December 20, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!
Carolann is away from the office; I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

December 20, 1790: 1st successful US cotton mill begins spinning yarn in Pawtucket, Rhode Island built by Samuel Slater based on Richard Arkwright‘s design

December 20, 1879: Thomas Edison privately demonstrated incandescent light at Menlo Park. Go to article

188 medieval figurines that held Christian saints’ bones unearthed in Berlin’s oldest town square
Archaeologists have found 188 medieval reliquaries during excavations at a square in Berlin. Some of them still contain human bones of people considered to be saints or holy.

Meteor strikes on the moon! Astronomer captures possible Geminid lunar impacts
A Japanese astronomer captured several impacts on the moon during the Geminid meteor shower.

Ancient Assyrian capital that’s been abandoned for 2,700 years revealed in new magnetic survey
A new magnetic survey of the ancient Assyrian capital of Khorsabad has revealed several structures, including a villa, buried underground.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Egrets rest among solar panels in Jiangsu, eastern China
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

An elephant inspects a bus in Kataragama, Sri Lanka
Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

Guests stand in the reception of the Parisian hotel resort which is decorated with a replica of The Coronation of Napoleon
Photograph: Eduardo Leal
Market Closes for December 20, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1994, Mexico plunged into financial crisis after announcing a shock devaluation of the peso. The currency lost 40% of its value over the next six weeks, spurring a deep recession.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.8% at 24,599.48 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.4% on Nov. 21 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.6%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
BlackBerry Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 23.1%.
Today, 165 of 219 shares rose, while 50 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 17%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 2.5%
* This month, the index fell 4.1%
* So far this week, the index fell 2.7%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Sept. 22
* The index advanced 19% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.8% below its 52-week high on Dec. 9, 2024 and 20.2% above its low on Feb. 13, 2024
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.4 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.85t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.38% compared with 10.11% in the previous session and the average of 8.59% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 44.3779| 0.5| 18/8
Materials | 35.4787| 1.3| 39/9
Information Technology | 35.2927| 1.4| 10/0
Industrials | 19.7660| 0.6| 20/7
Energy | 18.2220| 0.4| 26/15
Utilities | 9.2320| 1.0| 14/1
Consumer Discretionary | 9.0530| 1.1| 9/2
Real Estate | 7.2692| 1.5| 19/0
Consumer Staples | 3.3069| 0.3| 2/7
Communication Services | 2.1804| 0.4| 4/1
Health Care | 1.3526| 1.9| 4/0
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 22.3200| 1.7| 170.3| 51.9
Enbridge | 13.2800| 1.5| 111.8| 24.6
RBC | 10.8100| 0.6| 201.7| 29.4
Suncor | -1.8710| -0.4| 1.3| 16.8
Cameco | -1.9530| -0.8| 127.1| 32.1
TFI International | -3.1060| -2.7| 176.5| 10.4
US
By Rheaa Rao and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Major US stock indexes saw their worst week since mid-November after the Federal Reserve’s decision to be more cautious about cutting interest rates next year roiled markets.
Treasuries sold off for a second consecutive week.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rose on Friday — paring what would have been a steeper weekly selloff — after fresh data calmed anxieties about inflation.
Bloomberg’s dollar gauge saw its worst drop this month, but was still higher for the third straight week.
While Treasury yields are lower across the curve on Friday, the 10-year rate has climbed more than 10 basis points this week.
The Fed shook markets on Wednesday when it scaled back the number of cuts it anticipates in 2025.
A relentless stream of data showing how strong the economy is only validated the central bank’s view.
With Fed Chair Jerome Powell focused on inflation progress, the muted personal consumption expenditures data for November that released Friday likely reassured policymakers — and investors — that the economy is cooling despite being robust.
“I don’t know why we always have to be reminded that the Fed not cutting rates — or not cutting rates as fast — is actually good news if it’s driven by stronger economic data, and that’s exactly what the Fed is telling us,” Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, said in an interview, adding that the selloff after the Fed meeting was a “major overreaction.”
The Fed is now likely to wait and see how tariff and immigration policies unfold over the next coming months before implementing another cut, said Olu Sonola, Fitch Ratings’ head of US economic research.
With the central bank facing these policy uncertainties from the incoming administration, odds still favor a pause on rate cuts in January, said Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, E*Trade from Morgan Stanley.
Concerns also grew about a looming US government shutdown.
House Republicans said they will vote Friday on funding to keep the government open through March 14, provide disaster relief and give billions of dollars in economic aid to farmers.
“The real problem is the shutdown, one wasn’t expecting this, it’s a surprise for the market, just as the Fed was a surprise,” said Jeanne Asseraf-Bitton, head of research and strategy at BFT IM in Paris.
“All in all this week is a difficult one.”
Meanwhile, US consumer sentiment rose for a fifth month in December.
The sentiment index continues to reflect an improving outlook among Republicans after November’s election, while Democrats grow more downbeat.
Friday’s US options expiration, which has historically stoked turbulence, offered a final hurdle to end-of-year calm.
The quarterly “triple-witching” saw some $6.5 trillion worth of options tied to individual stocks, indexes and exchange-traded funds fall off the board, this year’s largest, according to an estimate from derivatives analytical firm Asym 500.
Elsewhere, Brazilian markets bounced at the end of the week amid extraordinary central bank moves to curb a selloff in the currency.
The real was among the best performers in emerging markets Friday.
In the UK, long-term government borrowing costs are approaching the highest level since 1998 as investors struggle to work out how much the Bank of England will cut interest rates next year.
In just one week, the market went from wagering on the possibility of four interest rate cuts next year to fewer than two, and then back to entertaining the chance of three.
In Asia, China’s one-year bond yield slumped to 1% for the first time since the global financial crisis, as traders ramped up bets on monetary easing.
The yen trimmed weekly losses after Japan’s key inflation gauge strengthened for the first time in three months and Finance Minister Katsunobu Kato warned against currency speculation.
Crude posted a weekly loss as traders mulled the Fed’s hawkish pivot and and President-elect Donald Trump’s threat to impose tariffs on EU countries unless they buy more US oil and gas.

Some of the main moves in markets
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.1% as of 4:14 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.8%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.5%
* The euro rose 0.6% to $1.0428
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.2575
* The Japanese yen rose 0.7% to 156.32 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2% to $95,420.2
* Ether fell 0.7% to $3,393.53
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 4.53%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.29%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined seven basis points to 4.51%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.2% to $69.51 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.2% to $2,623.86 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Margaryta Kirakosian, John Viljoen, Sagarika Jaisinghani, Emily Graffeo, Julien Ponthus and Andre Janse van Vuuren.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Shab
” Enthusiasm is the most important thing in life.”– Tennessee Williams

Shab Mohammadpour

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

Tel: 778.430.5808
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828
www.carolannsteinhoff.com