Category: Newsletters

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.
January 4, 1865: New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at 10-12 Broad St., near Wall Street in New York City.
1974: President Richard Nixon refused to hand over tape recordings and documents subpoenaed by the Senate Watergate Committee.  Go to article >>

Isaac Newton, physicist, b.1643.
Louis Braille, inventor, b. 1809.
Jacob Grimm, author, b. 1785.

Names and dates of all the full moons of 2024
Find out exactly when to see this year’s full moons, including dates for supermoons and two lunar eclipses. Read More.

Solar eclipse 2024: 10 cities within the path of totality
On April 8, more than 31 million people in North America will witness a total solar eclipse, around a third of them in just 10 cities.  Full Story: Live Science (1/3).

10 of the coolest space missions in 2024
Ambitious new missions to the moon, Venus, Jupiter and more are planned for 2024. Here is a preview of the exciting year in space ahead. Read More.

Starbucks will now let customers use personal cups for nearly all orders
The coffee chain is inviting customers to bring their own cups, saying it will help reduce the company’s waste output.

The world’s most punctual airlines for 2023
In an era of inevitable flight delays, these airlines and airports around the world have the best on-time ratings.

Getting hearing aids may help you live longer, according to a new study
Not enough people wear hearing aids, which could be a problem for long-term health. These experts explain how the devices help and when to get them

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

California, US
The Quadrantids meteor shower over Pigeon Point light station in Pescadero
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark waves from the golden carriage in Copenhagen as she attends the new year reception for the armed forces

​​​​​​​Kinross-shire, UK
‘Sheep grazing on snow-covered farmland near Crook of Devon.’
Photograph: Will Hector/GuardianWitness
Market Closes for January 4^th, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37440.34	+10.15
		+0.03%
S&P 500	4688.68	-16.13
		-0.34%
NASDAQ	14510.30	-81.91
		-0.56%
TSX	20871.35	+52.77
		+0.25%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33288.29	-175.88
		-0.53%
HANG SENG	16645.98	-0.43
		—
SENSEX	71847.57	+490.97
		+0.69%
FTSE 100*	7723.07	+40.74
		+0.53%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.236	3.155
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.154	3.086
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.9950	3.9162
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.1479	4.0725

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7488	0.7491
US $	1.3355	1.3349

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4618	0.6841
US $	1.0946	0.9136

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2042.10	2067.55
Oil
WTI Crude Future	72.19	72.70

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1865, the New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent building at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets in Manhattan, after decades of shifting from one rented or borrowed space to another.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3% at 20,871.35 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 0.6% on Dec. 27 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.3%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.3%.
Parkland Corp. had the largest increase, rising 3.7%.
Today, 128 of 225 shares rose, while 93 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.4%
* The index advanced 6.5% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 22% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1% below its 52-week high on Dec. 27, 2023 and 11.7% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 2.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.4 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.59% compared with 10.85% in the previous session and the average of 11.13% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 29.2795| 0.5| 24/3
Information Technology | 19.7826| 1.1| 4/6
Industrials | 15.9422| 0.6| 17/8
Consumer Staples | 4.4507| 0.5| 5/6
Real Estate | 1.4049| 0.3| 14/6
Health Care | 0.2081| 0.3| 2/2
Utilities | 0.1581| 0.0| 8/7
Communication Services | -0.5453| -0.1| 2/3
Consumer Discretionary | -0.5481| -0.1| 6/7
Materials | -1.9619| -0.1| 31/19
Energy | -15.4112| -0.4| 15/26
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 18.4500| 2.3| -35.5| -4.9
TD Bank | 8.5620| 0.8| 117.6| 0.0
Couche-Tard | 5.1220| 1.3| -37.1| 1.6
Nutrien | -4.6000| -1.8| -57.1| -0.2
Cenovus Energy | -7.5830| -3.6| -17.6| -0.8
Canadian Natural Resources | -9.2430| -1.4| -69.8| 2.5
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — Treasury yields rose and tech stocks dipped ahead of Friday’s jobs report as traders try to gauge how soon and deeply the Federal Reserve can start cutting interest rates.
The Nasdaq 100 slipped 0.5%, logging a five-day losing streak — the longest such run since December 2022 — as investors booked profits on last year’s winning tech stocks.
Apple Inc. tumbled after its second downgrade this week as Piper Sandler flagged concern about iPhone inventory levels.
The S&P 500 ended the session 0.3% lower after flipping between gains and losses.
Ten-year Treasuries flagged with yields hitting 4% after data showed US companies ramped up hiring in December and jobless claims came in below estimates.
The benchmark rate for everything from mortgages to loans has added about 12 basis points since the start of the year.
Swaps traders trimmed their bets on Fed easing after the data.
“There was nothing within the data that would suggest any urgency from policymakers to begin normalizing rates lower during the first quarter,” said Ian Lyngen a strategist at BMO Capital Markets.
Traders will next turn to the monthly US jobs report on Friday as well as European inflation data to gauge whether central banks have room to start lowering interest rates.
Wagers on a March rate cut in the US have been dimming with the labor market still on sure footing and after the minutes on Wednesday from the Fed’s December meeting suggested rates could remain at restrictive levels “for some time.”
Nonfarm payrolls likely increased by 175,000 in December while the unemployment rate is seen edging up slightly to 3.8%, according to economists polled by Bloomberg.
“As it stands there’s been little to indicate that last month was when the labor market took a cyclical turn weaker,” BMO’s Ben Jeffery wrote. “We’re biased for Friday’s data to give the Fed cover to hold rates high for an extended period of time as the FOMC Minutes suggested.”
Swaps trader are now factoring in around a 65% chance for a quarter point rate cut by the Fed’s second meeting this year, they had seen a March rate cut as a surer bet last week.
“If tomorrow’s numbers show the same kind of strength and the economy keeps rolling along, it’s fair to wonder why the Fed would be in a rush to cut rates,” said Chris Larkin at E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley.
Veronica Clark, an economist at Citigroup, expects the report to dampen bets on near-term cuts for January and March.
“Even with a recent loosening of financial conditions, risks for monthly job growth still skew more to the downside than upside, and markets are likely to be more reactive to weaker data,” she wrote. 

Bloomberg Economics View:
December’s nonfarm payroll report likely will show strength only in concentrated pockets of the labor market, with the details revealing weak underlying fundamentals. We also expect the unemployment rate to edge up. With hiring slowing quickly across most sectors, wage growth will moderate in December.  — Economists led by Anna Wong
West Texas Intermediate oil tumbled after stockpiles in Cushing rose to the highest level since July.
Oil prices have been whipsawed this week amid supply disruptions in Libya and the Red Sea, while Iran said attacks that killed almost 100 people in the country were carried out to punish its stance against Israel.
In currency markets, the yen weakened on speculation that it’ll be harder for the Bank of Japan to abolish negative interest rates after a powerful earthquake hit the country on New Year’s Day.
Morgan Stanley MUFG Securities Co. changed its call for the BOJ rate decision this month and now sees it leaving current policy in place.
In corporate news, GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy sold about $33 million worth of shares in his biotech company Roivant Sciences Ltd.
Stock of Endeavour Mining Plc fell in Toronto trading after the firm fired its chief executive officer for serious misconduct.
McDonald’s Corp. shares weakened after the fast-food chain said it was being hurt by boycotts in the Middle East.

Key events this week:
* Eurozone CPI, PPI, Friday
* US nonfarm payrolls/unemployment, factory orders, ISM services index, Friday
* Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin — an FOMC voter in 2024 — speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0949
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2685
* The Japanese yen fell 0.9% to 144.61 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.9% to $44,200.17
* Ether rose 2.2% to $2,276.38
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced eight basis points to 3.99%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 2.12%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced nine basis points to 3.73%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.5% to $72.35 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.1% to $2,043.69 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Edward Bolingbroke, Julia Fanzeres, Alex Nicholson, Sujata Rao and Rheaa Rao.
Have  a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking. –Marcus Aurelius, 121 AD-180 AD

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Memento Mori Day.

January 3, 1496: Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tests a flying machine.
1961: The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.  Go to article >>

J.R.R. Tolkien,  author, b.1892.
Stephen Stills, musician, b.1945.

Animated ‘Game of Thrones’ spinoffs are in the works
George R.R. Martin, the “Game of Thrones” author, said he’s working on three animated projects based on the wildly popular franchise. This comes as fans anxiously await the second season of HBO’s “House of the Dragon,” which is set to debut this summer. (HBO is owned by CNN’s parent company.)

3 scary breakthroughs AI will make in 2024
Although 2023 was a game-changing year for artificial intelligence, it was only the beginning, with 2024 set to usher in a host of scary advancements that may include artificial general intelligence and
even more realistic deepfakes. Read More.

1,500-year-old gold buckles discovered in Kazakhstan
The ornaments contain the earliest known depiction of a Göktürk “khagan,” who probably lived in the sixth century. Read More.

Ancient ‘celestial calendar’ found in Chinese tomb
It’s the first time written slips linked to the ancient calendar have been found in a tomb. Read More.

The tough task of saving the Panama Canal,

Film | 20 must-see movies coming out in 2024

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Rovaniemi, Finland
‘In December the sun is above the horizon for just three hours, which makes watching the sunrise much less of an early start.’
Photograph: Alice Ahearn/GuardianWitness

London, UK
A worker counts Humboldt penguins during the London Zoo’s annual stocktake
Photograph: James Veysey/Rex/Shutterstock

Kuwait City, Kuwait
Lightning strikes Al-Hamra tower (right) and Liberation tower
Photograph: Yasser Al-Zayyat/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for January 3^rd, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37430.19	-284.85
		-0.76%
S&P 500	4704.81	-38.02
		-0.80%
NASDAQ	14592.21	-173.73
		-1.18%
TSX	20818.58	-53.56
		-0.26%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	MARKET CLOSE	N.A.
HANG SENG	16646.41	-142.14
		-0.85%
SENSEX	71356.60	-535.88
		-0.75%
FTSE 100*	7682.33	-39.19
		-0.51%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.155	3.182
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.086	3.101
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.9162	3.9369
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0725	4.0792

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7491	0.7504
US $	1.3349	1.3326

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4583	0.6857
US $	1.0923	0.9155

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2067.55	N.A
Oil
WTI Crude Future	72.70	70.35

Market Commentary:

📈 On this day in 1977, Apple Computer was incorporated by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. The company, now known as Apple, ended last year with a market capitalization just shy of $3 trillion.

Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.3%, or 53.56 to 20,818.58 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Dec. 21.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.5%.
First Majestic Silver Corp. had the largest drop, falling 7.0%.
Today, 160 of 225 shares fell, while 65 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 7.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.3% below its 52-week high on Dec. 27, 2023 and 11.4% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% in the past 5 days and rose 1.8% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.3 on a trailing basis and 15.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.85% compared with 10.82% in the previous session and the average of 11.16% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -46.4887| -0.7| 2/25
Materials | -28.6980| -1.2| 10/42
Information Technology | -20.2302| -1.2| 1/9
Industrials | -13.1740| -0.5| 4/22
Consumer Discretionary | -12.5730| -1.7| 1/12
Real Estate | -5.5680| -1.1| 3/18
Utilities | -2.6878| -0.3| 6/9
Consumer Staples | -2.5984| -0.3| 2/9
Health Care | 0.6521| 1.1| 2/2
Communication Services | 4.4003| 0.6| 4/1
Energy | 73.4112| 2.0| 30/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -20.8100| -2.5| -39.1| -7.0
TD Bank | -9.2010| -0.8| 49.8| -0.8
Barrick Gold | -8.4710| -2.9| -25.5| -3.3
Constellation Software | 7.1060| 1.6| -32.8| 0.5
Canadian Natural Resources | 19.6200| 3.0| -58.2| 3.9
Suncor Energy | 23.0000| 5.9| -6.5| 6.8
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — US stocks extended a slump while bonds edged higher in the aftermath of the minutes of the Federal Reserve’s last meeting.
The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.1%, extending a losing streak for a fourth day — the longest in over two months — as investors continued to retreat from last year’s winning tech stocks.
The S&P 500slid 0.8% while the Russell 2000 small caps gauge dropped 2.6%.
Tesla Inc. and semiconductor stocks slumped while crypto-tied equities floundered as Bitcoin erased most of its gains this year.
The dollar strengthened for a fourth day, the longest run since November.
Fed policymakers said rates could stay restrictive for longer than anticipated last month, while noting rates cuts could emerge before the year is out.
Swaps traders had been  factoring in a full quarter point cut to the benchmark rate by the March meeting on Friday.
Treasury yields ended the day near session lows with the rate on the 10-year reversing after climbing just above 4%, the highest since mid-December, earlier in the day.
“Overall, it was a hawkish update from the Fed,” according to Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets, though “the tone has apparently fallen on indifferent ears.”
“The FOMC minutes focused on better balanced risks to growth and inflation, but policy will remain restrictive for some time,” Morgan Stanley’s Ellen Zentner wrote. “We do not think this is a Fed planning to lower interest rates anytime soon.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell ignited a market rally last month after indicating that policymakers had discussed lowering interest rates.
His colleagues at the US central bank then attempted to walk back market enthusiasm for quicker and deeper rate cuts in the days that followed.
Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin held off on giving a forecast on when the US central bank’s first rate cut would occur. “Conditions are ever evolving,” he said in prepared remarks Wednesday. “So too will our approach. So, buckle up.  That’s the proper safety protocol even if you expect a soft landing.”
The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing gauge hit 47.4 last month, data out Wednesday showed.
The index has remained below the 50 level — indicating a contraction – since late 2022.
Separate data showed the number of job openings fell slightly in November from the prior month’s revised number.
“Overall, the labor market remains strong, but demand is cooling, coming into better balance with supply,” Rubeela Farooqi, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics wrote.
“These data will be welcome news for policymakers and support the Fed’s view that the next move in rates will be lower, likely in Q2.”
Friday’s jobs report could cement the cooling narrative, according to ING’s James Knightley.
The makeup of jobs growth is “almost as important as the payrolls number itself in determining the prospect for rate cuts in 2024,” he said.
Elsewhere, a slump in Bitcoin on Wednesday saw the cryptocurrency erase almost all gains it had made so far this year.
Stocks tied to the sector slipped with MicroStrategy Inc. sliding about 8% and Coinbase Global Inc. dropping roughly 3%.
“The year is certainly off to a rough start, which may motivate more profit taking, after the outsized gains of last year, but the fundamentals haven’t changed, nor have earnings estimates,” according to Louis Navellier of Navellier &
Associates. “There are opportunities in good stocks with attractive values being dragged down for no good reason.”
In corporate news, Walt Disney Co.’s Chief Executive Officer, Bob Iger, was drumming up investor support as he seeks to stave off pressure from billionaire activist Nelson Peltz.
Barrick Gold Corp. is sounding out some of First Quantum Minerals Ltd.’s major investors to gauge their support for a potential takeover.
Cigna Group slumped after a Wall Street Journal report it was near a deal to sell its Medicare business for $3 billion to $4 billion. 

Key events this week:
* China Caixin services PMI, Thursday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, Thursday
* US initial jobless claims, ADP employment, Thursday
* Eurozone CPI, PPI, Friday
* US nonfarm payrolls/unemployment, factory orders, ISM services index, Friday
* Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin — an FOMC voter in 2024 — speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.8% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.8%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0921
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2664
* The Japanese yen fell 0.9% to 143.24 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 5.3% to $42,749.04
* Ether fell 6.2% to $2,219.55
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 3.90%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.02%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.64%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.8% to $73.02 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.8% to $2,041.50 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alex Nicholson, Tassia Sipahutar, Pearl Liu, Alice Gledhill, James Hirai and Joanna Ossinger.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Your present circumstances don’t determine where you can go.  They merely determine where you start. –Nido Qubein, b. 1948.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Tuesday.  Happy 2024!

January 2, 1492: Muhammad XII, the last Emir of Granada, surrenders his city to Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, ending both the Reconquista and centuries of Muslim rule in the Iberiuan peninsula.
January 2, 2008: Oil prices soared to $100 a barrel for the first time.  Go to article >>

Isaac Asimov, author, b. 1920

New Year’s celebrations around the world
Farewell, 2023! See photos of fireworks celebrations around the world as revelers rang in 2024.

CNN Travel names the best places to visit
If traveling is one of your resolutions, these 24 destinations deserve a spot on your bucket list.

Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur discovery
Take a look at a fossilized jawbone belonging to a Megalosaurus, the first dinosaur to be scientifically described and named.

Quadrantid meteor shower to blaze over North America
Up to 120 shooting stars per hour could be visible during a brief peak of the Quadrantid meteor shower — the year’s first meteor shower, coming to North America Jan. 3 and 4. Read More.

Huge archaeology discoveries that may come in 2024
From AI deciphering lost texts to a secret about our human relatives, here are some of the new breakthroughs in archaeology we may see this year. Read More.

What’s the farthest place the Vikings reached?
The Vikings reached as far west as Newfoundland, but did they also venture into Africa, the Middle East and Asia?
Full Story: Live Science (1/1)

The 10 best stargazing events of 2024
The 2024 stargazing guide includes a rare total solar eclipse, two bright comet flybys and three supermoons. Here are all the dates you need to know. Read More.

Space photo of the week: Uranus ‘rings’ in the New Year
The James Webb Space Telescope reveals a stunning new portrait of ice giant Uranus, featuring its frigid rings and 14 of 27 moons. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Breivikeidet, Norway
The northern lights swirl above a Sami camp beyond the Arctic Circle
Photograph: Sergei Gapon/AFP/Getty Images

Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Australia
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

​​​​​​​People celebrate in China’s south-western Chongqing municipality
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for January 2^nd, 2024

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37715.04	+25.50
		+0.07%
S&P 500	4742.83	-27.00
		-0.57%
NASDAQ	14765.94	-245.41
		-1.63%
TSX	20872.14	-86.30
		-0.41%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	MARKET CLOSE	N.A.
HANG SENG	16788.55	-258.84
		-1.52%
SENSEX	71892.48	-379.46
		-0.52%
FTSE 100*	7721.52	-11.72
		-0.15%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.182	3.110
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.101	3.033
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.9369	3.8791
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0792	4.0282

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7504	0.7545
US $	1.3326	1.3254

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4595	0.6852
US $	1.0954	0.9129

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	N.A	2078.40
Oil
WTI Crude Future	70.35	71.65

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1915, Wall Street had its slowest trading day of the 20th century. Only 23,505 shares changed hands on the New York Stock Exchange. The lack of interest also meant it was one of the best times to buy. By the end of 1915, the Dow Jones Industrial Average had risen 82%, its biggest annual gain ever.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4% at 20,872.14 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.1% on Dec. 20 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.1%.
Today, information technology stocks led the market lower, as 7 of 11 sectors lost; 154 of 225 shares fell, while 64 rose.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.6%. Lightspeed Commerce Inc. had the largest drop, falling 6.8%.
Insights
* The index advanced 7.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 24% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1% below its 52-week high on Dec. 27, 2023 and 11.7% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5% in the past 5 days and rose 2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.4 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.32t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.82% compared with 10.79% in the previous session and the average of 11.17% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -59.0464| -3.3| 0/10
Financials | -40.9123| -0.6| 4/22
Materials | -7.7488| -0.3| 11/41
Industrials | -5.6672| -0.2| 6/20
Real Estate | -3.3798| -0.7| 6/14
Consumer Discretionary | -2.9626| -0.4| 5/8
Health Care | -1.2385| -2.0| 1/3
Consumer Staples | 0.8927| 0.1| 5/5
Utilities | 0.9048| 0.1| 6/8
Communication Services | 13.6773| 1.8| 3/2
Energy | 19.1747| 0.5| 17/21
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -40.2000| -4.6| 1.3| -4.6
Brookfield Corp | -13.5000| -2.5| -11.2| -2.5
CGI Inc | -4.8950| -2.4| -20.4| -2.4
Canadian Natural Resources | 6.0610| 0.9| -48.3| 0.9
Enbridge | 9.8100| 1.4| -21.2| 1.4
BCE | 10.5300| 3.2| 20.2| 3.2
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — Stocks and Treasuries kicked off 2024 on a sour note as last year’s rally stalled and traders reined in their bets on interest-rate cuts.
The Nasdaq 100 index slid 1.7% Tuesday, the benchmark’s biggest drop in two months, as last year’s winners — the tech giants dubbed the Magnificent Seven — slumped.
Apple Inc. fell after an analyst at Barclays Plc warned that iPhone demand is cooling, Nvidia Corp. and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. also sank.
Yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 3.94% amid a heavy slate of corporate debt issuance.
PGT Innovations Inc. climbed post market following an unsolicited takeover offer for $41.50 per share.
Bankers are optimistic that mergers and acquisitions will pick up after capping off the worst year for deals in a decade.
The first trading day of the new year brought 2023’s scorching rally to a halt after a more than $8 trillion surge in the S&P 500 last year.
“The new year brings tax-motivated postponed gain-taking and repositioning by portfolio managers after window dressing for their year-end portfolio prints,” said Louis Navellier at Navellier & Associates.
Fundstrat Global Advisors LLC’s Tom Lee, who was among the few to forecast last year’s rally, still expects stocks to do well in 2024.
But, he noted, the first five days of January historically set the tone.
If the first five days are weak, that could negate his bullish call, Lee said.
He expects new highs in January followed by consolidation in the first half.
Oppenheimer Asset Management’s Chief Investment Strategist John Stoltzfus is also bullish on 2024 though he sees US stocks as due for a breather.
“It’s not uncommon for markets to pause to digest a bull run of the magnitude experienced in the fourth quarter just ended,” said Stoltzfus. “In fact it would appear to us to make good sense for markets to pause considering the run-up in stock prices.”
The next earnings season could see the advance resume, he added.
The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, jumped around 6%, one of its biggest advances since Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s pivot last month.
Wall Street’s fear gauge remains at subdued levels.
Traders are awaiting the release of the latest Fed minutes Wednesday.
The tone is expected to be hawkish according to BMO Capital Markets’ Ian Lyngen.
“A dovish surprise, while unlikely, would hold far greater shock value for a market that has moved away from taking the Fed at face value in favor of a more skeptical approach,” the strategist wrote.
Wednesday’s job openings data and Friday’s nonfarm payrolls will also be scanned for signs of weakness in the labor market.
“If Powell is right that inflation can slow further without a sharp increase in unemployment, then the stock and bond rallies are justified,” according to Bloomberg Economics.
“But if traditional, empirical economic regularities hold true, then disinflation won’t be painless, and the peak effect of the Fed’s rate hikes on the labor market are just about hitting,” economists led by Anna Wong wrote.
Kristalina Georgieva, the head of the International Monetary Fund, told CNN International that the US economy is “definitely” headed for a soft landing thanks to the Fed’s “decisiveness” in taming inflation.
The dollar gained 0.7% with almost all emerging-nation currencies trading lower against the greenback.
The yen weakened in thin trading as investors monitored conditions after an earthquake in Japan on Monday.
Bitcoin had climbed above $45,000 for the first time in almost two years Tuesday.
Anticipation is intensifying around the expected US approval for an exchange-traded fund investing directly in the biggest token.
Oil slumped after an early climb amid ongoing shipping disruptions in the Red Sea.
West Texas Intermediate traded near $70 a barrel.
In Asia, sentiment was dented after Chinese President Xi Jinping acknowledged some companies and citizens had endured a difficult 2023 in a rare admission of domestic headwinds facing the country.
Despite persistent weakness in China, some investors consider a slump of almost 60% as a signal to buy Chinese stocks.
Almost a third of 417 respondents to Bloomberg’s latest Markets Live Pulse survey say they will increase their China investments over the next 12 months.

Key events this week:
* Germany unemployment, Wednesday
* US FOMC minutes, ISM Manufacturing, job openings, light vehicle sales, Wednesday
* Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin — an FOMC voter in 2024 — speaks, Wednesday
* China Caixin services PMI, Thursday
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, Thursday
* US initial jobless claims, ADP employment, Thursday
* Eurozone CPI, PPI, Friday
* US nonfarm payrolls/unemployment, factory orders, ISM services index, Friday
* Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin — an FOMC voter in 2024 — speaks, 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 1.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index fell 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.7%
* The euro fell 0.9% to $1.0942
* The British pound fell 0.9% to $1.2617
* The Japanese yen fell 0.8% to 141.98 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.7% to $44,790.73
* Ether rose 0.9% to $2,359.66
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 3.93%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.07%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 10 basis points to 3.64%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.8% to $70.39 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,058.20 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alex Nicholson, Joanna Ossinger, Zhu Lin and Tassia Sipahutar.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Grief is the price we pay for love. –Queen Elizabeth II, 1926-2022.

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

1881: Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross, an organization dedicated to providing humanitarian aid.
1890: Massacre at Wounded Knee.
On Dec. 29, On Dec. 29, 1940, during World War II, Germany began dropping incendiary bombs on London.  Go to article >>

Grigori Rasputin, b. 1916.
Marianne Faithful, b.1946.
Jude Law, b.1972.

Kentucky man finds over 700 Civil War-era coins
The year 2023 was a breakout year for archaeological discoveries. It’s no surprise that our most read story in this channel was a bright and shiny finding: that of a Kentucky man who unearthed a bumper crop of Civil War-era coins in his cornfield, all of which have already been sold at auction. It’s intriguing to read about a gold hoard, but I think that these stories also give us a smidgen of hope that we, too, can find buried treasure. Read More.

Burial of possible Alexander the Great courtesan unearthed
Other 2023 findings that resonated with readers include the burial of a Greek courtesan who may have accompanied Alexander the Great’s army. I completely get the appeal of Alexander the Great; I took a semester-long class on the Macedonian king at university. Everything about Alexander was riveting, from his rise to power and conquering streak, to the paranoia that led him to kill his allies, and even his eventual sickness and death. We’re still learning about Alexander and his contemporaries, as is evidenced by this courtesan who was buried with a bronze mirror 2,300 years ago on the road to Jerusalem. Read More.

Other popular archaeological discoveries this year included:

• The Zapotec “entrance to underworld,” which archaeologists discovered under a Catholic church in Mexico thanks to cutting-edge ground-scanning technology. Live Science (12/21)

• The largest-ever genetic family tree reconstructed for Neolithic people in France, which was based on ancient DNA. Live Science (8/8)

• A still-gleaming “octagonal” sword from the Bronze Age of Germany  Live Science (6/15)

 

• AI blew us away.
• What would Orwell say?
• Luddites may have their way.
• Achilles fights another day.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Cape Town, South Africa
People on the beach on a hot day at Muizenberg beach.
Photograph: Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images

Bintaro, Indonesia
People stand on a conveyor belt as they go tubing over artificial snow at trans snow world in Bintaro, an indoor park with a Japanese theme.
Photograph: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images

Metz, France
A visitor looks at The False Mirror by the Belgian surrealist painter René Magritte in the Pompidou-Metz museum
Photograph: Jean-Christophe Verhaegen/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for December 29^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37689.54	-20.56
		-0.05%
S&P 500	4769.83	-13.52
		-0.28%
NASDAQ	15011.35	-83.79
		-0.56%
TSX	20958.44	+29.06
		+0.14%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33464.17	-75.45
		-0.22%
HANG SENG	17047.39	+3.86
		+0.02%
SENSEX	72240.26	-170.12
		-0.23%
FTSE 100*	7733.24	+10.50
		+0.14%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.110	3.109
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.033	3.014
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.8791	3.8443
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0282	3.9944

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7545	0.7559
US $	1.3254	1.3230

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4626	0.6837
US $	1.1036	0.9061

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2078.40	2069.40
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.65	71.77

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.1% at 20,958.44 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4%.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 0.4%.
NexGen Energy Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 2.7%.
Today, 113 of 225 shares rose, while 105 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 8.1%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 7.3%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2021
* This month, the index rose 3.6%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.4%
* The index advanced 7.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 24% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.6% below its 52-week high on Dec. 27, 2023 and 12.1% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.4 on a trailing basis and 15.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.31t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.79% compared with 10.80% in the previous session and the average of 11.36% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 17.9042| 0.3| 17/10
Industrials | 10.3475| 0.4| 15/10
Energy | 9.4582| 0.3| 26/13
Consumer Staples | 5.5160| 0.6| 9/2
Utilities | 3.7260| 0.4| 12/1
Communication Services | 3.2327| 0.4| 5/0
Consumer Discretionary | 1.0524| 0.1| 6/6
Health Care | -0.3676| -0.6| 3/1
Real Estate | -0.6027| -0.1| 8/13
Materials | -9.0080| -0.4| 9/43
Information Technology | -12.2003| -0.7| 3/6
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 4.7280| 0.4| -18.6| -2.3
Canadian National | 4.4480| 0.7| -71.9| 3.6
Canadian Natural Resources | 2.8030| 0.4| -41.5| 15.5
Magna Intl | -0.9310| -0.6| -54.6| 2.9
Teck Resources | -1.1930| -0.7| -55.2| 10.6
Shopify | -12.3900| -1.4| -51.2| 119.4
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street’s final session of 2023 saw stocks taking a breather near all-time highs.
For bulls defying every doomsday scenario, that was just a blip for a market notching its longest weekly advance since 2004.
The uneventful Friday before the holiday had US equities halting a five-day advance.
Signs of exhaustion emerged after an over $8 trillion surge in the S&P 500 this year, with the gauge still notching its ninth straight week of gains.
Traders have looked past Federal Reserve uncertainty, recession angst and geopolitical risks. And many who came into 2023 dreading all that have ended up scrambling to chase the rally.
“The market shows signs of fatigue and undoubtedly needs to consolidate,” said Quincy Krosby at LPL Financial.
“As long as participation remains broad, the bullish sentiment should carry the indexes as they navigate geopolitical and domestic scenarios, and an overarching positive consensus that 2024 will be a similarly strong year.”
Fueled by the artificial-intelligence boom, stretched positioning and the “fear of missing out,” the S&P 500 soared 24% in 2023, while the Nasdaq 100 had its best year since 1999.
Chipmakers saw their biggest annual gain in more than a decade, led by major AI players Nvidia Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
After a year of massive swings and numerous head fakes, the US 10-year yield ended 2023 pretty close to where it began.
It’s an almost farcical conclusion to 12 months of trading that saw it tumble to as low as 3.25% in the wake of March’s banking crisis — only to surpass 5% just a few months later.
Benchmark 10-year US rates rose to almost 3.9% on Friday.
The dollar was little changed on the day, but posted its worst year since 2020.
Key inflation data endorsing a growing narrative that central bankers will aggressively cut rates in 2024 fueled solid gains for both equities and bonds in the last two months.
The rally was also driven by Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s dovish pivot at the December policy meeting.
“The notion that the major central banks have surely done enough to quell the inflationary surge of 2022-23 is powering the rally,” said Brian Barish at Cambiar Investors LLC. “It’s not hard to imagine new things for the markets to be concerned by, such as elections, the sizable bond funding requirements of the US government, and/or any notion that inflation resurges anew. But for now, there’s not much news and not a lot of sellers.”
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said investors are probably underestimating inflation risk as markets move swiftly toward expectations for Fed easing.
“I think there’s still a risk that the market is probably underestimating: that we’re not going to quite make as much progress on inflation as people hope, and that there’s not going to be quite as much room for Fed easing as people hope,” Summers said on Bloomberg Television’s Wall Street Week with David Westin.
Equity markets have gone up so quickly that they’re highly vulnerable to a pullback if the US economy slips into even a mild recession, according to RBC Global Asset Management.
Rate cuts are likely to happen in 2024, but the global economy hasn’t yet absorbed the full impact of almost two years of tightening, RBC economist Eric Lascelles said.
“What’s baked into the cake is a sizable jump in earnings, which is really only achievable in a soft-landing scenario,” Lascelles said.
The lack of anxiety is also visible in the market’s favorite volatility gauge — the VIX — which has held below 13 this week, near pre-pandemic lows and well below the five-year average.
That low reading “could be suggestive of a degree of investor complacency, even exuberance,” said Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell.
To Adam Turnquist at LPL Financial, momentum remains overbought but bullish.
“While extremely overbought conditions raise the odds of a temporary pause or pullback, longer-term returns have been positive and above average based on comparable periods,” he noted.
Following a nine-week winning streak, the S&P 500 has posted average and median 12-month forward returns of 8.1% and 12.2%, respectively, Turnquist said, citing data going back to 1950.
Seven out of nine occurrences produced positive results, he noted.
Elsewhere, oil posted its biggest annual drop since 2020 as war and OPEC+ production cuts failed to propel prices higher in a year dominated by supply growth outside of the grouping.
Emerging-market currencies closed out their best year since 2017 as the outlook for lower interest rates in the US revived investor appetite for risk.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.1039
* The British pound was little changed at $1.2744
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 141.07 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1% to $42,042.01
* Ether fell 1.8% to $2,304.86
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced three basis points to 3.88%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced eight basis points to 2.02%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 3.54%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.6% to $71.36 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $2,063.18 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Matthew Burgess, Divya Patil, Robert Brand and Elena Popina.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.  Happy New Year!

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet. –Professor Stephen Hawking,  1942-2018.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.

2005 Former top Enron Corp. accountant Richard Causey pleaded guilty to securities fraud and agreed to help pursue convictions against Enron founder Kenneth Lay and former CEO Jeffrey Skilling. Go to article >>

Maggie Smith, b. 1934.
Denzel Washington, b. 1954.

Airport falls silent as priest blesses planes
The chaplain at Dublin Airport took advantage of the empty runway on Christmas day to perform his annual “Blessing of the Planes.” Read more about the ceremony that dates back to 1947.

5 easy ways to keep your brain sharp
Here are the top five things we learned this year from the “Chasing Life” podcast with CNN’s Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. This season examined the brain in its many states — including the organized brain, the menopausal brain and the depressed brain.

Steve Ballmer is set to make $1 billion a year for doing nothing
Ballmer, the sixth-richest person in the world, is set to collect that much in dividends for simply owning Microsoft stock in 2024.

The universe is filled with a ‘gravitational wave background.’
All of this suggests that the seeds of life may be far more prevalent in space than we previously thought. And if there are aliens out there, they can join us in appreciating a new component of the universe that was discovered this year: the gravitational wave background.
Gravitational waves are ripples in the fabric of space-time first predicted by Einstein. Now, after a rigorous 15-year search, astronomers think they’ve detected a slight but ever-present background of waves unleashed by the extreme interactions between supermassive black holes. These invisible waves are moving through Earth, and through you, even now. Read More.

The James Webb telescope has broken cosmology
In a final landmark this year, Dec. 25 marked the two-year anniversary of the powerful James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) launch. The last two years have been overflowing with fascinating discoveries and spectacular images of the cosmos, but one of JWST’s most important findings confirms a problem that has vexed cosmologists for more than a decade: The universe is expanding, but none of our models can agree on how fast. As Live Science staff writer Ben Turner wrote in honor of the telescope’s birthday, “something is awry in our expanding cosmos” and JWST’s incomparable vision is only making things worse. Read More.

RIP TOM SMOTHERS

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Tourist boats sailing in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh. Ha Long Bay is losing its famous turquoise hue as pollution and overdevelopment threaten wildlife and its picture-perfect image
Photograph: Nhac Nguyen/AFP/Getty Images

Kunming, China
People feed black-headed gulls in south-west Yunnan province
Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

​​​​​​​Bormio, Italy
Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde speeds down the course during a men’s World Cup downhill race
Photograph: Marco Trovati/AP
Market Closes for December 28^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37710.10	+53.58
		+0.14%
S&P 500	4783.35	+1.77
		+0.04%
NASDAQ	15095.14	-4.04
		-0.03%
TSX	20929.38	-86.53
		-0.41%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33539.62	-141.62
		-0.42%
HANG SENG	17043.53	+418.69
		+2.52%
SENSEX	72410.38	+371.95
		+0.52%
FTSE 100*	7722.74	-2.21
		-0.03%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.109	3.064
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.014	2.964
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.8443	3.7833
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.9944	3.9428

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7559	0.7570
US $	1.3230	1.3210

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4640	0.6831
US $	1.1065	0.9038

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2069.40	2041.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	71.77	74.11

Market Commentary:
Some of the most successful investors I know have no technique that can be defined, beyond knowledge, realism, and industry: no theory, no generalizations. –John Train, The Money Masters.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4% at 20,929.38 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.1% on Dec. 20 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.6%.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.6%.
Energy Fuels Inc/Canada had the largest drop, falling 7.1%.
Today, 135 of 225 shares fell, while 88 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 8%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 7.1%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2021
* This month, the index rose 3.4%
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index advanced 8.5% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 27% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.8% below its 52-week high on Dec. 27, 2023 and 12% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.4% in the past 5 days and rose 4.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.5 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.32t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.80% compared with 10.66% in the previous session and the average of 11.46% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -49.7368| -1.4| 2/39
Materials | -37.2161| -1.6| 6/46
Financials | -12.2402| -0.2| 13/14
Industrials | -2.8941| -0.1| 15/11
Utilities | -1.3064| -0.2| 9/5
Real Estate | -0.1807| 0.0| 14/6
Consumer Discretionary | 0.9423| 0.1| 9/4
Health Care | 1.6787| 2.7| 3/1
Consumer Staples | 1.7679| 0.2| 9/2
Communication Services | 4.1044| 0.5| 4/1
Information Technology | 8.5665| 0.5| 4/6
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -10.9100| -1.6| -61.7| 15.0
Brookfield Corp | -6.1990| -1.2| -52.0| 24.9
Barrick Gold | -5.7700| -1.9| -66.2| 3.1
Fairfax Financial | 2.2950| 1.2| -34.7| 52.7
Bank of Nova Scotia| 2.7820| 0.5| 4.2| -3.2
Shopify | 9.6910| 1.1| -65.2| 122.6
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A banner year for stocks is drawing to an end, with the market near all-time highs amid the artificial- intelligence exuberance and dovish Federal Reserve wagers.
In the run-up to the final closing bell of 2023, the Nasdaq 100 wavered — while still set for its best year since 1999 after a $7 trillion surge.
The S&P 500 came close to a record, and was 1% below the average full-year gain predicted in a recent survey with analysts, who forecast the index would end 2024 at 4,833.
“If the stock market can break through that record high in any significant way as we move through January, it’s going to be very bullish on a technical basis,” said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co. “Whenever the market is rallying strongly at the beginning of a new year — when a lot of people are adjusting their investment-game plans — it tends to exacerbate the rally.”
In a rates-obsessed world, the stock market saw a massive reversal this year after suffering its worst annual selloff since 2008.
As traders ramped up bets the Fed is done with its hiking campaign — and will start easing policy in 2024 — global bonds were set for their biggest two-month gain on record.
The S&P 500 traded just a few points away from its all-time high of 4,796.56 — extending its 2023 advance to 25%.
Treasuries dropped after a weak $40 billion sale of seven-year notes.
The dollar rose against most of its developed-market peers.
The yen climbed as Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda continued to prepare the ground for the nation’s first rate increase since 2007.
From Nvidia Corp. to Microsoft Corp., the seven-largest US tech stocks were responsible for 64% of the gauge’s rally this year through last week as the AI frenzy took off.
The Nasdaq 100 is up over 50% this year.
The ‘Magnificent Seven’ — which also includes Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc., Google parent Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc. and Tesla Inc. — are expected to post 22% earnings growth next year, twice the S&P 500’s advance, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence show.
The key is how much of that is already baked into share prices, especially with expectations for a soft landing building.
“Companies that have a defined and clear AI strategy with easy-to-follow metrics will likely continue to do well in 2024,” said Michael Landsberg at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management. “Companies that have a hard time explaining their AI value proposition will not see a repeat of 2023, where most large tech was buoyed by the excitement and not necessarily the details of AI.”
Investors have flocked to big tech in part on bets that they are best positioned to capitalize on AI due to their vast scale and financial strength.
Those bigger profits have brought valuations down from nosebleed levels — but they’re still lofty.
The Nasdaq 100 is priced at about 25 times profits projected over the next 12 months, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
While that’s down from a peak of 30 in 2020, it’s well above the average of 19 times over the past two decades.
Although there has been a relatively high number of stocks with gains of over 100%, there haven’t been many outperforming the S&P 500, Bespoke Investment Group noted.
In a typical year, on average, 48.7% of the benchmark’s members post larger gains than the index itself.
In 2023, less than 30% of its members are outpacing the index.
“This leads one to question whether the leaders (or laggards) continue to lead (lag) in the year ahead,” the Bespoke strategists said. “Looking at the past, the picture is not exactly favorable for that sort of rotation in either direction.”
The market is “sitting on big gains” and most participants just want the year to end to register those gains, according to Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded The Sevens Report newsletter.
“But I’ve been in this industry long enough to know that when everyone seems to be leaning on one side of the proverbial canoe, it pays to move to the middle.”
Warnings about a market that’s flashing overbought signals have been raising concern about a pullback, with some market observers saying that traders have gone too far, too fast in pricing in a dovish Fed pivot.
While the recent ebbing of inflation is positive for the Fed, some other figures showing economic resilience could fuel consumer spending — working against the central bank’s aim to slow the pace of growth.
That poses risks for the bond market heading into the new year.
Falling yields have also driven the dollar lower in 2023, with the greenback on pace for its worst year since the onset of the pandemic.
Much of the decline materialized in the fourth quarter on growing wagers that the Fed will sharply loosen policy next year.
The drop in Treasury yields has effectively relaxed financial conditions in the US and “are hardly compatible with sustainably low inflation,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, a senior analyst at Swissquote.
“The rally in the sovereign space looks overdone — hence the rally in stocks and the selloff in the US dollar look overstretched,” she wrote in a note.
About a week ahead of the all-important US jobs report, traders were unfazed by data showing initial jobless claims rose to 218,000.
Economists forecast a still-healthy 170,000 increase in December payrolls, consistent with resilient labor demand that has been key in powering the economy.
Elsewhere, oil retreated for the fourth time in five sessions as rising inventories at the key US storage hub in Cushing, Oklahoma, partly offset a drop in national stockpiles to paint a mixed picture for demand.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 was little changed
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.1064
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2730
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 141.40 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2% to $42,525.5
* Ether fell 0.4% to $2,350.53
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 3.84%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 1.94%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 3.49%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3% to $71.91 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.5% to $2,066.51 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson, Robert Brand, Jessica Menton, Elena Popina, Ishika Mookerjee, Jeran Wittenstein and Carmen Reinicke.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
You will make all kinds of mistakes; but as long as you are generous and true, and also fierce, you cannot hurt the world or even seriously distress her. –Sir Winston Churchill, 1874-1965.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Full moon tonight.
This month’s full moon is also known as the “cold moon,” a term coined by Native Americans — specifically the Mohawk people — in reference to the cooler temperatures typically associated with December in the Northern Hemisphere. (Though climate change is quickly making the winter months warmer.)
Other names for the final full moon of the year include the “Snow Moon,” the “Winter Maker Moon,” and even the “Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers,” a nod to the fact that the antlers of many deer species — including deer, elk, moose and caribou — begin to fall off around this time as breeding season comes to a close. The animals will grow another, usually larger, set next year.

Dec. 27, 1979: Soviet forces seized control of Afghanistan. President Hafizullah Amin, who was overthrown and executed, was replaced by Babrak Karmal. Go to article >>
Dec. 27, 1991: The Soviet Union, the world’s first communist state, is officially dissolved.

Johannes Kepler, astronomer, b.1571.
Louis Pasteur, chemist, b.1822.
Marlene Dietrich, b. 1901.

A tip for coffee connoisseurs
A recent study suggests that this secret ingredient makes for better coffee.

How to reduce your risk of early dementia
A new study finds that there’s a lot we can do proactively to prevent it.

New Alzheimer’s drug slightly slows cognitive decline. Experts say it’s not a silver bullet.
Experts weigh in on whether the newly approved Alzheimer’s treatment lecanemab is worth taking. Read More

The sun’s explosive peak is coming. Are we ready?
Our home star spits out solar storms in a waxing and waning pattern known as the 11-year solar cycle. NASA and NOAA initially predicted the sun would reach its peak, or solar maximum, sometime in 2025. But senior writer Harry Baker was covering each solar temper tantrum individually and noticed an uptick in activity. Then, a source at the National Center for Atmospheric research said their models showed an earlier and stronger solar maximum than NASA. Harry broke the story in June, and in October, scientists revised their solar maximum estimate. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

County Antrim, UK
Tourists at the Dark Hedges near Armoy. The tunnel of trees became famous when it was featured in Game of Thrones and now attracts significant numbers of tourists from around the world. Six of the trees have been removed and remedial work is being carried out on several others
Photograph: Liam McBurney/PA

Paris, France
The sun casts an orange light over the Seine River
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Nanjian Yi, China
Winter cherry blossoms in Nanjian Yi autonomous county, Yunnan province
Photograph: Xinhua/Rex/Shutterstock
Market Closes for December 27^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37656.52	+111.19
		+0.30%
S&P 500	4781.58	+6.83
		+0.14%
NASDAQ	15099.18	+24.60
		+0.16%
TSX	21015.91	+134.72
		+0.65%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33681.24	+375.39
		+1.13%
HANG SENG	16624.84	+284.43
		+1.74%
SENSEX	72038.43	+701.63
		+0.98%
FTSE 100*	7724.95	+27.44
		+0.36%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.064	3.190
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.964	3.066
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.7833	3.8950
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.9428	4.0493

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7570	0.7534
US $	1.3210	1.3274

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4670	0.6817
US $	1.1105	0.9005

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2041.70	2041.70
Oil
WTI Crude Future	74.11	73.26

Market Commentary:
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.6%, or 134.72 to 21,015.91 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level in at least a year.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.6%.
Lithium Americas Corp. had the largest increase, rising 3.8%.
Today, 160 of 225 shares rose, while 60 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 8.4%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 7.5%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2021
* This month, the index rose 3.9%
* The index advanced 7.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 12.4% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.9% in the past 5 days and rose 4.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.5 on a trailing basis and 15.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.66% compared with 11.40% in the previous session and the average of 11.59% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 40.3111| 0.6| 21/5
Energy | 22.4071| 0.6| 26/14
Information Technology | 20.0186| 1.1| 5/5
Materials | 15.6764| 0.7| 37/14
Industrials | 13.3179| 0.5| 21/5
Consumer Staples | 9.9570| 1.2| 8/2
Real Estate | 3.9363| 0.8| 18/3
Communication Services | 3.6724| 0.5| 5/0
Consumer Discretionary | 2.7532| 0.4| 7/6
Health Care | 1.3689| 2.3| 4/0
Utilities | 1.3010| 0.2| 8/6
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 13.5700| 1.6| -47.8| 120.1
Canadian Natural Resources | 10.6100| 1.6| -73.5| 16.9
Brookfield Corp | 7.1990| 1.4| -52.4| 26.4
Celestica | -0.4840| -1.5| -47.8| 155.3
Cameco | -0.7580| -0.4| -36.3| 87.8
Brookfield Renewable Partners | -1.0710| -2.0| -14.8| 1.5
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks struggled to find solid ground after approaching a record on speculation the Federal Reserve will cut rates in 2024.
With just a few days left before the year is over, equities barely budged.
While some traders cited an old Wall Street adage that says “never short a dull market,” concerns have surfaced amid overbought levels and warnings about overly dovish Fed bets.
The S&P 500 wavered near its all-time high — a feat recently achieved by the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average that’s fueled a debate on whether investors should be worried or celebrating.
“Perhaps the most important question is: what has the S&P 500 done after it has climbed out of its hole?” said Ed Clissold at Ned Davis Research. “Did the rally to new highs leave the market overbought and in need of a correction? Or was it a breakout to a new up leg? History sides with the latter.”
The S&P 500 has outperformed its long-term average one-, three-, six-, and 12-months later, Clissold noted.
The one-month returns are not quite as strong, suggesting a short-term overbought condition in some cases.
One year later, the gauge has risen 13 out of 14 times by a median of 13.4%.
The S&P 500 traded less than 0.5% away from its all-time high of 4,796.56. Strong demand for a$58 billion sale of five-year notes sent bond yields slumping.
That followed Tuesday’s surprisingly solid two-year auction that drew buyers seeking to lock in higher yields before the Fed starts easing policy.
Benchmark 10-year Treasury rates sank to around 3.8% — the lowest since July.
Traders have stepped up bets on rate cuts as early as March, according to Fed swaps pricing.
That view has gained momentum since policymakers updated their forecasts this month to show they expect to reduce rates at a stronger pace than indicated in their previous projections.
To Jose Torres at Interactive Brokers, optimism about the Fed having potentially won the war against inflation is excessive as data in coming months will likely persuade officials to delay rate cuts until May at the earliest.
“Markets have priced in the dovish pivot and stocks never discount the same news twice,” said Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded The Sevens Report newsletter.
“As we start 2024, markets will need to see new, positive catalysts to send the S&P 500 to new all-time highs.”
In another sign of possible overexuberance, 90% of the stocks in the S&P 500 are currently trading above their 50-day averages, according to Sam Stovall at CFRA.
“Despite the possibility of a pause after recovering all that was lost in the 2022 bear market, history reminds us that the S&P 500 typically enjoyed a post-recovery gain of 10% in four months before stumbling into another decline of 5% or more— none of which became a new bear market,” Stovall noted.
Bespoke Investment Group said the Goldman Sachs US Financial Conditions Index has gone from rapid tightening to rapid easing.
The gauge is currently at the lowest since August 2022.
Rapid easing in the past has been followed by strong periods for both large and small-cap equities, Bespoke noted.
“Asset prices continue to march slowly higher towards year- end,” said Louis Navellier, chief investment officer at Navellier & Associates.  “January may see some delayed profit- taking, but there’s still plenty of money on the sidelines to pick up any bargains that may be created.”
For many traders, the soft-landing scenario that investors see for next year points to further gains in US stocks.
But it also dims the prospect of another stretch of wild outperformance for the technology giants that dominated in 2023.
With added fuel from the artificial-intelligence boom, the group rose almost 100% through mid-July, compared with roughly 20% for the S&P 500.
But as confidence in the economy grew after the Fed’s July interest-rate hike, which investors now see as the last of this cycle, the tech titans’ gains became more muted.
“If you were fortunate enough to own the ‘Magnificent 7’ in 2023, look to trim and rebalance back to where you were at the start of 2023,” said Michael Landsberg at Landsberg Bennett Private Wealth Management. “We still like the majority of those names, but trimming after big runs makes sense.”
Landsberg also noted he expects to see a meaningful broadening of stock-market participation in 2024 “as it’s not healthy to have such a small number of heavily owned stocks
drive overall market performance.”
In corporate news, Apple Inc. won a court ruling temporarily pausing a US sales ban on its newest smartwatches.
The New York Times Co. sued Microsoft Corp. and OpenAI Inc. for the use of content to help develop artificial intelligence services.
Traders also kept an eye on the latest geopolitical developments.
Shipping giant Hapag-Lloyd AG said it will keep its vessels away from the Red Sea even after the launch of a US-led taskforce to protect the key trade route from militant attacks.
Oil retreated from its highest close in almost a month as key technical gauges flashed weakness amid thin holiday trading.
Elsewhere, Bitcoin recovered amid renewed speculation that the US securities regulator is getting close to approving an exchange-traded fund investing directly in the biggest token. 

Key events this week:
* Japan industrial production, retail sales, Thursday
* US wholesale inventories, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* UK Nationwide house prices, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro rose 0.6% to $1.1106
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.2798
* The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 141.79 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.7% to $43,470.76
* Ether rose 5.8% to $2,353.2
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 3.79%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 1.90%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 3.44%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.3% to $73.84 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to $2,077.97 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson, Winnie Hsu, Robert Brand, Krystof Chamonikolas, Felice Maranz, Elena Popina and Carmen Reinicke.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Know thyself. –Inscription at the entrance to Temple of Apollo at Delphi.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.  Happy official first day of winter.

When you let go of trying to get more of what you don’t really need, it frees up oceans of energy that was caught up in that chase to now turn and pay attention to what you already have.  When you actually pay attention to, nourish, love, and share what you already have, it expands.  It’s the opposite of what we think.  And when people know that, it frees them from this chase of more, more, more, more, more.  A shorter way to say all that is, What you appreciate, appreciates. –Lynne Twist, b. 1953.

When you know, teach.  When you get, give. –Maya Angelou, 1928-2014.

Market Closes for December 22^nd, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37385.97	-18.38
		-0.05
S&P 500	4754.63	+7.88
		+0.17%
NASDAQ	14992.97	+29.10
		+0.19%
TSX	20882.42	+116.69
		+0.56%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33169.05	+28.58
		+0.09%
HANG SENG	16340.41	-280.72
		-1.69%
SENSEX	71106.96	+241.86
		+0.34%
FTSE 100*	7697.51	+2.87
		+0.04%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.190	3.122
CND. 30 Year Bond	3.066	2.985
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.8950	3.8881
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0493	4.0303

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7534	0.7529
US $	1.3274	1.3282

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4629	0.6836
US $	1.1023	0.9072

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2041.70	2035.55
Oil
WTI Crude Future	73.26	73.59

We’re closing early today, after the markets close at 1 PM of course, to open that bottle of Ruinart champagne that’s chilling.  Shab is from Iran and she had her friend bring me some Iranian caviar this week for a holiday present.  Should be a wonderful treat. J!  May you and yours also be blessed with laughter, peace, love and prosperity.

Wishing all of you and your families and close friends the very best of the season!

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
The humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devout souls everywhere are of one religion; and when the death has taken off the mask,
they will know one another, though the diverse liveries they wore here make them strangers. –William Penn, 1644-1718.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.  Winter Solstice is arriving today!
December 21, 1582: Flanders adopts the Gregorian calendar, skipping 11 days making the next day January 1, 1583.
December 21, 1620: Pilgrims land at Plymouth Massachusetts.
On Dec. 21, 1988, a terrorist bomb exploded aboard a Pan Am Boeing 747 over Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270 people.  Go to article >>

Joseph Stalin, dictator, b. 1879.
Jane Fonda, b. 1937.
Chris Evert, b. 1954.

The good news generator of 2023
Good news can easily get lost when it feels like the world is falling apart. But 2023 hasn’t been all bad! Use CNN’s good news generator for a dose of happy stories from the year.

NFL playoffs are around the corner
With just three weeks of the 2023 regular NFL season remaining, just four of the 14 playoff spots across the two conferences have been sewn up, meaning a lot of teams are vying for a ticket to the postseason. Here are some of the possible scenarios.

2,300-year-old banquet hall found untouched underground in Rome
Archeologists recently discovered an intact Roman mosaic made of shells and coral that could be around 2,300 years old! See photos here.

‘Calendar’ rock carvings surpasses ‘wildest expectations’
Spiral petroglyphs carved into a canyon wall on the Colorado-Utah border may have been used as a calendar by the Ancestral Pueblo. Read More.

New brain-like transistor goes ‘beyond machine learning’
Scientists have previously only gotten ‘synaptic transistors’ to work under cryogenic conditions, but this is the first that can operate at room temperature, while outperforming today’s best-in-class
machine learning systems. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

New York, US
People look at homes decorated with Christmas lights and ornaments in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn
Photograph: Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images

Leeds, UK
The art installation Magical Night is projected on to the Queens hotel in Leeds. The animation by Onionlab tells the story of a gingerbread man who jumps from window to window of the hotel
Photograph: Danny Lawson/PA

Shropshire, UK
‘The quartzite rock of the Stiperstones is a cold stone, rendered even colder under a day-long frost above 500 metres. Nevertheless, the sun offered just enough warmth, allowing one to linger briefly and take in the views across Shropshire and toward Wales.’
Photograph: Charlie Leventon/Guardian Community
Market Closes for December 21^st, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37404.35	+322.35
		+0.87
S&P 500	4746.75	+48.40
		+1.03%
NASDAQ	14963.87	+185.93
		+1.26%
TSX	20765.73	+164.92
		+0.80%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33140.47	-535.47
		-1.59%
HANG SENG	16621.13	+7.32
		+0.04%
SENSEX	70865.10	+358.79
		+0.51%
FTSE 100*	7694.73	-20.95
		-0.27%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.122	3.055
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.985	2.893
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.8881	3.8474
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0303	3.9824

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7529	0.7482
US $	1.3282	1.3365

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4620	0.6840
US $	1.1008	0.9084

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2035.55	2041.35
Oil
WTI Crude Future	73.59	73.97

MARKET Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1986, Drexel Burnham Lambert, the junk-bond investment-banking powerhouse dominated by Michael Milken, pleaded guilty to six counts of federal securities fraud and paid a $650 million fine. Two days earlier, Drexel Chief Executive Fred Joseph had declared, “It’s very clear that the firm didn’t do anything wrong.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.8% at 20,765.73 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.1%.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
Energy Fuels Inc/Canada had the largest increase, rising 8.2%.
Today, 193 of 225 shares rose, while 28 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 7.1%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 6.3%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2021
* This month, the index rose 2.6%
* So far this week, the index rose 1.2%
* The index advanced 6.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.6% below its 52-week high on Dec. 20, 2023 and 11.1% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 3.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.3 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.26t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.35% compared with 11.20% in the previous session and the average of 12.00% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 52.4023| 0.8| 22/5
Energy | 27.2692| 0.8| 37/4
Materials | 25.4257| 1.1| 49/3
Industrials | 25.4056| 0.9| 24/2
Information Technology | 9.3985| 0.5| 7/3
Consumer Discretionary | 9.0107| 1.2| 12/1
Utilities | 8.4991| 1.0| 15/0
Consumer Staples | 3.1805| 0.4| 6/5
Communication Services | 2.3430| 0.3| 4/0
Real Estate | 1.0695| 0.2| 13/5
Health Care | 0.9122| 1.6| 4/0
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 17.6400| 1.7| 17.5| -3.3
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 11.9200| 1.8| -7.8| 4.1
Bank of Montreal | 8.8220| 1.4| -26.1| 5.3
CGI Inc | -0.5040| -0.3| -55.3| 21.5
IA Financial | -0.6070| -1.0| -10.5| 13.3
Blackberry | -2.7190| -13.5| 402.7| 7.5
US
By Cristin Flanagan and David Marino
(Bloomberg) — US stocks extended a rebound ahead of Friday data expected to show the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation metric is close to its target.
The S&P 500, up 1.0% Thursday, is on the precipice of an eight-week winning streak — its longest in more than five years — if it can hold onto gains.
The Nasdaq 100 index faces a similar challenge, the tech-heavy benchmark rose 1.2% after Wednesday’s bout of selling had knocked it off record highs.
Nike Inc. shares slipped around 5% in afterhours trading following a warning from the sneaker maker that revenue would soften in the latter half of the fiscal year.
Peers, including Foot Locker Inc., also weakened in the post market session.
The VIX briefly rose above 14 for the first time since November, Wall Street’s gauge of stock volatility has been trading near multi-year lows.
The Fed’s preferred inflation metric, the so-called core personal-consumption expenditures price index, is broadly expected to hit the central bank’s 2% target when the report comes out ahead of the US stock market open Friday.
Though the devil will be in the details on whether or not the data will back up the Fed Chair’s recent pivot, according to Bloomberg Economics.
Some market watchers blamed Wednesday’s swoon on so-called zero-day, or ODTE, options, noting that hefty “put” volumes likely added to the selloff as some option sellers balanced their books.
But the broader picture of slowing inflation and rate-cut bets mean such speed bumps will be short-lived, many argue.
Citigroup Inc. strategists advised buying into pullbacks, adding investors should “expect volatility ahead, but with an eventual Fed pivot as a north star.”
Vilified Zero-Day Options Blamed by Traders for S&P Decline The global bond rally took a breather Thursday as the yield on the US two-year hovered around 4.35%.
The rate on the US 10-year — tied to everything from mortgage to lending rates — edged up to 3.89%, its still down roughly 50 basis points this month.
“The theme of consolidation remains the most relevant impulse for a market that is quickly approaching the end of the year,” Ian Lyngen of BMO Capital Markets wrote.
“Next week’s price action will be largely irrelevant with the presumption of limited liquidity and even more limited conviction.”
Gross domestic product was revised lower to a 4.9% annualized rise in the third quarter, trailing economists’ projections, the government’s third estimate of the figures Thursday showed.
Initial applications for US unemployment insurance rose last week by less than forecast, remaining near historic lows.
Numbers “were still in line with the narrative that a cooling economy will keep the Fed on track to cut rates in the not-too-distant future,” Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley, said.
“Right or wrong, that sentiment has played a big role in the market’s recent surge, even though the Fed has been doing its best to temper expectations.”
Following the data, swaps traders are betting on at least six quarter point interest rate cuts from the US central bank by the end of next year, well ahead of the three policymakers signaled last week.
Friday brings UK GDP data, US consumer sentiment and in addition to personal spending data.
In commodities, oil prices retreated after three days of gains, as surging US production tempered the threat of Houthi attacks on ships in one of the world’s most important waterways.
The US dollar resumed a slide, falling against all of its Group-of-10 peers Thursday. 

Key events this week:
* Japan inflation, Friday
* UK GDP, Friday
* US personal income and spending, new home sales, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.9%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.6%
* The euro rose 0.6% to $1.1003
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2687
* The Japanese yen rose 0.9% to 142.23 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.8% to $43,777.83
* Ether rose 2.7% to $2,238.37
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 3.89%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 1.96%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.53%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $74.01 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,044 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Sujata Rao and Chiranjivi Chakraborty.

Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
When his mind is tranquil, perfect joy comes to the man of discipline. –The Bhagavad Gita.

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

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

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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
December 20^th, 1868: The US formally takes possession of the territory of Alaska from Russia.
1879: Thomas Edison privately demonstrated his incandescent light at Menlo Park, N.J. Go to article >> 

Winter solstice 2023: Watch Jupiter dance with the moon
Jupiter and a bright moon will shine together on the winter solstice, which occurs Dec. 21-22 in the Northern Hemisphere. Read More.

An AI robot outmaneuvers humans at Maze Run.

Peruse the world’s best and worst airports 

8,000-year-old ago fort in Siberia is world’s oldest known
The fact that this Stone Age fort was built by hunter-gatherers is transforming our understanding of ancient human societies. Read More.

Key ingredient for life gushing out of Saturn moon
NASA scientists have discovered complex molecules in the gas and vapor plumes escaping from Enceladus’s icy core. Read More.

Tonga volcano eruption was fueled by 2 merging chambers
Researchers have mapped the magma plumbing system beneath Tonga’s underwater volcano and discovered three magma chambers, two of which fed the record-shattering 2022 eruption. Full Story: Live Science (12/19)
Iceland volcano: Breathtaking photos show wall of lava
A huge volcanic fissure appeared in Iceland on Dec. 18, spewing lava up to 30 feet into the air — and the eruption has been captured in incredible photos. Read More.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Yew Tree Tarn, Lake District, UK
‘One of the joys of driving from Ambleside to Coniston is passing the beautiful Yew Tree Tarn. I often stop to take photos of the reflections. On this day there was an artist at work, himself one of the many reflections.’
Photograph: Karen Rollison/Guardian Community

Mojave Desert, California, US
‘A mountain bluebird settled on a tree across the street that was lit by the setting sun. With some careful manoeuvring, I managed to frame the bird against the nearly full moon.’
Photograph: Steve Harvey/Guardian Community

​​​​​​​Catamarca, Argentina
‘Antofagasta de la Sierra in northern Argentina, at 3,300m above sea level, is the gateway to the spectacular Campo de Piedra Pomez (Field of Pumice Stone).’
Photograph: Alejandro Sala/Guardian Community
Market Closes for December 20^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37082.00	-475.92
		-1.27
S&P 500	4698.35	-70.02
		-1.47%
NASDAQ	14777.94	-225.28
		-1.50%
TSX	20600.81	-238.82
		-1.15%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33675.94	+456.55
		+1.37%
HANG SENG	16613.81	+108.81
		+0.66%
SENSEX	70506.31	+930.88
		+1.30%
FTSE 100*	7715.68	+77.65
		+1.02%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.055	3.137
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.893	2.946
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.8474	3.9313
U.S. 30 Year Bond	3.9824	4.0387

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7482	0.7496
US $	1.3365	1.3340

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4622	0.6839
US $	1.0939	0.9142

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2041.35	2023.95
Oil
WTI Crude Future	73.97	73.44

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1977, Jimmy Carter signed a law that reduced the rate of Social Security cost-of-living adjustments, declaring: “This legislation will guarantee that from 1980 to the year 2030, the Social Security funds will be sound.” Less than six years later, Social Security lost $20,000 a minute and required a fresh law to stabilize its fortunes.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 1.1% at 20,600.81 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 1.1%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.
Lithium Americas Corp. had the largest drop, falling 7.5%.
Today, 195 of 225 shares fell, while 28 rose; all sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 16 times. The next day, it declined 11 times for an average 0.5% and advanced five times for an average 0.4%
* This year, the index rose 6.3%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 5.4%, heading for the biggest advance since the fourth quarter of 2021
* This month, the index rose 1.8%
* The index advanced 6.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 10.2% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 1.8% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.4 on a trailing basis and 15.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.20% compared with 10.42% in the previous session and the average of 12.11% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points |
|Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -54.2825| -0.8| 3/24
Materials | -52.6007| -2.2| 1/51
Energy | -34.5386| -1.0| 8/32
Information Technology | -32.3722| -1.8| 3/7
Industrials | -20.8957| -0.7| 2/24
Utilities | -13.8236| -1.7| 0/15
Consumer Discretionary | -11.6557| -1.6| 4/9
Consumer Staples | -8.1114| -1.0| 3/8
Real Estate | -6.6783| -1.3| 2/18
Communication Services | -2.3621| -0.3| 2/3
Health Care | -1.4801| -2.5| 0/4
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -31.2600| -3.6| 30.2| 114.4
TD Bank | -16.1000| -1.5| -23.9| -4.9
RBC | -10.3000| -0.8| -5.1| 4.0
Loblaw | 1.7150| 1.4| 9.1| 3.5
CIBC | 2.6510| 0.7| 131.2| 14.2
Constellation Software | 5.2050| 1.2| -23.6| 54.1
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — High-flying stocks notched one their worst days in months Wednesday after Wall Street warned of a pullback on the rally ignited by the Federal Reserve’s pivot last week.
The Nasdaq 100 ended the session down 1.5%, the biggest one-day drop in eight weeks, as the tech-heavy benchmark drew back from its latest all-time high.
The S&P 500 fell at a similar pace in its steepest drop since Sept. 26.
Some in the market speculated that expiring zero-day options traded Wednesday helped accelerate the selloff as options dealers sold more to rebalance their positions before expiration.
Relative strength readings on the gauges had been trading at levels typically seen before a decline.
Wall Street’s fear gauge — the VIX — also rose sharply, it has been trading near multi-year lows.
Newedge Wealth’s Cameron Dawson warned of the market risks.
“It certainly looks like it has become very one-sided, and it is a scary world when everybody gets on one side of the boat,” the chief investment officer of Newedge Wealth, told Bloomberg Television. “The market is very extended, we do see it being very overbought. But we’re in this melt-up period and so oftentimes things can get even sillier before they really do have a pullback.”
Jim Caron, portfolio solutions CIO at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, was also cautious looking ahead to the new year. “It’s going to get a lot rockier and a lot more uncertain into the future.”
Treasuries powered ahead with the yield on the policy-sensitive two-year notching a 10-basis point move, the 10-year rate fell to 3.9%.
British 10-year debt led the global bond rally following data showing a slowdown in UK inflation.
Traders also digested data showing US consumer confidence in December rose by the most since early 2021 on Wednesday.
The second-straight monthly increase showed Americans were less concerned about a recession, but economists are still keeping a wary eye on the jobs market.
“While a sustained improvement in confidence would be a positive signal about consumer attitudes and spending, a loosening in labor market conditions owing to a restrictive policy stance is likely to weigh on demand, consumption and growth going forward,” Rubeela Farooqi at High Frequency Economics wrote.
Separately, sales of previously owned US homes edged higher in November off of a 13-year low, according to a National Association of Realtors report, earlier data showed mortgage rates fell to their lowest since June.
Some of Wall Street’s biggest bulls heading into 2023 remained undaunted at the prospect of more strength next year.
Fundstrat Global Advisors LLC’s Tom Lee, who came closest to predicting the trajectory of the S&P 500 for this year among strategists tracked by Bloomberg, sees the benchmark hitting 5,200 in 2024.
Investors are also starting to weigh risks stemming from potential shipping delays and freight cost increases, as companies divert cargoes away from the Red Sea to avoid militant attacks.
This rerouting will mean higher shipping costs and longer delivery time, Bloomberg Economics wrote in a note.
The focus now turns to upcoming data readouts, including Thursday’s GDP print and Friday’s data on personal consumption expenditures — the Fed’s preferred inflation gauge.
In commodities, crude oil fell below $75 a barrel, while gold tumbled.

Key events this week:
* Bank Indonesia rate decision, Thursday
* US GDP, initial jobless claims, Conf. Board leading index, Thursday
* Nike earnings, Thursday
* Japan inflation, Friday
* UK GDP, Friday
* US personal income and spending, new home sales, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.3%
* The MSCI World index fell 1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3%
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.0931
* The British pound fell 0.8% to $1.2626
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 143.75 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.2% to $43,451.12
* Ether was little changed at $2,184.19
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined seven basis points to 3.86%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 1.97%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined 12 basis points to 3.53%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.2% to $73.76 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.5% to $2,029.78 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from David Marino, Vildana Hajric, Alexandra Semenova, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Sujata Rao and Alice Atkins.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
The biggest risk is not taking any risk.  In a world that’s changing really quickly,
the only strategy that is guaranteed to fail is not taking risks. -Mark Zuckerberg, b.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

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
December 19,1972:  Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific, ending the Apollo program of manned lunar landings.   Go to article >>.
December 19, 1999: Rosa Parks receives the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honour in the United States, for her contributions to civil rights.

LIVE: Iceland volcano erupts near Grindavík Monday night
The Iceland volcano is now erupting after weeks of earthquakes rocking the region, according to a statement released by the Iceland Met Office on Monday (Dec. 18).
Watch a video of a volcanic eruption in Iceland.

Norway’s oldest known ship burial predates Vikings
A large, grassy hill in Norway known as the Herlaugshagen burial mound was likely the site of a pre-Viking ship burial, a new analysis finds. Read More.

NASA identifies 17 planets that could be fit for life
A new NASA survey identified 17 exoplanets that may have the right conditions for liquid water oceans hidden beneath icy shells. The planets could be good candidates in the search for alien life.  Read More.

JWST discovers the oldest black hole in the universe
The James Webb Space Telescope’s discovery of the universe’s oldest black holes is giving astronomers some vital clues for how they came to be.  Full Story: Live Science (12/18).

72 million-year-old ‘blue dragon’ unlike anything ever seen
The near-complete remains of a never-before-seen mosasaur that dominated the ancient Pacific Ocean have been unearthed in Japan. The great white shark-size creature is unlike any other aquatic animal, dead or alive. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Krasnoyarsk, Russia
Traffic crosses the Communal Bridge as temperatures drop to -30C
Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images

Jakarta, Indonesia
People gather at a Christmas display in Senayan City shopping mall
Photograph: Mast Irham/EPA

Ramsau, Austria
People walk through a snowy landscape
Photograph: Matthias Schräder/AP
Market Closes for December 19^th, 2023

Market Index	Close	Change
Dow Jones	37557.92	+251.90
		+0.68
S&P 500	4768.37	+27.81
		+0.59%
NASDAQ	15003.22	+98.03
		+0.66%
TSX	20839.63	+216.92
		+1.05%

International Markets

Market Index	Close	Change
NIKKEI	33219.39	+460.41
		+1.41%
HANG SENG	16505.00	-124.23
		-0.75%
SENSEX	71437.19	+122.10
		+0.17%
FTSE 100*	7638.03	+23.55
		+0.31%

Bonds

Bonds	% Yield	Previous % Yield
CND. 10 Year Bond	3.137	3.167
CND. 30 Year Bond	2.946	2.967
U.S.    10 Year Bond	3.9313	3.9277
U.S. 30 Year Bond	4.0387	4.0420

Currencies

BOC Close	Today	Previous
Canadian $	0.7496	0.7466
US $	1.3340	1.3393

 

Euro Rate 1 Euro=		Inverse
Canadian $	1.4637	0.6832
US $	1.0972	0.9114

Commodities

Gold	Close	Previous
London Gold Fix	2023.95	2032.30
Oil
WTI Crude Future	73.44	72.47

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1927, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 200 for the first time, finishing the day at 200.93. It had taken the Dow nearly 22 years to double.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 1.1%, or 216.92 to 20,839.63 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level in at least a year.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.0%.
Canfor Corp. had the largest increase, rising 12.3%.
Today, 190 of 225 shares rose, while 33 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15 times. The next day, it advanced 10 times for an average 0.7% and declined five times for an average 0.6%
* This year, the index rose 7.5%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 6.6%, heading for the biggest advance since the second quarter of 2021
* The index advanced 8.5% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 11.5% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3% in the past 5 days and rose 3.3% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.3 on a trailing basis and 15 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.26t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.42% compared with 10.18% in the previous session and the average of 12.15% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points |
|Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 80.9184| 1.3| 23/4
Materials | 56.1625| 2.4| 52/0
Industrials | 28.9132| 1.0| 21/5
Energy | 24.6246| 0.7| 34/6
Consumer Staples | 12.5782| 1.5| 10/1
Consumer Discretionary | 8.2754| 1.1| 12/1
Utilities | 6.9542| 0.8| 11/3
Real Estate | 3.6745| 0.7| 16/5
Health Care | 0.8436| 1.4| 3/1
Communication Services | 0.1854| 0.0| 3/2
Information Technology | -6.2061| -0.3| 5/5
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | 20.7000| 2.0| -31.9| -3.5
Bank of Montreal | 11.3400| 1.8| -41.1| 4.5
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 10.6200| 1.6| 2.7| 2.7
Waste Connections | -2.0000| -0.6| -31.1| 9.5
Fairfax Financial | -2.2620| -1.2| 9.6| 48.0
Cameco | -11.2900| -6.0| 57.0| 90.2
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street extended its rally Tuesday, shrugging off warnings from policymakers trying to rein in expectations for Federal Reserve rate cuts.
The Nasdaq 100 set another all-time high while the S&P 500 added 0.6%, fast approaching the benchmark’s record peak.
The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average also hit a fresh record.
Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said there was no urgency to cut rates. His prediction for only two cut rates in 2024 — well below traders expectations for at least five cuts — did little to dent market optimism.
Bonds clung to gains with yields on the US 10-year, a proxy for mortgage rates, slipping to around 3.93%.
The rate on the policy-sensitive two year hovered around 4.44%.
Traders digested a surge in new US home construction in November as builders continued to benefit from a limited supply of existing home sales.
Residential starts jumped 14.8% last month to a 1.56 million annualized rate, government data showed Tuesday.
“Overall, a solid read from the housing sector and one that reinforces the soft-landing narrative,” Ian Lyngen with BMO Capital Markets wrote.
The inversion of the Treasury yield curve — a closely watched indicator of a potential economic downturn — drew cautious comments from Ed Hyman, Evercore ISI’s founder and chairman.
“Similar to today, the US yield curve became more inverted in late 2007 as bond yields fell about -100bp,” Hyman wrote in a note to clients. “The Great Recession started 3 months later.”
Meanwhile, expectations for rate cuts are making investors the most optimistic since the beginning of 2022, a Bank of America Corp. survey showed Tuesday.
While Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin took a more dovish tone suggesting the US central bank would cut interest rates if recent progress on inflation continued, other policymakers have pushed back more aggressively against rate cut bets.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and the Cleveland Fed’s Loretta Mester suggested Monday that the expectations were premature.
The Fed’s messaging drew criticism from economist Mohamed El-Erian who warned that the central bank was letting the market control the narrative on interest rates. 
“Fed communication confuses people,” the president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist told Bloomberg Television. “I think we have a real problem.” “This Fed seems willing to be bullied,” he said.
Earlier, Japan’s Nikkei 225 equity index rallied and the yen slumped after the BOJ kept its policy rate at -0.10% and signaled it’s in no hurry to remove negative interest rates.
Japan’s central bank has been an outlier, having failed to even start tightening policy, while many peers appear set to wind down rate-hike cycles.
Investors are awaiting for this week’s data readouts including Wednesday’s existing home sales, Thursday’s the third quarter gross domestic product print and Friday’s durable goods orders and personal consumption expenditures — the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation — to firm up their rate bets.
Oil prices climbed as more companies shun the Red Sea after a spike in vessel attacks along the key shipping conduit.
Gold rose while Bitcoin and the dollar tumbled.

Key events this week:
* New Zealand issues half-year economic and fiscal update, Wednesday
* China loan prime rates, Wednesday
* UK inflation, Wednesday
* US Conference Board consumer confidence, existing home sales, Wednesday
* Bank Indonesia rate decision, Thursday
* US GDP, initial jobless claims, Conf. Board leading index, Thursday
* Nike earnings, Thursday
* Japan inflation, Friday
* UK GDP, Friday
* US personal income and spending, new home sales, durable goods, University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets: 
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.0978
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.2722
* The Japanese yen fell 0.8% to 143.90 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.9% to $42,213.94
* Ether fell 2% to $2,170.86
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.93%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 2.02%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 3.65%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.3% to $73.44 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,040.04 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Alexandra Semenova, Carter Johnson, Sujata Rao, Jason Scott and Tassia Sipahutar.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
A concentrated mind will pierce a rock. –Japanese Proverb.

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