December 10, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
December 10, 1968: Japan’s biggest heist, the still unsolved “300 million yen robbery”, occurs in Tokyo.  A man posing as a police officer on a motorcycle stopped a truck transporting money for a bank, stealing over 294 million yen.

1998 Six astronauts opened the doors to the new international space station.  Go to article »
 
Alfred Nobel, d. 1896
Emily Dickinson, poet, b. 1830
Red Cloud, Lakota Chief, d.1909

There’s a certain
Slant of light,
Winter Afternoon,
That oppresses,
Like the Heft of Cathedral Tunes.
                  -Emily Dickinson

New eye drops could replace eyeglasses.

These meat-eating dinosaurs could sprint as fast as Usain Bolt.  You know, there’s a lot that’s wrong with the world, but at least we don’t have ultra-fast meat-eating dinosaurs running around anymore. 

Camels ejected from beauty contest over Botox use and other ‘tampering’.  Sorry, still trying to wrap my head around the phrase “camel beauty contest.” 

Pitchfork’s 50 best albums of 2021.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
A tornado in the sky over the ‘Eternal City’
CREDIT: Antonio Masiello/Getty Images
A sculpture by artist Fabio Viale during the exhibition In Between at Piazzetta Reale
CREDIT: Marco Bertorello/AFP/Getty Images
The coffin of former senator Bob Dole lies in state at the end of the viewing day in the rotunda of the US Capitol
CREDIT: Andrew Harnik/AP

Market Closes for December 10^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1984, Sandy Lerner and Leonard Bosack—two professors in different academic departments at Stanford who were frustrated by their difficulty in communicating by computer—founded Cisco Systems to make improved network switching equipment.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the third straight session Friday, dragged down by companies in the health care, consumer staples and information technologies sectors. The S&P/TSX Composite closed down 0.2%, or 34.87 to 20,890.62 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.2 percent. Canopy Growth Corp. had the largest drop, falling 6.0 percent to C$12.18 per share, its lowest price since Oct. 2017. Today, 137 of 233 shares fell, while 91 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.

Insights
* This year, the index rose 20%, heading for the best year in at least 10 years
* This quarter, the index rose 4.1%
* So far this week, the index rose 1.2%
* The index advanced 19 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 26 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.2 percent below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 20.8 percent above its low on Jan. 29, 2021
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.8 on a trailing basis and 15.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent 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 14.12 percent compared with 14.46 percent in the previous session and the average of 11.21 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | -32.2890| -1.4| 10/5
* Materials | -14.1965| -0.6| 13/40
* Consumer Staples | -12.5171| -1.6| 8/5
* Health Care | -4.4293| -2.6| 1/8
* Utilities | -1.8600| -0.2| 3/12
* Real Estate | -1.0983| -0.2| 5/19
* Consumer Discretionary | 0.2484| 0.0| 5/8
* Energy | 3.5278| 0.1| 14/7
* Industrials | 3.6918| 0.2| 11/19
* Communication Services | 5.8466| 0.6| 5/2
* Financials | 18.1990| 0.3| 16/12
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | -32.8200| -2.2| -9.8| 29.2
* Couche-Tard | -14.3900| -4.7| 620.3| 14.9
* First Quantum Minerals | -4.7180| -4.1| 13.1| 24.6
* Royal Bank of Canada | 4.4500| 0.4| -30.5| 24.5
* Nutrien | 4.5140| 1.3| -11.2| 46.1
* Brookfield Asset Management | 6.3770| 0.9| -57.6| 42.2

US
By Jennifer Bissell-Linsk and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose to a record Friday after in-line inflation data spurred bets the Federal Reserve won’t have to accelerate plans to tighten monetary policy. The S&P 500 gained 1% and Nasdaq 100 added 1.1% as the headline rate came in at 6.8%, as expected, which is the highest since 1982. Meanwhile, the yield on the U.S. 10-year Treasury fell to 1.49% as traders trimmed bets on the pace of Fed tightening. Investors had been looking forward to the inflation report and a meeting of the Federal Reserve next week for clues on the pace of tapering and interest rate increases, after Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank should consider withdrawing stimulus at a faster pace.
Gold jumped while the dollar dipped. The in-line reading “is good news, relative to fears going in. People thought it would be much worse,” said Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research. “It is still a high number to be sure, but should reduce some worries on the Fed having to crush growth.” The report comes as uncertainty from the omicron virus variant has also been weighing on markets.
The U.S. appears to be headed for a holiday crisis as virus cases and hospital admissions climb. Likewise, London firms have started telling thousands of staff to work from home. Still, U.S. consumer sentiment has been improving, with one gauge showing an increase in confidence from a decade-low in November. “We believe the stock market will continue to rise as consumer spending remains strong and corporate profits – for now — are continuing to grow, but increased volatility is likely over the next 6-12 months as inflation, interest rates and Fed policy are all going to be shifting much more rapidly than they have in the past,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. “The most important thing investors can do is to remain diversified and not lean too heavily into any one area.”

Below is additional commentary from market watchers:
* “The inflation print from this morning will reinforce the Fed’s resolve to accelerate tapering. With the strength in the economic recovery, it is time to take the crutches away.” – Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist for Commonwealth Financial Network
* “The knee jerk reaction is one of relief that CPI didn’t print the 7%-handle. But the data are still strong, particularly the trend in core CPI, so a faster Fed taper will likely result.
Equities should therefore fail to hold these gains.” – Peter Chatwell, head of multi-asset strategy at Mizuho International
* “Stocks are likely rallying because this is exactly what was priced in … The messaging is yes, this is hot, yes, we knew this — and that’s why the market is now able to move onto the next thing that it frets about and that’s the message that we get from the Fed.” – Art Hogan, chief markets strategist at National Securities
* “The market doesn’t like uncertainty and this morning’s muted reaction or rally is likely the result of two things: (1) Thursday’s dip presented another buying opportunity, and (2) the news on inflation was fairly locked in and certain to be high, at or near that 6.7 expectation.” – Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment officer and co-founder of Defiance ETFs
* “Many have felt the effects of inflation in their day-to-day, so this likely isn’t a huge shocker to the market … Though with all systems go on the labor market front, and inflation running white-hot, the Fed is likely feeling the pressure to act.” – Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade Financial

Among company moves, Oracle Corp. shares surged after the software firm’s sales beat estimates, while Moderna Inc. tumbled after results from its experimental seasonal flu shot appeared similar to another vaccine on the market. In Europe, Daimler AG’s trucks division gained in its first trading day as the storied German manufacturer completed a historic spinoff.  Separately, China Evergrande Group Chairman Hui Ka Yan was forced to sell pledged shares in the company, according to disclosures that came a day after the developer was officially labeled a defaulter for the first time.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1% as of 4:03 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.6%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1317
* The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.3267
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 113.44 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 1.49%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.35%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 0.74%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $72.01 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,782.90 an ounce
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric, Denitsa Tsekova, Natalia Kniazhevich, Cecile Gutscher and Abigail Moses.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Do not pray for an easy life, pray for the strength to endure a difficult one. –Bruce Lee, 1940-1973.

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

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

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