Category: Events

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
May 25, 1977: The first “Star Wars” movie is released in theatres.  The film suffered production difficulties; cast and crew involved believed the film would be a failure.  It was retroactively titled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
On May 25, 2006, Kenneth L. Lay and Jeffrey K. Skilling, the chief executives who guided Enron through its spectacular rise and even more stunning fall,
were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy.  Go to article >

Miles Davis, b. 1926.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, b. 1803.

Saturn’s iconic rings are slowly disappearing.  Slowly as in “over the next 100 million years” slowly.
Climate change could trigger gigantic deadly tsunamis from Antarctica, new study warns
Slippages in sediment beneath the Antarctic seabed could spawn gigantic tsunamis as oceans warm. Read More

What’s the difference between outer space and deep space?
Space, outer space, and deep space — which is further out, and which is the real final frontier? Read More

in memoriam…
Tina Turner, the “Queen of Rock and Roll,” has died at the age of 83. Her family said in a statement the legendary singer passed away after a “long illness.” Turner was the first Black artist and the first female artist to be featured on the cover of Rolling Stone and was one of only a few artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. Tributes for the icon have been rolling in. Former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama called Turner “a star whose light will never fade.” Oprah Winfrey praised Turner’s resilience amid personal struggles. “Once she claimed her freedom from years of domestic abuse, her life became a clarion call for triumph,” she said.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Küsnacht, Switzerland
A fan outside the gates of a villa belonging to the singer Tina Turner, who died on Wednesday.  Photograph: Michael Buholzer/AP

Savièse, Switzerland
Angele, a fresco by the artist Jasm One, is part of a project to create the world’s largest open-air urban art museum, covering 5,224 sq km of Alpine territory, linking the Rhone glacier in St-Gingolph and Lake Geneva.  Photograph: Gabriel Monnet/EPA

Rabat, Morocco
Drones form an image in the sky to mark the end of the African Capital of Culture programme in the Moroccan capital.  Photograph: Fadel Senna/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for May 25^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32764.65	-35.27
		-0.11%
S&P 500	4151.31	+36.07
		+0.88%
NASDAQ	12698.09	+213.93
		+1.71%
TSX	19775.43	-152.26
		-0.76%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	30801.13	+118.45
		+0.39%
HANG SENG	18764.92	-369.01
		-1.93%
SENSEX	61872.62	+98.84
		+0.16%
FTSE 100*	7570.87	-56.23
		-0.74%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.308	3.274
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.309	3.276
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.8193	3.7419
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.9925	3.9859

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7331	0.7356
US $	1.3640	1.3594
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4626	0.6837
US  $	1.0723	0.9326

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1969.65	1969.20
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.53	74.18

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1931, the New York Stock Exchange began regularly reporting short sales. For the first time, the sale of stock by those who are betting shares will drop became public record.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the third day, dropping 0.8%, or 153.61 to 19,774.08 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since March 28.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as 9 of 11 sectors lost; 159 of 232 shares fell, while 70 rose.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.2%. Canopy Growth Corp. had the largest drop, falling 14.2%.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 4.2%
* So far this week, the index fell 2.8%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended March 10
* The index declined 3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 3.4% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 10.6% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.6% in the past 5 days and fell 3.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 13.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.18t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 10.37% compared with 10.36% in the previous session and the average of 9.23% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -60.4582| -1.8| 2/38
Materials | -39.6219| -1.7| 6/44
Financials | -35.9162| -0.6| 17/11
Communication Services | -15.7988| -1.8| 1/4
Utilities | -9.9440| -1.1| 0/16
Information Technology | -1.9812| -0.1| 9/3
Health Care | -0.9300| -1.2| 3/3
Real Estate | -0.7969| -0.2| 6/14
Consumer Staples | -0.3329| 0.0| 3/7
Consumer Discretionary | 1.5661| 0.2| 7/8
Industrials | 10.6071| 0.4| 16/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | -43.0200| -4.2| 116.7| -11.3
RBC | -21.8500| -1.8| -0.7| -4.6
Canadian Natural Resources | -17.6900| -3.0| 20.5| 0.0
Brookfield Corp | 5.3570| 1.3| -32.1| -1.0
CIBC | 7.1740| 2.1| 95.5| 3.7
Bank of Nova Scotia| 8.7720| 1.6| 29.3| 0.6
US
By Isabelle Lee, Julien Ponthus and Lynn Thomasson
(Bloomberg) — US stocks rose Thursday as a rally in companies linked to the frenzy in artificial intelligence outweighed broader market concerns including a US debt default.
The S&P 500 gained 0.9% while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 added 2.5% after a bullish sales forecast from Nvidia Corp. ignited gains in the technology sector.
Shares of Nvidia soared 24% after the company’s forecast related to AI surprised even the most optimistic analysts on Wall Street, propelling the company to the cusp of a $1 trillion market value.
It’s another sign that investors are willing to pile into promising tech stocks, despite the growing worries about China’s economy and a potentially catastrophic US debt default.
Fitch Ratings warned that the US’s AAA rating is under threat, though it still expects politicians will reach an agreement before time runs out.
“Between the debt ceiling and AI, everything else is kind of dwarfed by the magnitude of those two things,” said Louise Goudy Willmering, partner at Crewe Advisors LLC.
Treasury-bill yields slated to mature early next month edged higher as investors continued to demand a premium on securities seen most at risk of non-payment if the government exhausts its borrowing capacity.
The wrangling in Washington adds to the risks assessed by Federal Reserve officials as they consider pausing interest rate increases.
Traders are now fully pricing in another quarter-point hike within the next two policy meetings after the release of mixed data on Thursday, including a higher revised first-quarter GDP and fewer-than-expected jobless claims.
“Nvidia was last night’s good surprise,” said Gilles Guibout, head of European equity strategies at Axa Investment Managers. “But more broadly, there are few reasons for the market to keep rising: interest rates are not going down, global economic growth isn’t rebounding, full-year earnings are seen flat, and stock valuations are already at a decent level.”
In corporate news, Dish Network Corp. gained 7.1% on a report of talks to offer mobile plans on Amazon.
And Snowflake Inc. dropped 17% after the cloud-software company cut its product revenue guidance for the full year.
Elsewhere, in Asian markets, sentiment continued to worsen.
The Hang Seng Index shed 1.9% on the day and the yuan broke through the closely-watched 7-per-dollar level.
The key worry for investors is that China’s economy is losing momentum and there are persistent financial troubles in the real estate sector. Recent data suggest GDP growth this year will be closer to the government’s target of about 5%, contrary to expectations of a large overshoot formed earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, traders added to bets the Bank of England will keep raising interest rates after an unexpectedly strong reading of UK inflation on Wednesday.
Money markets are now pricing more than 100 basis points of additional tightening by December.
The  Europe Stoxx 600 ended the day 0.3% lower.
Key events this week:
* Interest rate decisions in Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, Thursday
* Tokyo CPI, Friday
* US consumer income, wholesale inventories, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0721
* The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.2318
* The Japanese yen fell 0.5% to 140.17 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.3% to $26,474.68
* Ether rose 0.3% to $1,809.68
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.81%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.52%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 16 basis points to 4.37%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.2% to $71.99 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 1.2% to $1,959.40 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Georgina McKay.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
There is a magnet in your heart that will attract true friends.  That magnet is unselfishness, thinking of others first…
when you learn to live for others, they will live for you. –Paramahansa Yogananda, 1893-1952.

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:
May 24, 1976 Britain and France opened trans-Atlantic Concorde service to Washington. Go to article > 

1844:  First US telegraph line opens.
Bob Dylan, b. 1941.
Patti Labelle, b.1944.

James Webb telescope discovers gargantuan geyser on Saturn’s moon, blasting water hundreds of miles into space
The James Webb Space Telescope caught Saturn’s icy moon Enceladus spraying a “huge plume” of watery vapor far into space — and that plume may contain chemical ingredients for life.  Read More

2,000-year-old stone receipt discovered in Jerusalem
An ancient financial transaction from Jerusalem that was “set in stone” dates to the Early Roman period. Read More

Strange star system may hold first evidence of an ultra-rare ‘dark matter star’
In a distant star system, a sunlike star orbits an invisible object that may be the first example of a “boson star” made of dark matter, new research suggests. Read More

Mallorca: An ‘If You Know, You Know’ Hideaway

There wasn’t a party in sight earlier this month as the sun set over the Grand Hotel Son Net, in the rural village of Puigpunyent in Mallorca. Instead, as the stone buildings turned golden, the only soundtrack was the bleating of the sheep that lived on the estate. In the past year the island has been embracing its quieter side, playing up its stunning inland beauty to aspire beyond the package-tour and cruise sets. Work-from-anywhere warriors have begun making it their year-round home.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Toulouse, France
Asterion, a minotaur weighing 47 tonnes and 13 metres high made by La Machine street theatre company, moves through the Montaudran district of the city guided by a team of machinists
Photograph: Valentine Chapuis/AFP/Getty Images

Puebla, Mexico
Ash and molten rock are spewed from the Popocatépetl volcano, as authorities raise the warning level and prepare millions of residents for a possible evacuation.  Photograph: Rafael Duran/AFP/Getty Images

Durban, South Africa
An early start for surfers as they wait between sets of waves to take their next ride in the warm Indian Ocean.  Photograph: Kim Ludbrook/EPA
Market Closes for May 24^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	32799.92	-255.59
		-0.77%
S&P 500	4115.24	-30.34
		-0.73%
NASDAQ	12484.16	-76.09
		-0.61%
TSX	19927.69	-218.32
		-1.08%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	30682.68	-275.09
		-0.89%
HANG SENG	19115.93	-315.32
		-1.62%
SENSEX	61773.78	-208.01
		-0.34%
FTSE 100*	7627.10	-135.85
		-1.75%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.274	3.215
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.276	3.218
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.7419	3.6976
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.9859	3.9513

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7356	0.7405
US $	1.3594	1.3504
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4620	0.6840
US  $	1.0753	0.9300

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1969.20	1970.30
Oil
WTI Crude Future	74.18	72.79

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1937, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of Social Security benefits in the landmark case of Helvering v. Davis. The court ruled, “Congress did not improvise a judgment when it found that the award of old age benefits would be conducive to the general welfare.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 1.1%, or 218.32 to 19,927.69 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.5% on May 16.
Today, financials stocks led the market lower, as 9 of 11 sectors lost; 193 of 232 shares fell, while 38 rose.
Bank of Montreal contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.9%. Filo Mining Corp. had the largest drop, falling 8.2%.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 3.4%
* The index declined 1.8% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 3.7% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 5.3% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 11.5% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.6% in the past 5 days and fell 3.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.21t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.36% compared with 9.91% in the previous session and the average of 9.18% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -112.2990| -1.8| 2/27
Materials | -54.2252| -2.2| 0/50
Industrials | -39.5593| -1.4| 3/24
Energy | -7.1010| -0.2| 16/24
Communication Services| -6.8736| -0.8| 0/5
Utilities | -4.9977| -0.5| 2/14
Real Estate | -4.2156| -0.9| 0/21
Consumer Discretionary| -4.1375| -0.6| 4/11
Health Care | -0.3784| -0.5| 2/4
Consumer Staples | 6.4776| 0.8| 7/4
Information Technology| 8.9733| 0.6| 2/9
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Bank of Montreal | -22.6300| -3.9| 101.2| -8.0
RBC | -20.5000| -1.7| -23.5| -2.8
TD Bank | -19.3600| -1.9| 11.9| -7.4
Enbridge | 2.9540| 0.4| -53.4| -5.9
Cenovus Energy | 3.5510| 1.6| -32.5| -12.8
Shopify | 11.7100| 1.8| 119.0| 70.6
US
By Carly Wanna and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — US stocks followed equities in Europe and Asia lower on Wednesday amid growing pessimism over the global outlook.
The S&P 500 fell 0.9%, led by losses in financials and real estate, as US debt-limit talks hit a fresh impasse and minutes from the Federal Reserve showed split support for more interest-rate hikes.
In Europe, the Stoxx 600 slid the most in two months as UK inflation came in higher than expected.
And in Asia, China’s benchmark CSI 300 erased all its gains for the year as developers’ debt woes and a new wave of Covid added to worries over growth.
Luxury stocks including LVMH and Gucci owner Kering SA extended losses.
Chipmaker Analog Devices Inc. slid after a weak outlook on economic uncertainty.
And Citigroup Inc. fell after abandoning plans to sell its Mexican unit Banamex.
Federal Reserve officials at their May meeting were divided over whether further rate increases would be necessary to combat inflation, given the uncertainty of credit issues in the banking sector.
Meanwhile, talks between President Joe Biden’s team and representatives of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy showed little progress Wednesday, increasing the risk of a US default and possible recession.
Yields on short-dated Treasuries continued to push higher Wednesday, with investors demanding a higher premium on US debt with the highest risk of default.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US was likely to start missing debt payments as soon as June 1.
As such, the yield on securities maturing June 6 pushed above 6.8% on Wednesday while those maturing May 30 are yielding around 3%.
“I’m starting to get the feeling that the Republicans don’t believe in Yellen’s ‘X-date’ and think they have the upper hand,” said Benjamin Dietrich, a portfolio manager at Lazard Asset Management LLC. “I think the risk is for no short-term solution and the S&P breaking lower. Also, the China surprise index collapse should be bad for risk sentiment.”
Minutes from the Fed meeting in May were widely expected to reveal concern over credit conditions, which could prompt officials to pause interest rate hikes in June.
Policymakers have been walking a fine line, trying not to tip the economy into a recession with its rate hikes in an attempt to clamp back inflation.
But if the US debt deal contains deep spending cuts or there is a default, economists project a US recession regardless.
“We are pessimistic on the economic outlook,” said Michael Krautzberger, head of EMEA fundamental fixed income at BlackRock International. “The potential volatility coming from the debt ceiling discussion as we approach the deadline is one of those reasons. We don’t expect a technical default but we do expect a last minute deal.”
There has been a wall of worry investors have had to climb.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Chief Economist Michael Feroli said the odds of the US going past June 1are 25% and rising.
However, Nomura’s Charlie McElligott said he believes a “positive outcome” is getting closer, with traders selling in waves of profit-taking ahead of the Treasury secretary’s deadline.
“Any relief rally on a debt-ceiling ‘deal’ headline into the start of next week then has the potential to act as a local top for stocks for a bit, with most of the ‘wall of worry’ blood already squeezed from the stone,” McElligott said.
Key events this week:
* Fed issues minutes of May 2-3 policy meeting, Wednesday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday
* Interest rate decisions in Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, Thursday
* Tokyo CPI, Friday
* US consumer income, wholesale inventories, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 2:32 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%
* The MSCI World index fell 1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0764
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2376
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 139.05 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 3.5% to $26,274.12
* Ether fell 3.5% to $1,790.04
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 3.70%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.47%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 4.21%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2% to $74.35 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,984.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

What we play is life. -Louis Armstrong, Satchmo, 1901-1971.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Tuesday.
May 23, 1430: Joan of Arc is captured by the Burgundians while leading an army to relieve Compiègne.
On May 23, 1934, bank robbers Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow were shot to death in a police ambush as they were driving a stolen Ford Deluxe along a road in Bienville Parish, La.  Go to article > 

1895: New York Public Library founded.
These museums showcase the future, not the past.  It appears a different kind of museum is gaining popularity. More people are expressing interest in exhibitions that show what the future may look like.

Supreme Court ducks fight over foie gras.  The controversial delicacy is quite common in France but will remain banned in California.

All butterflies evolved from ancient moths in North America 100 million years ago.  Scientists have painstakingly constructed the world’s biggest butterfly tree of life and discovered that the first butterflies evolved in what is now Central and North America. Read More

Mysterious white, powdery substance found inside 3,000-year-old ruins in Armenia isn’t what it seems .  `Piles of a mysterious white, powdery substance found inside the ruins of a 3,000-year-old building in Armenia are a culinary historian’s dream — the remnants of ancient flour. Read More

Spanish Civil War soldier saw the world ‘backward’ after bullet pierced brain, historic case report reveals.  After being shot in the head in 1938 during the Spanish Civil War, a soldier began seeing the world backward and upside down. Read More

A sanctuary dedicated to psychedelic art opens-up in the Hudson Valley.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Versailles, France: A guest wearing a baroque-style costume walks through the Hall of Mirrors during the fête galante at the Palace of Versailles. The annual fancy dress ball recreates the splendour of Louis XIV’s dazzling court feasts, which were held to show off the wealth and power of France’s longest-reigning monarch. Photograph: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty Images

Canudos, Brazil: Lear’s macaws fly over a reserve near a biological station that is close to a wind energy complex. The windfarm, in north-east Brazil, is causing concern because of its impact on the endangered bird species. Photograph: Rafael Martins/AFP/Getty Images

Newbury, UK: A plane flies west over Berkshire beneath a new moon.  Photograph: David Hartley/Shutterstock
Market Closes for May 23^rd, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33055.51	-231.07
		-0.69%
S&P 500	4145.58	-47.05
		-1.12%
NASDAQ	12560.25	-160.53
		-1.26%
TSX	20146.01	-205.05
		-1.01%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	30957.77	-129.05
		-0.42%
HANG SENG	19431.25	-246.92
		-1.25%
SENSEX	61981.79	+18.11
		+0.03%
FTSE 100*	7762.95	-8.04
		-0.10%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.215	3.130
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.218	3.158
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.6976	3.6784
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.9513	3.9336

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7405	0.7406
US $	1.3504	1.3503
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4547	0.6874
US  $	1.0774	0.9282

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1970.30	1960.30
Oil
WTI Crude Future	72.79	71.55

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1995, Sun Microsystems launched Java, the universal internet programming language that brought “white space” and greater interactivity to millions of websites and internet users.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 1% at 20,146.01 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since March 31 after the previous session’s increase of 0.3%.
Today, industrials stocks led the market lower, as 9 of 11 sectors lost; 146 of 232 shares fell, while 85 rose.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.3%.
Wesdome Gold Mines Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 6.2%.
Insights
* This month, the index fell 2.4%
* The index declined 0.3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 3.5% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.2% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 12.7% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.9% in the past 5 days and fell 2.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 13.6 times estimated earnings ofvits members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 9.91% compared with 9.69% in the previous session and the average of 9.13% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Industrials | -69.0912| -2.4| 7/20
Materials | -50.2554| -2.0| 15/35
Information Technology | -48.8664| -3.2| 1/11
Consumer Staples | -15.3166| -1.8| 1/10
Communication Services | -12.1965| -1.4| 0/5
Consumer Discretionary | -11.9887| -1.6| 4/11
Financials | -11.1600| -0.2| 14/15
Utilities | -6.1071| -0.7| 4/11
Real Estate | -1.4467| -0.3| 9/12
Health Care | 0.2050| 0.3| 2/4
Energy | 21.1728| 0.6| 28/12
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -31.2800| -4.3| 99.4| 5.7
Canadian National | -22.1900| -3.3| 79.2| -2.9
Shopify | -21.1000| -3.1| 47.8| 67.6
Cameco | 5.6220| 5.1| 77.9| 24.6
Brookfield Corp | 7.8400| 1.9| 32.3| -0.4
Canadian Natural Resources | 10.6900| 1.8| 97.8| 4.3
US
By Emily Graffeo and Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — US stocks fell and short-dated Treasury bills extended losses as negotiations over raising the US debt ceiling remained at an impasse.
Negotiations continued on Tuesday.
However, progress appeared limited, with some House Republicans questioning the urgency imposed by a deadline from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen for when the government will start missing some debt
payments.
Investors have been demanding higher premiums to hold US debt, especially those at the highest risk of default, with little time left for politicians to find an agreement.
Yields on securities maturing June 8 are holding above 5.7% compared to bills maturing May 30 that are yielding roughly 2%.
“The fact that some of these politicians are contemplating default publicly is a bad sign,” said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at Harvest Volatility Management.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, led lower by industrials and communication stocks. Lowe’s Cos. cut its sales outlook, citing a slowdown in consumer spending.
Broadcom Inc. signed a multibillion-dollar deal with Apple Inc. to develop 5G radio frequency components.
And a rout in luxury-goods makers including Hermes International wiped out more than $30 billion in value.
President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy called their discussions on Monday productive.
But an agreement on the debt limit remains elusive, with McCarthy pleading with Republicans to stay united on their demands in order to avert a US default.
“As investors, it’s really hard to price the debt ceiling,” said Remi Olu-Pitan, head of multi-asset growth and income at Schroders. “We have nothing to hold onto. We know that it’s a big risk, but it’s really hard to quantify and position for in advance.”
Invesco Chief Global Market Strategist Kristina Hooper said she sees a brief technical default as a real possibility, which is more likely to be reflected in bond prices, rather than stocks.
“The negotiating parties have gotten more pessimistic,” she said. “And it suggests to me that we’ll see more market turbulence in coming days.”
In economic news, US new-home sales unexpectedly rose to a more than one-year high, and US business activity grew in May by the most in over a year.
Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said Tuesday that if inflation were to become more entrenched, the Federal Reserve could keep interest rates elevated for longer.
Minutes expected Wednesday from the last Federal Open Market Committee meeting will offer traders the latest insights into whether interest rates will be paused at the Fed’s next meeting in June.
Key events this week:
* Fed issues minutes of May 2-3 policy meeting, Wednesday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey speaks, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, GDP, Thursday
* Interest rate decisions in Turkey, South Africa, Indonesia, South Korea, Thursday
* Tokyo CPI, Friday
* US consumer income, wholesale inventories, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0768
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2410
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 138.60 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.1% to $27,189.22
* Ether rose 1.8% to $1,851.79
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 3.70%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.47%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced nine basis points to 4.16%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $73.10 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Tassia Sipahutar, Robert Brand, Jason Scott, Ishika Mookerjee and Allegra Catelli.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man’s life
sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility. -Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, 1807-1882.

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: Carolann is away from the office today, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

On May 18, 1980, the Mount St. Helens volcano in Washington state exploded, leaving 57 people dead or missing. Go to article >

Largest underwater scanning project in history’ gives never-before-seen view of Titanic. Deep sea investigators and filmmakers have managed to uncover incredible details about the 1912 tragedy.

Orcas have sunk 3 boats in Europe and appear to be teaching others to do the same. But why? Scientists think a traumatized orca initiated the assault on boats after a “critical moment of agony” and that the behavior is spreading among the population through social learning. Live Science
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Woking, UK
An RHS Wisley Garden volunteer makes her way along Wisteria Walk. For the first time since it was planted in 2018, the display can be viewed as designed, with purple and white blooms together. Frost has damaged the cultivar in previous years so horticulturists from the RHS worked through the night with fire pits to protect the delicate flowers
Photograph: Andrew Matthews/PA

Cremona, Canada
A raven lands on the roof of a barn in Alberta as thick smoke from wildfires obscures the sun
Photograph: Jeff McIntosh/AP

Keswick, UK
Herdwick shepherds exhibit their best rams at the annual Keswick Tup Fair which, since the 1840s, has been held in the Lake District town on the first Thursday after the third Wednesday in May. Judges are looking for the best examples of the local Herdwick breed with their hoar-frost white face and legs and distinctive slate blue fleece, hand painted with red ochre which makes them easily visible of distant Cumbrian fells. Stanley Jackson (second left) get his ram standing correctly for the the official pictures after it won the Edmondson Cup, awarded to the best shearling
Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian
Market Closes for May 18^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33535.91	+115.14
		+0.34%
S&P 500	4198.05	+39.28
		+0.94%
NASDAQ	12688.84	+188.27
		+1.51%
TSX	20297.09	+0.66
		—

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	30573.93	+480.34
		+1.60%
HANG SENG	19727.25	+166.68
		+0.85%
SENSEX	61431.74	-128.90
		-0.21%
FTSE 100*	7742.30	+19.07
		+0.25%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.174	3.106
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.162	3.108
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.6457	3.5622
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.9040	3.8474

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7407	0.7432
US $	1.3501	1.3455
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4546	0.6875
US  $	1.0775	0.9281

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	1974.40	2007.45
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.86	72.83

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1553, one of the earliest business ventures financed by selling stock to the public was launched, as three ships set out from England seeking “discoverie of new trades northe warde” in Russia. The Russia Company, or Muscovy Company, earned no money for at least three decades, and many investors died without ever receiving a dividend
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,297.09 in Toronto.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.8%. Bausch Health Cos. had the largest increase, rising 14.6%.
Today, 110 of 232 shares rose, while 117 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by industrials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.6%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended March 17
* The index advanced 1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 6.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.5% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 13.6% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.6% 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 13.1 on a trailing basis and 13.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.73% compared with 9.74% in the previous session and the average of 9.42% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Industrials | 22.6386| 0.8| 22/5
Energy | 13.4941| 0.4| 30/7
Information Technology | 9.8840| 0.7| 8/4
Consumer Discretionary | 3.5131| 0.5| 8/7
Health Care | 3.4491| 4.7| 5/1
Communication Services | 0.0113| 0.0| 2/3
Real Estate | -1.6645| -0.3| 5/16
Consumer Staples | -2.0230| -0.2| 5/6
Utilities | -3.6126| -0.4| 3/13
Financials | -9.1524| -0.1| 14/14
Materials | -35.8898| -1.4| 8/41
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD | Index | | 20D AVG | Change Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 5.4290| 0.8| -41.9| 10.6
Ritchie Bros | 4.4490| 5.1| 21.4| -4.4
Constellation Software | 4.1210| 1.2| -5.1| 27.7
Agnico Eagle Mines | -5.3680| -2.1| -34.5| 3.1
RBC | -6.9320| -0.6| -16.1| 0.5
Barrick Gold | -9.4250| -3.1| 11.5| 3.5
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) – Stocks climbed on signals that American lawmakers are making progress on debt-ceiling talks and will be able to avert a first-ever default. Treasury yields rose on speculation the Federal Reserve will need to keep rates higher for longer as inflation remains elevated.
The S&P 500 closed at a nine-month high while the Nasdaq 100 rallied almost 2% — hitting the highest since April 2022.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer making plans for votes in the coming days on a bipartisan deal to avert a US debt default. Equities briefly pared gains after House Financial Services Chairman Patrick McHenry said the two sides are “not close to being done.”
“We could see some volatility over the negotiations in the coming days,” said Dan Clifton at Strategas. “Negotiators are\ not only trying to get a deal quickly, but the effort is to get a complete deal so that only one debt ceiling increase is needed.”
As the US cash flow position deteriorates, Clifton also highlighted the impact of larger liquidity injections on the market. “As tax revenues underperform, Treasury is spending down the Treasury General Account. This is leading to more liquidity and, not coincidentally, Nasdaq outperforming the S&P 500,” he added.
The swap market showed bets on a June hike climbed to about 40% after Fed Bank of Dallas President Lorie Logan said the case for a pause next month is not clear. In contrasting remarks, central bank Governor Philip Jefferson outlined the dovish case for patience. The two-year bond yield, which is more sensitive to imminent Fed moves, topped 4.2% and climbed toward the highest in a month.
The Fed is “in a really tough spot,” Katerina Simonetti at Morgan Stanley Private Wealth Management, told Bloomberg Television. “The big decision for them is the timing because once they announce that they’re done raising rates, markets are just going to assume that they’ve succeeded. And it might not necessarily be the case. Inflation so far is proving to be sticky.”
Key events this week:
* Japan CPI, Friday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in panel at Brazil central bank conference, Friday
* New York Fed’s John Williams speaks at monetary policy research conference in Washington; Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former chair Ben Bernanke to take part in panel discussion, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0774
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.2410
* The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 138.69 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.2% to $26,749.92
* Ether fell 1.7% to $1,795.95
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 3.65%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 11 basis points to 2.45%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 12 basis points to 3.96%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.2% to $71.99 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 1.2% to $1,978.70 an ounce
–With assistance from Carly Wanna, Isabelle Lee, Peyton Forte and Felice Maranz.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Isabel

Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know. Lao Tsu, 571 BC

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff, Registered Representative

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:
May 17, 1527: The Pánfilo de Narváez expedition, sent by Spain to conquer Florida, is lost at sea.
May 17, 1792: The New York Stock Exchange was founded by brokers meeting under a tree on what is now Wall Street. Go to article > 
1844: rubber band patented.

The 76th Cannes Film Festival began this week: The glamorous event kicked off Tuesday with the premiere of Johnny Depp’s Louis XV period drama, “Jeanne du Barry.”

Solar ‘super flares’ millions of times stronger than anything today may have sparked life on Earth
Intense solar storms may have delivered Earth its earliest building blocks of life, new research suggests. Read More

NASA spots sign of El Niño from space: ‘If it’s a big one, the globe will see record warming’
The Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite recorded Kelvin waves moving eastward across the Pacific — a phenomenon often considered a precursor to El Niño. Read More

Ancient Romans sacrificed birds to the goddess Isis, burnt bones in Pompeii reveal
The ancient remains of at least 10 birds have been found at a temple of Isis in the Roman city of Pompeii, indicating that birds were a key feature of worshipping the goddess. Read More

‘Face blindness’ could be rare long COVID symptom, case report hints
A new case report provides the first account of “face blindness” emerging after a COVID-19 infection. Read More
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Bridlington, England
Nesting gannets at Bempton Cliffs in Yorkshire, where about 500,000 seabirds flock to find a mate and raise their young.  Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

London, England
Marketing manager Joanna Roche sits in Jimi Hendrix’s bedroom in the newly restored house where, separated by a wall & 200 years, musicians George Frideric Handel and Jimi Hendrix have both lived. Handel & Hendrix in London reopens to visitors this week.  Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian

Antalya, Turkey
Crocuses bloom on Taşeli plateau.  Photograph: Seyit Konyali/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Market Closes for May 17^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33420.77	+408.63
		+1.24%
S&P 500	4158.77	+48.87
		+1.19%
NASDAQ	12500.57	+157.52
		+1.28%
TSX	20296.43	+54.36
		+0.27%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	30093.59	+250.60
		+0.84%
HANG SENG	19560.57	-417.68
		-2.09%
SENSEX	61560.64	-371.83
		-0.60%
FTSE 100*	7723.23	-27.85
		-0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.106	3.052
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.108	3.096
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.5622	3.5433
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.8474	3.8601

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7432	0.7421
US $	1.3455	1.3475
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4584	0.6857
US  $	1.0840	0.9225

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2007.45	2019.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	72.83	70.86

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1792, the ancestor of the New York Stock Exchange was born. Twenty-four brokers gathered under a tree and signed the Buttonwood Agreement, pledging to “not buy or sell from this day for any person whatsoever, any kind of Public Stock at a less rate than one quarter per cent Commission.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3% at 20,296.43 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.5%.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 152 of 232 shares rose, while 78 fell.
Brookfield Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.5%. Bausch Health Cos. had the largest increase, rising 24.1%.
Insights
* The index declined 0.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 1.1% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.5% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 13.6% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1% in the past 5 days and fell 1.7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.1 on a trailing basis and 13.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.74% compared with 9.87% in the previous session and the average of 9.53% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 51.3526| 0.8| 25/4
Energy | 27.0544| 0.8| 36/4
Information Technology | 7.6064| 0.5| 8/4
Health Care | 4.2525| 6.2| 4/2
Real Estate | 3.5067| 0.7| 14/6
Consumer Discretionary | 2.7006| 0.4| 11/4
Consumer Staples | 0.7411| 0.1| 6/5
Communication Services | -5.0796| -0.6| 2/3
Utilities | -6.0546| -0.6| 6/9
Industrials | -11.4401| -0.4| 19/8
Materials | -20.2723| -0.8| 21/29
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Brookfield Corp | 10.1200| 2.5| -4.4| -1.9
TD Bank | 9.6200| 0.9| -23.1| -6.2
Canadian Natural Resources | 7.6170| 1.3| -3.6| 0.2
Canadian Pacific Kansas | -5.6230| -0.8| -23.0| 9.7
Canadian National | -6.2440| -0.9| -0.1| -0.4
Barrick Gold | -6.3650| -2.1| -25.2| 6.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The stock market climbed on speculation that a narrower group of Washington negotiators will break a deadlock on raising the US debt ceiling and avoid an unprecedented default.
Equities halted the recent trading lull, with gains in the S&P 500 topping 1% and the Nasdaq 100 hitting the highest since August.
Treasuries dropped, with yields on 10-year notes approaching 3.6%.
President Joe Biden expressed confidence there will be no default, and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said reaching an agreement this week is “doable.”
“We don’t want to get too excited as the two sides reportedly remain far apart,” said Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman. “However, we get the sense that there is a real effort to avert a debt ceiling catastrophe as the X-date of June 1 is fast approaching. Stay tuned.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s chief Jamie Dimon said the US government “probably” will not default on its debts.
He joined other top executives of major banks in a meeting with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to discuss the debt limit.
The amount of money the US has on hand to pay its bills sank to $87 billion on May 15, increasing the chances the government will run out of cash by early June if the debt limit isn’t raised or suspended by then.
The Treasury’s bank account has been under downward pressure recently because of measures being taken to avoid breaching the $31.4 trillion debt cap.
“We all know the US Treasury is about to run out of ways to pay its bills, but we have seen this movie too many times before,” said Chun Wang at Leuthold Group. “While, theoretically, there is a threat of default, we certainly don’t recommend planning our lives around it. The script is very predictable: political posturing and grandstanding will go on until the 11th hour, and then a deal will be hastily put
together to avoid a default.”
If history is any guide, the debt-ceiling turmoil tends to be short-lived, without much impact on stocks before or after a resolution, Wang added.
However, the August 2011 instance caught many investors by surprise, with equities slumping for a week or so before stabilizing.
Assuming the date of resolution is June 1, the current pattern is “uncomfortably similar to August 2011,” he noted.
To Amy Wu Silverman at RBC Capital Markets, while markets are betting on a rocky end to the debt-ceiling debate, if they are wrong, investors may miss out on the gains.
“The tale of optimism does not exist,” she told Bloomberg Television. “Is there a possibility of a congressional miracle?  If it at all comes in a little bit easier than we expect, that right tail is very cheap.”
Also helping sentiment Wednesday was a rally in regional banks after Western Alliance Bancorp reported growth in deposits, easing worries about the health of the industry.
Target Corp. stood by its annual outlook after posting higher-than-expected profit in the first quarter, even as “softening sales trends” threaten to crimp short-term results.
Key events this week:
* US initial jobless claims, Conference Board leading index, existing home sales, Thursday
* Japan CPI, Friday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in panel at Brazil central bank conference, Friday
* New York Fed’s John Williams speaks at monetary policy research conference in Washington; Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former chair Ben Bernanke to take part in panel discussion, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0840
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2493
* The Japanese yen fell 0.9% to 137.60 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.7% to $27,405.7
* Ether rose 0.5% to $1,830.52
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 3.58%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.34%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.84%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.7% to $72.74 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,986.40 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
‘Tis known by the name of perseverance in a good cause – and of obstinacy in a bad one. –Laurence Sterne, 1713-1768.

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:
May 16^th, 1960: Theodore Maiman operates the first optical laser, built with ruby crystals.
The U2 Incident: On May 16, 1960, a harsh exchange between Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and President Dwight D. Eisenhower doomed a much heralded summit conference between the two nations, following the Soviet downing of an American U-2 reconnaissance plane. Go to article > 

Martha Stewart is a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit model.  The lifestyle businesswoman, 81, is the oldest swimsuit model to grace the magazine’s cover.

Amazon is changing its deliveries behind the scenes.  The company is unpacking a new plan that may decrease shipping times.

Diver unexpectedly discovers Roman-era shipwreck carrying beautiful marble columns off Israel’s coast
A diver off the coast of Israel discovered an 1,800-year-old Roman shipwreck containing 44 tons of artifacts. Read More

Bizarre Martian ‘book’ spotted by NASA’s Curiosity rover
The rover spotted a tiny Martian rock that looks eerily like a fossilized book on the surface of the Red Planet. Read More

James Webb telescope discovers ancient ‘water world’ in nearby star system
Astronomers have finally peered past the clouds on the exoplanet GJ 1214b, a mini-Neptune planet around a star about 40 light-years away. Read More

A man’s rare gene variant may have shielded him from devastating form of early Alzheimer’s
The discovery of a gene variant that protects against an early, insidious form of Alzheimer’s could lead to new treatments for the disease. Read More

Scientists discover 62 new moons around Saturn, raising total to 145 — the most in the solar system
Jupiter’s brief but glorious reign as the planet with the most moons in our solar system came crashing down this week as scientists confirmed the discovery of new moons orbiting Saturn. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Berlin, Germany
A herd of cattle grazes outside the Reichstag building during a protest by Greenpeace and animal rights activists over how much time the animals should spend on pastures.
Photograph: Nadja Wohlleben/Reuters

Hiroshima, Japan
A tricycle donated by the father of a boy who died in the 1945 atomic bombing is displayed at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial museum. G7 leaders will meet in Hiroshima from 19 to 21 May, looking to address the Ukraine war, and agree a united line on China’s growing military and economic power.  Photograph: Richard A Brooks/AFP/Getty Images

Ardingly, UK
Catherine Nelson poses with her installation, Planet Wakehurst, at Wakehurst Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, in West Sussex. The 1,550 sq metre canvas – the equivalent of 25 double-decker buses and one of the UK’s largest outdoor installations – features a photo montage of Wakehurst gardens’ world-leading plant collections and is wrapped around a Grade I listed Elizabethan mansion house. Visitors can view the display from a 33ft high platform offering views across Wakehurst’s wild landscape and the South Downs.  Photograph: Gareth Fuller/PA
Market Closes for May 16^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33012.14	-336.46
		-1.01%
S&P 500	4109.90	-26.38
		-0.64%
NASDAQ	12343.05	-22.16
		-0.18%
TSX	20242.07	-297.90
		-1.45%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29842.99	+216.65
		+0.73%
HANG SENG	19978.25	+7.12
		+0.04%
SENSEX	61932.47	-413.24
		-0.66%
FTSE 100*	7751.08	-26.62
		-0.34%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.052	2.948
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.096	3.028
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.5433	3.5056
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.8601	3.8410

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7421	0.7425
US $	1.3475	1.3468
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4638	0.6832
US  $	1.0862	0.9206

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2019.90	2019.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.86	71.11

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1972, the Chicago Mercantile Exchange became the first to launch foreign-currency futures trading. University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman rang the opening bell after inspiring the exchange to get into the business.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 1.5% at 20,242.07 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.6% on March 15 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.6%.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as all sectors lost; 192 of 232 shares fell, while 39 rose.
Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8%. Iamgold Corp. had the largest drop, falling 8.8%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 16 times. The next day, it declined nine times for an average 0.8% and advanced seven times for an average 1.3%
* The index was little changed in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.8% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 13.3% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.7% in the past 5 days and fell 1.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 13.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.26t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 9.87% compared with 8.78% in the previous session and the average of 9.52% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -91.5130| -2.7| 2/38
Financials | -82.4667| -1.3| 2/26
Materials | -52.5923| -2.0| 6/44
Information Technology | -17.8443| -1.2| 5/7
Utilities | -10.9336| -1.2| 4/12
Industrials | -10.3517| -0.4| 11/16
Real Estate | -9.8902| -2.0| 1/20
Consumer Discretionary | -8.5716| -1.1| 3/12
Consumer Staples | -7.9408| -0.9| 1/10
Communication Services | -4.7679| -0.5| 3/2
Health Care | -1.0186| -1.5| 1/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Enbridge | -27.8600| -3.8| 55.5| -5.4
RBC | -25.2200| -2.0| 7.2| 0.8
TD Bank | -17.3400| -1.7| -47.4| -7.0
Air Canada | 1.0770| 2.2| 54.2| 11.4
CGI Inc | 1.2060| 0.6| -6.5| 20.1
Thomson Reuters | 1.7590| 1.0| -8.1| 8.9
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders remained glued to the latest developments on whether Washington will raise the debt ceiling and prevent a historic default, with both stocks and bonds falling.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 1%, underperforming other benchmarks.  
Yields rose across the US curve, with the rate on 30-year notes climbing to around 3.9% — the highest since the run-up to the banking turmoil that erupted in early March — amid Pfizer Inc.’s $31 billion debt sale.
President Joe Biden launched negotiations with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy Tuesday, as leaders in Washington race to reach a budget deal and avoid a US default.
The meeting at the White House comes amid signs negotiators are struggling to find common ground, with entrenched disagreements on the size and scope of concessions to raise the federal spending limit.
“Since both sides know what is at stake, default is improbable,” said Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management. “However, every day closer to the Treasury’s June 1 deadline without a resolution will likely elevate volatility in markets, trim demand for US risk assets, and even expedite recession.”

The mood among global fund managers soured further in May, with investors flocking to cash amid concerns that a recession and credit crunch are looming, according to Bank of America Corp.’s latest survey.
The sentiment among fund managers deteriorated to the most bearish this year, with 65% of survey participants now expecting a weaker economy, B of A’s poll showed.
Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said the central bank is unable to do much about slow long-term economic growth, but can “do its part” by curbing prices.
Her Richmond counterpart Thomas Barkin said he was still looking to be convinced that inflation has been defeated and that he’d support raising rates further if needed.
US retail sales increased in April, suggesting consumer spending is holding up in the face of economic headwinds including inflation and high borrowing costs.
“There is nothing in this series that will take a June rate hike off the table — although we are doubtful one comes to fruition,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets. “Instead, the Fed will err on the side of retaining terminal for as long as possible as economic headwinds continue to mount, but remain contained for the time being.”
Key events this week:
* Eurozone CPI, Wednesday
* BOE Governor Andrew Bailey delivers keynote speech, Wednesday
* US housing starts, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Conference Board leading index, existing home sales, Thursday
* Japan CPI, Friday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in panel at Brazil central bank conference, Friday
* New York Fed’s John Williams speaks at monetary policy research conference in Washington; Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former chair Ben Bernanke to take part in panel discussion, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0863
* The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.2480
* The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 136.32 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.5% to $26,933.21
* Ether fell 0.5% to $1,816.84
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.53%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.35%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.82%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.8% to $70.56 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 1.4% to $1,993.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee and Carly Wanna

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Wherever we look upon this earth, the opportunities take shape within the problems. – Nelson A. Rockefeller, 1908-1979.

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.
On May 15, 1911, the Supreme Court ordered the dissolution of Standard Oil Company, ruling it was in violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. Go to article >
May 15, 1252: Pope Innocent IV issues the papal “Ad exstirpanda,” which authorizes the use of torture by the Inquisition.

L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, b. 1856.
Henry James, writer, b. 1843.
“Live all you can – it’s a mistake not to.  It doesn’t so much matter what you do in particular, so long as you have your life.  If you haven’t had that, what have you had?” -Henry James.

Nepali Sherpa ties Mount Everest climbing record.  This year’s climbing season has been packed with impressive milestones. The latest record-holder scaled Everest for the 26th time on Sunday.

Sweden’s Loreen wins historic second Eurovision.  This year’s show boasted an array of strong and eccentric performances, but Sweden took home the title of winning act.

The best laptop actually worth buying, as tested by CNN’s editors.  We extensively test the latest laptops on the market from the likes of Apple, Dell and Samsung to help you figure out what’s actually worth spending your money on. Here are our picks for the best laptops you can buy now.

Mysterious, ultra low-frequency noises detected in Earth’s atmosphere — and scientists can’t explain them
Solar-powered balloons detected strange rumblings at a height of 70,000 feet above the Earth’s surface. Scientists can’t identify them. Read More

5,400-year-old tomb discovered in Spain perfectly captures the summer solstice
Archaeologists have discovered a 5,400-year-old megalithic tomb near a prominent lone mountain in southern Spain, suggesting the peak may have been meaningful to prehistoric people there. Read More

Did Noah’s flood really happen? Noah’s flood is a story much older than the Bible, and researchers are still learning about its roots. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Cannes, France
The official poster of the 76th Cannes film festival featuring a photo of Catherine Deneuve by Jack Garofalo adorns the facade of the Palais des Festivals.  Photograph: Christophe Simon/AFP/Getty Images

Jaffa, Israel
A rare female Mediterranean monk seal lies on the shore Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

Mexico City, Mexico
A heron in a chinampa (floating farm).  Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Market Closes for May 15^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33348.60	+47.98
		+0.14%
S&P 500	4136.28	+12.20
		+0.30%
NASDAQ	12365.21	+80.47
		+0.65%
TSX	20539.97	+120.35
		+0.59%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29626.34	+238.04
		+0.81%
HANG SENG	19971.13	+343.89
		+1.75%
SENSEX	62345.71	+317.81
		+0.51%
FTSE 100*	7777.70	+23.08
		+0.30%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.948	2.880
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.028	2.981
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.5056	3.4588
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.8410	3.7799

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7425	0.7376
US $	1.3468	1.3557
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4643	0.6829
US  $	1.0874	0.9196

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2019.90	2015.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.11	70.04

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1878, the Tokyo Stock Exchange was established, primarily to trade bonds.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.6%, or 120.35 to 20,539.97 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.5% on May 5.
Constellation Software Inc/Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.8%.
Spartan Delta Corp. had the largest increase, rising 8.8%.
Today, 158 of 232 shares rose, while 70 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 2.2% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 2.3% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.4% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 14.9% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed 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 13.3 on a trailing basis and 13.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.78% compared with 9.00% in the previous session and the average of 9.51% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 50.3299| 0.8| 19/10
Materials | 28.4965| 1.1| 39/10
Energy | 23.9154| 0.7| 31/8
Information Technology | 13.4056| 0.9| 8/4
Real Estate | 3.9698| 0.8| 17/3
Utilities | 3.0331| 0.3| 8/7
Industrials | 2.8658| 0.1| 19/8
Health Care | 0.3393| 0.5| 3/3
Communication Services | -0.6402| -0.1| 3/2
Consumer Discretionary | -0.9405| -0.1| 9/6
Consumer Staples | -4.4220| -0.5| 2/9
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Constellation Software | 13.2700| 3.8| -0.2| 27.0
RBC | 9.9160| 0.8| 15.6| 2.8
Nutrien | 9.7230| 3.3| -7.8| -15.2
Dollarama | -1.4230| -0.9| -29.2| 5.7
Centerra Gold | -2.4740| -18.1| 209.5| 5.0
Waste Connections | -2.7340| -0.8| -42.5| 7.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The stock market remained stuck in a tight range, with investors waiting for clarity on whether Washington lawmakers will be able to reach a deal to avert a US default.
Equities saw small gains on the eve of a meeting between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy — with both sides sending mixed signals.
Two Federal Reserve officials indicated they favored pausing rate hikes, renewing appetite for tech mega-caps.
The approval of Microsoft Corp.’s $69 billion takeover of Activision Blizzard Inc. by the European Union also helped sentiment.
Stocks fell earlier Monday as data showed New York manufacturing plunged the most since April 2020.
This week’s figures will likely underscore more economic weakness, emboldening the Fed’s dovish voices even though inflation has failed to reassure, according to Anna Wong at Bloomberg Economics.
Results from retailers like giant Walmart Inc. will also be highly scrutinized.
“There is little conviction on either side as the market continues to digest earnings, a slew of economic data, and finger-pointing in Washington regarding the debt ceiling discussions,” said Craig Johnson, chief market technician at Piper Sandler.
To Chris Larkin at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, it’s fair to ask whether the low equity volatility suggests the market is being too complacent — especially after the S&P 500 notched its narrowest non-holiday weekly range since August 2021.
“A debt default may not be the most likely scenario, but any prolonged debate or unexpected development has the potential to trigger higher volatility,” he noted.
JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marko Kolanovic joined a chorus of Wall Street strategists Monday in warning that the US debt-ceiling impasse is yet another headwind threatening the outlook for equity markets.
Morgan Stanley’s Mike Wilson delivered a similar warning on the debt-ceiling deadline, noting the bank’s clients said the issue is unlikely to be resolved without some near-term volatility.
Meanwhile, BlackRock Investment Institute’s Jean Boivin and Wei Li said they expect a potential debt showdown to trigger renewed volatility.
Key events this week:
* China retail sales, industrial production, Tuesday
* Eurozone GDP, Tuesday
* US retail sales, industrial production, business inventories, Tuesday
* Fed speakers include Cleveland’s Loretta Mester, New York’s John Williams, Atlanta’s Raphael Bostic and Chicago’s Austan Goolsbee, Tuesday
* Eurozone CPI, Wednesday
* BOE Governor Andrew Bailey delivers keynote speech, Wednesday
* US housing starts, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Conference Board leading index, existing home sales, Thursday
* Japan CPI, Friday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in panel at Brazil central bank conference, Friday
* New York Fed’s John Williams speaks at monetary policy research conference in Washington; Fed Chair Jerome Powell and former chair Ben Bernanke to take part in panel discussion, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0875
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.2530
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 136.06 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.7% to $27,413.57
* Ether rose 1.7% to $1,828.92
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.49%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.31%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 3.82%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.6% to $71.14 a barrel
* Gold futures were little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Peyton Forte and Carly Wanna.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
He who knows that enough is enough will always have enough. –Lao Tzu, c. 6^th century BCE.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday. It’s  Limerick Day.
MAY 12, 2008: A massive earthquake rocks China.  The magnitude 7.9 quake left some 69,000 people dead, 18000 missing and 4.8 million homeless.  It was the deadliest earthquake in China since 1976 when the Tangshan earthquake killed over 240,000 people.

1943: Axis forces in North Africa surrendered during World War II.  Go to article >

Katharine Hepburn, actress, b. 1907.
Florence Nightingale, nurse, b. 1820.
Edward Lear, limericist, b.1812.

There was an Old Man of the coast,
Who placidly sat on a post;
But when it was cold
He relinquished his hold
Ans called for some hot buttered toast.

Summer’s Best New Books Tackle War, Theft and Scandal on the Beach  These will guarantee a thrilling read—but they won’t promise a happy ending.

A messy black hole may have just triggered the largest explosion in the universe
Astronomers have spotted the most powerful cosmic explosion ever seen — a mysterious, years-long eruption 10 times brighter than any observed supernova. Read More

Breast cancer screening should start at age 40, expert task force says
Female patients should start getting mammograms to screen for breast cancer at age 40 and then get one every other year. Read More

Piranhas swarm 8 tourists at Brazilian resort, leaving them with bloody legs and feet
The fish tore at the bathers’ legs and feet with their razor-sharp teeth, driving them out of the water in Tarumã-Açu, Brazil, on May 1. Read More

Mysterious ‘sea swirls’ off Poland’s coast have a surprising explanation
Scientists have finally identified the surprising origin of bizarre ocean slicks that appear to swirl around the surface of the Baltic Sea. Read More

Woman caught with 22 snakes in her luggage at airport.  Samuel L. Jackson could’ve handled this case … but customs agents found the reptiles before they created a real-life “Snakes on a Plane” scenario. Watch the video here.

Mysterious rumblings were recorded in Earth’s stratosphere.  Solar balloons were sent 70,000 feet up in the air to record sounds of Earth’s stratosphere — and the microphones picked up these unexpected sounds.

Italian pasta prices are soaring.  Rome is investigating why pasta prices have soared despite the price of wheat — the main ingredient — falling in recent months.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Louisville, Kentucky, US
A racing fan walks on the grounds of Churchill Downs before the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby.  Photograph: Brynn Anderson/AP

Tulips at a farm in Fenwick, Ontario, Canada
Photograph: Xinhua/Shutterstock

A pelican near an ice-cream stand in St James’s Park, London, as springtime temperatures rise across the UK.
Photograph: James Manning/PA
Market Closes for May 12^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33300.62	-8.89
		-0.03%
S&P 500	4124.08	-6.54
		-0.16%
NASDAQ	12284.74	-43.77
		-0.35%
TSX	20419.62	+2.01
		+0.01%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29388.30	+261.58
		+0.90%
HANG SENG	19627.24	-116.55
		-0.59%
SENSEX	62027.90	+123.38
		+0.20%
FTSE 100*	7754.62	+24.04
		+0.31%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.880	2.830
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.981	2.974
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.4588	3.3843
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.7799	3.7402

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7376	0.7414
US $	1.3557	1.3488
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4724	0.6792
US  $	1.0864	0.9205

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2015.95	2037.15
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.04	70.87

Market Commentary:
📈 A boom in Germany’s stock market drew to an end on this day in 1927. Berlin’s biggest banks, under pressure from the Reichsbank, said they would restrict margin lending. The next day, “Black Friday,” stocks tumbled.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,419.62 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
Park Lawn Corp. had the largest increase, rising 8.8%.
Today, 149 of 232 shares rose, while 77 fell; 4 of 11 sectors were higher, led by industrials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.6%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended March 17
* The index advanced 3.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 4.5% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.9% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 14.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.3 on a trailing basis and 13.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.00% compared with 9.26% in the previous session and the average of 9.96% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Industrials | 21.2291| 0.8| 15/11
Materials | 16.6017| 0.7| 39/11
Utilities | 10.1067| 1.1| 15/1
Health Care | 0.3870| 0.6| 4/2
Communication Services | -0.0818| 0.0| 3/2
Consumer Discretionary | -0.1883| 0.0| 8/7
Real Estate | -0.7489| -0.2| 9/11
Consumer Staples | -0.9253| -0.1| 6/5
Energy | -9.2721| -0.3| 27/9
Financials | -11.6748| -0.2| 18/11
Information Technology | -23.4104| -1.5| 5/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 11.6300| 1.7| -12.3| 10.0
Canadian National | 6.1180| 0.9| -35.9| 1.6
Franco-Nevada | 4.7410| 1.7| -1.5| 15.1
Constellation Software | -8.7570| -2.5| 67.1| 22.3
Brookfield Corp | -9.9240| -2.4| 60.1| -3.5
Shopify | -15.0400| -2.1| -22.9| 76.8
US
By Peyton Forte
(Bloomberg) — Stocks and bonds floundered after Wall Street lost faith that a pause in the Federal Reserve’s rate hiking cycle was a given.
Swaps traders are now pricing in a one-in-10 chance there will be another interest rate hike at the next Fed meeting in June, after odds had been tilted in favor a pause earlier in the week.
The S&P 500 ended the week down 0.3% while the Nasdaq 100 eked out a 0.6% advance.
Early in the session gains were stamped out Friday after a preliminary University of Michigan sentiment survey showed consumers expect prices to rise at a 3.2% annual rate over the next five to 10 years, a 12-year high.
Bank stocks were weak with PacWest Bancorp dropping 3.0% and JPMorgan Chase & Co. sliding 1.4%.
A renewed call to raise the debt limit from Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen added to investor consternation Friday.
“If Congress fails to do that, it really impairs our credit rating,” she said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “We have to default on some obligation, whether it’s Treasuries or payments to Social Security recipients.”
Despite the Federal Reserve’s most aggressive tightening cycle in decades, inflation is still too high, Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said in PBS interview. “You don’t want to land the plane nose down. So we’re trying to balance off — can we slow the inflation without sending it into a recession.”
Yields on the policy-sensitive two-year climbed to 3.99% while the 10-year rose to 3.46% Friday.
Stocks seesawed in a tight range this week as investors await a signal the Fed’s rate hiking cycle is an end.
US data Thursday showed initial jobless claims reached the highest since October 2021 while producer prices rose less than economists expected, suggesting policy tightening may finally be having an effect.
“This market has been flat because we’re in this world where we know the risk of recession is high, but we’re not seeing the whites of the eyes of it in hard data, and that’s why we continue to have this sideways chop,” Cameron Dawson, chief investment officer at Newedge Wealth, said Friday on Bloomberg Television.
Wall Street has been eying 4,200 as a key resistance level for the S&P 500.
The risk is that the market moves higher, according to Dawson.
“The technicals, the sentiment positioning could get us above that and really make it a very big pain trade,” he said.
Solar stocks outperformed with First Solar Inc. leading a rally after new guidance on a clean energy tax credit increase.
The dollar notched its biggest weekly gain since February as investors embraced its safe haven status while Bitcoin dropped below $27,000.
In emerging markets, attention is turning to Turkey’s elections Sunday.
Banking stocks rallied in Istanbul, notching their best weekly performance since 2002, when incumbent President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Ak Party rose to power.
Some investors expect the opposition to restore more orthodox monetary policy should it gain power. 
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0852
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2451
* The Japanese yen fell 0.9% to 135.69 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2% to $26,477.8
* Ether fell 0.2% to $1,792.56
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced seven basis points to 3.46%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.28%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 3.78%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $70.10 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.2% to $2,017.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Allegra Catelli and Anchalee Worrachate.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Too low they build, who build beneath the stars. –Edward Young, 1681-1765.

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.

May 11^th,1997: The Deep Blue IBM computer defeated Garry Kasparov to win a six-game chess match between man and machine in New York. Go to article >
May 11,868: The earliest surviving dated printed book is produced in China.  The “Diamond Sutra” is one of the most important texts in Mahayana Buddhism.  The British Library in London presently houses the copy.

Some of the 1st ice age humans who ventured into Americas came from China, DNA study suggests
Ice age groups in the ancient northern coast of China may have helped make up the first wave of people to settle the New World. Read More

Rock that crashed through New Jersey home may be 5 billion-year-old chunk of Halley’s Comet
A rock likely to be a meteorite crashed into a New Jersey home on Monday (May 8), damaging a bedroom but causing no injuries. Read More

1st draft of a human ‘pangenome’ published, adding millions of ‘building blocks’ to the human reference genome
A new version of the human reference genome incorporates genetic data from 47 individuals from around the globe. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Salisbury, UK
Salisbury Cathedral staff make final checks to the artist Cornelia Parker’s Magna Carta, a 13-metre-long embroidery installation depicting the Magna Carta Wikipedia pages, installed in the cathedral for the To Be Free exhibition. Photograph: Ben Birchall/PA

Bouznika, Morocco
Riders perform during the historic equestrian performance called Tbourida, dating back to the 16th century. It simulates a succession of military parades reconstructed according to ancestral conventions and rituals. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Hong Kong, China
The latest version of a robot called Sophia being tested at Hanson Robotics, a robotics and artificial intelligence company. Photograph: Peter Parks/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for May 11^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33309.51	-221.82
		-0.66%
S&P 500	4130.62	-7.02
		-0.17%
NASDAQ	12328.51	+22.07
		+0.18%
TSX	20417.61	-81.70
		-0.40%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29126.72	+4.54
		+0.02%
HANG SENG	19743.79	-18.41
		-0.09%
SENSEX	61904.52	-35.68
		-0.06%
FTSE 100*	7730.58	-10.75
		-0.14%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.830	2.902
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.974	3.054
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.3843	3.4426
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.7402	3.7965

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7414	0.7478
US $	1.3488	1.3371
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4725	0.6791
US  $	1.0917	0.9160

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2037.15	2030.20
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.87	72.56

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1861, the New York Stock Exchange banned all trading in Confederate stocks and bonds. Members were still free to sell short any Union securities they choose.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4%, or 81.7 to 20,417.61 in Toronto.
Today, materials stocks led the market lower, as 6 of 11 sectors lost; 142 of 232 shares fell, while 87 rose.
First Quantum Minerals Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 7.5%.
Torex Gold Resources Inc. had the largest drop, falling 17.1%.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.6%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended March 17
* The index advanced 2.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 4.7% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.9% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 14.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.9% 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 13.3 on a trailing basis and 13.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.25t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 9.26% compared with 9.23% in the previous session and the average of 10.13% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -76.1168| -2.9| 2/47
Energy | -22.4146| -0.7| 3/36
Industrials | -19.5762| -0.7| 10/16
Utilities | -2.5346| -0.3| 6/10
Health Care | -2.4478| -3.4| 2/4
Information Technology | -1.5304| -0.1| 7/5
Communication Services | 1.5114| 0.2| 3/2
Real Estate | 2.7353| 0.6| 16/5
Consumer Discretionary | 4.6915| 0.6| 9/6
Consumer Staples | 5.0583| 0.6| 9/2
Financials | 28.9373| 0.5| 20/9
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
First Quantum Minerals | -9.8220| -7.5| 65.3| 9.3
Barrick Gold | -9.5470| -3.0| -4.3| 10.6
Agnico Eagle Mines | -9.0600| -3.3| -7.8| 8.9
Bank of Nova Scotia| 3.8910| 0.7| -52.2| 0.3
Brookfield Corp | 4.6640| 1.1| -7.8| -1.1
RBC | 8.4720| 0.7| -52.5| 2.0
US
By Peyton Forte and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — Stocks ended the day mixed while a Treasuries rally eased in afternoon trading after data signaled a slowdown in the jobs market amid renewed concerns about the health of regional lenders.
The S&P 500 slid 0.2% on Thursday after jobs and inflation data while the Nasdaq 100 gained 0.3%.
Alphabet Inc. buoyed the tech-heavy benchmark after the Google parent company showcased its artificial intelligence tools.
Walt Disney Co. shares dropped on streaming service subscriber losses while Peloton Interactive Inc.’s stock slid after a recall of 2.2 million exercise bikes.
Data showed US initial jobless claims reached the highest since October 2021 while producer prices rose 0.2% in April, trailing economists’ estimates for a 0.3% increase.
The reports signal the Federal Reserve’s policy-tightening campaign may finally be having an effect on inflation as the central bank walks a tightrope between reining in rising prices and tipping the economy into a downturn.
“Inflation has peaked and is trending lower as growth weakens,” according to Don Rissmiller, chief economist at Strategas.
The data support a Fed pause, he said, though there are other risks.
“While the US does not appear to be in recession right now, there are some signs of cracks starting to appear, and global pressures remain,” he wrote.
Haven assets traded stronger, with the dollar rising and Treasury yields falling.
The policy-sensitive two-year rate fell to 3.9%, while 30-year bonds extended a rally following a stronger-than-expected auction.
Swaps traders are pricing in more than 75 basis points of cuts in 2023 after this week’s economic reports, which included a slightly better-than-expected consumer price readout on Wednesday.
“Today’s data is a step in the right direction from the Fed’s perspective,” Kara Murphy, chief investment officer of Kestra Investment Management, said in an interview. “But these numbers are really volatile week-to-week and we’re coming off of extraordinarily strong levels. There’s a lot more that has to happen.”
Economic indicators are “moving in the right direction, but none of it is enough to say that the Fed’s job is done,” she added.
Sentiment seemed fragile with investors still worried about the US debt-ceiling and stability of the banking industry.
In the options market, hedges against volatility are seeing the most demand in five years.
PacWest Bancorp dropped 23% and was the worst performing regional lender after deposits fell 9.5% last week.
“The news headlines increased our customers’ fears of the safety of their deposits,” the company said in a regulatory filing Thursday.
Big banks were also weak after the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said larger lenders will face billions of extra fees to replenish the agency’s insurance fund.
Jamie Dimon said “we need to finish the bank crisis,” in a Bloomberg Television interview adding regulators should do “whatever they need to do to make it better.”
JPMorgan’s chief executive officer predicted more regulations were ahead for lenders.
Elsewhere, industrial metals prices fell on the back of economic data pointing to economic weakness in China.
Copper plumbed its lowest since January.
The Bank of England raised its benchmark lending rate to the highest level since 2008 and said further increases may be needed if inflationary pressures persist. 
Key events this week:
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed Governor Philip Jefferson and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard participate in panel discussion on monetary policy at Stanford University, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0917
* The British pound fell 0.9% to $1.2513
* The Japanese yen fell 0.1% to 134.54 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 3.7% to $26,842.63
* Ether fell 4% to $1,784.93
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined six basis points to 3.38%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 2.22%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 3.71%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.5% to $71.47 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.8% to $2,020.20 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from John Viljoen, Ye Xie, and Jennifer Bissell-Linsk.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Ask advice from those who evidence good self-discipline. –Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519.

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:
May 10, 1994: Nelson Mandela becomes South Africa’s first black president.  Mandela’s inauguration came after more than 300 years of white rule.  Before becoming president, he was a pivotal figure in the fight against the racist and apartheid regime and was incarcerated for 27 years.

On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, marking the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States. Go to article >

Scientists discover secret ‘symmetries’ that protect Earth from the chaos of space
A new analysis of chaos in the solar system reveals how planetary collisions are avoided over billions of years. Read More

Even mild concussions can ‘rewire’ the brain, possibly causing long-term symptoms
After a mild concussion, parts of the brain can become “hyperconnected,” and this may contribute to patients’ long-lasting symptoms. Read More

Adorable pup wins top prize at Westminster Dog Show
Buddy Holly, a Petit Basset Griffon Vendéen, became the first of his breed to win best in show at the prestigious dog competition.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Valletta, Malta:  People view newly restored tapestries hung in the main nave of St John’s Co-Cathedral. Photograph: Darrin Zammit Lupi/Reuters

Blooming gorgeous:  Edinburgh is filled with cherry blossom in the spring, and I make it a point to do my own version of the Japanese tradition of hanami.’
Photograph: Simon Cuthbert-Kerr

Heavy metal: ‘Racks of colourfully marked and numbered steel rods in the industrial metalworking area of Mullae-dong in Seoul, South Korea.’
Photograph: Iain Chatburn/Guardian Community
Market Closes for May 10^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	33531.33	-30.48
		-0.09%
S&P 500	4137.64	+18.47
		+0.45%
NASDAQ	12306.44	+126.89
		+1.04%
TSX	20499.31	-86.42
		-0.42%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	29122.18	-120.64
		-0.41%
HANG SENG	19762.20	-105.38
		-0.53%
SENSEX	61940.20	+178.87
		+0.29%
FTSE 100*	7741.33	-22.76
		-0.29%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	2.902	2.949
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.054	3.076
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.4426	3.5186
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.7965	3.8381

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7478	0.7470
US $	1.3371	1.3387
Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4690	0.6807
US  $	1.0985	0.9103

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2030.20	2000.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	72.56	73.71

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1965: In a boardroom on Cove St. in New Bedford, Mass., a young, crew-cut Warren Buffett took control of decrepit textile maker Berkshire Hathaway.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4% at 20,499.31 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s little change.
Brookfield Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.3%.
Converge Technology Solutions Corp. had the largest drop, falling 22.8%.
Today, 134 of 232 shares fell, while 95 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 3.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 3.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.6% below its 52-week high on June 2, 2022 and 14.7% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 1.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.3 on a trailing basis and 13.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.27t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.23% compared with 9.37% in the previous session and the average of 10.28% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -36.9167| -1.1| 6/34
Materials | -32.3634| -1.2| 9/40
Financials | -15.9692| -0.3| 13/16
Consumer Staples | -9.2033| -1.0| 3/8
Utilities | -9.0320| -1.0| 6/10
Information Technology | -5.6677| -0.4| 9/3
Consumer Discretionary | -3.4671| -0.5| 5/10
Health Care | 0.3782| 0.5| 4/2
Communication Services | 2.0854| 0.2| 5/0
Real Estate | 2.6042| 0.5| 16/4
Industrials | 21.1262| 0.7| 19/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Brookfield Corp | -14.1900| -3.3| 15.6| -2.2
Shopify | -7.6430| -1.1| 7.0| 79.9
First Quantum Minerals | -7.6390| -5.5| -27.4| 18.2
Canadian National | 5.6540| 0.8| -1.8| 1.0
Element Fleet | 6.6820| 13.7| 147.4| 10.3
TD Bank | 10.1300| 1.0| -69.0| -6.3
US
By Emily Graffeo and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — US stocks posted modest gains in a listless session, while Treasuries rose after a report showed inflation moderated slightly in April and swaps traders upped bets the Federal Reserve will cut rates this year.
The S&P 500 wavered between gains and losses before ending Wednesday’s session up 0.4%.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 posted a 1.1% gain, the highest close for the gauge since Aug. 18. So-called Faang names, Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp., bolstered the benchmarks.
Walt Disney Inc. shares slid 3.1% in afterhours trading on faster-than-expected streaming  losses.
US consumer prices rose 0.4% in April with headline CPI up 4.9% on a year-on-year basis, its first reading below 5% in two years.
That’s still well above the 2% level targeted by the Fed as central bank officials juggle the need to curb rampant inflation against a potential recession and banking sector angst.
Policy-sensitive two-year Treasury yields fell to 3.91% while rates on the 10-year tenor were 3.44%.
Swaps contracts indicate traders are pricing in roughly 75 basis points of interest rate cuts this year.
“Yields are down, tech stocks rally,” Liz Young, head of investment strategy at SoFi, by phone. “CPI came in favorably in the sense that it’s finally below 5%. We seem to be moving in the right direction on some of the core pieces, particularly some of the services pieces. That is promising because that’s been the part that really still concerns most of us. However, it’s still at 4.9% and core is still at 5.5% — that didn’t come down at all year over year.”  “This is not something where I think stocks should cheer it to a level that seems like we’re out of the woods. We’re certainly not,” she added.
While traders are pricing in a pause at the next central bank meeting and rate cuts starting as soon as July, it’s not a given. “There’s a lot of looking through rose-colored glasses to all sorts of outcomes that are going to lead the Fed to be able to cut rates. But they’re just forecasts, they haven’t happened yet,” said David Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth US.
“If you took a snapshot of the economic and inflation data today and used that as your only guide, that would point you to no rate cuts at all this year,” Donabedian said. “The market is latching onto the-Fed-will-be-our-friend kind of a view.”
An index of the dollar weakened against a basket of its G-10 peers.
In commodities, spot gold edged lower and oil fell after US government data showed crude inventories rose last week.
Investors remain on guard to risks from the standoff in US debt talks, with some of Wall Street’s most experienced traders warning of “unthinkable” long-term damage from a default.
President Joe Biden and congressional Republicans made little tangible progress toward averting a first-ever US default.
“If we default on our debt, the whole world is in trouble,” Biden said in remarks Wednesday.
The president and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plan to hold another meeting on Friday.
The cost of insuring America’s debt against default now eclipses that of some emerging markets and even junk-rated nations.
Mounting investor anxiety about the prospect of a default has made it more expensive to insure Treasuries than the bonds of — among others — Greece, Mexico and Brazil, which have defaulted multiple times and have credit ratings many rungs below that of the US.
Traders will be turning their gaze to Thursday’s producer prices report next.
In March, the measure of wholesale prices fell by the most since the start of the pandemic.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg are expecting the headline number to rise 0.3%.

Here’s what Wall Street said about CPI data:
Priya Misra, global head of rates strategy at TD Securities: “Inflation came in a bit weaker and that explains why all asset classes are rallying.”
“Market may be too optimistic and put too much weight on the weakness in some series that are inherently volatile, such as hotels. We need more CPI prints to clarify that inflation is definitely declining.”
Louis Navellier, chief investment officer of Navellier & Associates: “The fading enthusiasm seems to be that the ‘Super Core’ number – excluding food, energy, and shelter – was higher than forecast.”
“The Fed could go either way next month as even though the headline CPI is now below the 5% Fed Funds rate, trends are flattening well above their mantra of 2%, and with the economy still growing and unemployment at 50-year lows, their efforts to slow the economy by rising rates are so far doing the most damage to regional banks.”
Quincy Krosby,chief global strategist for LPL Financial: “Rent-related inflation will indicate definitive signs of easing, helping to push overall headline inflation lower.  Today’s report suggests that the Fed’s campaign to quell inflation is working, albeit more slowly than they would like.”
John Leiper, chief investment officer at Titan Asset Management: “There’s definitely some relief that it’s not hotter than expected, and it bolsters the case for a Fed pause. Over the next few months, we’ll get the base effect rolling off, which may help further. Bigger picture, the market is hyper-fixated on the pause but a pause is still restrictive, and we still have QT. If we see the economic data continue to decline, which I think we will, then I don’t see this as good for risk assets given current valuations.”
Ricardo Gil, head of asset allocation at Trea Asset Management: “The CPI number is in-line with expectation, but 0.4 is still very high and getting inflation to below 3% is showing to be a difficult task. The sentiment is overall more positive, but European trading has been very steady so far this week.”
Alexandre Halbin, portfolio manager at Swisslife Gestion Privee: “The data is in line and there’s no surprises here. I’m rather reassured and the main takeaway is that the probability of an unexpected twist in Jerome Powell’s monetary policy is reducing. We’ll see about a pivot at a later stage. It’s good news that there is no bad news.”
Wolf von Rotberg, equity strategist at Bank J. Safra Sarasin: “The CPI print makes it unlikely that the Fed once again reverses course and hikes in June. Slightly surprising is the divergence between a more positive labor market last week and a slightly softer CPI print today, raising hopes that economic headwinds are less pronounced that feared.”
Key events this week:
* China PPI, CPI, Thursday
* UK BOE rate decision, industrial production, GDP, Thursday
* US PPI, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Group of Seven finance minister and central bank governors meet in Japan, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed Governor Philip Jefferson and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard participate in panel discussion on monetary policy at Stanford University, Friday.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.4% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0983
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2626
* The Japanese yen rose 0.7% to 134.34 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $27,705.66
* Ether was little changed at $1,848.86
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined eight basis points to 3.44%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 2.29%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 3.80%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.2% to $72.79 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.3% to $2,037.10 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Macarena Muñoz, Julien Ponthus, Allegra Catelli, Sam Kim and John Viljoen.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
If money is your hope for independence you will never have it.  The only real security
that a man will have in this world is a reserve of knowledge, experience, and ability. -Henry Ford, 1863-1947.

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

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

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