Category: Events

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
July 10, 1962: Testar, the world’s first communication satellite is launched in space.

On July 10, 1940, during World War II, the 114-day Battle of Britain began as Nazi forces began attacking southern England by air. By late October, Britain managed to repel the Luftwaffe, which suffered heavy losses. Go to article >>

July 10, 1985: Rainbow Warrior sunk. Greenpeace.
John Calvin, founder of Presbyterianism, b.1509.
James M. Whistler, painter, b.1834.
Marcel Proust, writer, b. 1871.
Arthur Ashe, tennis player, b.1943.

Roman emperor Caligula’s 2,000-year-old garden unearthed near the Vatican
The gardens overlooking the Tiber river in Italy once belonged to an infamous Roman emperor.  Read More.

4,500-year-old tomb in France reveals secrets of how ‘European genome’ came to be
Researchers used DNA analysis to learn more about ancient human interbreeding. Full Story: Live Science (7/10)

‘Eyeball’ planet spied by James Webb telescope might be habitable
Located 50 light-years from Earth, the beady-eyed exoplanet LHS 1140 b could be a perfect candidate for discovering liquid water outside the solar system, new research suggests. Read More.

World’s most difficult maze could help reveal the secrets of otherworldly quasicrystals
Scientists created a maze-like fractal inspired by the movements of chess pieces. The ultra-difficult maze could help to improve our understanding of bizarre quasicrystals. Read More.

Earliest known photograph of a US first lady acquired by Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery
This photograph of former first lady Dolley Madison, wife of fourth US President James Madison, dates from around 1846.

Copa América: Argentina celebrates semifinal win
Guided by Lionel Messi, Argentina defeated Canada 2-0 on Tuesday to advance to the finals. The team will face either Uruguay or Colombia in Sunday’s highly anticipated match

World’s biggest indoor snow and ice park opens in China
The world’s largest indoor ice and snow theme park has opened its doors to the public, giving visitors to the northeast Chinese city of Harbin a chance to feel wintry temperatures year-round.

Despite the decades between us, we were fortunate to spend those 10 minutes together, so I could experience this tradition passed down by our ancestors.  — CNN’s Kathleen Magramo, describing her experience getting inked by 107-year-old Apo Whang-Od Oggay, the world’s oldest tattoo artist. Residing in the Philippines’ Kalinga province, Whang-Od is internationally renowned for hand-tapping tattoos used by the region’s indigenous tribes.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Tokyo, Japan
An immersive digital artwork is displayed at the TeamLab Planets Tokyo Museum
Photograph: Yoshio Tsunoda/Aflo/Rex/Shutterstock

Shaoxing, China
Woven Passage to Cloudy Peaks by line+ studio.
Photograph: line+studio/World Architecture Festival

Munich, Germany
A golden sky over Allianz Arena during the Uefa Euro 2024 semi-final match between Spain and France
Photograph: Christian Liewig/Corbis/Getty Images
Market Closes for July 10^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39721.36	+429.39
		+1.09%
S&P 500	5633.91	+56.93
		+1.02%
NASDAQ	18647.45	+218.16
		+1.18%
TSX	22350.22	+307.72
		+1.40%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	41831.99	+251.82
		+0.61%
HANG SENG	17471.67	-51.56
		-0.29%
SENSEX	79924.77	-426.87
		-0.53%
FTSE 100*	8193.51	+53.70
		+0.66%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.475	3.490
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.401	3.420
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.2841	4.2959
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.4768	4.4881

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7344	0.7335
US $	1.3617	1.3633

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4755	0.6778
US $	1.0836	0.9229

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2384.35	2376.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	82.10	81.41

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1991, Boris Yeltsin became Russia’s first freely elected president. He oversaw the country’s tumultuous embrace of capitalism in the 1990s, before Vladimir Putin succeeded him on the eve of the millennium. Yeltsin died in Moscow in 2007.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.4% at 22,350.23 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest gain since May 6 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 10 of 11 sectors gained; 175 of 226 shares rose, while 43 fell.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.4%.
Cameco Corp. had the largest increase, rising 9.4%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain seven times. The next day, it advanced after all seven occasions
* The index advanced 13% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 27% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 19.6% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.6% in the past 5 days and rose 1.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.5t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.23% compared with 11.62% in the previous session and the average of 11.00% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 70.4191| 1.8| 31/8
Materials | 65.5276| 2.4| 44/7
Financials | 65.2973| 1.0| 24/3
Industrials | 59.2629| 1.9| 21/6
Consumer Staples | 14.0738| 1.5| 9/1
Utilities | 13.6205| 1.6| 13/2
Consumer Discretionary | 9.1717| 1.2| 9/3
Information Technology | 7.4333| 0.4| 7/3
Real Estate | 3.1598| 0.7| 13/5
Health Care | 0.5807| 0.9| 2/2
Communication Services | -0.8376| -0.1| 2/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 23.7300| 3.4| -14.4| 5.5
Cameco | 19.0700| 9.4| 130.5| 28.0
Canadian National | 15.7300| 2.5| 29.9| -3.0
Nutrien | -1.6940| -0.7| 10.3| -11.9
Telus | -2.2700| -1.1| -16.3| -11.7
Shopify | -6.5920| -0.9| -18.6| -13.4
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A rally in the world’s largest technology companies sent stocks to all-time highs, with Jerome Powell’s remarks to Congress not doing much to dissuade traders from betting on Federal Reserve rate cuts this year.
For the first time in its history, the S&P 500 topped 5,600.
A renewed bid for mega-caps drove the US equity benchmark to its longest rally since November, with Nvidia Corp. up over 2.5% and Apple Inc. climbing on news it aims to ship 10% more new iPhones after a bumpy 2023.
Treasuries remained fairly stable after a strong $39 billion sale of 10-year bonds.
Swaps are pricing in two Fed cuts in 2024 — and higher chances the first comes in September.
As Wall Street geared up for the consumer-price index, Powell said the Fed doesn’t need inflation below 2% before cutting rates, while adding officials still have more work to do. He noted the labor market has cooled “pretty significantly.”
Powell cited a “good ways to go” on the balance-sheet runoff, and said commercial real estate doesn’t threaten financial stability.
“The key takeaway from his testimony is the Fed’s assessment of the balance of risks is shifting in ways that – if supported and sustained by incoming data – will deliver a rate cut in September,” said Krishna Guha at Evercore.
The S&P 500 climbed 1% — up for a seventh straight day — to notch its 37th record this year.
Gold and silver mining stocks rallied on Fed easing bets.
Banks underperformed.
Google parent Alphabet Inc. has shelved efforts to acquire HubSpot Inc., according to people with knowledge of the matter.
US 10-year yields fell two basis points to 4.28%.
Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said the timing of a rate cut is still an “open question,” prompting traders to pare bets on August cut.
Oil rose as a US holiday boosted demand for gasoline and jet fuel.
“Markets remain remarkably calm despite the flood of data this week, including Fed Chair Powell’s testimony, CPI/PPI reports, and the beginning of earnings season,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
The so-called core CPI, which excludes food and energy costs and is seen as a better measure of underlying inflation, is expected to rise 0.2% in June for a second month.
That would mark the smallest back-to-back gains since August — a pace more palatable for Fed officials.
“June’s CPI report looks to be another ‘very good’ report that should boost the FOMC’s confidence about the inflation trajectory,” said Anna Wong at Bloomberg Economics. “That should set the stage for the Fed to start cutting rates in September.”
A survey conducted by 22V Research shows 55% of investors expect the market reaction Thursday’s CPI to be “risk-on,” 16% said “risk-off” and 29% “mixed/negligible.”
“There is optimism about inflation generally,” said Dennis DeBusschere at 22V, adding that the survey also showed investors think “CPI is on a Fed-friendly glide path.”
Meantime, some trading desks say investors should gear up for a potential break in the eerie calm that’s recently descended on the market.
The options market is betting the S&P 500 Index will move 0.8% in either direction after Thursday’s report on consumer prices, based on the price of that day’s at-the-money straddles, according to Stuart Kaiser, Citigroup’s head of US equity trading strategy.
If it happens, that would be the biggest move for the index since June 12, the day of the last CPI print and interest-rate decision.
Market volatility may pick up in the days and weeks ahead, amid US political uncertainty, comments from the Fed chair, and the start of the second-quarter earnings season, according to Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management.
For the first time since 2022, S&P 500 earnings may not be laser-focused on just technology, with the quarter’s success hanging on everything aside from the mega-cap tech heavyweights that have driven stocks to all-time highs, according to Bloomberg Intelligence strategists led by Gina Martin Adams.
“While forecasts for the ‘Magnificent Seven’ remain robust, their earnings are expected to slow in the second quarter — just as the rest of the S&P 500 may finally post their first year-on-year growth in at least five quarters,” they noted.
The Magnificent Seven may have already peaked, while the remaining S&P 500 stocks may post their first earnings expansion in at least six quarters, the strategists concluded.

Corporate Highlights:
* Microsoft Corp. has avoided the threat of a lengthy European Union antitrust probe into its cloud business after it brokered a deal with an Amazon.com Inc.-backed trade lobby that had complained about its software license agreements.
* Intuit Inc. is cutting 1,800 employees, swapping out low performers and executives with fresh hires meant to sharpen the company’s focus on products that use artificial intelligence.
* Advanced Micro Devices Inc. agreed to buy Silo AI for $665 million in cash, adding a maker of artificial intelligence models that will help its push to close the gap on Nvidia Corp.
* Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. — working to put an accounting scandal behind it — hired a 3M Co. executive to oversee its finances and help restore its credibility with shareholders.
* The US Federal Trade Commission is preparing a lawsuit against the three largest drug middlemen over their use of rebates for insulin and other drugs, according to a person familiar with the probe.
* Honeywell International Inc. agreed to buy Air Products and Chemicals Inc.’s liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment business for $1.81 billion in cash.

Key events this week:
* US CPI, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Fed’s Raphael Bostic and Alberto Musalem speak, Thursday
* China trade, Friday
* University of Michigan consumer sentiment, US PPI, Friday
* Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo’s earnings, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%
* The MSCI World Index rose 1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.1% to $1.0829
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.2846
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 161.74 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $57,424.76
* Ether rose 1.2% to $3,108.05
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 4.28%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 2.53%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 4.13%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.2% to $82.40 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.3% to $2,372.14 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Richard Henderson, Joel Leon and Jessica Menton.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. -Sylvester Stallone (as Rocky Balboa), b. 1946.

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:
June 9, 2004 A Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded the CIA had provided unfounded assessments of the threat posed by Iraq that the Bush administration relied on to justify going to war. Go to article >>

Martyrdom of the Bab: Baha’i.

July 9, 1893: First successful open-heart surgery.
Nicola Tesla,  inventor, b.1856.
Otto Respighi, composer, b. 1879.
Tom Hanks, actor, b. 1956.

List of world’s 10 best airports includes Salt Lake City, surprisingly
The billionaire heiress emerging as the next US tennis star
Despite being set to inherit a fortune, this 23-year-old athlete is determined to make her own name in professional tennis.

‘The last 12 months have broken records like never before’: Earth exceeds 1.5 C warming every month for entire year
Every month has broken the temperature record of the previous for the past 12 months, and the signs of climate breakdown are already here, a new analysis shows. Read More.

5,000-year-old ceremonial temple discovered beneath sand dune in Peru
The 5,000-year-old site contains the walls of a ceremonial temple, as well as human remains. Read More.

‘Dragon’ and ‘tree of life’ hydrothermal vents discovered in Arctic region scientists thought was geologically dead
Researchers have discovered a deep-sea hydrothermal vent field near Svalbard. The newfound vents have been named after various entities from Norse mythology. Read More.

‘I’ve never seen anything like this’: Scientists hijack cancer genes to turn tumors against themselves
Scientists overcame cancer drug resistance in a new proof-of-concept study. Read More.

James Webb telescope reveals rare, ‘rotten egg’ atmosphere around nearby hell planet
The James Webb Space Telescope revealed that the hot Jupiter exoplanet HD 189733 b, located just 64 light-years from Earth, has an atmosphere full of hydrogen sulfide, meaning it likely smells of rotten eggs. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

London, England
Pumpkin (2024), a new large-scale sculpture by the Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama, is installed by the Round Pond in Kensington Gardens as part of the Serpentine gallery’s public art presentations.
Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Wimbledon, England
A fake owl is positioned to keep pigeons away from the grounds on day nine of the Wimbledon championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club.
Photograph: Aaron Chown/PA

​​​​​​​Campo Tures, Italy
Natural Connection: OLM Nature Escape Eco-Aparthotel by Andreas Gruber Architects.
Photograph: Manuel Kottersteger/World Architecture Festival
Market Closes for July 9^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39291.97	-52.82
		-0.13%
S&P 500	5576.98	+4.13
		+0.07%
NASDAQ	18429.29	+25.55
		+0.14%
TSX	22042.50	-83.63
		-0.38%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	41580.17	+799.47
		+1.96%
HANG SENG	17523.23	-0.83
		—
SENSEX	80351.64	+391.26
		+0.49%
FTSE 100*	8139.81	-53.68
		-0.66%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.490	3.473
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.420	3.403
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.2959	4.2783
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.4881	4.4646

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7335	0.7337
US $	1.3633	1.3630

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4745	0.6782
US $	1.0816	0.9246

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2376.65	2376.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	81.41	82.33

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1932, the public’s interest in the stock market hit rock bottom. The day’s total volume on the New York Stock Exchange dropped to a modern record low of just 235,000 shares.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4% at 22,042.50 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.3%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9%.
Badger Infrastructure Solutions Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 6.5%.
Today, 150 of 226 shares fell, while 70 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 11% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 26% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.3% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 17.9% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.4% in the past 5 days and was little changed in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.8 on a trailing basis and 15.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.52t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.62% compared with 11.65% in the previous session and the average of 10.99% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -36.0329| -0.9| 8/32
Industrials | -34.6681| -1.1| 4/24
Information Technology | -15.6971| -0.9| 4/6
Materials | -4.6393| -0.2| 23/27
Consumer Discretionary | -3.8224| -0.5| 3/10
Communication Services | -3.7500| -0.6| 0/4
Utilities | -1.7175| -0.2| 5/10
Real Estate | -1.3049| -0.3| 4/15
Health Care | -0.3109| -0.5| 0/3
Consumer Staples | 1.2039| 0.1| 4/7
Financials | 17.0904| 0.3| 15/12
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -15.0400| -1.9| -47.8| -12.6
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -14.0800| -2.0| -54.5| 2.0
Canadian Natural Resources | -11.0900| -1.5| -63.1| 11.3
TD Bank | 3.7150| 0.4| 79.0| -11.0
National Bank of Canada | 3.9670| 1.5| 51.3| 11.0
Bank of Nova Scotia| 5.0700| 1.0| -14.2| -3.4
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks closed at all-time highs, with Jerome Powell’s remarks to Congress doing little to alter bets the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates this year.
Financial shares the led gains on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 up for a sixth straight session — its longest winning run since January.
Shorter-term Treasuries outperformed on bets they would more likely benefit from policy easing.
Powell was careful not to offer a timeline for rate cuts.
However, he emphasized mounting signs of a cooling job market after government data showed a third straight month of rising unemployment.
“The rhetoric today continued to move toward preparing the market for a cut in rates later this year,” said Michael Feroli at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “Powell largely stuck to the script when it came to the economy, and many questions weren’t about the economy, but instead about Basel endgame.”
Powell said regulators are close to agreeing to change their plan to force big banks to hold significantly more capital – a major win for Wall Street lenders.
The overhaul is tied to Basel III, an international accord that followed the 2008 financial crisis and is intended to prevent bank failures and another crunch.
The S&P 500 hit its 36th record this year.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co. climbed.
Tesla Inc. and Nvidia Corp. led mega-cap tech higher.
Oracle Corp. sank as Elon Musk said his artificial-intelligence startup would rely less on cloud technology from the software maker.
Treasuries pared losses after a solid $58 billion sale of three-year notes, though a rout in European bonds kept a lid on the market.
Swap traders continued to project two rate cuts in 2024.

Wall Street’s Reaction to Powell:
* Peter Boockvar at The Boock Report:
Jay Powell is maintaining his more balanced view on the economic outlook and the two mandates they focus on — but with a window towards easing. I’m becoming more confident that the Fed cuts in September.
* Krishna Guha at Evercore:
While some might have been hoping for a stronger rate-cut signal, we read his comments in particular on the evolving balance of risks as dovish and see him as continuing to lay the foundations for a potential September cut provided incoming data – in particular Thursday’s inflation report – sustain and support the Fed’s evolving assessment.
* Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities:
Powell was a lot more neutral than the market was anticipating. We expect similar testimony tomorrow, with a big potential move in rates after CPI Thursday.
* Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets:
The US rates market bear-steepened in a move that was more about a supply concession than anything Powell said (or didn’t say).  The Chair stuck to the script. The market shrugged off any slightly dovish skew and quickly shifted focus to the looming supply – with a nod to the fact a greater curve concession could be on offer.
* Chris Larkin at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley:
Chairman Powell acknowledged that keeping interest rates elevated for too long could jeopardize the economy and the labor market, which may have cheered investors eager for the Fed to cut rates. But he also repeated his mantra that the Fed is still waiting for more evidence that inflation is cooling reliably before it acts.
* Peter Williams at 22V Research:
Powell keeps the ship steady. Chair Powell’s prepared testimony struck a balanced tone.  September remains modal, if notably more tentative than priced currently. But with the Fed balancing risks, upside surprises to labor market or inflation data could delay the first cut.
* Anna Wong at Bloomberg Economics:
These are the clearest signals to date that the FOMC is close to cutting rates. With three more inflation reports due before the September FOMC meeting, we think the Fed will have enough confidence by then to cut.
* Stephen Brown at Capital Economics:
Powell leaves all options open.  The neutral tone of the opening statement seems at odds with the softer tone of the recent activity data, so our sense is that a September interest rate cut remains very much in suspense.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the labor market is no longer driving inflation in the US economy to the extent it was earlier in the pandemic recovery, echoing earlier comments by Powell.
Investors should brace themselves for a bout of stock market volatility this week after a lengthy period of calm, based on a warning from JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s trading desk.
The options market is betting the S&P 500 will move by 0.9% in either direction by Thursday, based on the price of at-the-money straddles expiring that day, according to Andrew Tyler, the trading desk’s head of US market intelligence.
The latest consumer price index will be reported prior to that session, which could trigger a move with traders betting on easing inflation driving the Fed to cut interest rates twice in 2024.
Risk-taking traders are keeping a close eye on a heuristic recession indicator known as the Sahm rule after the latest jobs data.
The rule was conceived just a few years ago in 2019, but it has accurately indicated the start of a recession since 1970.
With US stocks hovering near all-time highs and traders eyeing rate cuts this year, the prospects of a recession has tapered off as hopes for a soft-landing mount.
But any sign of cracks in the labor market could challenge that confidence, forcing traders to reconsider their positions.
Wall Street has tilted toward the tech sector to a historic degree, raising the stakes should the artificial intelligence-fueled rally falter.
Valuations are stretched, while earnings growth is poised to slow from here.
That adds to uncertainty for investors betting that Big Tech’s rally will continue, according to Lisa Shalett at Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit, who warns of “stretched momentum, weak breadth and complacency” in the market.
The rally in artificial-intelligence stocks may show little sign of flagging, but a historical review suggests it’s time to take profit in the biggest names, according to strategists at Citigroup Inc. led by Drew Pettit.
Sentiment toward AI-exposed equities is the strongest since 2019 and free cash flow at the bulk of those firms is forecast to outstrip analyst expectations, they said.

Corporate Highlights:
* Boeing Co. delivered 44 commercial aircraft in June, the highest monthly total since the company curbed work in its factories in the wake of a harrowing near-miss in early January involving a 737 Max jetliner.
* Volkswagen AG lowered its margin outlook for the year, citing costs related to a potential Audi plant closure in Belgium after disappointing demand for some electric vehicles and other unplanned expenses.
* Kroger Co. released the full list of stores, distribution centers and plants it plans to divest to secure regulatory approval for the proposed merger with Albertsons Cos.
* Pershing Square has started a roadshow for the initial public offering of a US closed-end vehicle, which could be the largest fund of its kind in the US.
* Pfizer Inc. is planning to replace its top scientist after a more than 15-year career in charge of the company’s drug pipeline.
* BP Plc warned of “significantly lower” refining margins and predicted a write-down on the value of a plant in Germany of $1 billion to $2 billion.

Key events this week:
* China PPI, CPI, Wednesday
* Jerome Powell testifies to the House Financial Services Committee, Wednesday
* Fed’s Austan Goolsbee, Michelle Bowman and Lisa Cook speak, Wednesday
* US CPI, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Fed’s Raphael Bostic and Alberto Musalem speak, Thursday
* China trade, Friday
* University of Michigan consumer sentiment, US PPI, Friday
* Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo’s earnings, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World Index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.0814
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.2789
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 161.29 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.9% to $57,879.13
* Ether rose 2.4% to $3,068.56
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.29%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.58%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.16%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $81.57 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $2,363.93 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Sujata Rao, Aya Wagatsuma, Matthew Burgess, Sagarika Jaisinghani and Jessica Menton.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Always turn a negative situation into a positive situation. -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: Happy Monday.
Festa dos Tabuleiros, Portugal.

July 8, 1889: The Wall Street Journal was first published. Go to article >>

John D. Rockefeller, financier, b. 1839.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, writer, b. 1926.
Anjelica Huston, actress., b. 1951.
Anna Quindlen, writer, b. 1953.

Paris’ famous Moulin Rouge windmill gets its blades back
Paris’ iconic Moulin Rouge windmill has been fitted with new blades, nearly three months after they fell off the landmark back in April.

Archaeologists find marble god statue in ancient Roman sewer
Bulgarian archaeologists stumbled across this well-preserved marble statue depicting the Greek god Hermes

Tearful Lewis Hamilton wins British Grand Prix
The 39-year-old was emotional Sunday after securing another Grand Prix win. Read about his impressive victory on the rain-slicked track at Silverstone.

When your home becomes a tourist attraction
What happens when a private residence becomes an Instagram hot spot? Some residents told CNN what it’s like to own a home that is rich in history.

Cats love to meow at humans. Now we know why.
Meows are more than a cute sound — they’re also a window into the relationship between humans and their feline friends. Read More.

‘This is what drives the migraine headache’: Scientists uncover ‘missing link’ in why some migraines happen
A new mouse study uncovered a previously unknown route between the brain and peripheral nerves that could explain the link between aura symptoms and migraine headaches. Read More.

Forbidden black holes and ancient stars hide in these ‘tiny red dots’
The James Webb Space Telescope found “tiny red dots” in the early universe representing overgrown supermassive black holes and stars that are impossibly old for the infant cosmos. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Yamanote line trains passing each other at Takanawa Gateway station

Los Olivos, California, US
People play polo as the Lake Fire burns in Los Padres National Forest
Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Syria
A youth gathers reeds harvested from the marshlands in Raqqa province
Photograph: Delil Souleiman/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for July 8^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39344.79	-31.08
		-0.08%
S&P 500	5572.85	+5.66
		+0.10%
NASDAQ	18403.74	+50.98
		+0.28%
TSX	22126.13	+67.10
		+0.30%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	40780.70	-131.67
		-0.32%
HANG SENG	17524.06	-275.55
		-1.55%
SENSEX	79960.38	-36.22
		-0.05%
FTSE 100*	8193.49	-10.44
		-0.13%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.473	3.499
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.403	3.431
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.2783	4.2784
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.4646	4.4768

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7337	0.7335
US $	1.3630	1.3633

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4765	0.6773
US $	1.0830	0.9233

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2376.65	2358.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future	82.33	83.88

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1889, the first issue of The Wall Street Journal was published by Charles Henry Dow, Edward Davis Jones and Charles M. Bergstresser.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3% at 22,126.13 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.8%.
Constellation Software Inc/Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
Lundin Gold Inc. had the largest increase, rising 5.3%.
Today, 156 of 226 shares rose, while 68 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 12% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 26% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.9% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 18.4% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.1% in the past 5 days and rose 0.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.8 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.51t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.65% compared with 11.63% in the previous session and the average of 10.96% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 47.2928| 0.7| 23/4
Consumer Staples | 11.7522| 1.2| 7/4
Information Technology | 11.0359| 0.6| 8/2
Real Estate | 7.5613| 1.7| 19/1
Consumer Discretionary | 7.0878| 0.9| 11/2
Communication Services | 3.3060| 0.5| 3/2
Utilities | 1.1932| 0.1| 11/4
Health Care | 0.8452| 1.3| 4/0
Industrials | -0.1126| 0.0| 19/9
Energy | -10.2910| -0.3| 22/17
Materials | -12.5709| -0.5| 29/23
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Constellation Software | 9.5600| 1.7| -44.2| 23.2
RBC | 8.7990| 0.6| 29.0| 11.3
TD Bank | 7.9260| 0.9| 7.6| -11.4
Cameco | -4.6770| -2.3| 88.5| 16.4
Canadian National | -6.0020| -0.9| -35.1| -4.4
Teck Resources | -7.0450| -3.2| -16.9| 18.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks closed at all-time highs in a cautious session that saw traders gearing up for Jerome Powell’s testimony to US lawmakers and the start of the earnings season.
With a mere 0.1% advance, the S&P 500 notched its 35^th record this year.
Some of the largest American banks will unofficially kick off the second-quarter reporting season Friday — and growth expectations are quite lofty.
Analysts’ upgrades to profit estimates have outnumbered downgrades.
At the same time, forecasts for 12-month forward earnings stand at an all-time high.
John Stoltzfus at Oppenheimer Asset Management said a robust earnings outlook and a resilient economy could support higher valuations.
He raised his year-end S&P 500 target to 5,900.
At Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Scott Rubner says the bar for corporate results is high — with lofty expectations already baked in.
“As earnings season kicks off this week, investors should be prepared to see some ‘choppiness,’ but the market will likely climb back up again once companies resume buybacks,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
The S&P 500 topped 5,570.
Nvidia Corp. climbed as UBS Group AG raised its target.
More than 2,600 Boeing Co. 737 jets registered in the US will need to have their oxygen generators inspected.
United Airlines Holdings Inc. said another of its Boeing aircraft lost a main landing gear wheel while taking off.
Broadcom Inc. is borrowing $5 billion in the investment-grade market.
Shorter-term Treasuries underperformed longer ones.
Bitcoin slid on concern about possible sales of the token by creditors of the failed Mt. Gox exchange.
The lack of a clear winner in the French elections spurred speculation there’s unlikely to be major policy changes amid political gridlock.
Meantime, US President Joe Biden pledged to fellow Democrats he’ll remain in the presidential race.
Traders should brace for a correction in the stock market as uncertainty swirls around corporate earnings, Fed policy and the US presidential campaign, according to Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson.
The third quarter is “going to be choppy,” Wilson told Bloomberg Television.
“This rally has continued despite growing concerns about the economy, political uncertainty, sticky inflation and lack of clarity about timing of first rate cut,” said Megan Horneman at Verdence Capital Advisors. “Therefore, we would not rule out at least a 10% correction in the S&P 500 in the second half of the year. Especially when we see future earnings expectations get more realistic.”
For the past two years, a small cohort of companies have contributed to the bulk of the gauge’s return: The S&P 500 has gained roughly 55% since the lows of October 2022 — but 58% of that advance has come from just the top 10 stocks in the benchmark, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“S&P 500 earnings growth will likely continue for the next year at a respectable pace,” said Nicholas Colas at DataTrek.
“Moreover, those improvements should be broad-based rather than in just a few tech-heavy sectors. All this adds up to continued strength in US large caps.”
The S&P 500 is in its 11th-longest stretch without a 2% down day since 1928, according to Ed Clissold at Ned Davis Research.
“The end of previous long streaks has been followed by mixed returns, but not the end of the bull market, on average,” he noted. “Never (OK, rarely) short a dull market.”
Clissold also noted that this is one of the “hardest bull markets” for stock pickers in the last 50 years.
“What makes the current cycle unique is that so few stocks are driving returns, providing fewer opportunities for stock pickers to outperform than during previous low vol streaks,” he concluded.
Aside from the corporate world, traders will continue focused on the Federal Reserve outlook.
Powell will face pressure this week from lawmakers growing impatient for the Fed to cut rates and others who are unhappy with its latest plan to boost capital requirements for Wall Street lenders.
The Fed chair heads to Capitol Hill on Tuesday and Wednesday for his semiannual testimony.
Also the June consumer price index data due Thursday will be a highlight.
The so-called core CPI, which is seen as a better measure of underlying inflation, is expected to show the smallest back-to-back gains since August, a pace more palatable for Fed officials.
“While the CPI release will be key, we will be looking for signs from Powell that the Fed is edging closer to a decision to cash in its chips and move in September provided ongoing inflation news broadly confirms that the run-rate has stepped back down,” said Krishna Guha at Evercore.
US consumers’ near-term inflation expectations fell for a second straight month, a Fed Bank of New York survey showed.
If US inflation moderates without collateral damage to the economy, the resulting Fed easing cycle could be a tailwind for risk assets, according to Jason Pride and Michael Reynolds at Glenmede.
“Synchronized global easing cycles have historically been a bullish signal for equities in the short-to-medium term,” they noted.
The S&P 500 has posted forward returns of 9.9% in the 12 months immediately following periods of 40–60% of global central banks easing policy, Glenmede said.
That number increases to 18.7% in the 80–100% tranche — suggesting that equities could benefit if more central banks hop on the easing bandwagon.
“The Fed is closing in on rate cuts, as the US economy moderates,” according to Principal Asset Management strategists.
“We expect cuts in September and December, but that will require additional evidence of a slowdown.”
Bond markets appear to be beginning the back half of 2024 with a long bias, as economic data weakens and we approach rate cuts in the fall, according to Thomas Tzitzouris at Strategas.
Despite the long positioning, there are preliminary signs of shorts coming back, he noted.
“When we break down the positioning data, we see a market that despite showing a long bias in anticipation of cuts, is not fully convinced this will occur with shorts slowly returning to the market,” Tzitzouris said.

Corporate Highlights:
* Boeing Co. is discussing a potential path forward with the US Defense Department to preserve its government contract business after the company agreed to plead guilty to a criminal charge tied to two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jet, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
* Microsoft Corp. told employees in China that starting in September they’ll only be able to use iPhones for work.
* Exxon Mobil Corp. expects refining profits to drop due to lower margins across the industry, reducing earnings estimates for the second quarter.
* Southwest Airlines Co., which is facing demands for sweeping leadership and business changes from activist Elliott Investment Management, has named aviation industry veteran Rakesh Gangwal to its board.
* Airbus SE logged its best monthly deliveries so far this year as the plane maker works to resolve its supply-chain woes and pares back its order backlog.
* Eli Lilly & Co. agreed to buy U.S. gut-drug maker Morphic Holding Inc. for about $3.2 billion.
* Devon Energy Corp. agreed to acquire the Williston Basin business of EnCap Investments LP’s Grayson Mill Energy for $5 billion.
* Paramount Global agreed to merge with Skydance Media in a deal that hands control of the storied Hollywood studio to producer David Ellison.
* Lucid Group Inc. beat expectations for quarterly production and deliveries, shaking off concerns about a slowdown in the electric-vehicle market.

Key events this week:
* China aggregate financing, money supply, new yuan loans, Tuesday
* Jerome Powell delivers semi-annual testimony to the Senate Banking Committee, Tuesday
* US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen testifies to the House Financial Services Committee, Tuesday
* Fed’s Michael Barr and Michelle Bowman speak, Tuesday
* China PPI, CPI, Wednesday
* Jerome Powell testifies to the House Financial Services Committee, Wednesday
* Fed’s Austan Goolsbee, Michelle Bowman and Lisa Cook speak, Wednesday
* US CPI, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Fed’s Raphael Bostic and Alberto Musalem speak, Thursday
* China trade, Friday
* University of Michigan consumer sentiment, US PPI, Friday
* Citigroup, JPMorgan and Wells Fargo’s earnings, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0824
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2809
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 160.79 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.4% to $56,460.6
* Ether rose 0.2% to $3,004.78
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.27%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.54%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.11%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $82.25 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 1.4% to $2,359.27 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Juliette Laffont, Catherine Bosley, Matthew Burgess, Vildana Hajric, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Alexandra Semenova and Natalia Kniazhevich.

Have a lovely evening everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Never confuse a single failure with a  final defeat. –F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1896-1940.

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.
Tynwald Day – Viking mid-summer day, Isle of Man
Venezuela Independence Day.
July 5, 1975: Arthur Ashe became the first African-American man to win a Wimbledon singles title as he defeated Jimmy Connors. Go to article >>
July 5, 1996: World’s first live cloned mammal is born.  Dolly (a sheep) was cloned using cells from an adult sheep.

1946: Fist bikini swimsuit modeled by Parisian dancer Michele Bernadini at Piscine Molitor, Paris, France.
P.T. Barnum , circus promoter, b.1810.

Missing pieces of 6th-century Byzantine bucket finally found at Sutton Hoo
Archaeologists at Sutton Hoo, a 1,400-year-old boat burial in England, have discovered pieces of a broken bucket from the Byzantine Empire. Read More.

Computer inspired by Japanese art of paper-cutting has no electronics and stores data in tiny cubes
The new mechanical computer uses 64 physical cubes to represent binary bits and is inspired by kirigami — the Japanese art of paper-folding and cutting. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Pulwama, India
Kashmiri children look out from their home on a hot summer day
Photograph: Faisal Bashir/SOPA Images/Rex/Shutterstock

Bulgan province , Mongolia
A horse rolls in the grass
Photograph: Héctor Retamal/AFP/Getty Images

New York City
The Macy’s 4 July fireworks form a backdrop to the Manhattan skyline
Photograph: Adam Gray/Getty Images
Market Closes for July 5^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39375.87	+67.87
		+0.17%
S&P 500	5567.19	+30.17
		+0.54%
NASDAQ	18352.76	+164.46
		+0.90%
TSX	22059.03	-184.99
		-0.83%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	40912.37	-1.28
		—
HANG SENG	17799.61	-228.67
		-1.27%
SENSEX	79996.60	-53.07
		-0.07%
FTSE 100*	8203.93	-37.33
		-0.45%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.499	3.608
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.431	3.510
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.2784	N.A.
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.4768	N.A.

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7335	0.7346
US $	1.3633	1.3614

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4792	0.6760
US $	1.0849	0.9217

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2358.65	2361.35
Oil
WTI Crude Future	83.88	83.88

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1991, regulators in seven countries staged a coordinated strike to seize the Bank of Credit & Commerce International. BCCI operated in more than 70 countries, and counted drug traffickers, terrorists and crooked politicians among its clients. Former Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau called BCCI “the largest bank fraud in world financial history.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.8% at 22,059.03 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.2% on June 13 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.1%.
Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.
Kelt Exploration Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 5.6%.
Today, 173 of 226 shares fell, while 50 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 0.8%
* The index advanced 9.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 24% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.2% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 18% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.9 on a trailing basis and 15.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.54t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.63% compared with 11.49% in the previous session and the average of 10.92% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -71.9464| -1.1| 1/26
Energy | -71.1381| -1.8| 0/41
Industrials | -33.3679| -1.1| 1/26
Utilities | -9.5702| -1.1| 4/10
Consumer Discretionary | -5.0516| -0.6| 2/11
Information Technology | -4.7273| -0.3| 1/9
Real Estate | -3.5076| -0.8| 3/17
Consumer Staples | -0.3931| 0.0| 4/7
Health Care | 0.0371| 0.1| 1/2
Communication Services | 0.8144| 0.1| 2/3
Materials | 13.8765| 0.5| 31/21
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Suncor Energy | -17.3400| -3.6| -42.0| 21.3
RBC | -13.3500| -0.9| 36.7| 10.6
Canadian Natural Resources | -11.5400| -1.6| -64.0| 13.0
Wheaton Precious Metals | 4.4670| 1.9| -22.1| 16.3
Agnico Eagle Mines | 5.7580| 1.8| -13.2| 31.0
Shopify | 6.9300| 0.9| -28.4| -10.6
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The stock market ended the week at all-time highs, with traders looking past signals of a slowdown in the world’s largest economy to focus on prospects for Federal Reserve rate cuts.
In a post-holiday session marked by thin volume, the S&P 500 notched its 34th record this year.
Equities rebounded, following a series of twists and turns in the immediate aftermath of data showing US hiring moderated as the jobless rate hit the highest since 2021.
Treasury yields tumbled.
Swaps fully projected two Fed reductions in 2024 starting in November — and Wall Street bets have been building around a September rate cut.
Nonfarm payrolls rose by 206,000 in June and job growth in the prior two months was revised down by 111,000.
The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists called for a 190,000 increase.
The unemployment rate climbed to 4.1%, and average hourly earnings cooled.
“Get on with it,” said Neil Dutta at Renaissance Macro Research. “Today’s employment report ought to firm up expectations of a September rate cut. Economic conditions are cooling and that makes the trade-offs different for the Fed.”
The S&P 500 topped 5,565.
The Nasdaq 100 rose 1%.
Meta Platforms Inc. jumped almost 6%.
Macy’s Inc. surged on a news report about a sweetened buyout offer.
Banks got hit — though JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. are expected kick off the industry’s earnings season next week on a bright note.
Treasury 10-year yields fell eight basis points to 4.28%.
The dollar extended its weekly drop.
Bitcoin sank.
The pound climbed after Keir Starmer’s Labour party swept to a landslide election win.
“The job market is bending without yet breaking, which boosts the argument for rate cuts,” said David Russell at TradeStation. “Things are not too hot and not too cold.  Goldilocks is here and September is in play.”
In the run-up to the jobs report, bond funds recorded about $19 billion in weekly inflows, the biggest additions since February 2021, according to a note from Bank of America Corp. citing EPFR Global data.
The trend suggests investors are “locking in peak yields,”  BofA strategist Michael Hartnett wrote.
Global equity funds recorded inflows of $10.9 billion — the longest winning streak since December 2021, the data showed.
The gradual loosening up of a very tight labor market is consistent with the Fed’s “immaculate disinflation narrative” and should give officials confidence to lower rates sometime in the second half, according to Michael Feroli at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
He still sees a first cut in November — but says the path to a September reduction got “a little wider.”
To Chris Larkin at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, the latest jobs data suggest the labor market is slowing — maybe not enough to speed up rate cuts, but perhaps enough to keep the Fed on track for September.
At Apollo Global Management, Torsten Slok’s view remains unchanged — no Fed cuts in 2024.
He says the jobs report confirms that it is going to take time for the Fed to cool down the economy and inflation.
“Looking ahead, the key discussion in markets will be whether this cooling will accelerate to the downside because of still-elevated costs of financing. Or whether we will see a reaccelerating economy because of high stock prices and tight credit spreads,” Slok noted.
After the jobs data comes Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who on Tuesday will deliver his semi-annual testimony on Capitol Hill.
Then the consumer-price index is issued on Thursday.
“If next week’s CPI is cooperative, the case for a September cut will be that much stronger,” said Chris Low at FHN Financial.
“The Fed remains the biggest risk to the market,” said Ed Clissold, chief US strategist at Ned Davis Research. “Recession risks are low, earnings growth is improving and economic data point to the Fed cutting rates this year, but if there’s a negative surprise, then stocks are vulnerable to a bigger pullback, given the already strong rally in the first half of this year.”
Strong seasonality is colliding with a slew of market-moving events over the next few trading sessions will be key catalysts in determining whether this year’s stock rally powers even higher — or stalls — as traders enter the best stretch of the year for equities.
Since 1928, the first 10 trading days of July have historically been the strongest period for the S&P 500, with the benchmark stocks gauge advancing 1.5% on average, rising nearly 70% of the time, according to Bank of America Corp.

Corporate Highlights:
* ConocoPhillips sued to block a Biden administration ban on drilling across nearly half the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska, claiming the measure violates a federal law that compels oil development there.
* SunPower Corp. tumbled after the struggling solar company’s accountant quit amid allegations of misconduct by senior executives.
* Canada has approved Glencore Plc’s $6.9-billion acquisition of Teck Resources Ltd.’s metallurgical coal business, while the latter announced a $2 billion share buyback and pledged to boost copper output.
* Samsung Electronics Co. posted its fastest pace of sales and profit growth in years, reflecting a recovery in memory chip demand as AI development accelerates globally.
* BBVA SA’s investors voted to support the lender’s bid for rival Banco Sabadell SA, allowing Chairman Carlos Torres to clear one hurdle in his attempt to create a domestic banking giant.
* Shell Plc expects as much as $2 billion of impairments in its second-quarter earnings related to a delayed biofuels plant under construction in the Netherlands and its chemicals facility in Singapore.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro rose 0.3% to $1.0840
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2816
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 160.77 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 3.2% to $56,478.81
* Ether fell 5% to $2,985.12
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined eight basis points to 4.28%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 2.56%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.12%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $83.10 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.4% to $2,388.72 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Jessica Menton, John Viljoen, Divya Patil and Richard Henderson.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending. -Maria Robinson, 1775-1818.

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 Eve.
Carolann is away from the office; I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

Independence Day: On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence, announcing the colonies’ separation from Great Britain.

How Did the Bald Eagle Become America’s National Bird?
Long considered a symbol of strength, the predatory bird first appeared on the national seal in 1782.

James Webb Space Telescope celebrates Independence Day by showcasing dazzling ‘cosmic fireworks’ 460 light-years away
NASA celebrates the Fourth of July with a dazzling image of an erupting baby star. Read more.

NASA’s Juno probe reveals ‘fire-breathing’ lava lakes across Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io
New infrared images showcase “fire-breathing” lakes all across the surface of Jupiter’s volcanic moon Io. Read more.

Rare, mystery blasts from sun can devastate the ozone layer and spike radiation levels on Earth
The vibrant auroras from earlier this year have a darker side that scientists are still uncovering. Read more.

How popcorn was discovered nearly 7,000 years ago
An archaeologist explains the food’s likely appeal for people in the Americas millennia ago. Read more.

A cave drawing of human figures and a pig is the world’s oldest known narrative art
Up a rocky cliff face, through a narrow opening, and at the end of a snaking passage lies a painting that archaeologists say is the world’s oldest known example of storytelling in art history. Read more.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Nantes, France
Le Rêve de Fitzcarraldo (Fitzcarraldo’s Dream) by the Brazilian artist Henrique Oliveira is displayed in front of the Nantes Opera House as part of the Voyage à Nantes art festival, which runs until 8 September
Photograph: Loïc Venance/AFP/Getty Images

A Clear Welcome | Laguna de los Tres, Patagonia, Argentina
Photographer Francesco Dall’Olmo: ‘This was the first photo I took in Patagonia. Contrary to expectations of cold, rain, and wind, our initial encounter with these landscapes was unusual:
nearly three days of clear skies. Reaching the lagoon around 7am, I immediately captured shots of the sky. Shortly afterward, I photographed the foreground, where twilight had already set in.
This clear welcome gifted me with a rare photo of Mount Fitz Roy framed by the Milky Way arch’
Photograph: Francesco Dall’Olmo/2024 Milky Way photographer of the year

Tallinn, Estonia
A bee-fly feeds on flower nectar in a forest outside the capital
Photograph: Sergei Grits/AP
Market Closes for July 4^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	Market Closed	N.A.
S&P 500	Market Closed	N.A.
NASDAQ	Market Closed	N.A.
TSX	22244.02	+20.35
		+0.09%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	40913.65	+332.89
		+0.82%
HANG SENG	18028.28	+49.71
		+0.28%
SENSEX	80049.67	+62.87
		+0.08%
FTSE 100*	8241.26	+70.14
		+0.86%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.608	3.565
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.510	3.466
U.S.    10 Year Bond	N.A.	4.3587
U.S. 30 Year Bond	N.A.	4.5278

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7346	0.7333
US $	1.3614	1.3638

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4719	0.6794
US $	1.0812	0.9249

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2361.35	2331.75
Oil
WTI Crude Future	83.88	82.81

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 22,244.02 in Toronto.
Waste Connections Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.9%.
Filo Corp. had the largest increase, rising 2.4%.
Today, 142 of 226 shares rose, while 72 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.7%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Dec. 22
* The index advanced 10% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.4% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 19% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.1% in the past 5 days and rose 1.2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.9 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.53t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.49% compared with 11.66% in the previous session and the average of 10.88% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 9.1499| 0.2| 33/6
Materials | 6.4739| 0.2| 35/12
Communication Services | 4.1764| 0.6| 5/0
Utilities | 3.4705| 0.4| 11/4
Consumer Discretionary | 1.7080| 0.2| 10/3
Consumer Staples | 1.1169| 0.1| 7/4
Industrials | 0.6197| 0.0| 11/17
Health Care | 0.3679| 0.6| 4/0
Real Estate | 0.3176| 0.1| 9/8
Information Technology | -1.7833| -0.1| 7/3
Financials | -5.2486| -0.1| 10/15
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Waste Connections | 4.0390| 0.9| -51.2| 23.4
RBC | 3.3610| 0.2| -51.1| 11.6
Manulife Financial | 1.8820| 0.4| -86.5| 25.4
TD Bank | -2.1050| -0.2| -35.1| -11.4
Shopify | -3.9720| -0.5| -86.9| -11.4
Brookfield Corp | -4.6930| -0.8| -93.5| 10.5
US
The US market is closed for the 4th of July.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Shabnam
“ The triumph can’t be had without the struggle.”– Wilma Glodean Rudolph

Shabnam Mohammadpourmarzbali
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Dog Days: hottest days of he year July 3 – August 11.
July 3, 1886: Karl Benz drives the first ever automobile (for the first time in public) in Mannheim, Germany.
July 3, 1985: The time-travel comedy “Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, was released in movie theaters. Go to article >>

The Milky Way will be visible without a telescope this summer. Here are the key nights to watch for.
Summer is the best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere without a telescope. The key is to find clear, dark skies on moonless nights. Read More.

Bionic legs plugged directly into nervous system enable unprecedented ‘level of brain control’
A first-of-its-kind study demonstrated that a new nervous system-controlled bionic leg helps leg amputees walk more naturally than traditional prosthesis. Read More.

Get ready for the most extravagant wedding of the year
The son of Asia’s richest man is getting married this month in one of the most anticipated — and lavish — weddings of 2024. The pre-wedding bash in March already included a massive drone show and performance by Rihanna.

Novak Djokovic celebrates a win at Wimbledon
The 37-year-old tennis star won his first match at Wimbledon less than a month after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are named to the WNBA All-Star team
This marks the first time that two rookies are WNBA All-Stars in the same season since 2014.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Beijing, China
A tourist takes a selfie against the blooming wildflowers and sunflowers in the Olympic Forest Park
Photograph: Vincent Thian/AP

Whitewater, Kansas, US
‘It has been a stormy spring in the central United States. These mammatus clouds followed a strong storm that passed over our Kansas farm.’
Photograph: Jason Schmidt

Brighton, UK
‘The passengers of the Brighton British Airways i360 were in for a spectacular treat tonight, as the nearly full moon was rising in the east over the south coast.’
Photograph: Manja Williams
Market Closes for July 3^rd, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39308.00	-23.85
		-0.06%
S&P 500	5537.02	+28.01
		+0.51%
NASDAQ	18188.30	+159.54
		+0.88%
TSX	22223.67	+269.87
		+1.23%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	40580.76	+506.07
		+1.26%
HANG SENG	17978.57	+209.43
		+1.18%
SENSEX	79986.80	+545.35
		+0.69%
FTSE 100*	8171.12	+49.92
		+0.61%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.565	3.610
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.466	3.502
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.3587	4.4316
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.5278	4.6053

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7333	0.7313
US $	1.3638	1.3675

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4713	0.6797
US $	1.0789	0.9269

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2331.75	2329.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future	82.81	82.81

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 2001, the European Union officially blocked the proposed $43 billion merger of General Electric and Honeywell, the first time foreign authorities nixed a major merger between U.S. corporations.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 1.2%, or 269.87 to 22,223.67 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.4% on June 24.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.5%.
Calibre Mining Corp. had the largest increase, rising 7.2%.
Today, 162 of 226 shares rose, while 60 fell; all sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 11 times. The next day, it advanced nine times for an average 0.6% and declined twice for an average 0.5%
* The index advanced 10% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.5% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 18.9% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2% in the past 5 days and rose 0.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.9 on a trailing basis and 15.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.49t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.66% compared with 11.09% in the previous session and the average of 10.84% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 89.2220| 3.4| 48/3
Financials | 69.7058| 1.0| 22/5
Industrials | 43.9031| 1.4| 16/12
Information Technology | 20.0677| 1.1| 4/6
Energy | 18.1459| 0.5| 26/14
Utilities | 12.6261| 1.5| 11/3
Consumer Discretionary | 6.0424| 0.8| 8/5
Consumer Staples | 3.7569| 0.4| 7/4
Real Estate | 3.1505| 0.7| 14/5
Communication Services | 2.8670| 0.4| 3/2
Health Care | 0.3858| 0.6| 3/1
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 22.2500| 1.5| 10.9| 11.4
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 19.3600| 2.8| -37.4| 5.7
Brookfield Corp | 16.3800| 2.9| -40.5| 11.4
Cenovus Energy | -1.3820| -0.5| -62.8| 25.0
Enbridge | -1.4860| -0.2| -40.4| 2.4
Descartes Systems | -1.5550| -1.9| -46.2| 20.0
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders sent stocks higher as bonds yields fell after a string of weaker-than-estimated economic reports reinforced the case for the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates this year.
In a shortened session ahead of the US holiday, the S&P 500 hit a fresh all-time high on bets Fed policy easing will keep fueling Corporate America.
Treasuries climbed as data showed the services sector contracted at the fastest pace in four years, private payrolls rose at a more moderate pace and continuing jobless claims increased for a ninth straight week.
To Win Thin and Elias Haddad at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., if the data cooperate, a September Fed cut will be “very much in play.”
“Bad news is good news,” said Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com. “That’s how risk assets reacted in the aftermath of today’s US data releases, which all came out weaker than expected.”
Traders will get further insight into the state of the American labor market Friday.
Economists anticipate a 190,000 gain in June nonfarm payrolls — a step-down from the previous month — with the unemployment rate holding at 4%.
The S&P 500 rose to around 5,535, notching its 33rd record in 2024.
Tesla Inc. extended its rally into a seventh straight session, leading gains in mega-caps — though Amazon.com Inc. fell.
The stock market closed at 1 p.m. New York time, while the recommended close for Treasuries is 2 p.m. — when the Fed minutes will be released.
Treasury 10-year yields fell nine basis points to 4.34%.
Swap traders are projecting almost two rate cuts in 2024, with the first in November — though bets on a September reduction increased.
The dollar slipped.
“Clouds are developing in the macro picture, but the glass-half-full mindset of investors continues to drive markets higher,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
A survey conducted by 22V Research shows that 40% of investors think the market reaction to Friday’s employment data will be negligible/mixed, 34% said “risk-on” and 26% “risk-off.”
“Investors are paying the most attention to payrolls,” said Dennis DeBusschere at 22V.
“The focus on wage growth has dropped some, which is a bit surprising given Powell’s explicit focus on wages yesterday. He said service inflation, which has been sticky, is dependent on wages.”
The 22V survey also showed there is an “upside skew” to the unemployment rate assumptions.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the latest economic data suggest inflation is getting back on a downward path, but emphasized officials need more evidence before lowering interest rates.
When he was asked what keeps him up at night, he pointed to the delicate balance between taming inflation and avoiding a significant deterioration in the labor market.
“Until employment weakens significantly there remains a fundamental support for the US economy, though there is some evidence of slowing,” said Don Rissmiller at Strategas.
“Fed members have indicated they want to see more progress on inflation – fortunately the US economy still looks robust enough currently to take an extended rate pause. But the clock is ticking.”
Meantime, Fed Bank of New York President John Williams, who has deeply researched the natural rate of interest known as r-star, pushed back against recent commentary that it has risen since the pandemic.
The idea of a long-run natural rate of interest, which prevails when the economy is not responding to shocks and is growing at its potential, is central to monetary policy but cannot be directly observed. Officials aim to raise rates above
the neutral level to cool the economy and fight inflation.

Corporate Highlights:
* Novo Nordisk A/S’ best-selling diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy appear to be associated with a higher risk of a rare form of vision loss, according to an analysis by doctors at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a Harvard-affiliated hospital.
* Paramount Global jumped after a merger deal with independent film and TV producer Skydance Media was revived.
* Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang unloaded shares worth nearly $169 million in June, the most he’s netted in a single month, as insatiable demand for the chips used to power artificial intelligence drove the stock to fresh peaks.
* Jeff Bezos disclosed a plan to unload 25 million additional shares of Amazon.com Inc. worth $5 billion on the day the stock hit a fresh record.
* Lyft Inc., which operates the popular Citi Bike program, said it will raise fares for e-bike rentals in New York City by 20%, blaming higher-than-expected operating costs.
* Ford Motor Co.’s F-Series pickup truck sales dropped in the second quarter as the automaker slowly rolls out a redesign of its top-selling model to avoid quality problems and recalls.
* Southwest Airlines Co. has adopted a shareholder rights plan to defend against a push for a leadership overhaul by activist firm Elliott Investment Management.
* LL Flooring Holdings Inc. is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations.

Key events this week:
* UK general election, Thursday
* US Independence Day holiday, Thursday
* Eurozone retail sales, Friday
* US jobs report, Friday
* Fed’s John Williams speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.5% as of 1 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.0795
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.2754
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 161.52 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.4% to $60,417.99
* Ether fell 3.1% to $3,310.68
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined nine basis points to 4.34%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.59%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 4.17%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $83.18 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.2% to $2,356.39 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from John Viljoen, Sujata Rao and Winnie Hsu.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. –Mark Twain, 1835-1910.

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:
July 2, 1776: US Declaration of Independence.
July 2, 1964: US Civil Rights Act.

July 2, 2002: Steve Fossett completes the first solo around-the-world balloon flight.  It took him 13 days in a balloon called Spirit of Freedom to cover 20,000 miles.

Hermann Hesse, writer, b.1887.

4,000-year-old rock art in Venezuela may be from a ‘previously unknown’ culture
Archaeologists in Venezuela have discovered 20 previously unknown rock art sites that are thousands of years old. Read More.

12,000-year-old Aboriginal sticks may be evidence of the oldest known culturally transmitted ritual in the world
Aboriginal artifacts in Australia that were likely used for ritual spells may be evidence of the oldest culturally transmitted ritual on record. Read More.

How does CRISPR work?
CRISPR is a versatile tool for editing genomes and has recently been approved as a gene therapy treatment for certain blood disorders. Read More.

When did humans start wearing shoes?
The oldest known sandals are from Oregon, but there may be older shoes out there. Read More.

Earth from space: Green River winds through radioactive ‘labyrinth of shadows’
This 2018 astronaut photo shows a striking section of the Green River as it winds through Utah’s “Labyrinth Canyon.” The canyon’s steep walls cast long shadows that hide many secrets, including caves and abandoned uranium mines.
Read More.

Royal talent: Drawings by teenage Queen Victoria to go up for auction
A set of 19th-century drawings by a teenage Queen Victoria will be put up for auction in London next week. See the sketches here.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Xinjiang, China
Tourists take in the scenery at the Bayanbulak Grassland
Photograph: Costfoto/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

Jakarta, Indonesia
People visit an art exhibition by the advertising agency Genexyz at Grand Indonesia shopping mall
Photograph: Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters

​​​​​​​Michigan, US
A woman loses her hat as waves crash into the Saint Joseph Lighthouses near Tiscornia beach
Photograph: Don Campbell/AP
Market Closes for July 2^nd, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39331.85	+162.33
		+0.41%
S&P 500	5509.01	+33.92
		+0.62%
NASDAQ	18028.76	+149.47
		+0.84%
TSX	21953.80	+78.01
		+0.36%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	40074.69	+443.63
		+1.12%
HANG SENG	17769.14	+50.53
		+0.29%
SENSEX	79441.45	-34.74
		-0.04%
FTSE 100*	8121.20	-45.56
		-0.56%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.610	3.503
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.502	3.393
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.4316	4.3961
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.6053	4.5583

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7313	0.7310
US $	1.3675	1.3680

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4697	0.6804
US $	1.0747	0.9305

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2329.10	2323.60
Oil
WTI Crude Future	82.81	81.74

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1890: The Shearman Anti-Trust Act became law, allowing the Justice Department to investigate and break up industrial monopolies, in a backlash against the monopolistic excesses of “robber barons.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.4% at 21,953.80 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since June 12 after the previous session’s decrease of 0.3%.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.9%.
International Petroleum Corp. had the largest increase, rising 6.5%.
Today, 139 of 226 shares rose, while 81 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 8.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.7% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 17.4% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5% in the past 5 days and fell 1.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.6 on a trailing basis and 14.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.48t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.09% compared with 11.02% in the previous session and the average of 10.81% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 40.2875| 0.6| 21/5
Energy | 39.8550| 1.0| 33/7
Information Technology | 12.7121| 0.7| 8/2
Consumer Staples | 10.8953| 1.2| 10/1
Real Estate | 2.3963| 0.5| 16/4
Health Care | 0.6579| 1.1| 3/0
Utilities | -1.3998| -0.2| 6/9
Consumer Discretionary | -1.8123| -0.2| 7/6
Materials | -4.0832| -0.2| 25/24
Industrials | -6.0166| -0.2| 10/18
Communication Services | -15.4690| -2.3| 0/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 13.0500| 0.9| 88.1| 9.7
Canadian Natural Resources | 8.2420| 1.1| -35.7| 13.5
Suncor Energy | 7.5490| 1.6| -52.8| 24.8
Nutrien | -4.5630| -1.9| 115.4| -8.5
Restaurant Brands | -5.4180| -2.5| -55.7| -9.3
BCE | -9.3730| -3.3| 72.5| -17.9
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders sent stocks to all-time highs as bond yields fell, with traders looking at prospects for Federal Reserve rate cuts after Jerome Powell cited signals the US is back on a disinflationary path.
For the first time in its history, the S&P 500 closed above 5,500 to extend a blistering 2024 rally that has left analysts scrambling to update their targets.
It was the gauge’s 32^nd record this year.
Tesla Inc. surged 10% to lead gains in mega-caps, though Nvidia Corp. failed to gain traction.
The Nasdaq 100 hit the 20,000 mark.
The S&P 500 will rally to new peaks by the end of the year as economic strength outweighs market risks, according to Lori Calvasina at RBC Capital Markets.
She raised her year-end target to 5,700 from 5,300 — among the highest on Wall Street — despite the fact that the market has “gotten a bit ahead of itself.”
“Our suspicion is that 2024’s economy will end up being strong enough to justify a strong move in the S&P 500 for the year as a whole,” Calvasina said.
Data Tuesday showed job openings unexpectedly rose, interrupting a trend that underscored a slowdown in labor seen as key for Fed easing.
Powell said there’s been a “substantial” move toward better balance between the supply of and demand for workers.
He described the job market as strong, but said it is cooling off appropriately so.
To Krishna Guha at Evercore, Powell’s comments were notably upbeat on inflation progress — while also incrementally careful on the balance of risks and employment.
“There was no explicit signal on cuts, but these were assessments that would plausibly support a cut in September,” Guha said.
The record-setting surge in US equities, driven chiefly by American technology behemoths, is once again igniting comparisons to prior boom-and bust cycles on Wall Street.
But parallels to the dot-com era and stock-market frenzies of the past are so far exaggerated, if history is any guide.
While the S&P 500 has posted an 85% advance since 2019, even despite some drawdowns over the period, major bull runs of the 20th century dwarf that return.
The US stock benchmark soared 220% in the last five years of the Internet bubble at the turn of the century, according to Bloomberg Intelligence data, and 238% in the same-period stretch of the Roaring Twenties.
Deutsche Bank AG strategists expect US earnings to rise by an above-average 13% for the second quarter, driven by mega-cap growth and tech stocks.
The outlook is for a sixth straight quarter of above average beats.
However, the team led by Binky Chadha expects market reaction to be subdued as stocks have rallied in the run-up to the season.
Wall Street is now gearing up for a slew of economic data that will hit the tape on Wednesday — when the market closes early ahead of Thursday’s holiday.
That’s ahead of the all-important US payrolls reading due Friday.
Economists expect the report to show employers added about 195,000 payrolls in June and the unemployment rate held at 4%.
To Jose Torres at Interactive Brokers, the next three months of inflation reports will be crucial for both investor sentiment and policymakers’ timing for turning dovish.
“June will likely show continued disinflation, but the potential results for July and August are less clear, raising the question of how many months of favorable data are needed before the Fed moves,” he noted.

Corporate Highlights:
* Novo Nordisk A/S and Eli Lilly & Co. fell as President Joe Biden demanded price cuts on their weight loss and diabetes drugs. Separately, Lilly won US approval for an Alzheimer’s treatment.
* Lennar Corp. and D.R. Horton Inc. dropped after being downgraded by Citigroup Inc. on concerns about a “sluggish” housing market.
* Paramount Global is in exclusive talks to sell its Black Entertainment Television network to buyers that include BET Chief Executive Officer Scott Mills and Chinh Chu, who runs the New York-based private equity firm CC Capital.
* PG&E Corp. cut power to about 2,000 homes and businesses in Northern California as triple-digit temperatures, strong winds and low humidity heightened the risk of wildfires.
* Robinhood Markets Inc. is considering offering cryptocurrency futures in the US and Europe in the coming months, according to people familiar with the commission-free investing and trading platform’s plan.

Key events this week:
* China Caixin services PMI, Wednesday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Wednesday
* US Fed minutes, ADP employment, ISM Services, factory orders, initial jobless claims, durable goods, Wednesday
* Fed’s John Williams speaks, Wednesday
* UK general election, Thursday
* US Independence Day holiday, Thursday
* Eurozone retail sales, Friday
* US jobs report, Friday
* Fed’s John Williams speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0746
* The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.2686
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 161.46 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.2% to $61,874.51
* Ether fell 1.5% to $3,410.95
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 4.43%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.60%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 4.25%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.4% to $83.03 a barrel
* Spot gold was little changed

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alexandra Semenova, Farah Elbahrawy, Jessica Menton, Elena Popina, Julien Ponthus, Robert Brand and Aya Wagatsuma.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. -Book of Proverbs, 16:18.

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.

June 28, 1846: The saxophone is patented.  Belgian musician Adolphe Sax developed the woodwind instrument typically made of brass.
June 28, 1997: Mike Tyson was disqualified for biting Evander Holyfield’s ear during their WBA heavyweight title fight in Las Vegas.   Go to article >>
June 28, 1969: Stonewall Riot, start of Gay Liberation movement.

Peter Paul Rubens, artist, b. 1577.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau, philosopher, b. 1712

Milky Way’s black hole ‘exhaust vent’ discovered in eerie X-ray observations
A gargantuan “exhaust vent” may be channeling hot gas away from the Milky Way’s supermassive black hole at millions of miles per hour — and filling up two enormous bubbles that tower over the galaxy. Read More.

2,000-year-old funerary urn found in Spain contains the world’s oldest known liquid wine
Scientists discovered the oldest known wine in liquid form inside a Roman-era tomb in Spain. Read More.

Predator or prey? This ‘switch’ in the brain toggles when you’re hunting or being hunted
The hypothalamus, a brain region that helps control our hormones and sleep cycles, is also responsible for our ability to switch between predator- and prey-like behavior. Read More.

‘Night vision lenses’ could give you power to see in the dark using simple eyeglasses
Super-slim night-vision tech could be within reach thanks to a new material breakthrough that can capture infrared and visible light at the same time. Read More.

Mystery ‘random event’ killed off Earth’s last woolly mammoths in Siberia, study claims
Woolly mammoths survived on Wrangel Island for 6,000 years after their mainland cousins had perished. A new genomic study has revealed that this final population likely died from a sudden, mysterious event. Read More.

Secret to lifelong memories sticking is molecular ‘glue’
A new study has uncovered the role that a specific molecule in the brain plays in maintaining long-term memory.  Full Story: Live Science (6/28)

This smiling robot has a face covered in ‘living’ skin
It may look creepy, but this tiny robot covered in living skin could mark a step forward in the quest to make robots more human-like.

Researchers reveal new analysis from precious asteroid sample
A sample from asteroid Bennu contains organic compounds usually found at midocean ridges on Earth, suggesting Bennu may have been part of an ancient ocean world.

Salty cream in your morning brew?
Read about the rise of salt coffee, one of many specialty drinks in Vietnam that now appear on menus around the world.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Walton-on-the-Naze, England
A man sunbathes in front of a row of beach huts. Brits are enjoying warmer temperatures this week, with highs reaching the low-30Cs
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

A herd of milu deer wander through the mudflats on the Tiaozini wetlands, on the east coast of China. The pink plant is seepweed, similar to samphire
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Glastonbury, UK
Festivalgoers at day two of the festival
Photograph: Leon Neal/Getty Images
Market Closes for June 28^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39118.86	-45.20
		-0.12%
S&P 500	5460.48	-22.39
		-0.41%
NASDAQ	17732.61	-126.07
		-0.71%
TSX	21875.79	-66.37
		-0.30%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	39583.08	+241.54
		+0.61%
HANG SENG	17718.61	+2.14
		+0.01%
SENSEX	79032.73	-210.45
		-0.27%
FTSE 100*	8164.12	-15.56
		-0.19%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.503	3.474
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.393	3.359
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.3961	4.2864
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.5583	4.4257

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7310	0.7296
US $	1.3680	1.3706

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4656	0.6823
US $	1.0713	0.9334

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2323.60	2323.60
Oil
WTI Crude Future	81.74	80.90

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 2001, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia shot down portions of a blockbuster ruling that Microsoft was an illegal monopoly.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3% at 21,875.79 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 0.4% on June 19 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.7%.
Cameco Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.0%.
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 7.2%.
Today, 110 of 226 shares fell, while 113 rose; 9 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index fell 1.3%
* This month, the index fell 1.8%
* So far this week, the index rose 1.5%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended May 10
* The index advanced 10% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 24% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 17% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.7 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.49t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.02% compared with 11.27% in the previous session and the average of 10.63% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -30.0057| -1.1| 15/36
Energy | -18.7911| -0.5| 18/21
Consumer Staples | -6.2942| -0.7| 2/9
Industrials | -5.9837| -0.2| 16/12
Utilities | -5.7016| -0.7| 7/8
Information Technology | -2.2330| -0.1| 5/5
Financials | -1.5974| 0.0| 20/7
Communication Services | -0.5985| -0.1| 2/3
Health Care | -0.2142| -0.3| 2/2
Real Estate | 2.1887| 0.5| 18/2
Consumer Discretionary | 2.8749| 0.4| 8/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Cameco | -10.8100| -5.0| -0.1| 17.8
First Quantum Minerals | -6.9320| -7.2| 38.8| 65.6
Restaurant Brands | 2.7200| 1.3| -51.3| -6.9
Bank of Montreal | 3.9750| 0.7| 56.6| -12.4
Enbridge | 5.7950| 0.8| 2.9| 2.0
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The stock market rally faded in the final stretch of a solid quarter, with traders keeping a close eye on any news regarding the US presidential race and remaining cautious ahead of Sunday’s elections in France.
Traders are rearranging their positions in the aftermath of the debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
Biden’s shaky performance boosted sentiment around Trump’s odds for securing a second term in the White House.
Private prisons and health-insurance firms — some of the groups that would potentially win from another Trump presidency — rallied, while renewable energy and pot stocks sank.
Treasury curve-steepening also followed the presidential debate.
“There is no spin for President Joe Biden’s performance last night during his debate with former President Donald Trump,” said Libby Cantrill at Pacific Investment Management Co.
“For markets, the biggest takeaway from last night is that deficits will remain high and tariffs are likely going up, especially if Trump gets elected; the question is when this will be priced-into markets,” she noted.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic says the S&P 500 will falter in coming months in the face of mounting headwinds, from a slowing economy to downward earnings revisions.
The gauge is poised to plunge to 4,200 by year-end, a roughly 23% drop.
After gaining almost 1% earlier Friday, the S&P 500 fell to around 5,460.
Long-term Treasuries largely underperformed shorter maturities.
Bonds had earlier gained as inflation data bolstered bets on Federal Reserve rate cuts.
The dollar edged lower Friday, while capping its sixth-straight week of gains — the best streak since February.
The US presidential election and its aftermath promises investors big market swings in the second half of the year, says Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Scott Rubner.
“I would be looking to trim exposure up here post July 4th,” Rubner wrote.
Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities reiterated his comment that a Trump victory in the debate would put pressure on the long-end of the bond market.
“Again, we don’t like talking about politics, but everyone believes Trump won the debate on a weak performance from Biden,” he said. “Fears of what tariffs, lack of concern for the deficit (both parties), and continued fear of increasing Treasury issuance, will do for the curve… Steepen it out… That is what we have seen today…”
To rate strategists at Barclays Plc watching the presidential debate Thursday night, the trade was clear: buy inflation hedges in the US Treasury market.
With Trump appearing more likely to unseat Biden in the November election, the market should “be pricing in a considerable risk of higher-than-target inflation in the coming years, and this is from a starting point of our thinking they already offered structural value,” Barclays strategists Michael Pond and Jonathan Hill said in a note.
Stocks are heading into the second half having gained almost 15% this year.
Historically, a strong first half tends to be followed by above-average second-half returns, according to Adam Turnquist at LPL Financial.
“While elevated valuations, overbought conditions, and underwhelming market breadth point to a potential pause ahead, seasonal trends suggest momentum could continue in the second half,” he noted.
The S&P 500 has followed up a positive first-half return with an average second-half gain of 6%, Turnquist added.
Furthermore, when first-half gains were 10% or higher, the index posted average gains of 7.7% in the second half, with 83% of occurrences producing positive results.
Earlier in the session, traders kept a close eye on economic data.
US consumer sentiment declined by less than initially estimated on expectations inflationary pressures will moderate.
The Fed’s preferred measure of underlying US inflation decelerated. Household spending rebounded and incomes showed solid growth, offering some hope that price pressures can be tamed without lasting damage to consumers.
“From the market’s perspective, today’s PCE report was near perfect,” said David Donabedian at CIBC Private Wealth US. “The Fed’s favorite inflation indicator not only showed inflation was moving towards the Fed’s inflation target, but that the economy is resilient. Consumer spending was on the rise and take-home pay was also up after a couple of sluggish months.”
To Seema Shah at Principal Asset Management, while the inflation data is a relief and will be welcomed by the Fed, the policy path is not yet certain.
“A further deceleration in inflation, ideally coupled with additional evidence of labor market softening, will be necessary to pave the way for a first rate cut in September,” she noted.
Fed Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly told CNBC said the latest inflation data indicates monetary policy is working, but said it’s too early to tell when it will be appropriate to lower borrowing costs.
Earlier Friday, her Richmond counterpart Thomas Barkin said the inflation battle still hasn’t been won, and the US economy is likely to remain resilient as long as unemployment remains low and asset valuations high.
“The soft inflation data will build the case that the Fed can start cutting rates in the coming months,” said Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial. “As long as incomes grow at a healthy clip, consumers will keep spending. The key is the labor market and so now, we should shift our attention to next week’s nonfarm payroll release for a fresh look into the job market.”
The timing of the first rate cut matters because bonds rally in anticipation of that cut, according to Joe Kalish at Ned Davis Research.
“Any second half bond market outlook is contingent on Fed policy,” he said. “The timing of the first rate cut has historically been important for the bond market, as yields tend to peak 2-3 months before the first rate cut.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Nike Inc.’s management team, led by Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe, is facing growing criticism from Wall Street as a prolonged sales slump sparked the stock’s biggest rout since the company went public in 1980.
* Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc. agreed to a series of worker benefits to resolve a longstanding state lawsuit in Massachusetts that challenged drivers’ employment status as independent contractors, putting a stop to the companies’ bid to take the issue before voters in November.
* Rite Aid Corp. has been cleared to exit bankruptcy after winning court approval on a restructuring plan that’s poised to save the ailing pharmacy chain from liquidation by handing control of the business to key creditors.
* Microsoft Corp.’s $13 billion investment into OpenAI Inc. is set to come under added scrutiny from European Union’s antitrust watchdogs, who are poised to quiz rivals about the AI firm’s exclusive use of Microsoft’s cloud technology.
* Nokia Oyj has agreed to buy Infinera Corp. in a $2.3 billion deal that will expand the company’s networking products for data centers and increase its presence in the US, a potentially key source of growth as the boom in artificial intelligence drives demand for server capacity.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0710
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2641
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 160.92 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.2% to $60,082.15
* Ether fell 1.8% to $3,377.67
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 11 basis points to 4.39%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.50%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 4.17%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $81.53 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,324.07 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Jessica Menton, Alexandra Semenova, Felice Maranz, Carmen Reinicke and Emily Forgash.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Men will not accept truth at the hands of their enemies, and truth is seldom offered to them by their friends. –Alexis de Tocqueville, 1805-1859.

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 Eve.

June 27, 1954: The world’s first nuclear power plan tis activated. The reactor at Obninsk in present-day Russia
June 27, 1859: Happy Birthday to You song composed.
June 27, 1972: The video game company Atari was founded by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney in Santa Clara, Calif. Go to article >>

Helen Keller, b. 1880.

Panda express: China sends two pandas to the San Diego Zoo
Two giant pandas are heading to San Diego in China’s first new loan to the US in more than 20 years.

Marilyn Monroe’s former home saved from demolition
The Los Angeles City Council unanimously voted to preserve Marilyn Monroe’s Brentwood home, where the star lived and died, as a Historic-Cultural Monument. It comes nearly a year after the new homeowners filed a request to have it demolished.

Elvis Presley’s actual blue suede shoes are up for auction
Fans have the opportunity to step into the King’s very own blue suede shoes as they go up for sale this week. Here’s how much they could fetch at auction

‘Space potato’ spotted by NASA Mars satellite is actually something much cooler
The starchy-looking moon Phobos, destined to crash into Mars’ surface, has been revealed in new detail by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The ‘space potato’ image was recently shared on NASA’s Instagram. Read More

‘Exceptional’ discovery reveals more than 30 ancient Egyptian tombs built into hillside
Archaeologists have unearthed more than 30 ancient Egyptian tombs that date to the Greco-Roman period, and reveal clues about those who once lived in this vibrant trading port. Read More.

Boiling rocks from Earth’s crust tore an ocean into Mongolia 410 million years ago
An ocean that opened up in what is now Mongolia 410 million years ago was created by a hot upwelling of rock known as a mantle plume.  Read More.

‘It’s like we opened a buffet’: Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1967, the world’s first cash point—a forerunner of today’s ATMs—was unveiled at a Barclays Bank branch in London. The machine allowed customers to withdraw up to £10, then equivalent to $28, at a time.
Sharks in Gulf of Mexico learn to steal food from fishing nets
Sharks in the Gulf of Mexico are learning to associate boat engines with food, leading to more and more cases of depredation, experts say. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Rainbow Valley conservation reserve, Northern Territory | Australia
Photographer Baillie Farley: ‘The central Australian Outback has some of the darkest southern night skies in the world. This image captures the breathtaking scene at Rainbow Valley conservation reserve, where the southern Milky Way gracefully arches above a remarkable formation of colourful sandstone. This area exudes a unique charm, with its vibrant hues and stunning geological formations creating a mesmerising landscape’
Photograph: Baillie Farley/2024 Milky Way photographer of the year

Glastonbury, UK
Performers entertain festival goers in the Theatre Field during day two of Glastonbury Festival
Photograph: Jim Dyson/Redferns/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Boston, US
A group of boys toss their friend into the water at Good Harbor beach during a heatwave
Photograph: Joseph Prezioso/Anadolu/Getty Images
Market Closes for June 27^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39164.06	+36.26
		+0.09%
S&P 500	5482.87	+4.97
		+0.09%
NASDAQ	17858.68	+53.52
		+0.30%
TSX	21942.16	+148.26
		+0.68%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	39341.54	-325.53
		-0.82%
HANG SENG	17716.47	-373.46
		-2.06%
SENSEX	79243.18	+568.93
		+0.72%
FTSE 100*	8179.68	-45.65
		-0.56%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.474	3.486
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.359	3.367
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.2864	4.3294
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.4257	4.4620

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7296	0.7296
US $	1.3706	1.3706

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4669	0.6817
US $	1.0705	0.9341

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2323.60	2325.05
Oil
WTI Crude Future	80.90	82.08

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1967, the world’s first cash point—a forerunner of today’s ATMs—was unveiled at a Barclays Bank branch in London. The machine allowed customers to withdraw up to £10, then equivalent to $28, at a time.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.7%, or 148.26 to 21,942.16 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since June 12.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.4%. MDA Space Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 13.5%.
Today, 184 of 226 shares rose, while 41 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index fell 1%
* This month, the index fell 1.5%
* So far this week, the index rose 1.8%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 17
* The index advanced 11% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 24% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.7% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 17.4% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.7% in the past 5 days and fell 1.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.7 on a trailing basis and 14.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.47t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.27% compared with 11.05% in the previous session and the average of 10.52% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 40.3517| 0.6| 24/3
Energy | 36.0522| 0.9| 37/4
Information Technology | 25.2099| 1.4| 10/0
Materials | 11.6853| 0.4| 35/16
Industrials | 11.1757| 0.4| 22/6
Consumer Discretionary | 7.2351| 0.9| 9/4
Real Estate | 6.7602| 1.6| 20/0
Utilities | 5.8407| 0.7| 13/2
Consumer Staples | 5.7658| 0.6| 9/2
Health Care | 1.0429| 1.7| 4/0
Communication Services | -2.8497| -0.4| 1/4
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 10.7300| 1.4| -23.2| -11.8
Manulife Financial | 10.2900| 2.3| -48.7| 23.9
Brookfield Corp | 9.2860| 1.7| -33.1| 7.1
Enbridge | -2.2290| -0.3| -54.3| 1.2
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -6.4540| -0.9| -38.5| 3.2
Bank of Montreal | -8.2570| -1.4| 7.2| -13.0
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The world’s largest bond market rose after the latest batch of economic reports reinforced speculation the Federal Reserve will be able to cut interest rates this year to prevent a bigger US slowdown.
Traders gearing up for the Fed’s favored inflation gauge piled into Treasuries as several data points illustrated a downshift in growth tied to the central bank’s higher-for-longer stance.
The government marked down personal spending to an annualized 1.5% in the first quarter. Separate releases showed declines in orders and shipments of certain business equipment, weakness in the job market and a slide in homebuying.
To Chris Low at FHN Financial, the slowdown story got stronger.
“Continuing claims inched higher and are now the highest since late 2021 — sending a warning sign that the labor market could be softening,” said Jeff Roach at LPL Financial. “We expect both consumer and business activity to slow in the latter half of 2024, giving the Fed ample opportunity to begin cutting rates later this year.”
Treasury 10-year yields fell four basis points to 4.29%.
The S&P 500 fluctuated around 5,480.
In late trading, Nike Inc. sank as sales missed estimates.
Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. tumbled 22% in regular hours after slashing its guidance.
Chewy Inc. and Petco Health and Wellness Co. whipsawed as Keith Gill —known as “Roaring Kitty” — posted a cartoon image of a dog on X.
Traders are pricing in roughly “one volatility point” of added premium Friday, the session after Joe Biden and Donald Trump’s debate, according to an analysis from Citigroup Inc. that compared current and expected volatility.
That assumes the effect of options expiry at quarter-end, another potential catalyst that could swing stocks, will be similar to that for triple-witching last week.
US PREVIEW: May PCE Inflation to Offer Welcome News for Fed Fed Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he continues to expect one rate reduction this year amid signs inflation has resumed its decline.
His projection echoes that of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Earlier this month, Fed officials penciled in just one rate reduction for 2024, according to the median forecast.
Swap markets are pricing in about 45 basis points of easing in 2024, which would equate to less than two cuts.
Economists expect data Friday to show that the Fed’s preferred gauge of underlying inflation slowed to an annualized rate 2.6% last month from 2.8%.
While that’s the lowest reading since March 2021, it remains above the Fed’s goal for 2% inflation.
“A consensus move would conform with the narrative that the early-2024 reflationary pressures are fading, and the cooling trend seen during the second half of 2023 has once again resumed in the second quarter,” said Ian Lyngen and Vail Hartman at BMO Capital Markets. “Perhaps more importantly, investors are anticipating a round of inflation data that offers incremental support for a September rate cut.”
A string of weaker-than-estimated data points has sent the US version of Citigroup’s Economic Surprise Index to the lowest since August 2022.
The gauge measures the difference between actual releases and analyst expectations.
Worries about the strength of the labor market and the subsequent effect on consumer spending — in addition to the market’s reliance on just a handful of stocks — have caused consternation and warnings that the bull market needs a rest,
recalibration and maybe help from the Fed, according to Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial.
Should Friday’s PCE data disappoint, stagflation headlines will hit the tape, Krosby noted.
But if estimates hold or surprise with cooler data, it should help the market ease into July.
“Still, an overbought market and relatively expensive market based on just a handful of mega names may need to recalibrate and allow other sectors to co-exist with them or even begin to lead the market,” she said. “Such adjustments can
trigger pockets of volatility coupled with attractive pockets of opportunity.”
Ed Clissold at Ned Davis Research says persistent pessimism toward the economy and stocks has been a key driver of the bull market. And much of the pessimism has given way to optimism or neutral views.
“The sentiment shift puts more of the onus on fundamentals for the bull market to continue,” he said. “Our conclusion is that the stock market can no longer rely on the economy beating low expectations. Fundamentals will need to drive the bull market in the second half.”
For now, Clissold remains bullish on stocks — both on an absolute basis and relative to bonds and cash.
To Chris Senyek at Wolfe Research, volatility will likely continue to pick up, and this will generally benefit the “Magnificent Seven” megacaps and the overall momentum trade in the weeks ahead.
“More specifically, we expect these themes to continue to benefit from environment in which growth is slowing — but the Fed is expected to kick off a deep cutting cycle,” he noted.
“Further, our sense is that the biggest companies driving these trends will once again put up very solid results during the second-quarter earnings season.”
A survey conducted by 22V Research showed that investors largely expect artificial-intelligence companies to beat second-quarter earnings estimates.
About 59% of the investors surveyed think AI earnings will “beat” expectations and 36% believe they will “meet”.
Only 5% think they will “miss” forecasts.
Despite thinking that these companies will beat, the investors surveyed are unsure about the the stock reaction for AI companies, 22V said.
In a month when Nvidia Corp. briefly became the world’s largest company amid AI optimism, hedge funds were “aggressively” selling tech stocks, according to analysis from Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
This month’s net selling in the US tech sector is on track to be the largest on record going back in data since 2017, according to Goldman’s prime brokerage data.
The trimming of exposure by hedge funds is in sharp contrast to the record inflows seen into tech-related funds last week.

Corporate Highlights:
* Boeing Co.’s move to switch its bid for Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc. to a mostly stock deal is likely an effort to preserve cash and stave off ratings downgrades as the planemaker teeters on the edge of junk, according to credit analysts.
* Webtoon Entertainment Inc. shares climbed 9.5% in the online comics company’s debut after a US initial public offering that raised $315 million, priced at the upper end of a marketed range.
* Denim maker Levi Strauss & Co. reported quarterly sales that fell just short of estimates, underscoring Wall Street’s high expectations for the company.
* International Paper Co. plunged after Suzano SA said it would end its pursuit of the US paper giant.
* Customers of major US telecommunications companies including AT&T Inc., T Mobile US Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. are reporting issues connecting to their networks while outside of the country.
* Target Corp. is lowering the bar to stop shoplifters, taking a tougher approach to further curb store theft that has weighed on operations.
* L’Oreal SA expects slower growth for the overall beauty market this year, according to its CEO, as weakness in China weighs on sales after years of rapid gains.

Key events this week:
* Japan Tokyo CPI, unemployment, industrial production, Friday
* US PCE inflation, spending and income, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Thomas Barkin speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index was unchanged
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0703
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.2639
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 160.81 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.7% to $61,385.55
* Ether rose 1.7% to $3,446.92
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 4.29%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.45%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.13%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.2% to $81.89 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.2% to $2,326.02 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Michael Msika, Carly Wanna, Richard Henderson, Divya Patil and Robert Brand.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. –Maya Angelou, 1928-2014.

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: Exactly 6 months from today to Boxing Day!

June 26, 1936: The world’s first practical helicopter lifts off.  The twin-rotor Focke-Wulf Fw 61 was first tested in Bremen, Germany.
June 26, 1948: The Berlin Airlift began in earnest as the United States, Britain and France began ferrying supplies to the isolated western sector of Berlin after the Soviet Union cut off land and water routes. Go to article >>

Fifty years ago today, the first official barcode was scanned at a grocery store in Troy, Ohio. The symbol of parallel lines has since become the most prevalent tracking tool for products around the world, though many dispute who deserves the credit for its eventual success.

Abner Doubleday, invented baseball, b.1819.
Pearl S. Buck, writer, b.1892.

Self-healing ‘living skin’ can make robots more humanlike — and it looks just as creepy as you’d expect
A combination of cultured cells and silicone could help robots appear more human in future thanks to realistic skin elasticity. And they can smile like us too. Read More.

China rover returns historic samples from far side of the moon — and they may contain secrets to Earth’s deep past
China’s Chang’e-6 lunar module has returned from the moon’s far side with samples in a historic mission. Its success is a key step toward understanding our planet’s early history, and a milestone in the race with the U.S. to reach the moon’s south pole. Read More.

US man gets kidney transplant while awake
Being able to transplant kidneys using only local anesthetic could shorten patients’ hospital stays and make the procedure accessible to more people, doctors say. Read More.

Lab-grown ‘mini-brains’ may have just confirmed a leading theory about autism
Excessive brain growth in the womb has been directly tied to autism in toddlers in new research involving lab-grown “mini-brains.” Full Story: Live Science (6/26)

Stunning photos show 44,000-year-old mummified wolf discovered in Siberian permafrost
Scientists perform necropsy on an ancient wolf pulled from Russian permafrost that may still have prey in its stomach. Read More.

Scientists discovered the oldest termite mounds on Earth — and they’re 34,000 years old. The world’s oldest termite mounds have been collecting carbon from the atmosphere for thousands of years.
Full Story: Live Science (6/26)

‘I’m amazed I lived to tell the tale’: Award-winning photographer on a life spent in the wild
Acclaimed photographer Greg du Toit has spent the past two decades photographing lions, rhinos and elephants. These are some of his most striking wildlife collections shown around the world.

Michael Phelps rips World Anti-Doping Agency for inconsistent enforcement of rules
Legendary Olympian Michael Phelps on Tuesday described an inconsistent application of anti-doping rules that is driving frustration among clean athletes at the Olympic Games.

Satellite launches to keep an eye on space weather
Forecasters will soon be able to see real-time mapping of lightning activity on Earth and keep a closer eye on solar storms unleashed by the sun, thanks to a new weather satellite.

The meme-ification of Anthony Bourdain.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sharqia, Egypt
Children play in the fields as they join their farming families at the start of the rice planting season
Photograph: Ahmed Gamal/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

Seoul, South Korea
People cool themselves off in a fountain
Photograph: Ahn Young-joon/AP

​​​​​​​Great Massingham, UK
A Norfolk field rewilded by the landowner, with the soil being ploughed and harrowed before being left for nature to run its course, is covered in poppies
Photograph: Joe Giddens/PA
Market Closes for June 26^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	39127.80	+15.64
		+0.04%
S&P 500	5477.90	+8.60
		+0.16%
NASDAQ	17805.16	+87.51
		+0.49%
TSX	21793.90	+5.42
		+0.02%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	39667.07	+493.92
		+1.26%
HANG SENG	18089.93	+17.03
		+0.09
SENSEX	78674.25	+620.73
		+0.80%
FTSE 100*	8225.33	-22.46
		-0.27%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.486	3.382
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.367	3.263
U.S.    10 Year Bond	4.3294	4.2476
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.4620	4.3778

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7296	0.7319
US $	1.3706	1.3663

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4637	0.6832
US $	1.0681	0.9362

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2325.05	2325.05
Oil
WTI Crude Future	82.08	82.08

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1950, Wall Street tumbled 4.7%, a day after North Korea invaded the South, sparking the Korean War. Panicky investors redeemed nearly one-eighth of all mutual fund assets by year-end, missing out on the greatest decade in modern stock-market history when the S&P 500 gained 19.4% annually.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 21,793.90 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.3%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.4%.
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 7.4%.
Today, 97 of 226 shares rose, while 127 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index fell 1.7%
* This month, the index fell 2.1%, heading for the biggest decline since October 2023
* The index advanced 11% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.4% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 16.6% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.3% in the past 5 days and fell 2.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.6 on a trailing basis and 14.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.47t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.05% compared with 11.07% in the previous session and the average of 10.49% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 34.7329| 1.3| 35/16
Industrials | 17.5871| 0.6| 20/8
Information Technology | 6.1293| 0.3| 2/8
Energy | 2.7936| 0.1| 18/22
Health Care | 0.0515| 0.1| 2/2
Consumer Discretionary | -1.7102| -0.2| 4/9
Real Estate | -5.7739| -1.3| 1/19
Communication Services | -6.0062| -0.9| 0/5
Utilities | -6.1605| -0.7| 4/11
Consumer Staples | -10.4748| -1.1| 6/5
Financials | -25.7525| -0.4| 5/22
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 10.1400| 1.4| -38.4| -13.1
Enbridge | 9.8060| 1.4| -41.6| 1.5
First Quantum Minerals | 6.6850| 7.4| -15.0| 81.0
RBC | -5.2400| -0.4| -31.2| 8.0
Manulife Financial | -8.7850| -1.9| -23.4| 21.1
Couche-Tard | -12.0900| -3.0| 57.0| -1.2
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Big tech fell in late trading after Micron Technology Inc.’s outlook failed to meet the lofty expectations for the industry that has driven the bull market.
A $285 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) slipped after Micron said fiscal fourth-quarter sales will be $7.4 billion to $7.8 billion.
While the average analyst estimate was $7.58 billion, some projections were above $8 billion.
Fellow chipmaker Nvidia Corp., which has been on a roller-coaster ride, also dropped after the close of regular trading.
The recent market attempt to broaden out of the mega cap group was short-lived, with a bevy of measures still showing how market breadth remains weak — boosting uncertainty about the rally’s staying power.
Bifurcation between S&P 500 performance and breadth has reached one of the worst levels in three decades, according to Bloomberg Intelligence.
“The stock market is way too reliant on big tech — period and end of story,” said David Bahnsen at The Bahnsen Group.
“Whether or not the past week’s volatility in tech is the start of something deeper or if that reckoning is still forthcoming remains to be seen, but excessive investor sentiment, euphoria and overdone momentum always ends the same.”
The S&P 500 hovered near 5,480. FedEx Corp. surged on a bullish forecast and buyback plans.
The KBW Bank Index edged lower ahead of results of the Federal Reserve’s annual stress tests.
Amazon.com Inc. reached a $2 trillion valuation in a surge that took the e-commerce giant deeper into record territory.
Treasury 10-year yields topped 4.3%.
A $70 billion sale of five-year notes showed signs of good demand.
The dollar hit the highest since November.
The yen’s slide to the weakest since 1986 is boosting risk of intervention.
“The market’s ‘Engine Warning Light’ is on as we head into the hot summer months,” said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler.
“Investors in the tech-heavy indices are experiencing F.O.M.O, while investors in the rest of the market feel R.O.M.O (regret of missing out) as overall market breadth remains weak outside a handful of mega-cap stocks.”
The S&P 500 is on track to deliver a strongly positive performance for the first six months of the year, fueled by a rally in the market’s largest names. Dividing the 500 Index stocks by capitalization quintiles shows a steady stairstep
pattern of performance: the larger the stock, the better it did, according to Jack Ablin at Cresset.
“Much of the divergence is attributable to a ‘higher for longer’ interest rate environment,” Ablin noted. “Investors reckon that mega cap tech companies – thanks to their ability to generate cash – are less reliant on borrowing and, those
companies that need to borrow have much easier access to capital than do their smaller brethren. So, where are markets headed in the second half of 2024?”
Ablin expects US equity markets to broaden later this year as the possibility of lower rates comes into focus.
“That means high-quality companies, particularly those with persistent dividend growth, will likely continue to lead their lower-quality counterparts in an incremental restrictive borrowing environment,” he added.
Bloomberg Intelligence’s sector rotation model says its time for a new leadership to emerge — and favors energy, health care and financials as the best-supported sectors to lead the index in the second half.
“Tech and the tech-adjacent communications sector have the strongest price momentum — but waning earnings dominance and lofty relative multiples pushed both groups down our ranks, wrote BI strategists led by Gina Martin Adams.
Mark Haefele at UBS Global Wealth Management, says that while Nvidia’s volatility has driven sentiment, the structural investment case for artificial intelligence remains intact on positive AI adoption and monetization trends.
He also holds a constructive outlook for broader equities amid solid fundamentals.
“We maintain our positive view on the AI story, but believe rightsizing tech exposure is key to navigate volatility while maintaining strategic exposure to the technology that we think is set to drive growth in the coming years,” he added.
For the second-quarter earnings season, the “Magnificent Seven” mega caps are still expected to account for the bulk of the growth for the overall S&P 500, according to Ryan Grabinski at Strategas.
“What remains encouraging to us is that the estimates for the remaining 493 are improving starting in the third quarter as growth rates for both the top of the market and the rest of the market normalize,” he noted.
“Should this broadening come to fruition, it would be an encouraging sign for the sustainability of the bull market.”
The S&P 500 is on pace to enter the second half with a gain of about 15% since the start of 2024. And July has ranked as the strongest month of the year for the S&P 500 both since its inception and more recently over the past two decades, according to data compiled by Bespoke Investment Group.
“What is more interesting is that zeroing in on the past 20 years, July’s outperformance is the eye of the storm,” Bespoke noted. “July is sandwiched between June, August, and September — which all rank as the three worst months of the year averaging declines of 0.17%, 0.10%, and 0.7%, respectively.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Interactive Brokers Group Inc. took a $48 million hit after a New York Stock Exchange trading disruption this month and is considering its options to recover the money, including possible legal action.
* Whirlpool Corp. surged after Reuters reported that Robert Bosch GmbH is considering an offer for the appliance maker.
* A mechanic who worked on Boeing Co.’s 787 aircraft alleged he observed improper manufacturing at a subcontractor for the Dreamliner program, according to a statement from attorneys representing him as a whistleblower.
* A top McDonald’s Corp. executive reiterated that the company’s previous US test of plant-based meat didn’t work out and added that the burger chain’s diners don’t go to its restaurants for salads. Beyond Meat Inc. has partnered with McDonald’s to produce the McPlant burger.
* Moderna Inc. shares sank after new data showed the efficacy of its RSV shot fell sharply in the second year and was lower than that of rival vaccines.
* General Mills Inc., the maker of Cheerios, gave a disappointing sales outlook as shoppers continue to pull back amid climbing supermarket prices.
* Southwest Airlines Co. reduced its estimate for unit revenue in the second quarter, a sign of ongoing challenges at the carrier as it fends off an activist push for a management overhaul.
* Volkswagen AG is taking another swing in its long struggle to catch up with Tesla Inc., plowing $5 billion into a tie-up with the US company’s closest would-be rival, Rivian Automotive Inc.
* Airbus SE has been warning airlines that some of their aircraft deliveries due in the next two years risk being delayed, an indication that supply-chain glitches at the world’s largest plane maker might extend well beyond the current year.

Key events this week:
* China industrial profits, Thursday
* Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Thursday
* US durable goods, initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday
* Nike releases earnings, Thursday
* Japan Tokyo CPI, unemployment, industrial production, Friday
* US PCE inflation, spending and income, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Thomas Barkin speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0680
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2623
* The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 160.80 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.5% to $60,968.31
* Ether was little changed at $3,408.48
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 4.31%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.45%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 4.13%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $80.64 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.9% to $2,298.61 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alexandra Semenova.

Have a lovely day.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

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

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

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

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