December 11, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

1998 The House Judiciary Committee approved three articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton.  Go to article »

UNICEF founded.

1936: Edward VIII abdicates to marry Wallis Simpson.

Other notable ‘of the year’ mentions: LeBron James as Athlete of the Year, and Korean pop band BTS as Entertainer of the Year. 

Surprise, Taylor Swift has a new album just five months after the release of her Grammy-nominated “Folklore.”

GIFTS FROM CYBERSPACE: A fried chicken key chain. A giant acrylic frog. A $12,000 crystal ham. We recommend perusing this gift guide that is equal parts bizarre and delightful.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Snow sculptors processing an artwork in the compound of the 33rd Harbin Sun Island International Snow Sculpture Art Exposition in Harbin, northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province.
CREDIT: XINHUA/SHUTTERSTOCK

People stand in the “Mill”, a 20m long natural ice cave created by melted water accumulated during the summer and by a siphon effect leaves in the autumn giving way to an ice cathedral, at the Glacier 3000 ski resort in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.
CREDIT: REUTERS/DENIS BALIBOUSE

An acrobatic stoat somersaults through the air. The excitable animal chased birds on the windless morning and later caught a rabbit. After making its catch, it dragged its prize to a nearby rabbit hole, away from other predators such as foxes and buzzards. The pictures were taken at Marazion Marsh, Cornwall, UK.
CREDIT: BOB SHARPLES/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

The very rare and endangered Anolis Proboscis (also known as the Ecuadorian Horned Anole) was believed to have become extinct for more than 40 years before being rediscovered by scientists again back in 2004 in Ecuador. This long-nosed canopy-dwelling lizard has a cryptic camouflage helping it to blend in with the mossy vegetation making it a challenge to spot. The function of the male’s unusual “nose” (proboscis) is not fully understood yet. The nose is flimsy, so it is unlikely he would use it as weapon of defence in battles between with other males. Only the male has the long pointy nose appendage, so perhaps it’s size may show its good genes to females. 
CREDIT: DAVID WEILLER/WENN

A Kazakh man stands amongst the rugged terrain of the Altai region with his eagle. A rare image has captured a Mongolian female eagle hunter – one of only ten who participate in this male dominated tradition.  The eagles are treated like a respected member of the family and live alongside their masters and mistresses. 
CREDIT: MEDIADRUMIMAGES

Market Closes for December 11^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1941, after the U.S. had declared war, the New York Stock Exchange suspended trading in all “enemy securities,” including 36 issues from Germany, 10 from Japan, nine from Italy, six from Austria, five from Hungary and one from Bulgaria.

Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose for a sixth straight week after rallies in various oil & gas producers on higher oil prices. The S&P/TSX Composite Index still dropped 0.25% Friday, as health care and consumer discretionary retreated. On the U.S. stimulus front, the Senate passed a one-week stopgap spending bill Friday, giving President Donald Trump just enough time to sign it and avert a government shutdown after current funding runs out at midnight. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stepped up efforts to hit Canada’s emissions targets by 2030, pledging billions in new money to combat climate change and increasing in his marquee carbon tax.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.85 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.2% to $1,840.00 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% to C$1.2767 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 2.3 basis points to 0.712%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3 percent at 17,548.92 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.2 percent. Brookfield Asset Management Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.6 percent. Ero Copper Corp. had the largest drop, falling 3.9 percent. Today, 121 of 222 shares fell, while 96 rose; 6 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* This quarter, the index rose 8.9 percent
* This year, the index rose 2.8 percent, poised for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 3.6 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.3 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 57.1 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.9 on a trailing basis and 23.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.7t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.01 percent compared with 10.87 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.59 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -18.3106| -0.3| 8/18
Information Technology | -11.1435| -0.6| 4/5
Consumer Discretionary | -10.8009| -1.6| 0/13
Materials | -9.9709| -0.4| 18/34
Health Care | -3.7298| -1.8| 2/8
Real Estate | -0.0858| 0.0| 16/10
Energy | 0.1709| 0.0| 13/8
Utilities | 0.7784| 0.1| 8/8
Communication Services | 2.0256| 0.2| 4/2
Consumer Staples | 2.0680| 0.3| 7/4
Industrials | 4.5817| 0.2| 16/11

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks pared losses as lawmakers passed a stopgap spending bill to avert a federal-government shutdown, but gave no signals of an imminent stimulus deal. In a volatile session, the S&P 500 quickly trimmed a slidethat reached about 1% earlier Friday. The equity benchmark still notched its worst weekly drop since October amid an impasse over a relief package and concern about tougher restrictions as coronavirus cases swept across the nation. Giants Facebook Inc.and Tesla Inc. paced declines in the Nasdaq 100, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose as Walt Disney Co. soared to an all-time high after a bold forecast for its new streaming services.
     With the clock ticking down on stimulus as lawmakers approach their year-end break, bipartisan talks are hung up on differences between Republicans and Democrats on shielding companies from virus-related lawsuits. While both sides are closer than ever to agreeing on a price tag — coalescing around a $900 billion figure — there’s no sign they can get a deal anytime soon. In the meantime, the U.S. appears poised to cross 300,000 Covid-19 deaths in the next week, a sign of the unprecedented gravity of the pandemic as states prepare for their first vaccinations.
“It’s essential that Congress puts aside differences and finds agreement on a stimulus program before the end of the year,” said Craig Erlam, senior market analyst at Oanda.  “Lawmakers are running out of time.” Earnings estimates for the next two years make U.S. stocks look more costly in historical terms than just one year’s worth of projections, or even past results.
The S&P 500 closed Thursday at 26 times earnings, using a gauge that takes estimates for the longer time period into account. That’s close to the Sept. 2 ratio of 27.2, the highest since data compiled by Bloomberg starts in 1990. This indicator was cited by Jeffrey Gundlach, chief executive officer of DoubleLine Capital LP, in a presentation Tuesday. The benchmark hasn’t set a similar high relative to the past year’s earnings or next year’s estimates.
     Elsewhere, the pound fell after Prime Minister Boris Johnson and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen both warned that a no-deal Brexit is looming on Dec. 31 as they continued last-ditch talks to try to reach a deal before Sunday.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.8%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index climbed 0.3%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.2%.
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.2115.
* The British pound declined 0.5% to $1.3222.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.2% to 104.04 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell two basis points to 0.89%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped three basis points to -0.64%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to 0.172%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude dipped 0.4% to $46.61 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.1% to $1,839.02 an ounce.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Todd White, Cecile Gutscher and David Wilson.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It ain’t what they call you, it’s what you answer to.
                                   –W.C. Fields, 1880-1946

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

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

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