February 9, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
February 9, 1986: Halley’s Comet last appeared in the inner Solar System.
On Feb. 9, 1943, the World War II battle of Guadalcanal in the southwest Pacific ended with an American victory over Japanese forces. Go to article » 

Carole King, songwriter, b. 1942.
Alice Walker, b. 1944.

Woodpeckers stash 700 pounds of acorns inside walls of home:  See the massive trove of acorns discovered by a pest control technician on a routine call

Firefall at Yosemite: You’ll need a reservation if you want to see this fiery spectacle at California’s Yosemite National Park.

Extreme earners are not extremely smart.

Physicists want to use gravitational waves to ‘see’ the beginning of time.  Ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves could help reveal the secrets at the dawn of time, just moments after the Big Bang, new research suggests.   Ripples in space-time known as gravitational waves could help reveal the secrets at the dawn of time, just moments after the Big Bang, new research suggests.
And physicists say they can learn more about these primeval gravitational waves using nuclear fusion reactors here on Earth. Full Story: Live Science (2/8)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Liverpool, UK
Thousands of pieces of coal are suspended from the ceiling at Liverpool Cathedral as part of an installation called Coalescence, created by the artist Paul Cocksedge. The installation, which runs until 12 March, is a visual representation of the amount of coal required to power a single lightbulb for a year
Photograph: Gareth Jones

Florence, Italy
Scaffolding in the Baptistery of San Giovanni, one of the city’s oldest churches, at the start of a six-year restoration project on mosaics created in about 1225
Photograph: Andrew Medichini/AP

Longnan, China
Snow covers terraced fields and houses in China’s north-western Gansu province
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 9th, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33699.88 -249.13
-0.73%
S&P 500 4081.50 -36.36
-0.88%
NASDAQ  11789.58 -120.94
-1.02%
TSX 20597.75 -81.79
-0.40%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27584.35 -22.11
-0.08%
HANG
SENG
21624.36 +340.84
+1.60%
SENSEX 60806.22 +142.43
+0.23%
FTSE 100* 7911.15 +25.98
+0.33%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
3.053 3.015
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.091 3.066
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.6636 3.6098
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.7332 3.6702

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7432 0.7437
US
$
1.3455 1.3446
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4448 0.6921
US 
1.0738 0.9313

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1872.65 1870.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future  78.06 78.47

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1966, the bull market peaked, buoyed by defense spending and rising inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 995.15—a level it didn’t reach again until Oct.11, 1982. For nearly 17 years stocks went nowhere.  Today, the Dow closed at 33699.88, +3,286.41% since February 9, 1966, or +57.66%/annum over that 57 year range.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4%, or 81.79 to 20,597.75 in Toronto.

The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Jan. 30.
Today, materials stocks led the market lower, as 9 of 11 sectors lost; 159 of 236 shares fell, while 74 rose.
Telus Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8%.

Canopy Growth Corp. had the largest drop, falling 16.6%.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.8%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Dec. 16
* The index declined 4.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 12% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.3% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 3.7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.28t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.70% compared with 8.86% in the previous session and the average of 12.12% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -30.6077| -1.2| 5/45
Energy | -17.3481| -0.5| 10/29
Communication Services | -15.8914| -1.6| 0/6
Industrials | -11.6616| -0.4| 10/16
Financials | -4.4270| -0.1| 10/17
Consumer Discretionary | -3.7052| -0.5| 5/10
Utilities | -3.2449| -0.4| 3/12
Information Technology | -2.8479| -0.2| 5/9
Health Care | -2.8446| -3.6| 3/4
Real Estate | 4.3575| 0.8| 16/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Telus | -10.4400| -3.8| 262.3| 3.4
Barrick Gold | -8.4170| -2.8| 97.6| 3.3
Bombardier | -4.7130| -11.8| 179.8| 14.9
Sun Life Financial | 3.3180| 1.2| 59.5| 8.6
Couche-Tard | 3.9330| 1.2| 68.6| 3.5
Cameco | 5.0160| 4.6| 145.7| 25.3

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street couldn’t find many reasons to keep lifting stocks amid higher bond yields, hawkish Fedspeak and a surge in equity bullishness among retail investors that’s often seen as a contrarian indicator.
The S&P 500 finished lower after wiping out a rally of almost 1%.

Options traders continued piling into bets targeting a 6% Federal Reserve peak rate, nearly a percentage point higher than consensus.
The two-year note’s yield hit 4.5%, and earlier pushed above the 10-year rate by the widest margin since the early 1980s — a sign of flagging confidence in the economy’s ability to withstand additional tightening.
Adding to the drumbeat of officials signaling the central bank has a ways to go to curb prices, Fed Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said it’s important to continue hiking to rein in inflation.

Data on jobless claims reinforced the idea of a hot labor market that points to tight policy, while mortgage rates rose for the first time in more than a month.
“The market’s questioning if it’s even possible for the Fed to walk the line to do what they’re aiming to do because it’s a very difficult job — slowing the economy down though interest-rate increases while keeping us from slipping into a severe recession,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank. “Investors understand and realize that it’s a very difficult path that the Fed has ahead of it.”
Amid so many uncertainties, some analysts see room for consolidation, especially after a surge that put stocks near overbought levels.

To Katie Stockton at Fairlead Strategies, the biggest potential challenge for the market right now is overly bullish sentiment.
The latest survey from the American Association of Individual Investors showed US retail investors turned bullish for the first time since April, with the bull-bear spread rising to 12.5 from -4.7 a week earlier.

The percentage of investors with a bearish view over the next six months fell to 25%, the lowest since November 2021.
“Well, as human nature never changes, sentiment ALWAYS follows price,” wrote Peter Boockvar, author of the Boock Report. “And the bulls are back now across the board. From a contrarian perspective, we now need to pay attention, and while not extreme and standing room only, the bull boat is getting filled up.”
For some market watchers, trades favoring disinflation are soon set to reverse as price increases prove more entrenched than anticipated.
This year, higher-duration sectors, such as tech and consumer discretionary have led stocks’ advance, while low-duration ones such as energy and utilities have underperformed. 

This is a reversal of the trend from late 2021, where investors started to shun high-duration stocks as inflation began to rise rapidly.
The performance of mega-caps in those two industries was fairly mixed on Thursday.

Tesla Inc. extended its breakneck rally, while Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. extended a two-day selloff as concerns surfaced about the competence of Bard, the ChatGPT rival it unveiled on Feb. 6.
Key events:
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.9% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.7%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.4%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0734
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2117
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 131.63 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 4.2% to $21,989.8
* Ether fell 4.7% to $1,575.74

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced six basis points to 3.67%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 2.30%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 3.29%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $77.63 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 1% to $1,872 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Namitha Jagadeesh, Bailey Lipschultz, Isabelle Lee, Vildana Hajric and Peyton Forte.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

In the midst of winter, I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. –Albert Camus,1913-1960.
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

 

 

 

February 8, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Nirvana Day, Buddhism.

February 8, 1960: The Hollywood Walk of Fame is established. Scouts of America est.
1910: Boy Scouts of America est.
1971: NASDAQ, the world’s first electronic stock exchange, held its first trading day.  Go to article » 

John Ruskin, critic, b. 15819.
Jules Verne, author, b. 1828.
Lana Turner, actress, b. 1921
James Dean, b. 1931.

AI is deciphering a 2,000-year-old ‘lost book’ describing life after Alexander the Great.  A 2,000-year-old “lost book” discussing the dynasties that succeeded Alexander the Great may finally be deciphered nearly two millennia after the text was partially destroyed in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and, centuries later, handed off to Napoleon Bonaparte.  The reason for the breakthrough? Researchers are using machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, to discern the faint ink on the rolled-up papyrus scroll.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

Massive, 1.2 million-year-old tool workshop in Ethiopia made by ‘clever’ group of unknown human relatives:  More than 1.2 million years ago, an unknown group of human relatives may have created sharp hand axes from volcanic glass in a “stone-tool workshop” in what is now Ethiopia, a new study finds. This discovery suggests that ancient human relatives may have regularly manufactured stone artifacts in a methodical way more than a half-million years earlier than the previous record, which dates to about 500,000 years ago in France and England.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

Mary, Queen of Scots’ cryptic prison letters finally deciphered: Researchers have cracked the code used to write a collection of “lost” letters once owned by Mary, Queen of Scots.
Penned between 1578 and 1584 with a “sophisticated cipher system” that involved a mix of letters and symbols, the letters were written to and from the former Queen of Scotland (also known as Mary Stuart) while she was imprisoned by her cousin, Elizabeth I of England.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

Coffee survived the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs. (h/t Mark Gongloff)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

London, UK
The Thames is shrouded in fog covering Tower Bridge on a sunny winters morning
Photograph: Andy Hall/The Guardian

Lake Elsinore, California
Poppies and wildflowers bloom early in the wake of winter rainfall on the upper slopes of Walker Canyon
Photograph: Allen J Schaben/LA Times/Getty Images

Méribel, France
La Patrouille de France aerobatics team perform before the women’s super-G race at the FIS Alpine Skiing World Championships
Photograph: Jean-Christophe Bott/EPA
Market Closes for February 8th, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33949.01 -207.68
-0.61%
S&P 500 4117.86 -46.14
-1.11%
NASDAQ  11910.52 -203.27
-1.68%
TSX 20679.54 -45.46
-0.22%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27606.46 -79.01
-0.29%
HANG
SENG
21283.52 -15.18
-0.07%
SENSEX 60663.79 +377.75
+0.63%
FTSE 100* 7885.17 +20.46
+0.26%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
3.015 3.087
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.066 3.126
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.6098 3.6735
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.6702 3.7129

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7437 0.7466
US
$
1.3446 1.3394
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4407 0.6941
US 
1.0714 0.9334

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1870.70 1873.25
Oil
WTI Crude Future  78.47 77.14

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1971: After nearly a decade of preparation, the Nasdaq market opened for stock trading, as the National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation system first displayed the median price for more than 2,500 “over-the-counter” securities. The Nasdaq Composite Index was set at an initial value of 100.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.2% at 20,679.54 in Toronto.

The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.5%.
Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.7%.

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest drop, falling 4.4%.
Today, 123 of 236 shares fell, while 109 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* The index declined 3.3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.6% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.9% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.7% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 4.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.86% compared with 9.71% in the previous session and the average of 12.27% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -22.6230| -0.6| 17/20
Materials | -22.4808| -0.9| 16/34
Information Technology | -12.7228| -0.9| 7/7
Utilities | -4.5070| -0.5| 7/8
Health Care | -1.5885| -2.0| 1/5
Consumer Discretionary | -1.5070| -0.2| 4/11
Financials | -0.3563| 0.0| 13/16
Real Estate | 0.1200| 0.0| 12/11
Communication Services | 2.8294| 0.3| 6/0
Industrials | 4.6224| 0.2| 17/9
Consumer Staples | 12.7504| 1.6| 9/2
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Enbridge | -20.5500| -2.7| 37.0| 0.5
Shopify | -15.1200| -2.7| -21.5| 42.5
Nutrien | -12.9600| -3.3| -5.5| 6.4
Canadian Natural Resources | 3.1340| 0.5| -50.9| 6.1
Couche-Tard | 6.0880| 1.9| -19.2| 2.3
RBC | 8.9400| 0.7| -52.5| 9.6

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A selloff in tech stocks weighed heavily on trading Wednesday, with the most-recent string of Federal Reserve speakers reinforcing the idea that interest rates will need to keep climbing to quash inflation.
Their tone was clearly intended to catch the market’s attention in what looked like a concerted effort to push back against the dovish read of Jerome Powell’s interview Tuesday, noted Krishna Guha at Evercore ISI.

From Fed Bank of New York President John Williams to his Minneapolis counterpart Neel Kashkari and Governor Christopher Waller, the message was clear: policy may need to be tight for a while.
Those remarks just gave credence to the recent hot trade in the rate-options market — where several big wagers on the Fed’s benchmark reaching 6% have popped up.

That’s nearly a percentage point higher than consensus.
For several market observers, such hawkish positioning makes it tough for equities to keep grinding higher — especially after the rally that brought the S&P 500 to overbought territory.

Another aspect is that while Powell has refrained from pushing back on the stock surge that has contributed to a recent easing in financial conditions, other policymakers may indeed embrace tougher talk to put a lid on gains.
That’s the perception of Lisa Shalett at Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, who says the recent rally in the face of worsening earnings and economic expectations has produced “massive disconnects” that threaten market stability.
“Even though we shifted early this year from ‘cautious’ to ‘cautiously constructive,’ adding back to stocks for the first time in 18 months, we continue to expect market volatility ahead as news flow on earnings, inflation, the economy, and Fed bounces from bullish to bearish and back again,” wrote Stephen Auth, chief investment officer of equities at Federated Hermes.
The S&P 500 fell over 1%, almost wiping out its Tuesday’s rally.

The Nasdaq 100 underperformed, with Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. down more than 7% on concern that its new artificial intelligence chatbot Bard may yield inaccurate responses.
Some other mega caps like Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. also slumped, while Microsoft Corp.’s erased gains that briefly put the software giant’s market value above $2 trillion.
To Troy Gayeski at FS Investments, it will be a challenging environment for equities and fixed income for quite some time.
“When you think of equity markets, we think it’s going to be a choppy, sloppy mess as far as the eye can see,” he said.
“It’s been a buoyant start to the year. And when you actually scratch your head, what’s actually causing it? The thing to remember is the most powerful rallies are always in bear markets because people underinvest and you have short covering that starts, and you start to suck people in to new bullish narratives.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s key measure of sales fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, showing that stubbornly high inflation is having an impact on the burrito chain’s operations.
* Yum! Brands Inc. reported profit that exceeded estimates as the company’s Taco Bell business pulled in consumers who may be trading down due to inflation.
* Uber Technologies Inc. reported revenue that beat estimates, suggesting rising inflation hasn’t kept consumers from ordering more takeout or hailing a ride.
* Under Armour Inc. raised its profit forecast after a strong holiday season and better-than-expected inventory management.

Elsewhere, Turkey’s stock exchange suspended trading for the first time in 24 years following a selloff that erased billions of dollars from the value of its main equities gauge in the wake of two devastating earthquakes.
Trading in Turkish equities, futures and option contracts will resume on Feb. 15.  
Key events:
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in EU leaders summit, Thursday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey appears before Treasury Committee, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, 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 1.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.5%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro fell 0.1% to $1.0714
* The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.2066
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 131.42 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $22,827.99
* Ether fell 1.6% to $1,641.22

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 3.62%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 2.36%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.31%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.7% to $78.43 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,887.70 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Peyton Forte, Vildana Hajric and Isabelle Lee.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams. -Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1927-2014.

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

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

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

 

 

 

 

February 7, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 7, 1940: The second full-length animated Walt Disney film, Pinocchio, premieres.
On Feb. 7, 1964, the Beatles arrived in the United States for the first time, giving rise to Beatlemania. Go to article » 

Charles Dickens, b.1812.
Chris Rock, b. 1966.
Ashton Kutcher, b. 1978.

Harvard psychiatrist says this is the secret to happinessIf you’re in search of “the good life,” check out the lessons learned from the world’s longest scientific study on happiness.

Area woman makes recipes etched on gravestones.

La La Land is headed to Broadway.

Bright green laser lines shoot across night sky in Hawaii. What caused them?   A camera attached to a telescope on Hawaii’s tallest peak recently captured footage of a series of eerie, bright green lines that shot across the night sky for just over a second.  Experts say the unexpected light show resulted from a rapid burst of lasers fired toward Earth by a NASA spacecraft.  Full Story: Live Science (2/7)

7.5-foot-long sword from 4th-century Japan may have ‘protected’ deceased from evil spirits:  Archaeologists in Japan have unearthed a 7.5-foot-long (2.3 meters) iron sword during excavations of a 1,600-year-old burial mound near the city of Nara.  The sword was too large to wield as a weapon, so its purpose was probably to protect the person it was buried with from evil spirits, experts say. Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

Statue of slain Roman emperor dressed as Hercules found near sewer in Rome:  A newly found statue in Rome appears to depict a slain Roman emperor dressed as Hercules.  It may offer insight to the viewpoint of a Roman emperor who embraced traditional Greco-Roman gods at a time when Christianity was spreading throughout the empire. Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

Which came first: the chicken or the egg?   You’ve heard the age-old riddle: “Which came first: the chicken or the egg?” Taken metaphorically, it’s a meditation on the futility of determining the cause of a self-perpetuating cycle. Taken literally, it’s a great question for evolutionary biologists.  Chickens come from eggs, but eggs come from chickens. So which came first?  Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Amsterdam, the Netherlands
A woman takes a picture of a painting by Johannes Vermeer titled The Glass of Wine at the Rijksmuseum, which is hosting the biggest exhibition of the 17th-century artist’s work
Photograph: John Thys/AFP/Getty Images

Ashkelon, Israel
Lightning strikes over the coastal city
Photograph: Amir Cohen/Reuters

London, UK
Westminster Bridge shrouded in fog. The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, activated the severe weather emergency protocol for the third time this winter as temperatures fell to -6C
Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 7th, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
34156.69 +265.67
+0.78%
S&P 500 4164.00 +52.92
+1.29%
NASDAQ  12113.79 +226.34
+1.90%
TSX 20725.00 +96.08
+0.47%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27685.47 -8.18
-0.03%
HANG
SENG
21298.70 +76.54
+0.36%
SENSEX 60286.04 -220.86
-0.37%
FTSE 100* 7864.71 +28.00
+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
3.087 3.052
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.126 3.091
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.6735 3.6399
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.7129 3.6736

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7466 0.7436
US
$
1.3394 1.3448
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4370 0.6959
US 
1.0730 0.9320

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1873.25 1875.35
Oil
WTI Crude Future  77.14 74.11

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1804, John Deere was born in Rutland, Vt. In 1837, he invented the world’s first self-cleaning steel plow, opening up the American frontier.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.5% at 20,725.00 in Toronto.

The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.6%.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.2%.

Lithium Americas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 9.9%.
Today, 142 of 236 shares rose, while 89 fell; 3 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* The index declined 2.4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.8% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 4.6% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.27t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.71% compared with 9.85% in the previous session and the average of 12.42% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 57.4413| 1.6| 38/1
Financials | 56.5126| 0.9| 23/6
Materials | 19.3054| 0.8| 40/8
Information Technology | -0.1659| 0.0| 7/6
Health Care | -0.2149| -0.3| 2/4
Consumer Discretionary | -0.8478| -0.1| 6/9
Real Estate | -2.1865| -0.4| 6/16
Industrials | -4.9990| -0.2| 12/14
Consumer Staples | -7.0750| -0.9| 4/7
Communication Services | -10.5456| -1.1| 0/6
Utilities | -11.1409| -1.3| 4/12
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 14.0300| 1.2| -51.2| 5.9
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.5400| 2.1| -20.9| 5.5
Cenovus Energy | 10.1200| 4.2| -2.9| -0.7
Shopify | -4.2720| -0.8| -10.5| 46.4
Canadian Pacific | -4.8160| -0.7| -9.8| 3.1
Nutrien | -8.5110| -2.1| -11.9| 10.1

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stock traders bracing for Jerome Powell to push back against the powerful rally that led to a loosening in financial conditions didn’t really get that, with the market finding encouragement to move higher.
What the Federal Reserve’s chief said Tuesday wasn’t that much different from his remarks last week, noted JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Michael Feroli.

Powell basically highlighted that disinflation has begun, it has a long way to go and further hikes will likely be needed if the jobs market remains strong.
When asked if he would have raised rates by 50 basis points in February, instead of the 25 basis points as officials did, Powell demurred.
“The important takeaway is that Powell had a chance to signal a shift to a more aggressive posture and he didn’t take it,” wrote Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank in Dallas. “In the near-term, the Fed will likely continue to make one (or perhaps two) more hike(s) before going on hold.”
JPMorgan’s Feroli added that markets “shouldn’t expect the same degree of hand holding” from the central bank as it gets closer to the terminal rate as data will dictate its path.
The S&P 500 halted a two-day slide that was driven mostly by overbought conditions.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 climbed over 2%, with giants Microsoft Corp. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. soaring.
The dollar fell alongside Treasury two-year yields, which are more sensitive to imminent Fed moves.
“The bond bullish response in the US rates market indicated that Powell’s decision to set a tone that wasn’t particularly more hawkish than last week’s comments was a disappointment for those anticipating the payrolls print would have changed the messaging,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets. “Staying the course in this context underwhelmed a subset of investors hoping for a more aggressive response.”
Earlier Tuesday, Fed Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said January’s strong labor-market report shows the US central bank would need to keep raising rates. “Right now I’m still at around 5.4%,” he told CNBC Tuesday, referring to his forecast for how high rates need to go to bridle inflation.

The Fed raised its benchmark to a range of 4.5% to 4.75% last week.
Traders will also keep a close eye on Joe Biden’s speech to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday evening in light of renewed tensions with China and a brewing showdown with House Republicans over raising the federal debt  ceiling.
For investors worried that stock prices are going to be pummeled by shrinking corporate profits, here’s a little bit of good news: the drop so far seems largely priced in.
With fourth-quarter results from more than half of the S&P 500 companies already in, earnings per share have fallen 2.8% from a year earlier, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.

That’s less than the 3.3% drop expected before earnings season began.
The smaller-than-anticipated drop suggests that the profit contraction isn’t beginning as badly as once feared, lending support to share-price valuations.
“We continue to see broadening breadth and constructive price action to support further upside in equities,” said Craig Johnson at Piper Sandler. “Our short-term indicators suggest some areas may have rallied too much, too fast. However, we do not expect a significant reversal of the current YTD uptrend and view pullbacks and consolidations as buying opportunities.”
Still, as the Nasdaq 100 approaches a bull market and earnings estimates are trending down, valuations have swelled to expensive levels compared with real bond yields, posing a risk to the rally.
The tech-heavy benchmark’s forward price-to-earnings ratio has jumped to 24, the highest level since April, spurred by bets that inflation has peaked and the Fed will pivot soon.

The move is at odds with the inflation-protected 10-year Treasury yield, which remains high on fears that a buoyant job market and stronger-than-expected economic data will keep the pressure on the Fed to stay hawkish. 
Key events:
* US wholesale inventories, Wednesday
* New York Fed President John Williams is interviewed at Wall Street Journal live event, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in EU leaders summit, Thursday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey appears before Treasury Committee, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.9%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0724
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2040
* The Japanese yen rose 1.2% to 131.10 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.3% to $23,203.53
* Ether rose 1.7% to $1,666.16

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.67%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.35%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 3.32%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.3% to $77.30 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,883.20 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Michael Msika, Vildana Hajric, Peyton Forte, Isabelle Lee and Lu Wang.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

What befalls the earth befalls all the sons of the earth.  This we know; the earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.
All things are connected like the blood that unites us all.  Man does not weave this web of life.  He is merely a strand of it.
Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself. -Chief Seattle, 1786-1866.

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

 

February 6, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.
Full moon last night.

February 6, 1945 Reggae musician Bob Marley was born in St. Ann parish in Jamaica. Go to article » 
February 6th, 1958: Eight Manchester United F.C. players and 15 other passengers are killed in the Munich air disaster.

Babe Ruth, b.1895.
ZsaZsa Gabor, b.1919.

Watch this dramatic ocean rescue: See the moment a huge wave pummels a boat during a Coast Guard rescue attempt in the Pacific Northwest.

8 possible alien ‘technosignatures’ detected around distant stars in new AI study.  Using a new machine-learning algorithm, scientists have picked up eight extraterrestrial signals that seem to bear the hallmarks of technology.   The research, published Jan. 30 in the journal Nature Astronomy, doesn’t claim to have really found proof of intelligent aliens; a brief follow-up search for the signals detected in the study turned up only silence. But the study authors say that using artificial intelligence is a promising way to search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Full Story: Live Science (2/3).

What did the ancient Egyptian pyramids look like when they were built?
The Egyptian pyramids erupting from the sands at Giza are a testament to human ingenuity and engineering. Raised to mark the tombs of ancient pharaohs, these great structures have stood for thousands of years.
But over the millennia, the pyramids have changed, largely due to construction workers’ repurposing of in-demand materials and looting. So what did the pyramids look like when they were built? Full Story: Live Science (2/5)

‘1-in-10-billion’ star system is doomed to explode in a fiery kilonova: For the first time, scientists have discovered a double-star system that is doomed to explode in a fiery “kilonova,” a precious-metal-creating blast caused by the merger of two stellar corpses.  The kilonova — which will send gold, silver, platinum and other new heavy elements careening into space — won’t happen for millions of years.  Full Story: Live Science (2/4)

Hidden tide in Earth’s magnetospheric ‘plasma ocean’ revealed in new study: The moon exerts a previously unknown tidal force on the “plasma ocean” surrounding Earth’s upper atmosphere, creating fluctuations that are similar to the tides in the oceans, a new study suggests.  Scientists used more than 40 years of data collected by satellites to track the minute changes in the shape of the plasmasphere, the inner region of Earth’s magnetosphere, which shields our planet from solar storms and other types of high-energy particles.  Full Story: Live Science (2/3)

17th-century Frenchwoman’s ‘innovative’ gold dental work was likely torturous to her teeth: An aristocratic woman at the height of French society at the turn of the 17th century preserved her alluring smile by having her teeth secured with gold wires — a painful procedure that may have made her condition worse.   The remains of the woman, Anne d’Alègre, who lived from 1565 until 1619, were discovered during archaeological excavations in 1988 at the Chateau de Laval in northwestern France. Full Story: Live Science (2/6)

A Henry VIII-era pendant was found using a metal detector. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Chablais valaisan, Switzerland
The full moon sets behind the mountains, including the twin peaks of Les Jumelles
Photograph: Anthony Anex/EPA

Jilin, China
On the third day after the beginning of spring, Jilin City in Jilin province witnessed a rare natural spectacle of heavy fog, snowflakes, rime and sun gathering
Photograph: Sipa Asia/Rex/Shutterstock

Tynemouth, UK
People walk their dogs at sunrise along Tynemouth longsands
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Market Closes for February 6th, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33891.02 -34.99
0.10%
S&P 500 4111.08 -25.40
-0.61%
NASDAQ  11887.45 -119.51
-1.00%
TSX 20628.92 -129.42
-0.62%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27693.65 +184.19
+0.67%
HANG
SENG
21222.16 -438.31
-2.02%
SENSEX 60506.90 -334.98
-0.55%
FTSE 100* 7836.71 -65.09
-0.82%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
3.052 2.929
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.091 3.006
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.6399 3.5246
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.6736 3.6140

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7436 0.7468
US
$
1.3448 1.3391
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4427 0.6931
US 
1.0727 0.9322

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1875.35 1921.65
Oil
WTI Crude Future  74.11 73.39

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1808, the Milan Stock Exchange was established. It was first known as the Borsa Valori di Milano and is now called the Borsa Italiana
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.6% at 20,628.92 in Toronto.

The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.1%.
Brookfield Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.

Osisko Mining Inc. had the largest drop, falling 10.5%.
Today, 174 of 236 shares fell, while 54 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.

Insights
* The index declined 3% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.1% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.4% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 4.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.85% compared with 10.36% in the previous session and the average of 12.60% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -40.4153| -0.6| 7/22
Materials | -30.1063| -1.2| 8/39
Industrials | -17.6712| -0.7| 5/20
Information Technology | -16.2079| -1.2| 6/8
Consumer Discretionary | -7.5691| -1.0| 3/12
Energy | -7.3370| -0.2| 11/26
Real Estate | -7.2428| -1.3| 0/22
Consumer Staples | -1.6639| -0.2| 5/6
Health Care | -1.4839| -1.8| 0/6
Communication Services | -0.3451| 0.0| 3/3
Utilities | 0.6126| 0.1| 6/10
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Brookfield Corp | -17.9400| -3.6| 5.7| 14.4
Shopify | -13.0600| -2.2| -38.9| 47.5
TD Bank | -9.0190| -0.8| -15.5| 4.6
Fortis | 1.8840| 1.0| 8.1| 2.7
Waste Connections | 2.6810| 0.9| -31.0| -0.5
Bank of Montreal | 2.8160| 0.4| -18.2| 10.4

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks gave back some of this year’s gains, with traders waiting to see if Jerome Powell will dampen the bullish reaction to his recent remarks amid bets the Federal Reserve will keep its firm grip on policy.
As equities came off overbought levels, Treasuries took a hit following the best start to a year for cross-asset returns since 1987.

The Fed’s boss will have an opportunity in an interview Tuesday to remind Wall Street that bets on rate cuts in 2023 are probably misplaced.
Fed funds futures show another 25 basis-point hike in March as a nearly done deal, while pegging a 75% chance of another one in May.
The odds for a June hike have also risen.
“Fed Chair Powell remains a big wild card every time he speaks,” said Chris Senyek at Wolfe Research. “Investors will be looking to see if he ‘walks back’ his very dovish tone from last Wednesday, particularly with respect to financial conditions and the US ‘disinflationary process.’ We still believe that the Fed will be ‘higher for longer’.”
Fed Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said January’s strong jobs report raises the possibility that the central bank will need to increase interest rates to a higher peak than policymakers had previously expected.
Geopolitical concerns also simmered on the background, with the US preparing to impose a 200% tariff on Russian-made aluminum and US-listed Chinese shares tumbling as Washington’s move to shoot down an alleged surveillance balloon from the Asian nation.
A rout in mega-caps like Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc. and Google’s parent Alphabet Inc., which reported results last week, weighed on sentiment.

The group’s reality check came after the Nasdaq 100 approached bull-market territory.
Investors will continue to focus on earnings to figure out whether the recent rally was a “bear trap” driven by “fear of missing out,” noted Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
“The major averages have become overbought after their strong January rallies,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “We are not trying to say that any short-term pullback will be followed by another strong
rally. In fact, we believe that a short-term pullback could — and probably will — turn into another leg lower in the bear market that began just over a year ago.”
JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategist Marko Kolanovic reiterated that stock investors should fade last week’s Fed-induced rally, arguing the US economy’s disinflationary process could just be “transitory.”
The S&P 500 now accurately reflects signs of better-than-expected economic growth and a drop in bond yields, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists led by David Kostin.

At the same time, higher valuations, lackluster corporate earnings and elevated interest rates mean there’s little room for the rally to extend, they said, a view that was broadly echoed by their counterpart at Morgan Stanley, Michael Wilson.
To Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management, the risk-reward trade-off for equities doesn’t look appealing.

She continues to recommend that equity investors position defensively and be prepared for additional volatility ahead.
“We remain bearish equities,” said Eric Johnston at Cantor Fitzgerald. “There has been a dramatic change in sentiment and positioning which has gotten much more bullish, making this a tailwind for our bearish view. And while this dramatic change has happened, the outlook for earnings, the Fed, and multiples is unchanged. All of the stock being bought now will just create that much more supply on the way down.”
Now with the path for further monetary tightening in focus, bond investors still broadly expect US inflation to ebb further.
The so-called breakeven rate on five-year five-year forwards — a proxy for inflation expectations — slumped to 2.18% on Friday from 2.31% a week prior.

It was little changed Monday.
A similar gauge for 10-year inflation-linked bonds, meantime, hovered near 2.25% Monday.

That compares to a recent peak of 2.6% in late-October, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Separately, a recent drop in the price of gasoline futures weighed on short-term breakevens.

“Amid the ongoing race between declining inflation and a flagging economy, every data set of positive news will soon be perceived as another barrier to recession,” said Silvercrest Asset Management’s Robert Teeter. “We look for continued improvements in inflation and a persevering economy to provide modest gains on the year, with portfolio performance subject to judicious stock selection.”
Meantime, the divergence between the Nasdaq 100 and 10-year Treasury yields is becoming extreme, which has been a negative signal for the index during the past 18 months, according to cross-asset sales trader Gurmit Kapoor. The tech-heavy benchmark has been particularly sensitive to the bond market, and has seen strong corrections during the past four occurrences when it decoupled from rates.
That doesn’t mean it’s all gloom and doom for tech stocks.
The share of investors willing to increase exposure to the industry over the next six months rose to 41% in the latest MLIV Pulse survey from 32% in September.
In corporate news, Dell Technologies Inc. is eliminating about 6,650 roles as it faces plummeting demand for personal computers, becoming the latest technology company to announce thousands of job cuts.
Tyson Foods Inc., the biggest US meat company, said fiscal first-quarter earnings plunged 70% from a year ago and missed expectations.
Elsewhere, the yen fell on the back of a Nikkei report that the Japanese government approached Bank of Japan Deputy Governor Masayoshi Amamiya about succeeding Haruhiko Kuroda at the helm of the central bank.

A selloff in emerging markets deepened, with currencies having their biggest two-day decline since March 2020.
Key events:
* US trade, Tuesday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell interviewed by David Rubinstein at the Economic Club of Washington, Tuesday
* President Joe Biden delivers the State of the Union address before Congress, Tuesday
* US wholesale inventories, Wednesday
* New York Fed President John Williams is interviewed at Wall Street Journal live event, Wednesday
* US initial jobless claims, Thursday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde participates in EU leaders summit, Thursday
* Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey appears before Treasury Committee, Thursday
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller and Patrick Harker speak, 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 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.1%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.0730
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2024
* The Japanese yen fell 1.1% to 132.62 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.5% to $23,008.57
* Ether rose 1.5% to $1,647.26

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 11 basis points to 3.63%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 2.30%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 19 basis points to 3.24%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.4% to $74.41 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,881.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee and Michael Msika.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann

Choice of attention – to pay attention to this and ignore that – is to the inner life what choice of action is to the outer.
In both cases, a man is responsible for his choice and must accept the consequences. –W.H. Auden, 1907-1973.

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

 

February, 3, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
February 3, 1959: Rock and roll musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson are killed in a plane crash along with the pilot near Clear Lake,  Iowa.  This event is later known as “The Day the Music Died.”
February 3, 1995: The space shuttle Discovery blasted off with a woman, Air Force Lt. Col. Eileen Collins, in the pilot’s seat for the first time.  Go to article » 

Gertrude Stein, writer, b. 1874.
Simone Weil, mystic, b. 1909.

The full ‘Snow micro-moon’ rises Feb. 5. Here’s how to see it.  When it rises on Feb. 5, the full moon will appear smaller than average because it is at one of its most distant points in its elliptical path around Earth.
This positioning makes February’s “Snow Moon” a micro-moon, a full moon that is visible when the moon is at one of its greatest distances from the planet. In astronomical terms, this is called apogee. Full Story: Live Science (2/2)

Rat brain injuries ‘plugged’ with lab-grown human minibrains in world-first experiment: Miniature, lab-grown models of the human brain’s wrinkled surface can be used to patch injuries in the brains of living rats and thus repair broken connections in the rodents’ sensory processing systems, a new study shows.  Someday, such minibrains — known as brain organoids — could potentially be used to mend the brains of human patients, too, the study authors propose.  Full Story: Live Science (2/2)

17-pound meteorite found in Antarctica, likely hidden for millennia, is perfectly intact: Scientists recently scooped up one of the heaviest meteorites ever discovered in Antarctica, as well as four other frozen space rocks that likely crashed into the icy continent thousands of years ago.
The researchers found the mini-hoard of meteorites on the surface of the Nils Larsen blue ice zone near the Belgian-owned Princess Elisabeth Antarctica station.  Full Story: Live Science (2/2)

Battle site of ‘Great Revolt’ recorded on Rosetta Stone unearthed in Egypt:  Archaeologists have long known about the Great Revolt, a battle between the ancient Egyptians and the Ptolemaic Kingdom that lasted from 207 B.C. to 184 B.C., because it is mentioned on the Rosetta Stone and in other historical texts.   But now, archaeologists have finally discovered the exact location of one of the revolt’s battles.  Full Story: Live Science

The people who live inside airplanes: These homes are anything but plane. Meet the people who bought airplanes and converted them into private homes.

Subway hopes new meat slicers will boost sales: Following a menu revamp and store renovations, the company believes its plan to slice meat in front of customers could make 2023 another record year.

How to buy a monastery in Italy: Surrounded by olive groves and green rolling hills, just imagine living a peaceful, slow life in this rural Italian village.

“Some people may have to go back to stealing Netflix the old-fashioned way, sitting with binoculars in your neighbor’s tree.” — JIMMY KIMMEL
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Masai Mara, Kenya
A lioness surveys the landscape of the Masai Mara in Kenya from the top of an umbrella acacia thorn tree
Photograph: Siddhesh Mungekar/Media Drum Images

Ein Bokek, Israel
Competitors running on a salty track during the annual Dead Sea Marathon
Photograph: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Worshippers take part in the traditional ceremony of Iemanjá, the goddess of the sea of the Afro-Brazilian religion Umbanda, at Arpoador beach
Photograph: Mauro Pimentel/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 3rd, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33926.01 -127.93
-0.38%
S&P 500 4136.48 -43.28
-1.04%
NASDAQ  12006.96 -193.86
-1.59%
TSX 20758.34 +17.90
+0.09%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27509.46 +107.41
+0.39%
HANG
SENG
21660.47 -297.89
-1.36%
SENSEX 60841.88 +909.64
+1.52%
FTSE 100* 7901.80 +81.64
+1.04%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
2.929 2.827
CND.
30 Year
Bond
3.006 2.934
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.5246 3.3964
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.6140 3.5488

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7468 0.7505
US
$
1.3391 1.3324
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4480 0.6906
US 
1.0814 0.9247

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1921.65 1925.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future  73.39 75.88

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1913, the ratification of the 16th Amendment to the Constitution established Congress’s right to enact a federal income tax.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,758.34 in Toronto.

The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.1%.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.3%.

Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest increase, rising 14.6%.
Today, 102 of 236 shares rose, while 132 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.

Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index declined 1.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 8% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.5% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.36% compared with 10.91% in the previous session and the average of 12.74% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 25.8615| 0.4| 13/16
Energy | 25.1788| 0.7| 29/9
Consumer Staples | 8.1153| 1.0| 9/2
Industrials | 6.9504| 0.3| 11/15
Information Technology | 6.3735| 0.5| 6/8
Consumer Discretionary | 5.4911| 0.7| 12/3
Communication Services | 3.7808| 0.4| 4/2
Health Care | -0.9217| -1.1| 2/5
Utilities | -4.1506| -0.5| 5/11
Real Estate | -5.7652| -1.0| 2/20
Materials | -53.0143| -2.1| 9/41
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 16.9200| 1.3| -27.3| 8.5
Bank of Montreal | 6.2150| 1.0| -30.6| 10.0
Canadian National | 6.1320| 0.9| 3.1| -0.1
Fairfax Financial | -4.6650| -3.3| -43.2| 7.6
Agnico Eagle Mines | -9.1850| -4.0| 69.8| -0.1
Barrick Gold | -14.8800| -4.7| 1.1| 5.8

US
By Peyton Forte and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks halted a three-day advance after a volatile Friday session that saw equities swerve between modest gains and losses as investors contended with data pointing to a robust labor market.
The S&P 500 still notched a weekly gain that took the index to its highest level since August.

The Nasdaq 100 also scored a weekly advance, despite heavy selling after Apple Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Amazon. com Inc. reported disappointing results Thursday.
Friday’s session capped a hectic week that brought a raft of corporate earnings, economic data and a Federal Reserve policy decision.
Yields on Treasuries spiked higher after a surprisingly strong jobs report that should give the Fed room to remain aggressive if inflation stays elevated.

The two-year yield jumped about 19 basis points after touching a low for the year earlier in the week.
“We are concerned that on the back of this kind of jobs report, it definitely holds the Fed to a higher-for-longer path,” said Lisa Erickson, senior vice president and head of public markets group at US Bank Wealth Management. “There are of course other data points that are going to come before the next meeting, but it certainly puts a placeholder that labor market continues to run some risk of being extremely tight.”
Trading on swaps markets indicated expectations that fed funds rates will almost hit 5%, up by almost 10 basis points on the day.

A strong reading on the American economy’s services sector also bolstered concern that growth hadn’t sufficiently cooled to temper price gains.
A dollar index rose the most on Friday since late September.
Geopolitical tensions simmered in the background, with the Biden administration postponing Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s upcoming trip to Beijing after detecting a Chinese surveillance balloon over sensitive nuclear sites in Montana, two officials said.

Here’s what Wall Street said about the bewildering jobs report:
Jeffrey Rosenberg, a senior portfolio manager at BlackRock Inc.: “This is a big push back to the slowing. This is a reminder of what Powell tried to say to the market — though the market wasn’t listening — that their main concern is they’re not yet seeing the impact of their tightening in the labor markets.”
John Leiper, chief investment officer at Titan Asset Management: “There is a huge disparity between market pricing and the commentary coming from central banks. Yes, you could make the case that Jerome Powell was a little more dovish than expected, but he was very clear that his intention is to keep rates higher for longer until the job is done, and that simply isn’t the case yet. Today’s employment data might catalyze a reversion in this apparent dichotomy.”
Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard: “The clear takeaway for the Fed should be that financial conditions remain too loose to ensure inflation will return to the 2% target. While wage gains show few signs of accelerating,
persistent labor market tightness combined with the loss of real wages since the pandemic is highly likely to lead to increased wage demands over time.”

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.2%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 1.2%
* The euro fell 1% to $1.0796
* The British pound fell 1.4% to $1.2051
* The Japanese yen fell 1.9% to 131.14 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.5% to $23,338.22
* Ether rose 1.2% to $1,656.1

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 14 basis points to 3.53%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 11 basis points to 2.19%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 3.06%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.4% to $73.27 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 2.7% to $1,877.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Robert Brand.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Civilization and anarchy are only seven meals apart. –Spanish Proverb.
Carolann

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

 

February 2, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.  It’s Groundhog Day.
Imbolc: Wiccan Feast of Torches.

February 2, 1653 New Amsterdam – now New York City – was incorporated.  Go to article » 
February 2, 1913: Grand Central Station opens in New York City.

James Joyce, b.1882
Ayn Rand, b. 1905.
W.H. Auden, b. 1907

Australia’s new $5 note won’t feature King CharlesThe bill will feature Australia’s Indigenous population instead, the country’s central bank announced today.

Punxsutawney Phil has mad skills.

A peek inside a 319-million-year-old brain

Only filmed interview with Georges Lemaitre, ‘father of the Big Bang,’ rediscovered after 60 years:  The only known video interview with Belgian physicist Georges Lemaître, widely considered the “father of the Big Bang,” talking about the birth of the universe has been rediscovered almost 60 years after it was lost.
Lemaître (1894-1966) was the first person to propose that the movement of galaxies away from Earth was a sign that the universe was expanding, which was later observationally confirmed by the American astronomer Edwin Hubble. Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Elaborate underground embalming workshop discovered at Saqqara: Archaeologists at Saqqara have finally identified the many embalming ingredients used to mummify the dead in ancient Egypt.
They also deciphered how those different ingredients — many of which came from distant lands — were used.  Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Stockpile of 2,000-year-old gemstones found in Roman bathhouse drain:  Archaeologists recently uncovered a stockpile of 2,000-year-old glittering gemstones clogging the drain of a Roman bathhouse near Hadrian’s Wall in Carlisle, England.  The 30 engraved, semi-precious stones — known as intaglios — likely dropped out of the ring settings worn by bathers who took to the waters sometime during the second and third centuries A.D., The Guardian reported.  Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

“Tom Brady announced he’s decided to retire, but for real this time. Every year on the first of February, Tom Brady comes out of the locker room to announce his retirement. Then if he sees his shadow, he goes right back to the N.F.L.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“First, they searched near Biden’s Corvette, now they’re searching his beach house. I’m starting to think Biden created this whole scandal as a humblebrag,” Jimmy Fallon said.
“[imitating Biden] ‘Why don’t you check by my infinity pool? Maybe there’s something behind the Picasso, I don’t know.’” — JIMMY FALLON

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Washington DC, US
Dancers of the United Ukrainian Ballet dance during their opening performance at the Kennedy Center
Photograph: Stefani Reynolds/AFP/Getty Images

Abu Rakah, Saudi Arabia
A donkey crosses the road while the peloton is competing during Stage 3, a 159.2km stage
Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

Jishou, China
Tourists visit the illuminated Qianzhou ancient city to celebrate lunar new year, the year of the rabbit
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 2nd, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
34053.94 -39.02
-0.11%
S&P 500 4179.76 +60.55
+1.47%
NASDAQ  12200.82 +384.50
+3.25%
TSX 20740.44 -10.61
-0.05%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27402.05 +55.17
+0.20%
HANG
SENG
21958.36 -113.82
-0.52%
SENSEX 59932.24 +224.16
+0.38%
FTSE 100* 7820.16 +59.05
+0.76%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
2.827 2.859
CND.
30 Year
Bond
2.934 2.948
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.3964 3.4148
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.5488 3.5666

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7505 0.7531
US
$
1.3324 1.3278
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4520 0.6887
US 
1.0896 0.9178

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1925.90 1923.90
Oil
WTI Crude Future  75.88 76.41

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1998, less than three years after breaking the 500 mark, the S&P 500 closed above 1000 for the first time, finishing the day at 1001.27
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 20,740.44 in Toronto.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as 5 of 11 sectors lost; 121 of 236 shares fell, while 111 rose.
Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.8%. Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest drop, falling 23.7%.

Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index declined 2.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.3% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year * The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 10.91% compared with 10.91% in the previous session and the average of 12.85% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -52.3428| -1.5| 3/36
Materials | -50.2862| -1.9| 11/39
Communication Services | -14.3506| -1.4| 1/4
Consumer Staples | -9.5170| -1.2| 1/10
Consumer Discretionary | -3.4305| -0.4| 8/7
Health Care | 0.7767| 0.9| 6/1
Real Estate | 7.2628| 1.3| 17/5
Utilities | 7.8382| 0.9| 10/5
Industrials | 26.8288| 1.0| 23/3
Financials | 36.2120| 0.6| 20/8
Information Technology | 40.3853| 3.0| 11/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Suncor Energy | -15.9300| -3.8| 49.9| 2.2
Canadian Natural Resources | -12.7700| -2.1| -16.9| 2.4
BCE | -11.6500| -2.9| 117.7| 3.2
Canadian Pacific | 12.5900| 1.9| 43.9| 4.6
Brookfield Corp | 15.7800| 3.3| 21.0| 19.4
Shopify | 37.7900| 6.9| 28.8| 51.9

US
By Robert Brand
(Bloomberg) — US stocks rallied for a third day as traders anticipate the Federal Reserve’s tightening cycle may be nearing its peak.
Earnings that came in after hours dented the euphoria, with the Invesco QQQ Trust, the biggest ETF tracking the Nasdaq 100, dropping more than 1%.

Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Apple Inc. dropped in late trading after reporting results.
Ford Motor Co. and Starbucks Corp. also retreated after giving an update on last quarter’s performance.
During Thursday’s regular trading session, the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 was boosted by Meta Platforms Inc.’s biggest surge since 2013, fueled by the company’s earnings and upbeat outlook.
The index narrowly averted stepping into a bull market form its December low as it pared some of its gains in the afternoon.

The S&P 500 closed up more than 1%.
Both indexes rallied the most in the last three sessions since November.
Treasuries pared earlier gains, with the 10-year yield around 3.40%.

A dollar index rose the most in nearly a month.
Risk assets had been bolstered since late Wednesday, when Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has made progress in its inflation battle even as labor-market data continues to show tightness that could add to wage pressures.

The Labor Department releases its hiring report for January on Friday.
“Data will drive the Fed’s intent,” said Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research. “Payroll on Friday needs to confirm lower wages or internals will flip. We are still watching data.”
Investors across the globe have been cheering what they perceive as varying degrees of dovish tilts from central banks across the globe.

Powell dodging a question about financial conditions easing recently fueled optimism among US investors who had been prepared for him to push back against the recent rally in risk assets.
Euphoria intensified after the Bank of England raised rates by half a point but indicated that its tightening cycle is drawing to a close.
And while the European Central Bank remained somewhat hawkish, traders were heartened when President Christine Lagarde acknowledged disinflation.
“After the Fed and Bank of England both hinted at being close to the peak in their cycles, today’s meeting suggests the ECB is comfortable that it is also close to the end of its monetary tightening,” said Steve Ryder,  senior portfolio
manager at Aviva Investors. “We believe this peak tightening backdrop will continue to reduce volatility in government bonds over the coming months and make for an attractive income opportunity.”
Meanwhile, positioning in US swaps markets assumes the Fed is getting closer to cutting rates as traders bet that economic conditions are likely to keep it from the additional rate increases that policy makers still anticipate.
“While the Fed slowed its pace of rate hikes, there is still plenty of uncertainty on the trajectory of inflation and how its tightening of monetary policy will affect economic growth and earnings this year,” said Brad Bernstein, a
Philadelphia-based managing director at UBS Wealth Management.   However, investors will now shift their focus to big-tech earnings, he said.  “Guidance from big-tech earnings is likely to set the tone and direction of markets in the near-term,” he said.

Key events this week:
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 4:02 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.9%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.7% to $1.0913
* The British pound fell 1.1% to $1.2236
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 128.72 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.8% to $23,865.01
* Ether rose 2.8% to $1,680.96

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.40%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined 20 basis points to 2.08%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined 30 basis points to 3.01%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.7% to $75.85 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.8% to $1,926.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Tassia Sipahutar and Brett Miller.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
There ain’t nothing but one thing wrong with every one of us, and that’s selfishness.-Will Rogers, 1879-1935.

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

 

February, 1st 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

February 1, 1964: The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
February 1, 1982 “Late Night with David Letterman” premiered on NBC.   Go to article » 

How to watch the rare green comet whiz past Earth tonight
A comet with a greenish glow will make its closest approach to Earth since the age of the Neanderthals tonight (Feb. 1 to 2), and if you look in the right place at the right time, you might be able to spot it.
The comet, known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will come within 26.4 million miles (42.8 million kilometers) of our planet, its closest approach in about 50,000 years. Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Instagram’s founders are back with a new app.  The app’s co-founders announced their next big venture on Tuesday, more than 10 years after they sold Instagram to Meta for $1 billion.

Mysterious flying whirlpool captured in night sky over Hawaii.  Some researchers say this spectacular sight seems to be related to a new SpaceX satellite launch. Watch the video here.

Egyptian mummies covered in gold are rare, and we may have just found the oldest: Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a series of tombs dating back around 4,300 years at Saqqara, including a sarcophagus holding the oldest known ancient Egyptian mummy that is covered with gold.
The record-breaking tomb had a sealed sarcophagus containing the mummy of a man that a hieroglyphic inscription identifies as Hekashepes. Full Story: Live Science (1/31)

Ultra-rare ‘rainbow clouds’ light up the Arctic Circle like auroras in stunning new photos: The dark skies in the Arctic Circle recently shone with ethereal multi-colored light. But this jaw-dropping spectacle was not caused by auroras.  Instead, the iridescent rainbows were caused by clouds of tiny ice crystals floating higher in the atmosphere than is normally possible.  Full Story: Live Science (1/31)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Carinthia, Austria
Speed skaters compete in the alternative Elfstedentocht, inspired by the traditional canal racing event in the Netherlands, on the 12km (7.5 mile) long Weissensee lake in southern Austria
Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Rex/Shutterstock

Ankara, Turkey
Walkers get out in a snow covered forest
Photograph: Evrim Aydin/Getty Images

Jieyang, China
Folk artists in eastern Guangdong province perform a fire dragon dance to welcome the lantern festival which brings to a close traditional Chinese new year festivities
Photograph: John Ricky/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 1st, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
34092.96 +6.92
+0.02%
S&P 500 4119.21 +42.61
+1.05%
NASDAQ  11816.32 +231.77
+2.00%
TSX 20751.05 -16.33
-0.08%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27346.88 +19.77
+0.07%
HANG
SENG
22072.18 +229.85
+1.05%
SENSEX 59708.08 +158.18
+0.27%
FTSE 100* 7761.11 -10.59
-0.14%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
2.859 2.916
CND.
30 Year
Bond
2.948 2.975
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.4148 3.5069
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.5666 3.6322

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7531 0.7515
US
$
1.3278 1.3307
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4628 0.6836
US 
1.1017 0.9077

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1923.90 1924.10
Oil
WTI Crude Future  76.41 78.87

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1946, the U.S. venture-capital industry was born as John Hay Whitney founded J.H. Whitney & Co. to finance promising new businesses. Leading Wall Street figures warned him that his idea of venture-capital financing would never work. Whitney’s firm went on to finance Freeport Sulphur, the Minute Maid Co., Memorex Corp. and Compaq Computer
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 20,751.05 in Toronto.

The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.9%.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as 3 of 11 sectors lost; 87 of 236 shares fell, while 148 rose.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.

Spartan Delta Corp. had the largest drop, falling 11.2%.
Insights
* The index declined 2.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.9% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.91% compared with 11.79% in the previous session and the average of 12.94% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -83.3025| -2.3| 6/33
Consumer Staples | -13.7859| -1.7| 4/7
Utilities | -6.8547| -0.8| 6/10
Health Care | 0.9260| 1.1| 5/2
Financials | 4.5007| 0.1| 19/10
Industrials | 5.1814| 0.2| 21/5
Communication Services | 5.5285| 0.6| 5/1
Real Estate | 6.0684| 1.1| 16/6
Consumer Discretionary | 12.8954| 1.7| 13/2
Information Technology | 22.9011| 1.7| 11/3
Materials | 29.6093| 1.1| 42/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -22.7000| -3.6| -13.6| 4.7
TC Energy | -22.4900| -5.6| 54.6| 0.2
Cenovus Energy | -9.4480| -3.7| 32.7| -2.6
Magna Intl | 6.5140| 4.1| 103.7| 18.2
CGI Inc | 6.8150| 4.1| 174.8| 1.7
Shopify | 10.0200| 1.9| 37.3| 42.1

US
By Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks rose as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has made progress in its battle against inflation while warning that additional rate hikes are likely warranted.
The S&P 500 jumped more than 1% after Powell said the “disinflation process has started,” suggesting the aggressive tightening cycle is starting to have its desired effect of reducing the pace of price growth.

The Nasdaq 100’s gains exceeded 2%.
Treasuries also rallied.

The two-year yield slid as much as twelve basis points to 4.08%, while the 10-year rate touched 3.38%.
A dollar index fell to its lowest since April.
Powell, during the press conference, also sidestepped a question about the recent easing of financial conditions, a measure of market stresses that the central bank monitors for the effectiveness of its policies.

He said that the focus is “not on short-term moves but on sustained changes.”
Investors had been bracing for harsh commentary from the Fed aimed at cooling the recent run-up in risk assets that could complicate its fight against inflation.
“Powell has said that financial conditions have tightened considerably despite the fact that they have eased considerably.
The fact that he has said this is dovish in its own right,” wrote Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research.
The odds are increasing that the Fed is “declaring victory too soon”, Dutta said.  “The Fed’s flirtation with the soft landing today increases the risk of a harder landing later.”
But the Fed’s message wasn’t without warnings for financial markets.

The central bank said ongoing rate increases would likely be warranted and that officials were discussing a couple more hikes to get policy restrictive enough to beat back inflation.
The Fed Funds rate of 4.5% to 4.75% is still more than 25 basis points below where officials in December said they expected it to peak.
“The Fed is essentially speaking out of both sides of the mouth as they signaled further increases are appropriate, but also acknowledged they will consider the cumulative amount of tightening in future policy decisions,” Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management, wrote in a note.
Ripley said the Fed’s remarks indicate that it’s near the end of its tightening cycle and “ready to sit tight while the economic data catches up to the policy.”
But markets may be fighting the Fed again on Wednesday, according to Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard.
Powell’s comments, when taken together with data on Wednesday showing a surge in job openings makes Temple “believe markets remain too dovish regarding how high rates will go and how long they will stay there.”

Key events this week:
* Earnings Wednesday include: Meta Platforms and Peloton Interactive
* Eurozone ECB rate decision, President Christine Lagarde press conference, Thursday
* UK BOE rate decision, Thursday
* US factory orders, initial jobless claims, US durable goods, Thursday
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Deutsche Bank and Santander
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.1% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index rose 0.7%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.8%
* The euro rose 1.2% to $1.0988
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2373
* The Japanese yen rose 1% to 128.84 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.7% to $23,573.78
* Ether rose 3.7% to $1,635.55

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 3.40%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.28%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.31%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.5% to $76.90 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1% to $1,965.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Robert Brand and Peyton Forte.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Work usually follows will. –Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895.

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
 

January 31, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Jan. 31, 1865, the House of Representatives passed a constitutional amendment to abolish slavery.  Go to article » 
January 31, 1928: Leon Trotsky(Russian Revolutionary) is exiled to Alma-Ata (Kazakhstan).
1958: Explorer I Space Satellite launched.

Franz Schubert, composer, b. 1797.

Meet the first mom to have two sons face off in the Super Bowl.  Donna Kelce is already a winner. Her two sons — Jason and Travis — will both be at the Super Bowl with their respective teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Kansas City Chiefs.

Priscilla Presley contests the validity of Lisa Marie Presley’s will.  Just days after Lisa Marie Presley was laid to rest, her mother, Priscilla Presley, is disputing some details in her daughter’s will.

Cryptic lost Canaanite language decoded on ‘Rosetta Stone’-like tablets:  Two ancient clay tablets discovered in Iraq and covered from top to bottom in cuneiform writing contain details of a “lost” Canaanite language that has remarkable similarities with ancient Hebrew.

The tablets, thought to be nearly 4,000 years old, record phrases in the almost unknown language of the Amorite people alongside translations in the Akkadian language, which can be read by modern scholars.
Full Story: Live Science (1/30)

Sitting in traffic may cause brain damage.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lerwick, Scotland
Members of the Up Helly Aa Jarl Squad with their Viking galley ship celebrate the influence of the Vikings in the Shetland Islands
Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Shalal Sijlyat Rocks, Saudi Arabia
The peloton during stage 2 of the Saudi Tour 2023
Photograph: Alex Broadway/Getty Images

London, England
A chain and pendant associated with Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon on display at the British Museum. The item was found in Warwickshire by a metal detectorist
Photograph: Sean Smith/The Guardian
Market Closes for January 31st, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
34086.04 +368.95
+1.09%
S&P 500 4076.60 +58.83
+1.46%
NASDAQ  11584.55 +190.74
+1.67%
TSX 20767.38 +195.27
+0.95%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27327.11 -106.29
-0.39%
HANG
SENG
21842.33 -227.40
-1.03%
SENSEX 59549.90 +49.49
+0.08%
FTSE 100* 7771.70 -13.17
-0.17%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
2.916 2.913
CND.
30 Year
Bond
2.975 2.954
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.5069 3.5458
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.6322 3.6579

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7515 0.7469
US
$
1.3307 1.3389
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4453 0.6919
US 
1.0862 0.9206

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1924.10 1923.05
Oil
WTI Crude Future  78.87 77.90

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1994: Just over a year after breaking the 700 barrier, the Nasdaq Composite Index closed above 800 for the first time, finishing the day at 800.47.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.9% at 20,767.38 in Toronto.

The move was the biggest since rising 1.6% on Jan. 6 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.7%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.7%.

Lithium Americas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 13.5%.
Today, 168 of 236 shares rose, while 59 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.

Insights
* This month, the index rose 7.1%
* The index declined 1.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 10% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.5% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.2% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 7.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.27t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.79% compared with 11.96% in the previous session and the average of 13.03% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 64.8770| 1.0| 22/6
Materials | 35.5421| 1.4| 34/14
Information Technology | 28.2807| 2.2| 14/0
Industrials | 26.4217| 1.0| 22/3
Energy | 26.1957| 0.7| 26/12
Consumer Discretionary | 5.4984| 0.7| 12/3
Consumer Staples | 5.0908| 0.6| 8/2
Real Estate | 2.8359| 0.5| 15/8
Communication Services | 1.8560| 0.2| 4/1
Health Care | 0.4469| 0.6| 4/3
Utilities | -1.7611| -0.2| 7/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 19.3900| 3.7| 3.4| 39.5
TD Bank | 17.6600| 1.6| 32.4| 5.0
Nutrien | 12.5000| 3.3| 29.1| 11.4
Brookfield Renewable Partners | -0.4990| -0.9| -19.2| 13.0
Bausch Health | -0.5400| -2.6| 8.1| 20.1
Dollarama | -1.1900| -0.8| 51.2| 0.5

US
By Emily Graffeo and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — US stocks ended January with a gain, as investors cheered signs of labor costs easing and inflation cooling as they gear up for Wednesday’s Federal Reserve decision.
With volumes relatively light on Tuesday, the stock gains could have been spurred by short covering.

The S&P 500 still had its best month since October, as traders expect the Fed to slow its pace of interest-rate hikes.
The Nasdaq 100 rallied the most this month since July and had its best start to year since 2001, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
Treasuries gained, with the 10-year yield sliding to around 3.49%.

It fell more than 30 basis points during January, the most since November.
A dollar index dropped.
Investors are grappling with a flurry of economic data, earnings and rate decisions this week.

Data on Tuesday showed prices in US housing market continued to cool, while another report highlighted consumer confidence unexpectedly falling.
Hanging over everything is Wednesday’s Fed decision, with the central bank widely expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point.
While Tuesday’s data from the Labor Department added to evidence that wage growth is slowing, it may still not be enough to sway the Fed.

Investors will be watching for the tone officials set for future meetings.
While Fed Chair Jerome Powell has repeatedly pushed back against hopes of rate cuts later this year, central bank officials could consider pausing rate hikes after their March meeting.
But the recent rally in stocks and bonds does not help the Fed’s bid to tighten financial conditions, said Jeff Muhlenkamp, portfolio manager at Muhlenkamp & Co.
Speaking about Powell’s presser Wednesday, he said “I expect that he will continue to try to talk the market into doing something that it is not currently doing.”
Investors also assessed a bevy of earnings reports on Tuesday.

Shares of McDonald’s Corp. declined and those of Caterpillar Inc. fell the most since Sept. 23 after earnings misses.
Meanwhile, General Motors Co. rose after posting upbeat forecasts.
Exxon Mobil Corp.’s fourth quarter earnings per share beat estimates and the firm posted full-year profit that was the highest on record.
Now that investors have had a chance to parse a slew of economic reports and earnings results to start the year — with much of it coming in as expected — they’re focusing on what the Fed might do in the latter half of 2023, says Shawn Cruz, head trading strategist at TD Ameritrade.
“So I think we know where our baseline is now and what’s driving markets is Fed policy going into the second half of this year,” he said in an interview.

Key events this week:
* Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, CPI, unemployment, Wednesday
* US construction spending, ISM Manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
* FOMC rate decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell press conference, Wednesday
* Earnings Wednesday include: Meta Platforms and Peloton Interactive
* Eurozone ECB rate decision, President Christine Lagarde press conference, Thursday
* UK BOE rate decision, Thursday
* US factory orders, initial jobless claims, US durable goods, Thursday
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Deutsche Bank and Santander
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.9%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0872
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2328
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 130.16 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.5% to $23,090.48
* Ether rose 1.9% to $1,586.45

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 3.49%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.29%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.33%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $79.03 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,943.10 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee, Cristin Flanagan and Alyce Andres.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Press on.  Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. –Ray A. Kroc, 1902-1984.

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

 

January 30, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.

On Jan. 30, 1948, Indian political and spiritual leader Mahatma Gandhi was murdered by a Hindu extremist. Go to article » 

The actor Gene Hackman is 93 today.
Vast subterranean aqueduct in Naples once ‘served elite Roman villas’:  Forty years ago, when children in Naples were playing in caves and tunnels under the hill of Posillipo in Italy, they didn’t know their playground was actually a Roman aqueduct.
When they shared their memories with archaeological authorities recently, it kicked off an exploration of one of the longest, most mysterious examples of ancient water infrastructure in the Roman world. Full Story: Live Science (1/30)

Flying saucers to mind control: 24 declassified military & CIA secrets: Government and military secrets can range from terrifying to amusing to downright absurd, but most are nothing short of intriguing.
From a secret U.S. Air Force project to build a supersonic flying saucer to a now-famous World War II-era research program that produced the first atomic bombs to a plan to train domesticated cats to spy on the Soviet Union, here are 24 declassified military and CIA secrets. Full Story: Live Science (1/27)

The universe is slightly hotter than it should be. ‘Dark photons’ could be to blame:  Observations suggest that the intergalactic gas in our universe is a little hotter than it should be. Recently, a team of astrophysicists have used sophisticated computer simulations to propose a radical solution: An exotic form of dark matter known as “dark photons” could be heating the place up.  Full Story: Live Science (1/29)

NASA is going to visit the $10 quintillion asteroid.

15-year-old wins US figure skating title.  Teenager Isabeau Levito is projected to be a future Olympian. Check out her latest major accomplishment.

Bought for $600, this rare painting sold for $3 million.  The once-abandoned work by the Flemish artist Anthony van Dyck was found in a shed. Maybe you have valuable items collecting dust in your garage too?

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Hyderabad, India
School students scatter flowers on the statue of Mahatma Gandhi on the anniversary of his death. The anniversary of Gandhi, who is widely known in India as Bapu (father), is also observed as Martyr’s Day in the country
Photograph: Noah Seelam/AFP/Getty Images

Amsterdam, Netherlands
The Bust, painted by Rembrandt van Rijn, is unpacked by the Hermitage Museum. More than 30 paintings from The Leiden Collection are due to arrive in Amsterdam. Under the title Rembrandt and contemporaries, these pieces will be exhibited to the public from February to the end of August
Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Rex/Shutterstock

Marib, Yemen
Farmers pick oranges during harvest season in a field on the outskirts of Yemen’s north-eastern city
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for January 30th, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33717.09 -260.99
-0.77%
S&P 500 4017.77 -52.79
-1.30%
NASDAQ  11393.82 -227.89
-1.96%
TSX 20572.11 -142.36
-0.69%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27433.40 +50.84
+0.19%
HANG
SENG
22069.73 -619.17
-2.73%
SENSEX 59500.41 +169.51
+0.29%
FTSE 100* 7784.87 +19.72
+0.25%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
2.913 2.889
CND.
30 Year
Bond
2.954 2.940
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.5458 3.5016
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.6579 3.6149

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7469 0.7517
US
$
1.3389 1.3303
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4528 0.6883
US 
1.0852 0.9215

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1923.05 1932.45
Oil
WTI Crude Future  77.90 79.68

Market Commentary:
On this day in 2000: As the Internet bubble neared its peak, 17 dot-com companies spent a total of nearly $38 million for network television ads during Super Bowl XXXIV. By the time of the next Super Bowl, at least three had gone into Chapter 11, thanks largely to these outlays.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.7% at 20,572.11 in Toronto.

The move was the biggest since falling 1.1% on Dec. 28 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.1%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.2%. Westshore Terminals Investment Corp. had the largest drop, falling 7.8%.
Today, 170 of 236 shares fell, while 64 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* This month, the index rose 6.1%
* The index declined 0.8% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.6% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.4% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022 * The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose
6.1% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.6 on a trailing basis and 13.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.96% compared with 12.69% in the previous session and the average of 13.09% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -53.5221| -1.5| 7/32
Information Technology | -36.2360| -2.7| 1/13
Materials | -21.8990| -0.9| 5/45
Financials | -21.0280| -0.3| 13/15
Real Estate | -2.9001| -0.5| 10/13
Utilities | -2.7364| -0.3| 5/11
Industrials | -2.6808| -0.1| 9/17
Health Care | -2.3938| -2.9| 0/6
Consumer Staples | -1.5087| -0.2| 5/6
Consumer Discretionary | -1.5040| -0.2| 6/9
Communication Services | 4.0633| 0.4| 3/3
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -28.3400| -5.2| 11.9| 34.5
Canadian Natural Resources | -14.3000| -2.3| 5.1| 7.6
Brookfield Corp | -10.7500| -2.2| 1.9| 15.4
BCE | 3.5250| 0.9| 49.6| 5.7
Fairfax Financial | 3.8140| 2.8| -71.9| 9.2
RBC | 4.0380| 0.3| -29.8| 6.1

US
By Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks declined on Monday as investors turned cautious going into an eventful week that includes the Federal Reserve’s rate decision and a slew of big-tech earnings.
The Nasdaq 100 suffered its worst day since Dec. 22 while the S&P 500 fell the most since Jan. 18. Declines in Apple Inc. and Microsoft Inc. weighed on both the indexes as investors await earnings from companies including Alphabet Inc. and Meta Platforms Inc. this week.
Treasuries dropped, with yields climbing across the curve.
The benchmark 10-year rate rose to around 3.55% after ending last week around 3.50%. A dollar index rose.

Oil fell, with the West Texas Intermediate sliding below $78 a barrel as traders await clues about the Fed’s path ahead.
The Fed is widely expected to raise rates by a quarter percentage point on Wednesday, slowing its pace for a second straight session.

But traders will be watching for the tone officials set for future meetings.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell has continued to push back against traders anticipating rate cuts later this year, emphasizing that he won’t budge until inflation has eased meaningfully.
Stocks have still rallied in January, with investors seemingly brushing off Powell’s “higher-for-longer” warning.
“Investors seem to have forgotten the cardinal rule of ‘Don’t Fight the Fed.’ Perhaps this week will serve as a reminder,” a team of Morgan Stanley strategists led by Michael Wilson wrote in a note.

Investors adding to the rally in stocks this month will be disappointed if they’re in direct defiance of the Fed, the strategists said.
Citi Global Wealth’s Kristen Bitterly echoed this, saying that January’s rally was technical as it was largely driven by 2022’s “laggards and losers.”
Traders are also awaiting the US jobs report later this week.

A less tight labor market is a key goal for the Fed.
Investors have also been parsing a slew of earnings reports, with more to come throughout the week.

Signs of earnings pressure have been raising concerns about the health of the economy and the outlook for equities.
“The week ahead will not only be a Fed story, as Friday’s employment situation report will provide clarity on the strength of the labor market to start the new year,” wrote Ben Jeffery and Ian Lyngen of BMO Capital Markets.
The European Central Bank and the Bank of England are also each projected to hike by half a percentage point when they deliver decisions a day after the Fed. 

Key events this week:
* China industrial profits, PMIs, Tuesday
* Eurozone GDP, Tuesday
* US Conference Board consumer confidence, Tuesday
* Earnings Tuesday include: UBS, Unicredit, Snap and Advanced Micro Devices
* Eurozone Manufacturing PMI, CPI, unemployment, Wednesday
* US construction spending, ISM Manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
* FOMC rate decision, Fed Chair Jerome Powell press conference, Wednesday
* Earnings Wednesday include: Meta Platforms and Peloton Interactive
* Eurozone ECB rate decision, President Christine Lagarde press conference, Thursday
* UK BOE rate decision, Thursday
* US factory orders, initial jobless claims, US durable goods, Thursday
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Deutsche Bank and Santander
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.3% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0847
* The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.2349
* The Japanese yen fell 0.4% to 130.46 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 4.5% to $22,714.77
* Ether fell 5.4% to $1,554.46

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 3.54%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 2.32%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 3.34%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.3% to $77.81 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,937.80 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Cristin Flanagan, Peyton Forte and Robert Brand.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

We will fail when we fail to try. –Rosa Parks, 1913-2005.
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

 

 

 

January 27, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.  International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

January 27, 2010: Apple announces the iPad.
On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ”Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Go to article » 
1973: Vietnam Peace Agreement signed.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer, b. 1756.
Lewis Carroll, writer, b.1832.
Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, b.1948.

Beneath a busy street in Jerusalem sits a 1,000-year-old moat with a secret handprint: A mysterious hand imprint carved into the wall of a previously buried moat has grabbed the attention of archaeologists in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Archaeologists made the discovery during survey work ahead of a street infrastructure project near one of the city’s main thoroughfares.  Full Story: Live Science (1/26)

Mysterious 12-sided Roman object found in Belgium may have been used for magical rituals: A metal detectorist in Belgium has unearthed a fragment of a mysterious bronze artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron that is thought to be more than 1,600 years old.  More than a hundred of the puzzling objects have been discovered in Northern Europe over the past 200 years. But no one knows why or how they were used.
Full Story: Live Science (1/26)

Ancient Roman residences with ‘pigeon towers’ discovered in Luxor, Egypt:  Archaeologists have discovered a residential area in Luxor dating to the time when the Roman Empire ruled Egypt.  Archaeologists found a number of residential buildings, along with workshops and pigeon towers, where pigeons could be raised for eating. Full Story: Live Science (1/27)

Eerily perfect galaxy-shaped spiral appears over Hawaii. What is it?  An eerily-perfect “whirlpool” of light in the shape of a spiral galaxy briefly appeared in the night sky above Hawaii.  But what was it?
Full Story: Live Science (1/26)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Berlin, Germany
Visitors walk between stelae of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust was designed by the architects Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold
Photograph: Stefanie Loos/AFP/Getty Images

Dacha-Suu, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz riders compete during the Alaman-Ulak traditional horse game. Alaman-Ulak is considered Kyrgyzstan’s national sport. Players grab a goat or a calf carcass from the ground in full gallop and try to throw it in the place indicated by the judge
Photograph: Vyacheslav Oseledko/Getty Images

Paris, France
Models walk the runway during the Valentino haute couture spring-summer 2023 collection at Paris fashion week
Photograph: Lewis Joly/AP
Market Closes for January 27th, 2023

Market
Index
Close Change
Dow
Jones
33978.08 +28.67
+0.08%
S&P 500 4070.56 +10.13
+0.25%
NASDAQ  11621.71 +109.30
+0.95%
TSX 20714.48 +13.98
+0.07%

International Markets

Market
Index
Close Change
NIKKEI 27382.56 +19.81
+0.07%
HANG
SENG
22688.90 +122.12
+0.54%
SENSEX 59330.90 -874.16
-1.45%
FTSE 100* 7765.15 +4.04
+0.05%

Bonds

Bonds % Yield Previous % Yield
CND.
10 Year Bond
2.889 2.863
CND.
30 Year
Bond
2.940 2.945
U.S.   
10 Year Bond
3.5016 3.4986
U.S.
30 Year Bond
3.6149 3.6314

Currencies

BOC Close Today Previous  
Canadian $ 0.7517 0.7505
US
$
1.3303 1.3325
 
Euro Rate
1 Euro=
Inverse
Canadian $ 1.4476 0.6908
US 
1.0883 0.9189

Commodities

Gold Close Previous
London Gold
Fix 
1932.45 1930.80
Oil
WTI Crude Future  79.68 81.01

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1938, and after a protracted war with the new Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange finally recommended an internal reorganization to install a board of governors, a salaried independent president and a specialized administrative staff
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,714.48 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.5%.

Lightspeed Commerce Inc. had the largest increase, rising 6.9%.
Today, 125 of 236 shares rose, while 108 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.

Insights
* This month, the index rose 6.9%
* So far this week, the index rose 1%
* The index advanced 0.8% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.9% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.7 on a trailing basis and 13.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.69% compared with 12.92% in the previous session and the average of 13.10% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 28.6854| 0.8| 28/11
Information Technology | 24.6564| 1.9| 11/3
Industrials | 10.5700| 0.4| 21/5
Real Estate | 3.4139| 0.6| 17/6
Health Care | 0.7489| 0.9| 4/3
Consumer Discretionary | -1.5368| -0.2| 7/8
Consumer Staples | -4.2730| -0.5| 7/4
Communication Services | -4.9091| -0.5| 1/5
Utilities | -5.8698| -0.7| 5/10
Financials | -16.6719| -0.3| 12/16
Materials | -20.8199| -0.8| 12/37
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 18.4000| 3.5| -4.0| 41.8
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.7700| 2.1| -1.0| 10.1
TD Bank | 8.1420| 0.7| -45.9| 4.3
Manulife Financial | -5.0720| -1.5| 64.1| 8.3
Couche-Tard | -6.7350| -2.1| 29.7| 0.3
RBC | -9.2290| -0.7| -37.7| 5.8

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street brushed off disappointing outlooks from some of the world’s largest technology companies to push stocks higher on speculation of smaller Federal Reserve hikes as inflation shows signs of easing.
The nascent year’s tech resurgence gave the Nasdaq 100 its best week since November — with Tesla Inc. and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. climbing at least 3% Friday.

The gauge also notched its fourth straight weekly advance.
That’s even after a bleak forecast from Intel Corp. that followed recent worrisome remarks from Microsoft Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc.
Looking into next week, heavyweights Apple Inc.. Amazon.com Inc. and Meta are set to report their quarterly figures, and investors will get a sense on whether market projections are still too rosy as the economy slows down.
The mega caps that have reported so far have mostly beaten estimates by a small margin, said Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research.

“Strong results from these names will help keep index level estimates from deteriorating too far.”
Companies in the S&P 500 that have exceeded projections on both earnings per share and sales have outperformed the benchmark by an average of 1.45% within a day of reporting, exceeding the norm of the past six years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
And those that fell short underperformed by just 1.7%, the least negative reaction in eight quarters, as many companies report taking steps to adjust to shifting business conditions.
Traders found solace in data showing the Fed’s preferred inflation measures eased in December to the slowest annual pace in over a year and spending fell.

A separate report from the University of Michigan showed US inflation expectations continued to retreat in late January, helping boost consumer sentiment.
The central bank watches long-term views especially closely, as expectations can become self-fulfilling and lead to higher prices.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she’s encouraged by recent data on inflation and jobs, but conceded the economy is at risk of recession.

Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers urged the Fed to refrain from signaling its next move after an expected hike next week because of the highly uncertain economic outlook.
“The market has been rallying on the idea that inflation is whipped. But I’m not so sure it’s settled yet,” said Kara Murphy at Kestra Investment Management. “When you think about how monetary policy works, it’s generally slow. Imagine trying to turn the Titanic way in advance of the iceberg — you have to start long before the iceberg is right in front of you, and you can’t always be sure how the economy is going to react.”
Hopes are high for the Fed deliver a 25 basis-point increase on Feb. 1 — shifting away from last year’s bigger moves — but expectations for end-2023 rate cuts are “a step too far,” according to Erick Muller, head of product and investment strategy at Muzinich & Co.
“We will probably see the Fed say ‘we are entering the final phase, but listen carefully guys: we will continue to raise rates,’” Muller said. “A lot of volatility in rates will depend on the path of inflation from here.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s efforts to find a buyer in bankruptcy have stalled, potentially putting it on a path toward liquidation as it faces a Chapter 11 filing, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
* American Express Co. predicted that revenue and earnings for this year will surge well above what analysts estimated.
* Chevron Corp. posted disappointing results just days after surprising investors with a mammoth buyback program.
* Colgate-Palmolive Co. sold fewer personal-care and household products than expected at the end of last year.
* Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will eliminate about 500 jobs in response to weak demand and rising inflation.
* Hasbro Inc., one of the world’s largest toymakers, said it would cut 15% of its workforce, after a disappointing holiday shopping season.  US equities have flown in the face of many dire signals this year, from recession fears to weak earnings. Yet a peek into the trading activity behind the benchmark suggests the bullish run lacks conviction.

Flows into the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ticker SPY) show that, while the fund is on pace to see net inflows in January after two straight months of investors taking assets out, the total amount of money coming in weekly has been steadily declining this month.
Flows into two other major funds tracking the S&P 500 — the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) — tell a similar story.
The S&P 500 is on pace for its second-best January since the turn of the century, trailing only the 7.9% jump in 2019.
If history is any guide, the gauge is also likely to be in the green on Dec. 31, as the direction in the first month — a gain or loss — has matched the annual result two-thirds of the time since 1973.

The positive-positive periods delivered a full-year average gain of 20%, while the negative-negative years saw a typical decline of 17%.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.3%

Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0867
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.2392
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 129.88 per dollar

Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $23,132
* Ether fell 0.1% to $1,600.62

Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.51%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 2.24%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.32%

Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2% to $79.41 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,944.50 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Sujata Rao, Stephen Kirkland and Vildana Hajric.

Have a  wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The more you have, the more you owe to others.  Be modest, and if you do happen to have any advantages
don’t let those who are less favored know it. –Princess Zenaida Youssoupoff,1861-1939.

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

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