December 14, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1939: The Soviet Union is expelled from the League of Nations for invading Finland.
1979: The album “London Calling” by the Clash was released. Go to article »
1911: Amundsen reaches the South Pole.
Nostradamus, b. 1503.

Listen to a Martian dust storm engulf the Perseverance rover in eerie, world-first audio recording: A towering dust storm that engulfed the Mars Perseverance rover in September 2021 was a colossal 390.4 feet (119 meters) tall, the first-ever audio recording of a dust devil on the surface of Mars reveals.   The recording, an analysis of which was published Tuesday (Dec. 13) in the journal Nature Communications, also reveals brand-new information about how these short-lived phenomena move dust around on the Red Planet.  Full Story: Live Science (12/13)

James Webb Space Telescope captures ‘extraordinary’ clouds in the atmosphere of Saturn’s alien moon Titan: Scientists spotted something exciting on Saturn’s moon Titan in images taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope in early November — clouds. Specifically, clouds in Titan’s northern hemisphere.  To a casual observer, clouds might be a dime a dozen. But to scientists, clouds can reveal a lot about the atmosphere of a planet (or in this case, a moon). Titan is the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere, so studying clouds helps scientists understand how Titan’s atmosphere works — and why it has an atmosphere in the first place.
Full Story: Live Science (12/14)

Why is Christmas celebrated on Dec. 25?  birth date of Jesus Christ is not known with certainty, why was this day selected?  There are two major theories as to why Christmas is celebrated on Dec. 25. One, sometimes called the “history of religion” hypothesis, suggests that Christmas supplanted one or more pagan holidays. The other theory, often called the “computation” or “calculation” hypothesis, suggests that early Christians used some form of calculation to arrive at Dec. 25 as Jesus’ birthday.  Full Story: Live Science

Disease-riddled skeletons suggest leprosy and smallpox ravaged medieval German village: More than one-third of the individuals buried in an early medieval cemetery in Germany suffered from infectious diseases, a new study reveals.  Researchers from Kiel University in Germany examined the DNA and skeletal remains of 70 people who were buried in the community cemetery located in Lauchheim Mittelhofen, a town in what is now present-day Germany. Full Story: Live Science (12/13)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Yan’an, China
Icicles and a rainbow form over the Hukou waterfall
Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Frankfurt, Germany
Icelandic horses feed at a stud farm
Photograph: Michael Probst/AP

Málaga, Spain
The festival of Rondeles in the village of Casarabonela, a tradition dating back to the 18th century in which millers thank the Virgin Mary for the olive harvest
Photograph: Lorenzo Carnero/ZUMA Press Wire/REX/Shutterstock
Market Closes for December 14^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1900, German physicist Max Planck, in a lecture at the German Physical Society, introduced the theory of quantum mechanics. Today its principles of discontinuity and packets of emitted energy underlie sectors of the U.S. economy, including semiconductors, lasers and medical MRI devices.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.7% at 19,891.65in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.2% on Dec. 6 and follows the previous session’s little change.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.3%.
Transcontinental Inc. had the largest drop, falling 7.5%.
Today, 154 of 237 shares fell, while 78 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index fell 6.3%, poised for the worst year since 2018
* This quarter, the index rose 7.8%, heading for the biggest advance since the fourth quarter of 2020
* The index declined 3.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 15% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 10.5% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 11.3% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.4% in the past 5 days and was little changed in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.1 on a trailing basis and 12.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 14.77% compared with 14.61% in the previous session and the average of 16.35% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -51.8165| -0.9| 8/22
Industrials | -19.7317| -0.7| 14/13
Energy | -16.4884| -0.5| 19/19
Materials | -13.5634| -0.6| 8/39
Communication Services | -7.7758| -0.8| 3/4
Utilities | -7.5200| -0.8| 5/11
Information Technology | -6.9743| -0.6| 3/11
Consumer Staples | -6.8915| -0.8| 2/9
Real Estate | -1.3910| -0.3| 8/13
Health Care | -0.9806| -1.2| 1/6
Consumer Discretionary | 1.3112| 0.2| 7/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | -14.3100| -1.3| -26.2| -9.8
Canadian Pacific | -13.0600| -1.9| -13.6| 16.8
Canadian National | -8.6100| -1.2| -34.1| 9.8
Rogers Communications| 2.3890| 1.6| -60.1| 1.9
Dollarama | 2.6190| 1.7| 5.5| 28.1
First Quantum Minerals | 4.3210| 3.6| -4.9| 6.8
US
By Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks snapped a two-day rally after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reiterated his hawkish stance but signaled the central bank is getting “close” to reaching the end of a tightening cycle that pushed rates from near zero to 4.5% since March.
While Wednesday’s volatile session saw the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 swing between gains and losses, the indexes ended lower after the Fed raised rates by half a percentage point and signaled more increases are to come.
The hawkish decision and subsequent comments from Powell likewise whipsawed Treasuries, with rates spiking higher before coming back to pre-decision levels. The dollar dropped for a second session.
Powell indicated the Fed intends to keep at its battle with inflation, as officials projected rates would end next year at 5.1%.
But his assertion that the cycle could be near an end was enough to ease the worst of the stock declines on Wednesday.
The Fed also projects economic growth to slow to next year, with inflation remaining well above its 2% target.
“Powell was crystal clear that the Fed is basically indifferent to inter-meeting moves in financial conditions but that they control those conditions over time,” said Gerard MacDonell of 22V Research.
Some investors saw the silver lining in Powell’s remarks.
“The most encouraging of Powell’s comments is the acknowledgment of how core inflation is coming down more than expected as evidenced by new rental leases coming at levels significantly below data being used to calculate core consumer price index,” said Bryce Doty, senior vice president at Sit Investment Associates. “This is a big deal given that housing is the largest component of core CPI. Therefore, we wouldn’t be surprised if Powell uses this as a primary reason for halting rate increases at their May meeting.”
Key events this week:
* China medium-term lending, property investment, retail sales, industrial production, surveyed jobless, Thursday
* ECB rate decision and ECB President Lagarde briefing, Thursday
* Rate decisions for UK BOE, Mexico, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thursday
* US cross-border investment, business inventories, empire manufacturing, retail sales, initial jobless claims, industrial production, Thursday
* Eurozone S&P Global PMI, CPI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.0679
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.2424
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 135.26 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin was little changed at $17,772.42
* Ether fell 0.9% to $1,308.22
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined three basis points to 3.47%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 1.94%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to 3.31%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.7% to $77.42 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.3% to $1,819.90 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Emily Graffeo.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Sakim had taught me to be wary of evidence given by others, for in all evidence there is some interpretation.
The eyes see, the mind explains.  But does the mind explain correctly?  The mind only has what experience and education
have given it, and perhaps that is not enough.  Because one has seen does not mean one knows. –Louis L’Amour, 1908-1988.

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