December 30, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Full Moon tonight, also known as the cold moon.

Rudyard Kipling, author, b. 1865.
Bo Diddley, singer, b. 1928.
Sandy Koufax, baseball pitcher, b. 1935.
Tiger Woods, golfer, b. 1975.

December 30, 1950: Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia become independent states within the French Union.

On Dec. 30, 1972, the United States halted its heavy bombing of North Vietnam. Go to article »

If your New Year’s resolution is to “do better,” start here.-Bloomberg.

With the new year approaching here’s five ways to reset your goals for 2021. –The Telegraph

In Ancient Rome, New Year’s was on March 1^st.  The Roman calendar consisted of 10 months and 304 days, and the new year began at the vernal equinox.  The calendar, however, became out of sync, and in 46 BC, Julius Caesar created the Julian calendar, which closely resembles our modern Gregorian calendar.

New year is the glittering light to brighten the dream-lined pathway of future. -Munia Khan.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A diver in the Otoch Ha cave in Yucatan, Mexico
CREDIT: PETR POLACH/CATERS NEWS

The last full moon of 2020 rises over the snow capped Curbar Edge in the Peak District.
CREDIT: TOM MADDICK/SWNS

A handout photo made available by the United States Geological Survey shows the continuing eruption in the Halema’uma’u crater at Kilauea volcano, Hawaii
CREDIT: D DOWNS/USGS HANOUT/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK
Market Closes for December 30^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1963, American Express Warehousing, a unit of American Express, declared bankruptcy after storage tanks in Bayonne, N.J., that were supposed to contain $150 million worth of salad oil turned out to hold nothing but seawater.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities were flat Wednesday after briefly turning negative.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.01% in a mixed session. Materials and health care were among gainers while tech and real estate fell.
Gold notched a second straight gain as the dollar extended a slide to the lowest in more than two years. Copper slipped amid concern over the outlook for industrial-metals demand in China.
Canada is stepping up its virus response at the border by requiring all international travelers to present a negative Covid-19 test upon arrival.
Meanwhile, Bank of Montreal’s capital-markets division grabbed the top spot for Canadian equity sales in 2020, leading the ranking for the first time in a decade as the coronavirus pandemic pushed companies to stockpile cash.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $14.85 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.8% to ~$1,892 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.5% to C$1.2760 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield edged lower to 0.704%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 17,545.81 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.5 percent.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.9 percent. Fortuna Silver Mines Inc. had the largest increase, rising 7.2 percent.
Today, 141 of 222 shares rose, while 80 fell; 4 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2.1 percent
* This quarter, the index rose 8.8 percent
* This year, the index rose 2.8 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 2.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 57 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 2.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.4 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$2.71t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.14 percent compared with 8.17 percent in the previous session and the average of 11.45 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 43.7706| 1.8| 49/3
Health Care | 3.4845| 1.8| 8/1
Consumer Discretionary | 1.8946| 0.3| 8/5
Energy | 1.6331| 0.1| 19/4
Utilities | -0.3471| 0.0| 11/5
Industrials | -2.1197| -0.1| 18/11
Communication Services | -3.9513| -0.5| 1/6
Real Estate | -4.4195| -0.8| 7/18
Consumer Staples | -4.5745| -0.7| 2/9
Financials | -13.8250| -0.3| 15/11
Information Technology | -19.1677| -1.0| 3/7
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed, with small-cap shares outperforming in one of the final trading sessions of 2020. The dollar continued its slide, weakening to the lowest in 2 ½ years.
Automakers were among the best performers as the S&P 500 Index edged higher, while the Russell 2000 gauge of smaller companies rallied about 1% for its biggest gain in almost two weeks. Travel and leisure companies rose in Europe after the U.K. approved a coronavirus shot by AstraZeneca Plc and the University of Oxford, offsetting pessimism sparked by a slower- than-planned rollout of shots in the U.S. Volumes were light during the holiday week, with trading in S&P 500 shares about 25% below the 30-day average. Bitcoin extended its record-breaking rally as it approached $29,000. Investors have pushed stocks to sky-high valuations this year on expectations that widespread vaccine distribution in 2021 will reignite economic growth and boost corporate profits.
The U.S. government has started sending Americans $600 payments for pandemic relief, but discouraging news came from Texas, where at least three shipments of Moderna Inc.’s vaccine arrived with signs that the shots had strayed from their required temperature range. “Investors continue to weigh stimulus hopes against negative pandemic developments,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote to clients. “Markets have aggressively priced in a lot of positive resolution to these events (and more) in 2021.” With a volatile year coming to a close, risk assets such as stocks, corporate bonds and Bitcoin are sitting at or near record highs. The MSCI World Index of global stocks is set to end the year about 14% higher, having surged almost 68% since its March low.
On the coronavirus front, daily deaths in Germany surpassed 1,000 for the first time since the outbreak began, with a record increase in the last 24 hours. A Chinese state-backed vaccine developer said one of its shots prevents Covid-19 in almost 80% of people. U.S. President-elect Joe Biden criticized vaccine- distribution efforts under President Trump as too slow.
Elsewhere, Bloomberg’s dollar gauge fell to its lowest since April 2018 as traders squared currency positions ahead of the year’s end amid thin liquidity. Emerging-market stocks reached the highest level since 2007 on buoyant inflows.

Here are some key events coming up:
* U.S. initial jobless claims figures are published Thursday.
* Most global stock markets are closed Friday for New Year’s Day.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index gained 0.1% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Russell 2000 Index added 1.1%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.3%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 1.7%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.4%.
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.2294.
* The British pound climbed 0.9% to $1.3624.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.3% to 103.23 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries slipped one basis point to 0.93%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.58%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 0.21%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $48.29 a barrel.
* Gold strengthened 0.7% to $1,891.61 an ounce.
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc.

Have a nice evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Be in love with your life.  Every minute of it.
                      -Jack Kerouac, 1922-1969

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