December 17, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Saturnalia December 17-23: Roman masters served their slaves.
1790: Aztec calendar stone discovered.
On Dec. 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright made the first successful man-powered airplane flight, near Kitty Hawk, N.C.  Go to article »

Holly and Ivy have been used to decorate homes since the 9^th century because they symbolise everlasting life.  The holly represents Christ’s crown of thorns and the berries his blood.

Astronomers are finding lots of ORCs and have no idea what they are. 

You’re doing hot chocolate wrong.

This restaurant has spent 1,200 years perfecting Christmas dinner

Hauling a tree in a Ferrari is totally normal.

Finally, with all the doom and gloom this winter, it’s important to remember to look on the bright side from time to time. If you knew where to look though, there was plenty of it in 2020. Harriet Barber rounds up the good news of 2020, from scientific breakthroughs and political firsts to mating pandas and rebounding Tasmanian devils. –The Telegraph.

Late Night:
President Trump’s would-be neighbors in Palm Beach, Fla., are opposing his plan to move to his Mar-a-Lago resort after he leaves the White House next month, citing the 1993 agreement Trump signed converting the property from a private residence into a social club.
“What an interesting turn of events,” Jimmy Kimmel said Wednesday. “This started with Donald Trump’s father, who made his fortune evicting people from their homes; now it ends with his son getting evicted from not one, but two houses in one month. In other words, God exists and has a very good sense of humor about all of this.”
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Tourists walk amongst beach foam in the wake of cyclonic conditions at Currumbin Beach 
CREDIT: PATRICK HAMILTON/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Bocketts Farm in Surrey, England has welcomed a newborn Cria ( baby Alpaca). The newborn is pictured with Ethan who is almost two years old
CREDIT: OLIVER DIXON

Model train enthusiast Gerhard Berndt explains details of his layout in his living room in Berlin. After years of stagnating sales, the model railway market has seen a boost in 2020, due to the restrictions imposed during the Coronavirus Covid-19 pandemic 
CREDIT: JOHN MACDOUGALL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A man rides his bike in front of a Christian Dior shop, illuminated for Christmas and New Year celebrations in Paris
CREDIT: ALAIN JOCARD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for December 17^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1903, the airplane age was born at 10:35 a.m., when Orville Wright headed into a 27-mph twisting wind and flew roughly 10 feet above the frigid sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, N.C., covering a distance of about 120 feet in 12 seconds.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks advanced Thursday, rising for a third straight session.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.5%, with materials and tech stocks leading. Health care lagged.
Gold rose to a one-month high after the Federal Reserve reiterated its commitment to supporting the economy and optimism grew that a virus-relief package will soon be delivered by U.S. lawmakers.
The Bank of Canada may be forced to wind down its bond purchases next year because its holdings are getting too large, but don’t expect the move to drive up domestic borrowing costs, CIBC said.
Canada’s population growth ground to a halt in the third quarter after travel restrictions and closed borders prevented most forms of immigration.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $14.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1.1% to ~$1,886 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1% to C$1.2726 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 1.3 basis points to 0.742%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.5 percent, or 85.52 to 17,652.94 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Feb. 21.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.2 percent. Seabridge Gold Inc. had the largest increase, rising 9.3 percent.
Today, 127 of 222 shares rose, while 93 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 0.6 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 9.5 percent
* This year, the index rose 3.5 percent, poised for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 3.4 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.8 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 58 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.3 percent in the past 5 days and rose 4.2 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 27 on a trailing basis and 23.7 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 fell to 10.03 percent compared with 10.07 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.68 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 60.8099| 2.5| 49/3
Information Technology | 33.4982| 1.9| 9/1
Industrials | 12.9622| 0.6| 14/14
Consumer Discretionary | 4.0283| 0.6| 11/2
Utilities | 1.1812| 0.1| 7/8
Consumer Staples | -0.3788| -0.1| 4/7
Health Care | -3.5517| -1.7| 3/6
Real Estate | -3.5688| -0.6| 4/22
Communication Services | -4.7592| -0.5| 1/6
Financials | -5.4476| -0.1| 13/13
Energy | -9.2375| -0.5| 12/11
US
By Claire Ballentine and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks notched a solid gain to close at all-time highs, even as lawmakers continue to wrangle over a federal-spending deal.
The S&P 500 climbed for a third day, even with Republicans and Democrats still unable to reach an agreement that would assist millions of Americans who face losing virus-era assistance later this month. Investors earlier took an unexpectedly large rise in jobless claims as a sign the two sides would be prodded toward a deal. The dollar slumped, Treasury yields rose and oil advanced. Bitcoin breached $23,000 for the first time.
With the clock ticking to renew pandemic aid, leaders in Washington are under pressure to resolve their differences after months of deadlock amid signs of a faltering economic recovery.
The country continues to set records for virus infections and deaths, with more jurisdictions tightening lockdowns in a renewed threat to the economy.
In Europe, lawmakers cleared the bloc’s 1.8 trillion-euro ($2.2 trillion) stimulus package on Wednesday. Cyclical shares such as miners and retailers rose on news that the rollout of a Covid vaccine would begin this month. The pound climbed and the euro rose to the highest since April 2018 as officials cautiously predicted a Brexit deal within days. Both held their gains after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said “big differences” remain. “Investors know that the environment for businesses and for earnings is going to be good in the medium and long-term,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank. “The global economy and the U.S. in particular is going to go through a tough patch here in the next few months. However, the central banks and the future looks good.” Emmanuel Macron’s office said he’d tested positive for the coronavirus. The French president, 42, will self-isolate during seven days, while continuing to work, his office said. The number of virus deaths reached another daily record in the U.S., while the first known allergic reaction to the Pfizer Inc. vaccine was reported in Alaska as some snarls began to emerge in the effort to send the shots across the country.
Elsewhere, oil held gains in the wake of a surprise decline in U.S. crude inventories. Stocks across Asia saw modest advances.

Here are some key events coming up:
* Policy decisions from central banks in Japan and Russia are due Friday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index advanced 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time, the highest on record.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.5%.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 0.8%.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4% to the lowest in almost three years.
*The euro gained 0.6% to $1.2267, the strongest in almost three years.
*The Japanese yen appreciated 0.3% to 103.11 per dollar, the strongest in more than nine months.
Bonds
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 0.93%.
*Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to -0.57%.
*Britain’s 10-year yield rose one two basis points to 0.29%.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude gained 1.1% to $48.36 a barrel, the highest in almost 10 months.
*Gold futures strengthened 1.6% to $1,889 an ounce, the highest in almost six weeks.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Cecile Gutscher and Brendan Walsh.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

In the war between falsehood and truth  falsehood wins the first battle and truth the last.
                                                                       -Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, 1920-1975

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