December 24, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Christmas.

Christmas Day was fixed by the Church in 440 AD to be December 25^th.  It was the day of the winter solstice, which had anciently been a time of festival among heathen peoples.  In Anglo Saxon England, the year began on December 25^th but from the late twelfth century until the adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1752, the year began on Lady Day, March 25^th.  Christmas Day has the advantage of being exactly nine months after Lady Day, the traditional length of  a human pregnancy. –from Brewster’s

Stay happy | How to look after your mental health at Christmas time. -The Telegraph.

Recently, clients of mine, a husband and wife,  brought me some vegetables that they grew in their garden.  One of the vegetables was a squash.  I deliberated what to do with it and then I found this recipe for curried winter squash and cauliflower soup in one of my cookbooks.  It turned out to be fantastic and Gary and I had three meals from this recipe for soup made with a single squash.

CURRIED WINTER SQUAH AND CAULIFLOWER SOUP
The literati who gathered at the Algonquin Hotel in the 1930s were never so involved in haute culture that they forgot about haute cuisine.  One of their favorites was a curried concoction called Algonquin Special Soup.  So popular was this dish with Gertrude Stein that she requested the recipe from the Algonquin’s chef, who provided it, as Alice B. Toklas puts it, “through the kindness of the so amiable maître d’hôtel Georges.  Our version of that curried soup is also lovable and warming, especially on a cold December night in front of the fireplace.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil                                                      3 cups butternut squash, peeled and diced
1 onion, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped                                                            1 head cauliflower, trimmed and cut into florets
1 pear or apple, peeled, cored, and chopped                              1 small potato, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon curry powder, or to taste                                         Salt and pepper
½ teaspoon ground coriander                                                  ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
6 cups Chicken Stock or Vegetable Stock                                   ½ cup sour cream

In a large heavy saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Cook onion, celery, and pear about 4 minutes.  Stir in curry powder and coriander and cook another minute.  Add stock and bring to boil.  Add squash, cauliflower, and potato and simmer 20 minutes.  Purée in a blender or food processor and taste for salt and pepper.  Purée the cilantro leaves with sour cream.  Ladle soup into individual bowls.  Swirl some cilantro cream into each serving.
P.S. This is the actual recipe; I used pear and it was wonderful.  I found the soup needed a lot more curry than the recipe calls for and I added a couple of additional Indian spices as well.

“The clock is no longer ticking.”
—EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier
PHOTOS  OF THE DAY

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is pictured after calling President of European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.
CREDIT: PIPPA FOWLES/NO10 DOWNING STREET

A British man offers a bottle of whisky to a customs officer from Le Havre to celebrate after Great Britain become a member of the European Economic Community (EEC) on January 1, 1973
CREDIT: JEAN-PIERRE PREVEL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A woman holds up Euro notes that she withdrew from an ATM machine moments after midnight January 1, 2002 in Maastricht, The Netherlands.
CREDIT: TELEGRAPH, DECEMBER 24, 2020
Market Closes for December 24^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1963, total trading volume for the year-to-date exceeded 1.124 billion shares on the New York Stock Exchange—finally surpassing the annual record set in 1929.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets climbed for second straight day after health care stocks gained.
The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.2% in Toronto. Pot stocks led the outperformance in the health care sector.
Meanwhile, tech stocks slumped, led by Shopify. Magna International rose 9% after LG Electronics said it plans to spin off some its electric-car components business into a new joint venture with the Canadian group.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $14.75 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $1,872.12 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.4%. It was at C$1.2852 per U.S. dollar as of 4pm New York time.
* The 10-year Canada government bond yields rose 3 basis points to 0.729%.

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite is rising for the third day, climbing 0.2 percent, or 36.43 to 17,630.00 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7 percent. TransAlta Renewables Inc. had the largest increase, rising 6.5 percent.
In midday trading, 126 of 222 shares rose, while 92 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 0.5 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 9.3 percent
* This month, the index rose 2.5 percent
* This year, the index rose 3.3 percent, poised for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 2.6 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI  AC Americas Index gained 17 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.9 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 57.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 2.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.5 on a trailing basis and 23.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.71t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.64 percent compared with 8.71 percent in the previous session and the average of 12.40 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 22.2698| 1.2| 6/3
Utilities | 5.9421| 0.7| 13/3
Financials | 5.8369| 0.1| 15/11
Industrials | 3.5807| 0.2| 15/14
Consumer Staples | 2.9512| 0.4| 8/3
Real Estate | 2.1166| 0.4| 20/5
Communication Services | 2.1116| 0.2| 6/0
Materials | 0.6033| 0.0| 31/21
Health Care | -3.6103| -1.7| 4/5
Consumer Discretionary | -5.2190| -0.8| 6/7
Energy | -6.7907| -0.3| 2/20
US
By Yakob Peterseil
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for a second day in holiday-shortened trading as investors monitored the latest developments on the Congressional aid package, while the pound strengthened after a post-Brexit trade accord agreement was reached.
The S&P 500 edged higher, with technology and real estate shares gaining, while financials and energy stocks led declines.
A scuffle over pandemic relief is set to run up against a federal funding deadline next week as Democrats side with President Donald Trump in his demand for $2,000 payments to most Americans. The dollar weakened and Treasury yields were little changed.
The pound strengthened and the Stoxx 600 Index gained after the U.K. clinched a historic trade deal with the European Union, averting the threat of an acrimonious breakup and laying the foundations for a new relationship with its biggest and nearest commercial partner. Alibaba Group Holding’s U.S.-listed shares tumbled the most ever in intraday trading on concern over China’s inquiry into alleged monopolistic practices at the e-commerce company. Volumes were subdued in many countries on Thursday. Most financial markets will be closed Friday for Christmas Day.
“Right now we have a lot of animal spirits surging into year end,” Michael Purves, founder and CEO at Tallbacken Capital Advisors, said on Bloomberg TV. “As constructive as I am on markets in the broader term, I do expect there will be a hangover of sorts to process this over-extension some time later this winter.”

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index rose 0.2% as of 12:46 p.m. New York time.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.2% to 30,129.83.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.2% to 12,771.11.
*The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.1% to 395.98, the highest in a week.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.1% to 1,125.77.
*The euro was little changed at $1.2185.
*The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3551, the strongest in a week.
*The Japanese yen depreciated 0.1% to 103.64 per dollar, the weakest in more than a week.
Bonds
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased one basis point to 0.93%.
*Germany’s 10-year yield rose five basis points to -0.55%, reaching the highest in more than three weeks on the first advance in a week and the biggest rise in more than six weeks.
*Britain’s 10-year yield dipped three basis points to 0.257%.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 0.3% to $47.97 a barrel.
*Gold strengthened 0.3% to $1,878.80 an ounce.
–With assistance from Vassilis Karamanis and Adam Haigh.

Have a wonderful holiday season everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win.
                                                                  -Mahatma Gandhi, 1869-1948

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