Queensbury Securities Inc.,

St. Andrew’s Square,

Suite 340A, 730 View St.,

Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

 

Tel: 778.430.5808

(C): 250.881.0801

Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895

Fax: 778.430.5828

www.carolannsteinhoff.com

 

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1452: Leonardo da Vinci born.
On April 15, 1912, the British luxury liner Titanic sank in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland, less than three hours after striking an iceberg. About 1,500 people died. Go to article »

1955: First McDonald’s opens.

Nourish what makes you feel confident, connected, contented.  Opportunity will rise to meet you. -Oprah.

-from The New York Times today: You’re stuck at home, but your mind can wander
Ciudad Perdida, an ancient city that predates Machu Picchu, is stunning in its scale and complexity. But to explore Colombia’s “Lost City,” first you have to hike nearly 30 miles through the rainforest. Stephen Hiltner, an editor on the Travel desk, did — back in February, before tourism was suspended.

And when we published our list of 52 Places to Go in 2020 three months ago, no one could have guessed how much our world would change. Here’s how to “visit” each of those places now

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A pair of gannets get close to each other after the male returns from a day of catching fish. The couple are one of thousands perched on a cliff face – before they land they hand in the air for a moment, calling to try and find their partner.
CREDIT: ALBERT BEUKHOF/SOLENT NEWS

Paris’ Cathedral Notre Dame at the sunrise on the eve of the first anniversary of the violent fire who destroyed a large part of the monument, on the twenty-nineth day of a lockdown in France to stop the spread of the COVID-19.
CREDIT: THOMAS COEX/AFP

Sunrise in Cabanas, northwestern Spain.

A mandarin duck unfolds its wings on the Solyonaya Protoka River; the birds have flown in to nest in the Primorye Territory and are pairing up to hatch ducklings in July; they will migrate to Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia after the first frosts hit in autumn. Russian laws ban hunting mandarin ducks, which are listed in the Red Book as an endangered species.
CREIT: YURI SMITYUK/TASS

Market Closes for April 15th , 2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	23504.35	-445.41
		-1.86%
S&P 500	2783.36	-62.70
		-2.20%
NASDAQ	8393.176	-122.564 -1.44%
TSX	13952.28	-306.15
		-2.15%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19550.09	-88.72
		-0.45%
HANG SENG	24145.34	-290.06
		-1.19%
SENSEX	30379.81	-310.21
		-1.01%
FTSE 100*	5597.65	-193.66 -3.34%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.641	0.758
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.319	1.418
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.6348	0.7504
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.2683	1.3981

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.70883	0.72016
US $	1.41078	1.38858
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53911	0.64973
US $	1.09096	0.91663

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1741.90	1680.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	19.87	20.11

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1912, early in the morning, after striking an iceberg around midnight, the Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic. Making a cold calculation about the uninsured value of the vessel, and counting the 1,500 fatalities at zero, the stock market crunched $2.6 million off the total capitalization of International Mercantile Marine Co., the owner of the doomed ocean liner
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell Wednesday as a risk- off mood took hold while investors scoured the latest economic data and corporate earnings. The Bank of Canada is broadening the range of assets it will purchase in a bid to support an economy that could be heading for a deeper recession than previously expected. The S&P/TSX Composite Index retreated 2%, with consumer staples being the only sector to advance Wednesday. “Our hunch is that stock indexes become choppy from here, hence a stock picker’s market,” Canaccord Genuity analyst Martin Roberge told clients in a note. Reversing social distancing rules in Canada too soon would further damage the economy and could cause a second peak in Covid-19 infections, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier. Canada’s gross domestic product declined by 2.6% in the three months ended in March compared with the previous quarter, according to preliminary estimates released Wednesday by Statistics Canada. The numbers, which aren’t annualized, are much worse than many economists had been forecasting.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $15 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.4% to about $1,720.40 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 1.5% to C$1.4099 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 11.8 basis points to 0.639%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 2.1 percent at 13,958.58 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 3.8 percent on April 1 and follows the previous session’s increase of 1.3 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6 percent. Secure Energy Services Inc. had the largest drop, falling 18.3 percent. Today, 198 of 230 shares fell, while 32 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 12 times. The next day, it advanced eight times for an average 4.7 percent and declined four times for an average 7.2 percent
* The index declined 15 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 22.3 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 24.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.8 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.9 on a trailing basis and 16.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.17t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 90.42 percent compared with 90.67 percent in the previous session and the average of 84.07 percent over the past month
=============================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
=============================================
Financials | -146.7318| -3.4| 0/26
Energy | -61.0683| -3.3| 3/27
Industrials | -30.7754| -1.8| 3/28
Utilities | -25.8477| -3.3| 0/16
Communication Services| -13.3657| -1.5| 1/7
Materials | -11.7241| -0.6| 9/38
Real Estate | -11.1040| -2.4| 3/23
Consumer Discretionary| -4.8517| -1.0| 3/12
Health Care | -4.0079| -2.7| 2/8
Information Technology| -0.2775| 0.0| 1/9
Consumer Staples | 9.9146| 1.6| 7/4
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks slumped, while Treasuries surged as bleak retail, manufacturing and homebuilding data from the world’s largest economy added to concern over a severe global recession. The S&P 500 Index sank from a one-month high, with all of its major groups dropping. Financial shares slid as Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s investment portfolio took a hit from the coronavirus pandemic, while Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. followed rivals in setting aside billions for loan losses. Oil plunged to the lowest in two decades amid a record collapse in U.S. fuel demand. Treasuries surged with the dollar. Both earnings and economic data highlight the brutal impact of the economic stoppage designed to combat the virus outbreak. U.S. retail sales and factory output posted historic declines in March, and surveys in April looked even worse. Manufacturing in New York state and sentiment among American homebuilders plunged by previously unthinkable amounts. “The market mood has soured in the blink of an eye,” Mark McCormick, global head of currency strategy at Toronto Dominion Bank, said in a note. “It’s not surprising to us that the price action has started to wake up to the new realities of the environment: Unprecedented poor data and earnings guidance, a wobbly path from lockdowns to exit strategies and overpricing of the recent news cycle.”. U.S. stocks have gone through their biggest bout of weakness relative to Treasury securities in decades, according to a barometer cited by Talley Leger, a senior investment strategist at Invesco US. The indicator is the ratio between the S&P 500 and the reciprocal of the 10-year Treasury’s yield, which he presented in an April report on market gauges. The ratio started this month by closing at its lowest level since 1983 after tumbling 85% from a high in October 2018. A rebound is needed for stocks to recover, Leger wrote.
In focus this week:
* BlackRock Inc.’s earnings are set for Thursday.
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 sank 2.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slid 3.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.4%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index jumped 1%.
* The euro dipped 0.6% to $1.0912.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.3% to 107.56 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased 12 basis points to 0.63%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased nine basis points to -0.47%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell four basis points to 0.302%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index sank 1.7%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell to $19.87 a barrel.

–With assistance from Adam Haigh, David Wilson, Todd White,
Robert Brand, Claire Ballentine and Sarah Ponczek.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.
                                                                                   -Paulo Coelho, b. 1947

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
April 14, 1828: First Webster’s Dictionary published.
The mind is the great lever of all things. -Daniel Webster, 1782-1852.

On April 14, 1865, President Lincoln was shot and mortally wounded by John Wilkes Booth while attending the comedy “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. He died the next day.
Go to article »

ICYMI: A livestream of Andrea Bocelli’s Easter Sunday concert at Milan’s empty Duomo Cathedral drew more than 26 million views on YouTube. -Bloomberg.

From today’s Seattle Times:
Coronavirus nixed your social life, but a virtual dinner party can restore your spirits. Here’s how to host one, from picking the guests to planning the menu and avoiding (or laughing at) the awkwardness. In these weeks when quirky rituals matter more than ever,  what’s keeping you sane?

Bright side. Amid the daily chaos in the Mount Sinai ER, one NYC doctor is finding comfort over the hospital’s loudspeaker that plays The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” every time a COVID-19 patient is discharged. -Bloomberg.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

New Forest ponies grazing during the corona virus lockdown over the Easter bank holiday weekend in Bournemouth, Dorset.
CREDIT: CHRISTOPHER PLEDGER FOR THE TELEGRAPH

People walk along Beachy Head, close to Eastbourne on the south coast of England.
CREDIT: BEN STANSALL/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Swans courting on the Brocas in Eton as early morning mist swirls across the River Thames.
CREDIT: MAUREEN MCLEAN/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Market Closes for April 14th , 2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	23949.76	+558.99
		+2.39%
S&P 500	2846.06	+84.43
		+3.06%
NASDAQ	8515.742	+323.317 +3.95%
TSX	14258.43	+182.49
		+1.30%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19638.81	+595.41
		+3.13%
HANG SENG	24435.40	+135.07
		+0.56%
SENSEX	30690.02	-469.60
		-1.51%
FTSE 100*	5791.31	-51.35 -0.88%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.758	0.754
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.418	1.341
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.7504	0.7713
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.3981	1.4071

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.72016	0.7192
US $	1.38858	1.3905
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52511	0.65569
US $	1.09832	0.91048

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1680.65	1680.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	20.11	22.41

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1720, the first great secondary offering of stock took place. The South Sea Co. opened its subscription books in London, hoping to raise £2 million. With ladies pawning jewelry and farmers selling livestock to raise the cash to buy shares, the offering was more than 10% oversubscribed.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities advanced Tuesday as leaders across Europe weighed steps to exit quarantines, with Denmark set to reopen daycare centers and primary schools. Meanwhile, Spain, Germany and Italy all reported fewer infections, suggesting the crisis continues to ease. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday the domestic economy is still weeks away from being reopened. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 1.3% in Toronto to its highest level since March 11. All 11 sectors closed higher, with information technology leading the gains. Oil declined as projections for the steepest recession in almost a century outweighed planned output cuts from the world’s biggest producers. Gold extended its rally to hit the highest in more than seven years on concern that the coronavirus pandemic will have a deep effect on the global economy. As Stephen Poloz goes into his penultimate policy decision as Bank of Canada governor on Wednesday, economists are trying to gauge how much of a buying mood he’s in.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $15 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.7% to about $1,726.75 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.1% to C$1.3886 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield edged lower to 0.75%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.3 percent at 14,258.43 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 11 after the previous session’s decrease of 0.6 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 11.3 percent. Lightspeed POS Inc. had the largest
increase, rising 14.0 percent. Today, 142 of 230 shares rose, while 82 fell; all sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15 times. The next day, it declined 10 times for an average 3.8 percent and advanced five times for an average 2.2 percent
* The index declined 13 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 3.9 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 20.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 27.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 4.9 percent in the past 5 days and rose 4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.2 on a trailing basis and 16.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.7 percent on a trailing 12- month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.15t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 90.67 percent compared with 90.50 percent in the previous session and the average of 83.76 percent over the past month
==========================================
|Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
==========================================
Information Technology | 64.8177| 6.7| 10/0
Industrials | 26.2870| 1.6| 19/12
Financials | 22.9346| 0.5| 15/11
Materials | 14.1387| 0.7| 26/18
Communication Services | 10.8444| 1.3| 7/1
Energy | 10.4572| 0.6| 8/22
Utilities | 7.9626| 1.0| 14/2
Real Estate | 6.9534| 1.5| 18/7
Consumer Discretionary | 6.8267| 1.4| 11/4
Consumer Staples | 6.5664| 1.1| 8/2
Health Care | 4.6938| 3.2| 6/3
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied on some signs the coronavirus outbreak is either leveling off or easing, with traders assessing the first reports of the cloudy corporate earnings season. The S&P 500 jumped to a one-month high while giant technology companies pushed the Nasdaq 100 through its 50, 100 and 200-day moving averages. Johnson & Johnson surged after posting stronger sales and boosting its quarterly dividend. Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Wells Fargo & Co. slumped as their profits were hit by major provisions. Treasuries rose, the U.S. dollar retreated against its major peers and oil tumbled. Equities extended gains after a report that President Donald Trump will make some “important announcements” in the next few days regarding state guidelines on reopening the economy. Separately, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci said that a May 1 target to reopen is “a bit overly optimistic” for many areas of the country. As the earnings season gets under way, investors will get a sense of how bad the pandemic could hit global companies. The International Monetary Fund said the “Great Lockdown” recession would be the steepest in almost a century and warned the world economy’s contraction and recovery would be worse than anticipated if the coronavirus lingers or returns. Traders also focused on whether trillions of dollars in stimulus and rescue plans will sustain the rally in risk assets amid uncertain corporate profits. “This will be a unique earnings season,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote in a note. “But it remains critically important because it’ll give us microeconomic insight into the question of ‘How bad is the damage?’ — which remains the single most important question we all need to answer to successfully navigate this market over the medium and longer term.” Investor pessimism over the pandemic’s economic damage is at “extreme” levels with cash positions at the highest since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, according to a Bank of America Corp. survey.
In focus this week:
* Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. report results Wednesday; BlackRock Inc.’s earnings are set for Thursday.
* South Korea holds parliamentary elections and the Bank of Canada has a rate decision Wednesday.
* Also Wednesday, U.S. retail sales are poised to fall in March by the most ever.
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 3.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 2.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%.
* The euro increased 0.7% to $1.0986.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.6% to 107.15 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 0.75%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to -0.38%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield gained four basis points to 0.341%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index decreased 0.5%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 7.7% to $20.68 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.5% to $1,753.40 an ounce.

–With assistance from Cormac Mullen, Ranjeetha Pakiam, Todd
White, Yakob Peterseil, Claire Ballentine and Sarah Ponczek.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

I’ve missed more than 9,000 shots in my career.  I’ve lost almost 300 games.  Twenty-six times, I‘ve been
trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.  I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. 
And that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan, b. 1963

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Thomas Jefferson, b.1743.

April 13, 1962: Silent Spring published by Rachel Carson.

Houston, we’ve had a problem.  
Astronaut James Lovell Jr. uttered these immortal words 50 years ago today when an explosion aboard Apollo 13 cut short the third US lunar landing mission in 1970. The three-man crew survived the infamous incident. Listen to intriguing audio from the Apollo 13 mission here.  -from CNN.

From The New York Times:
Jotting down your feelings during the pandemic may help you make sense of them. And, who knows, maybe your coronavirus diary will give future generations a valuable window into this period.
We have advice from experts on how to start that journal.
“It’s incredibly useful both for us personally and on a historical level to keep a daily record of what goes on around us during difficult times,” said Ruth Franklin, an award-winning author.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A lone beachgoer walking on Narrawallee Beach in Molly mook as a rainbow appeared in the sky at the sunset, Australia.
CREDIT: DAVID GRAY/AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Newborn Lambs born at Bocketts Farm in Surrey today. Easter weekend would have been the farms busiest of the year but due to Covid-19 they are closed. Normally they would expect around 1500 visitors a day.
CREDIT: OLIVER DIXON

A young girl runs through the carpet of bluebells in Wanstead Park, London.

Market Closes for April 13th , 2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	23390.77	-328.60
		-1.39%
S&P 500	2761.63	-28.19
		-1.01%
NASDAQ	8192.426	+38.851 +0.48%
TSX	14075.94	-90.69
		-0.64%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19043.40	-455.10
		-2.33%
HANG SENG	24300.33	+329.96
		+1.38%
SENSEX	30690.02	-469.60
		-1.51%
FTSE 100*	5842.66	+164.93 +2.90%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.754	0.763
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.341	1.336
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.7713	0.7191
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.4071	1.3435

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7192	0.7157
US $	1.3905	1.3972
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5169	0.6593
US $	1.0910	0.9166

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1680.65	1683.56
Oil
WTI Crude Future	22.41	22.76

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell Monday, lacking any significant catalysts as investors awaited a barrage of corporate earnings. The S&P/TSX Composite Index retreated 0.6% in Toronto, clawing back losses of as much as 2% in early trading. Real estate led seven of eleven sectors lower, falling 3.6%. “We view near-term weakness in equity markets as an opportunity to add exposure to a new intermediate-term uptrend,” Canaccord Genuity’s technical analyst Javed Mirza told clients in a note over the weekend. Meanwhile, the coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies to withdraw their forecasts for the second quarter or the entire year, making this an unusual earnings season. “We’re really going to be relying on what we see from the CEOs of companies trying to give us some sort of forecast of what Q2 and Q3 might look like,” Sadiq Adatia, chief investment officer at Sun Life Global Investments, said in an interview on BNN Bloomberg television. “They may not even give us that,” sparking a negative market reaction, he said. Companies in Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index are poised to see a dividend decline of 1% for the second quarter compared to a year ago, according to data compiled by Bloomberg, while the S&P 500 is expected to post 5% dividend growth. Canadian banks are seeing the pace of mortgage-deferral requests easing up a bit, three weeks into a program that gives homeowners a break from making payments because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $18.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.8% to $1,474 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.7 to C$1.3864 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 1.5 basis points to 0.747%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.6 percent at 14,075.94 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 1.2 percent on April 3 and follows the previous session’s increase of 1.7 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.0 percent. Aurora Cannabis Inc. had the largest drop, falling 13.1 percent. Today, 144 of 230 shares fell, while 84 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 14 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6.6 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 21.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 26 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 8.8 percent in the past 5 days and fell 5.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14 on a trailing basis and 16.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.16t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 90.50 percent compared with 90.77 percent in the previous session and the average of 82.44 percent over the past month
==================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
==================================================
Financials | -122.8953| -2.8| 2/24
Industrials | -32.8223| -2.0| 8/23
Real Estate | -17.1055| -3.6| 2/24
Consumer Discretionary| -13.4774| -2.7| 3/12
Utilities | -12.8880| -1.6| 2/14
Energy | -10.9803| -0.6| 10/18
Health Care | -3.5903| -2.4| 1/9
Consumer Staples | 1.7532| 0.3| 6/5
Communication Services| 6.4999| 0.8| 5/3
Information Technology| 23.1689| 2.4| 7/3
Materials | 91.6600| 5.0| 38/9
US
By Rita Nazareth and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell before the start of one of the most uncertain earnings seasons on record as the coronavirus pandemic rattles the global economy. The S&P 500 Index pared losses after dropping as much as 2.5%, with gains in consumer discretionary, technology and communication companies offsetting declines in other major groups. Oil slipped as investors weighed whether an unprecedented deal by the world’s biggest producers to cut output could stabilize the market. Treasuries and the dollar retreated. With the coronavirus pandemic sowing chaos across the world, the investment community has been lost in a fog when it comes to corporate profits. As the earnings season kicks off this week, traders might get a sense of how bad the hit to global earnings could be as the outbreak upends the global economy. “Companies, analysts, traders, investors and strategists to some extent are ‘flying into earnings season without instruments’,” John Stoltzfus, the chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., wrote to clients. “The unprecedented nature of the economic shutdown, social distancing and sheltering in place ordered by officials provides an overhang of uncertainty.” The S&P 500 is trading below the 2,800 level — a major support line in 2019 that served as resistance the prior year. With one of foggy earnings season kicking off this week, there may be few catalysts to push stocks higher. “We’re in for a tough year,” said Savita Subramanian, head of U.S. equity and quantitative strategy at Bank of America Corp. in a Bloomberg Television interview. Earnings are going to be down “by about 30%,” she added.
In focus this week:
* U.S. banks and financial firms begin reporting first-quarter earnings, led by JPMorgan, Citigroup, Bank of America, BlackRock, Goldman Sachs and Wells Fargo.
* Bank Indonesia rate decision and briefing Tuesday
* South Korea holds parliamentary elections and the Bank of Canada has a rate decision Wednesday
* Also Wednesday, U.S. retail sales are poised to fall in March by the most ever seen
* China releases GDP, industrial production and retail sales and jobless figures Friday

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 declined 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.3%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index declined 0.5%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.2%.
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0916.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.7% to 107.68 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries gained two basis points to 0.25%.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed four basis points to 0.76%.
* The yield on 30-year Treasuries increased five basis points to 1.39%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index decreased 0.1%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 0.4% to $22.68 a barrel.
* Gold increased 0.7% to $1,765.30 an ounce.

–With assistance from Cormac Mullen, Constantine Courcoulas, Todd White,
Vildana Hajric, Claire Ballentine, Sophie Caronello and Nancy Moran.

Have  a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Patience is not passive; on the contrary, it is active;  it is concentrated strength.
                                                         -Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton, 1803-1873.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
APRIL 9, 1865: U.S. Civil War ends.

We have lots more ideas about what to read, cook, watch and do while staying safe at home. -from The New York Times.

The markets are closed tomorrow and it looks like a weekend of beautiful Spring weather is finally here, so I hope you are able to get out into nature and enjoy.

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.  There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature – the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. -Rachel Carson, 1907-1964.

HAPPY EASTER!
HAPPY PASSOVER!

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

An aerial view shows tulip fields in Plomeur, western France.
CREDIT: DAMIEN MEYER/AFP

A view of chocolate Easter bunnies with mouth masks during the production at the Wawi company in Pirmasens, Germany.
CREDIT: RONALD WITTEK/EPA

Cookie the cockapoo dog out for a morning walk amongst bluebells, Peterborough, UK.
CREDIT: PAUL MARRIOTT PHOTOGRAPHY

Farmer Miguel Torres picks sunflowers in Santiago de Las Vegas, Cuba.
CREDIT: ALEXANDRE MENEGHINI/REUTERS

Market Closes for April 9th ,2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	23719.37	+285.80
		+1.22%
S&P 500	2789.82	+39.84
		+1.45%
NASDAQ	8153.574	+62.671 +0.77%
TSX	14166.63	+240.92
		+1.73%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19345.77	-7.47
		-0.04%
HANG SENG	24300.33	+329.96
		+1.38%
SENSEX	31159.62	+1265.66
		+4.23%
FTSE 100*	5842.66	+164.93 +2.90%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.763	0.813
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.336	1.356
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.7191	0.7722
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.3435	1.3765

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7157	0.71392
US $	1.3972	1.40072
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.5270	0.6549
US $	1.0930	0.9149

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1683.56	1649.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future	22.76	25.09

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1792, the Pennsylvania state legislature passed a law incorporating the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike Co., the first major transportation stock in the U.S. The P&L issued 1,000 shares to the public at an initial price of $300. Investors oversubscribed, signing up for 2,276 shares, and the price more than tripled to $1,000 within days. It took the company roughly two years to complete the 62-mile toll road, but the P&L was a huge success and thrived for decades to come.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 1.7 percent, or 240.92 to 14,166.63 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 11. Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 10.0 percent. MTY Food Group Inc. had the largest increase, rising 25.9 percent. Today, 177 of 230 shares rose, while 49 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 13 times. The next day, it declined eight times for an average 4.5 percent and advanced five times for an average 2.2 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 9.5 percent, heading for the biggest advance in at least 10 years
* The index declined 13 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 4.8 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 21.2 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 26.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 8.2 percent in the past 5 days and fell 2.4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.1 on a trailing basis and 15.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.13t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 90.77 percent compared with 90.76 percent in the previous session and the average of 75.43 percent over the past month
================================================
Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================
Materials | 119.3192| 6.9| 42/4
Financials | 67.4198| 1.5| 24/2
Consumer Discretionary | 19.2112| 3.9| 14/1
Energy | 12.8680| 0.7| 18/11
Real Estate | 10.9466| 2.4| 23/3
Utilities | 10.0265| 1.3| 13/3
Industrials | 8.5404| 0.5| 24/5
Health Care | 6.6160| 4.7| 6/4
Information Technology | 1.3986| 0.1| 6/4
Communication Services | -1.5899| -0.2| 4/4
Consumer Staples | -13.8428| -2.2| 3/8
US
By Claire Ballentine and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks posted the biggest weekly gain since 1974 as investors looked past staggering jobless numbers when the Federal Reserve released new measures to cushion the fallout from the coronavirus. Oil fell as investors saw a supply-curb proposal as insufficient. The S&P 500 Index rallied for the third time in four days, bringing this week’s increase to 12%. The Fed announced another series of sweeping steps to provide as much as $2.3 trillion in additional aid just as data showed the number of claims for unemployment benefits surged for a third week. Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said U.S. fatalities from Covid-19 may be far fewer than earlier projections. “The Fed news is really bullish (along with global fiscal news) if we have confidence on ways to deal with the Covid bounce-back and ultimate vaccine solution,” said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI. “So positive outcomes on that front lead to fair value estimates going up, improving the risk reward from this level.” Oil slipped, reversing earlier gains, as investors saw OPEC+ supply-curb proposal as insufficient to offset estimates for demand destruction from the Covid-19 outbreak. The producer group, which includes Saudi Arabia and Russia, is set to cut 10 million barrels a day of its oil output for two months. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that the U.S. central bank was committed to using all its powers to help the country recover.
     The Fed will wade into the municipal-bond market to an unprecedented degree, can now purchase “fallen angel” bonds from companies that have recently lost their investment-grade ratings, and has expanded its Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility to include top-rated commercial mortgage-backed securities and collateralized loan obligations. The surprise pledge from the Fed to buy recently downgraded corporate bonds boosted some of the biggest ETFs tracking the securities. The $14.8 billion iShares iBoxx High Yield Corporate Bond ETF surged the most since January 2009. Gold closed at the highest since late 2012 as investors sought insurance against the possibility of further economic slowing. Elsewhere, the Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose. Government bonds in the region gained amid reports that Italy, Spain and the U.K. may extend lockdowns to combat the coronavirus outbreak. Most Asian stocks rose, though Japanese shares retreated.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index rose 1.4% to 2,789.82 as of 4:04 p.m. New York time, the highest in almost four weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 1.2% to 23,719.37, the highest in almost four weeks.
The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.8% to 8,153.57, the highest in almost four weeks.
The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 1.6% to 469.59, the highest in almost four weeks.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index sank 0.8% to 1,247.32.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.4% to 108.41 per dollar.
The euro gained 0.7% to $1.0934.
The British pound rose 0.7% to $1.2471, the strongest in more than three weeks.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries dipped three basis points to 0.23%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased five basis points to 0.72%.
Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to -0.35%, the largest fall in more than a week.
Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 0.306%.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 6.3% to $23.50 a barrel.
Gold strengthened 2.1% to $1,684.38 an ounce, the highest in more than seven years.
–With assistance from Katherine Greifeld and Brian Chappatta.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we know about nature.
                                                                        -Saint Augustine, 354 AD-430 AD

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Passover begins today at sundown.
                   Full moon tonight.
Did you see the Super Pink Moon last night? You’ll get another chance tonight to gawk at the largest-appearing moon of 2020. Here’s the science behind the sight. -from The Seattle Times.

By Dina Kraft Correspondent, CSM:
This year was to have marked the 51st Kraft Family and Friends Seder. It’s still happening – not in person, but over four time zones via Zoom.
Passover is the Jewish holiday that commemorates the children of Israel’s exodus from slavery in Egypt. It is called the Festival of Freedom, one that this year is being held while most of the planet is under de-facto house arrest.
Here in Israel a three-day curfew has just begun. And at its height – Wednesday night until Thursday morning – people won’t be able to roam more than 100 meters from home.
The ceremonial meal marking the beginning of the holiday is a festive song- and food-filled night. During the meal we are commanded to retell the story of leaving Egypt, so that the next generation should know who they are, where they came from, and that in every generation there is a Promised Land that awaits.
I find comfort in that sentiment now, that we will be free again. This shall pass, and we will emerge – hopefully changed for the better, wiser, more compassionate for the suffering of others, and aware in ways that only hardship can remind us of how connected and dependent on one another we truly are.

Animals are retaking the world from locked-down humans.-Bloomberg.

RIP John Prine.  I met John Prine on several occasions many years ago when I lived in Montreal and shared an apartment with a couple of people when I was in college. He was friends with one of my room mates who also happened to be an awesome guitar player, and John came over many times and stayed if he was in Montreal on concert tour.  I remember him to be a very quiet, unpretentious guy….and of course very talented. 

We know this much
             -SAPPHO
Death is an evil;
we have the gods’
word for it; they too
would die if death
were a good thing.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The supermoon, was expected to be 14% bigger and 30% brighter in the sky as it reaches its closest point to Earth, known as its perigee. The multi exposure image, made up of 7 frames showing the moon in the different stages as it rises above The Wallace Monument, Scotland.
CREDIT: ALASDAIR MACLEAOD/DAILY RECORD

The full moon rise above Hohenzollern castle in Hechingen, Germany.
CREDIT: RONALD WITTEK/EPA

Easter bunnies and Easter eggs are placed in Ernst Langert’s Easter barn in the South Thuringian village Hellingen, Germany. Despite the coronavirus crises, the Langert family decorated their Easter barn with more than 30,000 Easter eggs and 500 Easter bunnies like every year. Unfortunately they cannot open their tourist attraction to the public during the Easter time.
CREDIT: JENS MEYER/AP

A London-based couple spent about four hours crafting a miniature institution, all for the enjoyment of their nine-month-old gerbils.

Market Closes for April 8th ,2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	23433.57	+779.71
		+3.44%
S&P 500	2749.98	+90.57
		+3.41%
NASDAQ	8090.902	+203.642 +2.58%
TSX	13925.71	+311.57
		+2.29%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	19353.24	+403.06
		+2.13%
HANG SENG	23970.37	-282.92
		-1.17%
SENSEX	29893.96	-173.25
		-0.58%
FTSE 100*	5677.73	-26.72 -0.47%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.813	0.826
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.356	1.340
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.7722	0.7122
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.3765	1.2945

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.71392	0.71347
US $	1.40072	1.40160
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52116	0.65739
US $	1.08590	0.92090

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1649.25	1648.30
Oil
WTI Crude Future	25.09	23.63

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1890, a backwoods prospector named Leonidas (Lon) Merritt scratched together $918 to buy 600 acres of land in the Mesabi Range near Duluth, Minn., at a land auction. He soon hit the world’s richest vein of fine iron ore, cutting raw-material costs for the U.S. steel industry from $5-$6 per ton of ore to just $2 to $3 per ton, a 60% drop in five years. But Merritt over expanded his Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines Co., and John D. Rockefeller ended up snatching it away for barely over $1 million. By 1905, Minnesota would produce 51% of all iron ore in the U.S.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks continued their winning streak for a third day amid optimism for another round of stimulus and an oil price rally. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 2.3%, taking the benchmark 24% higher from its March 23 low. Real estate, tech and health care were the top performing sectors. Oil posted its first gain of the week just before the world’s top producers meet to discuss potential output cuts against a backdrop of demand destruction from the coronavirus. In the U.S., President Donald Trump’s top health advisers are developing medical criteria for safely reopening the economy in coming weeks should trends showing a crest in the coronavirus outbreak hold steady. Meanwhile, Canada’s government is working with banks on more relief measures to help consumers cope with the fallout from the pandemic, Royal Bank of Canada Chief Executive Officer David McKay said. Canada will release jobs numbers tomorrow, which should provide an early look at the industries and workers who took the first blows from the pandemic-induced shutdown. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index advance, increasing 9.7% after falling 4.2% yesterday. Chorus Aviation Inc. had the largest gain, rising 21%. Rogers Communications Inc. was the biggest drag on the index, declining 3.3% after rising the last two days. HEXO Corp had the biggest drop, falling 26%, after company announced a C$40 million public offering. The Canadian dollar weakened 0.3% to C$1.4036 per U.S. dollar and the 10-year government bond yield fell about 2 basis points to 0.81%.
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 2.3 percent, or 311.57 to 13,925.71 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 11. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 9.7 percent. Chorus Aviation Inc. had the largest increase, rising 20.9 percent. Today, 197 of 230 shares rose, while 32 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain nine times. The next day, it declined five times for an average 5.7 percent and advanced four times for an average 2.3 percent
* The index declined 15 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6.8 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 22.5 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 24.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 8.1 percent in the past 5 days and fell 14 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.9 on a trailing basis and 15.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.08t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 90.76 percent compared with 90.38 percent in the previous session and the average of 74.76 percent over the past month
============================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
============================================
Financials | 109.4520| 2.6| 24/2
Information Technology | 54.1848| 6.1| 10/0
Industrials | 40.2853| 2.5| 27/4
Energy | 31.8821| 1.8| 29/1
Real Estate | 28.3837| 6.6| 26/0
Consumer Discretionary | 21.3066| 4.6| 15/0
Materials | 18.0524| 1.1| 33/13
Utilities | 16.8462| 2.2| 16/0
Health Care | 6.6241| 4.9| 9/1
Consumer Staples | -2.1856| -0.3| 6/5
Communication Services | -13.2480| -1.5| 2/6
US
By Claire Ballentine and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed back into bullish territory on optimism for another round of stimulus and an eventual move toward reopening the economy. Oil surged amid expectations for production cuts. The benchmark S&P 500 Index rose as much as 3.4%, sending the gauge 20% over its March 23 low, which tradition says signals a bull market. Real estate, energy and utilities led the gains in all 11 market sectors. “Markets appear to be weighing the good with the bad,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade Financial. “In lieu of real-time economic data, we’re seeing the markets latch onto signs of optimism around the pandemic.” Oil spiked a few minutes ahead of the close after Algeria confirmed that the OPEC+ emergency meeting will discuss an output cut of 10 million barrels per day. A spokeswoman for Russian energy ministry said the nation will commit to cuts based on its proportion of the total production. Earlier, Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said the start of a turnaround in the fight against the coronavirus could come after this week. President Donald Trump tweeted about reopening sooner rather than later.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index ended little changed after euro- area finance chiefs failed to agree on a $540 billion economic package to respond to the pandemic. While stock are rallying, many investors remain reluctant to take big risks while forecasts are for the virus to grow rapidly in some of the biggest economies — the U.S., Japan, Germany, France and the U.K. They’re also concerned that fiscal stimulus measures will be too late or not enough. “There’s still a lot of uncertainty in markets,” said Kevin Caron, portfolio manager for Washington Crossing. “Whether it’s some tentative plans or at least a vision to get the economy restarted again, that’s all something the market can ponder.” Elsewhere, Italian bonds took a hit and the euro headed for its seventh drop in eight days against the dollar as the officials struggled to reconcile visions for how to recover from the virus. France’s first-quarter output shrank the most since World War II, the latest indicator of the severity of the shock to the world’s biggest trading region. These are some of the major moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index climbed 3.1% to 2,742.70 as of 3:25 p.m. New York time, the highest in almost four weeks.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.1% to 23,350.69, the highest in almost four weeks.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.4% to 8,075.09, the highest in almost four weeks.
The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 1.9% to 461.66, the highest in almost four weeks.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,256.15.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 108.82 per dollar.
The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0863.
The British pound climbed 0.6% to $1.2392.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 0.25%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained two basis points to 0.76%, the highest in more than a week.
Germany’s 10-year yield increased less than one basis point to -0.31%, the highest in more than a week.
Britain’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to 0.384%.
Commodities
Gold strengthened 0.1% to $1,648.93 an ounce.
West Texas Intermediate crude gained 9.3% to $25.83 a barrel.

Have a great night

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.
                                                                        -J.K. Rowling, b. 1965
Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Come to the Orchard in Spring
                                    RUMI

Come to the orchard in Spring.
There is light and wine, and sweethearts
      in the pomegranate flowers.

If you do not come, these do not matter.
If you do come, these do not matter.

On April 7^th…
1770~William Wordsworth b.
1805~Beethoven’s Eroica premieres.
1915~Billie Holiday b.
1947 – Auto pioneer Henry Ford died at age 83. Go to article »
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The inhabitants of Bordeaux, France, respect the confinement instructions.
CREDIT: DAVID THIERRY

A murmuration of starlings create the shapes of animals as they flock. Hundreds of the birds move together creating a duck’s head, a dragon, a penguin and a goose head. The flock are being stalked by a large falcon and they fly together like this so the bird of prey cannot focus on one single starling. The remarkable photographs were taken by landscape architect Albert Beukhof on the outskirts of Geldermalsen in Holland.
CREDIT: ALBERT BEUKHOF/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

Tulips bloom in the Keukenhof flower garden which is closed because of the Corona Crisis on April o6, 2020 in Lisse, Netherlands. The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has spread to many countries across the world, claiming over 70, 000 lives and infecting over 1 million people.
CREDIT: PATRICK VAN KATWIJK IMAGES
Market Closes for April 7th ,2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	22653.86	-26.13
		-0.12%
S&P 500	2659.41	-4.27
		-0.16%
NASDAQ	7887.262	-25.976 -0.33%
TSX	13614.14	+21.44
		+0.16%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18950.18	+373.88
		+2.01%
HANG SENG	24253.29	+504.17
		+2.12%
SENSEX	30067.21	+2476.26
		+8.97%
FTSE 100*	5704.45	+122.06 +2.19%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.826	0.765
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.340	1.278
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.7122	0.6777
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.2945	1.2837

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.71347	0.70873
US $	1.40160	1.41097
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52677	0.65498
US $	1.08931	0.91801

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1648.30	1613.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	23.63	26.08

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1927, in history’s first public television broadcast, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover, speaking from an office in Washington, D.C., was viewed by a dumbstruck audience in the Bell Telephone Laboratories at 55 Bethune Street in New York City. “Human genius has now destroyed the impediment of distance in a new respect, and in a manner hitherto unknown,” Hoover said. “What its uses may finally be no one can tell.” The New York Times, however, warned in part of its headline: “COMMERCIAL USE IN DOUBT.”
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks lost most of their earlier gains, after oil prices plunged as investors weighed whether the world’s biggest producers will be able to strike a deal that cuts enough output.
The S&P/TSX Composite index closed Tuesday’s session higher by about 0.2%, after giving up earlier gains of nearly 3.5%. The real estate and retail sector were the best performers, while tech, materials and energy fell the most. The slide in oil prices slowed down the winning streak that saw Canadian stocks reach a technical bull market Monday.
Low crude prices have taken their toll on the Canadian oil patch and companies are in a “dire” state, Alberta Energy Minister Sonya Savage said. She added that the Canadian government needs to release its aid package for the country’s energy industry soon, as companies struggle with the Covid-19 pandemic and oil-price crisis. Meanwhile, Alberta Premier Jason Kenney said the crisis rocking the global oil industry could cause at least 25% unemployment in his province.
The Canadian government had rolled out several measures to help the nation’s families and businesses, including an emergency response plan and support for businesses. Under these measures, the government has received 3.18 million requests for income support benefits since March 16, according to a government official. However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s plan to subsidize wages by 75% has been met with doubt by many businesses.
The Canadian dollar rose about 0.8% to C$1.3998 per U.S. dollar and the 10-year government bond yield climbed about 8 basis points to 0.828%. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. contributed the most to the S&P/TSX index advance, increasing 6%, after getting a new buy recommendation from Stifel Canada. Chorus Aviation had the largest gain, rising 15% to snap a seven-day slide. Shopify Inc. was the biggest drag on the index, declining 4.2%, after being downgraded at Raymond James. Empire Co. Ltd had the biggest drop, falling 6.4%, after a 12% advance Monday.

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.2 percent, or 21.44 to 13,614.14 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since March 13. Alimentation Couche-Tard Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 6.0 percent. Chorus Aviation Inc. had the largest increase, rising 14.9 percent.
Today, 152 of 230 shares rose, while 75 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 17 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.8 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 24.2 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 21.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.8 percent in the past 5 days and fell 16 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.6 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.07t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 90.38 percent compared with 90.34 percent in the previous session and the average of 74.04 percent over the past month
==================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
==================================================
Financials | 37.6345| 0.9| 23/3
Real Estate | 12.5550| 3.0| 24/2
Consumer Staples | 10.0985| 1.6| 4/7
Consumer Discretionary | 9.5681| 2.1| 13/2
Industrials | 7.4231| 0.5| 24/7
Health Care | 0.9131| 0.7| 5/4
Communication Services | -0.3428| 0.0| 4/4
Utilities | -1.1269| -0.1| 9/7
Information Technology | -14.4161| -1.6| 5/5
Energy | -18.9299| -1.0| 23/6
Materials | -21.9346| -1.3| 18/28
US
By Katherine Greifeld and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Stocks closed lower in volatile trading as investors debated whether the spread of the coronavirus may be slowing in several major economies. Oil sank and bonds retreated.
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.2% after surging as much as 3.5%. The benchmark briefly met the time-honored definition for the start of a bull market after climbing 20% from its March 23 low.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced after the rate of new infections slowed in France and in Italy, the original epicenter
of the continent’s outbreak.
“We’re going to continue to be very volatile, and you’re going to see this roller coaster continue,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA. “We will see a test of the bottoms again.” New York’s rate of new coronavirus infections tapered for a third straight day, stoking optimism that the pandemic may finally be approaching a peak in the state where it has hit hardest.
Oil sank to the weakest level since the start of the month as investors weighed whether the world’s biggest producers will be able to strike a deal that cuts enough output to offset an unprecedented demand loss from the coronavirus outbreak.
“With the volatility being so wild lately, it doesn’t take much for the buyers to pull-in their horns,” said Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co. “When oil rolled over, stock buyers got a little nervous.”
Elsewhere, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose more than 2% after adding nearly 3% a day earlier. Chinese stocks climbed and the yuan strengthened in the wake of further targeted stimulus by policy makers as Shanghai reopened after a long weekend. China said it didn’t have any new deaths for the first time since the pandemic emerged.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index declined 0.2% to 2,659.41 as of 4:11 p.m. New York time.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.1% to 22,653.86.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.3% to 7,887.26.
*The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 2% to 453.34, the highest in almost four weeks.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 1.1% to 1,255.76, the largest drop in more than a week.
*The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 108.76 per dollar.
*The euro rose 1.1% to $1.0897, the first advance in more than a week.
*The British pound rose 1% to $1.2344, the biggest advance in more than a week.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries increased one basis point to 0.27%, the highest in more than a week.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained seven basis points to 0.72%, the highest in more than a week.
*Germany’s 10-year yield increased 11 basis points to -0.31%, the highest in more than a week on the largest increase in almost three weeks.
*Britain’s 10-year yield climbed eight basis points to 0.414%, the highest in more than a week on the biggest increase in almost three weeks.
Commodities
*Gold weakened 0.3% to $1,653.55 an ounce, the first retreat in a week.
*West Texas Intermediate crude fell 7.5% to $24.13 a barrel.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish.
                                                                                            -John Quincy Adams, 1767-1848

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
I hope in the years to come everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge.  
Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II, in a rare televised speech to the nation calling for unity in the coronavirus crisis. 

Raphael, painter, b. 1483

April 6, 1896: First Modern Olympics, Athens, Greece.
On April 6, 1909, explorers Robert E. Peary and Matthew A. Henson became the first men to reach the North Pole. The claim, disputed by skeptics, was upheld in 1989 by the Navigation Foundation. Go to article »

April 6, 1917: US declares war on Germany.
April 6, 1955: US nuclear test at Nevada Test Site.

The Seattle Mariners on April 6, 1977 play their first baseball game in Seattle, losing to the California Angels, 7-0, before 57,762 in the Kingdome. The Mariners’ starting pitcher is Diego Segui, and the first hit is by Jose Baez. The Mariners get their first win two days later, 7-6, against the Angels, and end the season with a 64-98 record. -The Seattle Times.

All Things Pass
 -Lao-Tzu

All things pass
A sunrise does not last all morning
All things pass
A cloudburst does not last all day
All things pass
Nor a sunset all night
All things pass
What always changes?

Earth…sky…thunder…
   mountain…water…
   wind…fire…lake…

These change
And if these do not last

Do man’s visions last?
Do man’s illusions?

Take things as they come

All things pass
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A woman practices yoga during the sunrise from Primrose Hill in London
CREDIT: JEFF MOORE

A photo session is held at the Yonago Castle ruins in Yonago, Torrori Prefercture, western Japan
CREDIT: NEWSCOM/ ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Surfers walks past a Beach Closed sign at Manly Beach in Sydney, Australia.
Northern Beaches Council closed Manly, North Steyne, Queenscliff, Freshwater and Palm Beach after crowds were seen gathering there defying social distancing regulations put in place by the government to combat the spread of COVID-19 in Australia
CREDIT: CAMERON SPENCER/GETTY IMAGES

Priest Joachim Giesler holds a mass with photos of believers who were asked to send in pictures after the service was closed due to the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Achern, Germany.
CREDIT: KAI PFAFFE/ REUTERS
Market Closes for April 6th ,2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	22679.99	+1627.46
		+7.73%
S&P 500	2663.68	+175.03
		+7.03%
NASDAQ	7913.238	+540.155 +7.33%
TSX	13592.70	+654.40
		+5.06%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	18576.30	+756.11
		+4.24%
HANG SENG	23749.12	+513.01
		+2.21%
SENSEX	27590.95	-674.36
		-2.39%
FTSE 100*	5582.39	+166.89 +3.08%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.765	0.715
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.278	1.225
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.6777	0.6010
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.2837	1.2167

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.70873	0.70416
US $	1.41097	1.42014
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.52259	0.65678
US $	1.07911	0.92669

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1613.10	1616.80
Oil
WTI Crude Future	26.08	28.34

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1988, the S&P 500 index was overhauled. Instead of being made up of 400 industrial stocks, 40 utilities, 40 financial stocks and 20 transportation issues, its industry weights were allowed to float freely, so that stocks from all sectors were represented by market value.
Canada
By Divya Balji, Eddie van der Walt and Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — As quickly as the Canadian stock market fell into a bear market, it has even more rapidly surged 21% from its bottom. Yet, few are willing to call the rally by its technical definition — a bull market.
In 10 trading days, the S&P/TSX Composite Index jumped from its March 23 low to enter the bull zone, its quickest rebound since the index was created in 1977, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. It took 14 days to plunge into a bear market as the Covid-19 pandemic escalated through February and March.
But strategists are calling for caution with the gauge still 4,351 points or 24% away from its Feb. 20 record high. The surge in volatility also implies that investors should continue to expect large daily market moves — both up and down. “When you drop so far, so fast, people say it’s not really a bull market until you get back to new highs,” Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments, said by phone. “I think people would be a lot more comfortable if we were back to new highs but that’s so far away I don’t think we’re at risk of that any time soon.” More are comfortable with calling this a bear-market rally as they wait for the number of coronavirus cases to plateau with governments across the world focused on flattening the infection curve.     And while some countries have signaled that the virus rate is starting to slow, the economic hit from lockdowns and shuttered borders that could last months has been devastating — Canadian consumer confidence has fallen to a record low as 2.5 million people applied for employment insurance.
A plethora of companies listed on the benchmark gauge have withdrawn their financial forecasts, not just for the first quarter but for the whole year, leaving analysts and investors in the dark on what to expect during the upcoming earnings season as non-essential businesses shut and people stay home to
stem the spread of Covid-19. “A bull market has a connotation to it that there’s a strong trend behind it that it’s going to be a persistent rally,” Brooke Thackray, an analyst at Horizons ETFs Management (Canada) Inc. said by phone. “People are scared to call it a bull market because it just could be a bear trap and not a bull market at all.”
The spat between Saudi Arabia and Russia over oil production and the slump in demand amid the virus outbreak have also taken its toll on the Canadian economy with the energy sector making up about 9% of the nation’s output. Energy stocks represent 13% of the Canadian stock market and they are among the worst performers this year. Tensions may be easing there as crude prices surged primarily due to speculation that the world’s largest producers might reach some sort of truce to the price war.
“This will be a big week for the TSX though given our larger exposure to energy stocks and further visibility on OPEC and production cuts via their meeting on Thursday,” said Martin Pelletier, managing director and portfolio manager at TriVest Wealth Counsel in Calgary.
* Cboe Volatility Index — “Getting the VIX below 30 would be a huge step. It’s a huge positive that it’s back below 50 but it still has a lot more to go.” It is about 45 now.
* U.S. 10-year bond yields — “If we can get them to stabilize potentially get back above 0.75% or 1%, that would be a really nice signal that the markets are starting to work together on the bond side. And that would give a lot more confidence in what the equities are doing.” The T-note yielded 0.67% Monday.
* Stability in banks — “You can’t have a bull market without the banks starting to go higher.”
* Crude prices — “As long as oil can eventually get back to above $30, it’s not perfect but it would be a good positive to keep the rest of the market to keep going.” West Texas Intermediate last traded at about $26 per barrel.

No matter what, the road to bull market recovery in Canada will be bumpy as provincial and federal leaders rush to unleash stimulus packages to help ailing sectors and the unemployed and health officials work on slowing the infection rate. “It’s important to remember that we’re not out of the woods quite yet, but the market appears to be taking an optimistic approach to the coronavirus impact being dealt with in a timely fashion so we hope it isn’t disappointed,” Pelletier said. “This correction has happened so fast and judging by today’s action it has the potential to rebound just as quickly.”

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 5.1 percent at 13,592.70 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 12 percent on March 24 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.2 percent. Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.7 percent. Lightspeed POS Inc. had the largest increase, rising 23.1 percent.
Today, 216 of 230 shares rose, while 14 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain two times. The next day, it declined 9.9 percent once and advanced 4.5 percent once
* The index declined 17 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.7 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 24.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 21.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 4.3 percent in the past 5 days and fell 16 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.6 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$1.97t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 90.34 percent compared with 88.64 percent in the previous session and the average of 70.77 percent over the past month
================================================
Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================
Financials | 208.1223| 5.2| 26/0
Materials | 74.0820| 4.5| 47/0
Industrials | 71.7995| 4.6| 28/3
Energy | 68.1883| 3.9| 23/7
Information Technology | 56.9891| 6.7| 10/0
Utilities | 52.5547| 7.4| 16/0
Consumer Discretionary | 38.7177| 9.2| 14/1
Consumer Staples | 29.8780| 5.0| 10/1
Communication Services | 28.5475| 3.4| 8/0
Real Estate | 17.0743| 4.2| 25/1
Health Care | 8.4558| 6.7| 9/1
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks surged the most in almost two weeks after the reported death tolls in some of the world’s coronavirus hot spots showed signs of easing. The yen weakened and Treasuries fell.
The benchmark S&P 500 Index surged late in the trading session to finish up 7%, closing at the highest level since March 13. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said earlier that deaths were showing signs of hitting a plateau in the state that has become the epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. Italy had the lowest number of new coronavirus infections in nearly three weeks and France reported a continued leveling-off of cases, helping to send European and Asian shares higher.
“You can’t say that we’ve definitely turned the corner for certain but it does appear as though that is a good sign,” said Mark Heppenstall, chief investment officer at Penn Mutual Asset Management, which oversees $28 billion.
The number of deaths in the U.S. is still expected to peak on April 16, though the cumulative number of Americans likely to die from Covid-19 was revised downward to 82,000, from an estimate of 94,000 less than a week ago. But its apex, 3,130 Americans will die per day, up from the previous estimate of 2,644.
The pound weakened after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was taken into a hospital intensive care unit for treatment for coronavirus after his condition worsened.
The mostly upbeat tone in markets followed another negative week, and the mood among investors remains divided. Bulls are pointing to more attractive valuations, unprecedented stimulus and now slowing death rates in several major countries. Bears are fretting the continued spread of the disease, dismal economic data and the rising corporate costs of the pandemic and subsequent shutdown. “For now the markets will likely remain hostage to news on how long it will take to ‘get back to business’ and ‘the good life.”’ John Stoltzfus, the chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer & Co., wrote to clients. “We’d expect markets to continue trading on a combination of fear, technical factors and wistful hope with fundamentals clouded by the uncertainty weaved by the insidious virus.”
In Asia, Japan’s benchmark ended almost 4% higher even as that country moved closer to declaring a state of emergency. The yen dropped as haven demand receded. Shares in Hong Kong rose while Shanghai was closed for a holiday.
Elsewhere, crude oil fell on signals that a glut is growing at America’s key oil storage hub, offsetting earlier support from signs that Saudi Arabia and Russia are making progress toward a supply-curb agreement.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index increased 7% to 2,663.68 as of 4:14 p.m. New York time, the highest in more than three weeks on the largest
climb in almost two weeks.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 7.7% to 22,679.99, the highest in more than three weeks on the biggest climb in
almost two weeks.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 7.3% to 7,913.24, the highest in almost four weeks on the largest climb in almost two weeks.
*The MSCI All-Country World Index increased 5.5% to 448.84, the highest in more than three weeks on the biggest climb in almost two weeks.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.1% to 1,267.59.
*The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 109.12 per dollar, the weakest in more than a week.
*The euro was little changed at $1.0798, hitting the weakest in almost two weeks with its sixth consecutive decline.
*The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2241, the weakest in more than a week.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries increased four basis points to 0.26%, the highest in more than a week on the largest climb in almost two weeks.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed eight basis points to 0.67%, the highest in a week on the biggest surge in almost three weeks.
*Germany’s 10-year yield increased two basis points to -0.43%, the highest in more than a week.
*Britain’s 10-year yield increased two basis points to 0.334%, the biggest climb in almost two weeks.
Commodities
*Gold strengthened 2.8% to $1,665.97 an ounce, the highest in four weeks on the largest climb in almost two weeks.
*West Texas Intermediate crude declined 7.3% to $26.26 a barrel, the biggest drop in more than a week.
–With assistance from Claire Ballentine.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

What is life?  It is the flash of a firefly in the night.  It is the breath of a buffalo in wintertime. 
It is the little shadow which runs across the grass and loses itself in the sunset.
                                                       -Crowfoot, or Isapo-Muxika, Last words.
                                                   (chief of the Blackfoot First Nation), 1830-1890.

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!

April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain.
Winter kept us warm, covering
Earth in forgetful snow, feeding
A little life with dried tubers.
Summer surprised us, coming over the Starnbergersee
With a shower of rain; we stopped in the colonnade,
And went on in sunlight, into the Hofgarten,
And drank coffee, and talked for an hour.
Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch.
And when we were children, staying at the arch-duke’s,
My cousin’s, he took me out on a sled,
And I was frightened. He said, Marie,
Marie, hold on tight. And down we went.
In the mountains, there you feel free.
I read, much of the night, and go south in the winter.

What are the roots that clutch, what branches grow
Out of this stony rubbish? Son of man,
You cannot say, or guess, for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief,
And the dry stone no sound of water. Only
There is shadow under this red rock,
(Come in under the shadow of this red rock),
And I will show you something different from either
Your shadow at morning striding behind you
Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;
I will show you fear in a handful of dust…                     
     -from The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot

1860~ Pony Express established.
Marlon Brando, actor, b.1924
Jane Goodall, b.1934
On April 3, 1948, President Truman signed the Marshall Plan, which allocated more than $5 billion in aid for 16 European countries. Go to article »

From today’s New York Times:
The Times’s Travel section has published its 36 Hours column for nearly 20 years, helping readers plan weekends all over the world.
For many of us, our grand plans have shrunk over the past month, so we asked readers for activities you can do anywhere. From more than 1,400 submissions, we’ve produced our first reader-sourced 36 Hours column — and the first with no traveling.

Sonic meditation, anyone?
Here’s something offbeat you could try this weekend: Every Saturday in April, anyone who likes to sing can be part of a global “Tuning Meditation” via zoom. Our music critic gave it a try last Saturday and she said it ended up sounding like a “cosmic flock of bleating sheep.”

Or let us guide you through a short meditation session, with advice from experts and soothing sights and sounds from nature.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Hundreds of metres of newly dyed, bright red cotton are rolled out to dry in the sun. Aerial photos show workers unfurling huge stretches of the fabric across green fields in the Narsingdi district Bangladesh. With some strips of cotton approaching 500 meters long, the workers can cover 100 hectares with the cloth. Once a strip has dried-typically talking four hours- they fold it up and replace it with another newly dyed stretch.
CREDIT: KHANH PHAN/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

A neighbourhood in Kennington London, is taking to its doorsteps to do aerobics, at two meters apart, using household objects including broom heads and tins. Simon Garner launched “On Your Step” as a positive morning motivator which has brough together students, elderly resident and gym bunnies alike. The 43-year-old bids good morning to his neighbours from his step before they begin their routine including the “brush and sweep” with household brooms to Mary Poppons’ Chim Chim Che-ree.
CREDIT: SIMON GARNER/ SWNS.COM

A man rides his bike passed a terraced house painted with a rainbow in support of the National Health Service(NHS) on Gwendoline Street in Cardiff, Wales.
CREDIT: MATTHEW HORWOOD/ GETTY IMAGES

Market Closes for April 3rd  ,2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	21052.53	-360.91
		-1.69%
S&P 500	2488.65	-38.25
		-1.51%
NASDAQ	7373.082	-114.229 -1.53%
TSX	12938.30	-159.54
		-1.22%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17820.19	+1.47
		+0.01%
HANG SENG	23236.11	-43.95
		-0.19%
SENSEX	27590.95	-674.36
		-2.39%
FTSE 100*	5415.50	-64.72 -1.18%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.715	0.662
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.225	1.233
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.6010	0.6158
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.2167	1.2593

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.70416	0.70738
US $	1.42014	1.41367
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53471	0.65159
US $	1.08075	0.92528

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1616.80	1576.55
Oil
WTI Crude Future	28.34	24.79

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1948, the U.S. Congress passed (and Pres. Harry S. Truman immediately signed) the Marshall Plan to finance the reconstruction of Western Europe after the devastation of World War II—helping to keep communism at bay and laying the groundwork for the global economic boom of the 1950s.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks slumped on Friday, as U.S. stocks fell after a plunge in hiring last month hinted at the
extent of the pandemic’s toll on the world’s largest economy.
The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 1.2% in Toronto. Tech stocks outperformed the index, while energy and materials were
least hurt after oil and gold rallied.
Oil posted a record weekly gain on hopes that global producers will decide to make historic output cuts next week, though optimism was tempered by concern that the curbs won’t avert a glut. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government is in talks with the U.S. and OPEC about resolving the global oil-price war that’s threatening one of Canada’s most vital industries.
The plunge in the U.S. jobs data gave gold prices a boost, helping the miners on Friday. In Canada, more than two million Canadians, or one in ten workers, have applied for jobless claims since the start of nationwide lockdowns last month.
     Meanwhile, more than 10% of mortgages in the portfolios of Canada’s largest six banks have been deferred, according to a statement by the Canadian Bankers Association. The Canadian dollar fell about 0.2% to C$1.4159 per U.S. dollar and the 10-year government bond yield climbed about 8
basis points to 0.713%.

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 1.2 percent at 12,938.30 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 1.7 percent.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9 percent. Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund had the largest drop, falling 10.6 percent.
Today, 174 of 230 shares fell, while 54 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 18 times. The next day, it declined nine times for an average 4.1 percent and advanced nine times for an average 4.2 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 2 percent
* The index declined 21 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 15 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 28 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 15.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.9 on a trailing basis and 14 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 4 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 88.64 percent compared with 88.65 percent in the previous session and the average of 63.20 percent over the past month
===============================================
Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
===============================================
Financials | -86.1952| -2.1| 0/26
Industrials | -19.5705| -1.3| 4/26
Utilities | -12.6794| -1.7| 1/15
Communication Services | -8.9210| -1.0| 1/7
Consumer Discretionary | -8.9200| -2.1| 3/12
Materials | -7.9875| -0.5| 10/37
Real Estate | -5.7404| -1.4| 7/19
Energy | -3.8905| -0.2| 20/9
Health Care | -3.6818| -2.8| 1/9
Consumer Staples | -2.9332| -0.5| 5/6
Information Technology | 0.9926| 0.1| 2/8
US
By Vildana Hajric and Jeremy Herron
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slumped for the week and the dollar gained after a plunge in hiring last month hinted at the
extent of the pandemic’s toll on the world’s largest economy.
Oil rallied on expected output curbs.
The S&P 500 fell for the third time in four days as investors digested the abysmal jobs report that captured data in the period largely before government-mandated shutdowns went into widespread effect. As with record claims for unemployment, the latest numbers bear little information on the current state of the economy, making it difficult for investors to value financial assets.
“No one has ever experienced anything like this,” Bruce Bittles, chief investment strategist at Baird, said by phone. “We’re getting the shock numbers out and the markets tend to front-run bad news. In other words, a lot of the bad news is already built into the market.”
The S&P 500 fell 2.1% for the week, largely holding a rally that propelled it 18% higher in three days last week. That came after the fastest 30% plunge on record as the pandemic forced the economy into a virtual standstill. While volatility has eased somewhat, stocks are still regularly notching daily moves that until recently would have been considered huge.
Oil surged following reports large producers are ready to cut output. Crude jumped another 13% Friday after a record jump on news the OPEC+ coalition will hold a virtual meeting on Monday and that Russia is ready to cut production. Trump held a meeting with U.S. energy company executives Friday.
In Europe, data showing an unprecedented slump in the region’s economy last month pushed the Stoxx 600 Index lower, though it also trimmed its retreat. Asian equities saw modest losses in most markets to cap a third weekly decline in four. The yen weakened alongside the euro, pound and Swiss franc. Treasuries drifted.
With lockdowns for many economies around the world expected to go on for longer, data are showing the severity of the impact. Nearly 10 million people in the U.S. have lost their jobs in the past two weeks, while the virus continues to pressure corporate balance sheets. American Airlines Group Inc. will slash international flying as far out as the end of August as the pandemic batters travel demand through the normally busy summer season.
“We are not going to have the real recovery in the market until what we think is the peak in the amount of infections and deaths,” Stephen Dover, head of equities at Franklin Templeton, said on Bloomberg TV. “We are going to continue to have very wide volatility until we can get over this uncertainty.”
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index dipped 1%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.8%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index advanced 0.6%.
* The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.081.
* The British pound fell 1.1% to $1.2266.
* The Japanese yen decreased 0.5% to 108.41 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 0.61%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased one basis point to -0.44%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 0.31%.
Commodities
* Gold advanced 0.6% to $1,648.10 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 13% to $28.80 a barrel.
–With assistance from Yakob Peterseil and Adam Haigh.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The habit of giving only enhances the desire to give.
                               –Walt Whitman,  1819-1892

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Poem #63
    -e.e. cummings
…come quickly come

run run
with me now
jump shout(laugh
dance cry sing)for

it’s Spring

– irrevocably;
and in
earth sky trees
:every
where a miracle arrives…

1513: Juan Ponce de Leon reaches Florida.
1725:Casanvova b.
1805:Hans Christian Anderson b.
1917:U.S. President Woodrow Wilson asks Congress to declare war against Germany.
2002- Israel seized control of Bethlehem; Palestinian gunmen forced their way into the Church of the Nativity, the traditional birthplace of Jesus, beginning a 39-day standoff.  Go to article »

And finally, drinking with the neighbors (at a very safe distance).
That’s one of the ways readers around the world said they were handling their lockdowns in submissions to the 36 Hours column — the first to be published by our Travel section that involves, well, no traveling.
Beverly Dalton, in Manila, recommended a little meditation. “A litany of gratitude and a remembrance of the good things that have passed can help the mind and the soul,” she wrote.  -The New York Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

St Martha’s Church, Surrey, UK, basks in the sunshine, photographed by drone.
CREDIT: OLIVER DIXON

Aerial view of paddy fields in Jiudaolian Village of Longgang in Wenzhou City, east China’s Zhejiang Province. Farmers in south of the Yangtze River have started spring ploughing.
CREDIT: SPASH NEWS

Iran’s Azadi (Freedom) Tower is lit up with flags and messages of hope in solidarity with all the countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic, in Tehran.
CREDIT: AFP

Market Closes for April 2^nd  ,2020 

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	21413.44	+469.93
		+2.24%
S&P 500	2526.90	+56.40
		+2.28%
NASDAQ	7487.313	+126.731 +1.72%
TSX	13097.84	+221.47
		+1.72%

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	17818.72	-246.69
		-1.37%
HANG SENG	23280.06	+194.27
		+0.84%
SENSEX	28265.31	-1203.18
		-4.08%
FTSE 100*	5480.22	+25.65 +0.47%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	0.662	0.622
CND. 30 Year Bond	1.233	1.214
U.S.    10 Year Bond	0.6158	0.5863
U.S. 30 Year Bond	1.2593	1.2327

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.70738	0.70466
US $	1.41367	1.41912
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.53533	0.65133
US $	1.08599	0.92082

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1576.55	1608.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	24.79	20.31

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1799, the New York State legislature approved the corporate charter for the Manhattan Co., a corporation founded by Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr that planned to build dams, divert streams and lay pipes that would help supply New York City with fresh water. It quickly morphed into the Bank of the Manhattan Co., ancestor of Chase Manhattan Corp.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities jumped as a confluence of news sent oil and precious metals surging on Thursday. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed 1.7% higher with energy companies leading the charge. U.S. President Donald Trump said Saudi Arabia and Russia would make major output cuts, though uncertainty swirled over the size of the curbs and whether reductions would be made at all. Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $16 discount to West Texas Intermediate. Earlier Trump said in a couple of tweets that he expects Saudi Arabia and Russia to cut oil production by 10 million to 15 million barrels. His comments immediately triggered skepticism as the Kremlin said Russian President Vladimir Putin hadn’t agreed to a production cut to boost prices. Saudi Arabia also didn’t confirm the cuts, but called for an urgent meeting of the OPEC+ producer alliance.
     The Canadian dollar strengthened to C$1.4171 per U.S. dollar and the 10-year government bond yield climbed 5 basis points to 0.664%. Gold and silver miners were also among the best performers as record U.S. jobless claims spurred the flight to safe havens. The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits soared to 6.65 million last week, a level unimaginable just a month ago. The spot price of gold rose 1.4% to $1,614.03 an ounce. As Canadian markets try to find some normalcy amid big volatility spikes, Toronto-Dominion Bank’s Chief Executive Officer Bharat Masrani said the nation’s central bank doesn’t need to buy up corporate bonds to boost liquidity because debt markets are returning to more normal conditions. The Bank of Canada launched a program to buy short-term commercial paper, but hasn’t yet ventured into buying longer- term company bonds. It began its first-ever foray into quantitative easing this week to reduce strains in the market brought on by Covid-19 shutdowns, buying C$1.8 billion ($1.27 billion) in government bonds. What was a roaring start to Canada’s spring house-hunting season has ended in a whimper. By the time the dust settles on what’s likely to be months of disruption, the nation could see resales plunge 30% to a 20-year low and the first nationwide drop in prices since 2009, according to Royal Bank of Canada. On the virus front, Covid-19 has now infected 1 million people across the world, a milestone reached just four months after it first surfaced in the Chinese city of Wuhan. More than 51,000 have died and 208,000 recovered in what has become the biggest global public health crisis of our time.
–With assistance from Divya Balji and Andrew Cinko.
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.7 percent at 13,097.76 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 3.8 percent.
Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 7.9 percent. MEG Energy Corp. had the largest increase, rising 33.8 percent. Today, 173 of 230 shares rose, while 57 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 11 times. The next day, it declined eight times for an average 4.5 percent and advanced three times for an average 3 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 3.2 percent
* The index declined 19 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 14 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 27.1 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 17.2 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2 percent in the past 5 days and fell 21 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.1 on a trailing basis and 13.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 4 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$1.97t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 88.65 percent compared with 88.25 percent in the previous session and the average of 60.15 percent over the past month
========================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
============================================
Energy | 76.7464| 4.6| 28/2
Materials | 68.1780| 4.3| 42/5
Financials | 50.2952| 1.2| 18/8
Industrials | 31.1874| 2.0| 26/5
Communication Services | 19.8501| 2.4| 5/3
Utilities | 12.1195| 1.7| 13/3
Consumer Staples | 9.7118| 1.6| 7/4
Real Estate | 4.2544| 1.1| 20/6
Health Care | 0.0451| 0.0| 5/5
Consumer Discretionary | -10.0712| -2.3| 5/10
Information Technology | -40.8601| -4.6| 4/6
US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied, boosted by energy shares as oil surged after President Donald Trump said Russia and Saudi Arabia would cut production. Treasuries fell and the dollar rose. The S&P 500 advanced for the first time in three days, with Chevron Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp. among the top gainers. Shares rebounded after falling 6% over the past two days. Consumer discretionary stocks weighed on the benchmark after jobless claims doubled from last week to 6.6 million. West Texas crude gained 22% after Trump said he expects the two countries to cut output following a conversation with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on Thursday. But oil came off its highs after officials from both sides watered down expectations. The commodity is still down around 60% for the year. After enduring their worst quarter since 2008, stocks are struggling for traction as companies move to slash dividends and more U.S. states enact severe restrictions on movement to curb the Covid-19 pandemic. Initial jobless claims Thursday that showed record high numbers emphasized the uncertainties surrounding the economic toll. However, rebounding oil prices could help damp the impact by buoying a beaten up sector of the economy. “The reality is, there’s no amount of stimulus to spur demand growth until the population is back outside of their homes interacting with society,” said Jeff Klingelhofer, co-head of investments and portfolio manager at Thornburg Investment Management, which has about $37 billion in assets. “I think that we’re in for a period of high volatility for quite some time to come.”
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 2.3% of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 1.7%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index gained 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 0.6%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.5%.
* The euro declined 1% to $1.0852.
* The British pound rose 0.2% at $1.2399.
* The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 107.92 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased three basis point to 0.61%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose three basis points to -0.43%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield climbed two basis point to 0.33%.
Commodities
* Gold rose 3.1% to $1,640.80 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude increased 22% to $24.72 a barrel.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh and Yakob Peterseil.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached
in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.
                   -Booker T. Washington, 1856-1915

Carolann Steinhoff, B.Sc., CFP®, CIM, CIWM
Senior Investment Advisor

Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
(C): 250.881.0801
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com