December 31, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: New Year’s Eve!🎉
Carolann is away from the office; I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

December 31, 1744: English astronomer James Bradley announces the discovery of Earth’s nutation, or wobble
December 31, 1781: Bank of North America, 1st US bank opens
December 31, 1857: Queen Victoria chooses Ottawa as new capital of Canada
December 31, 1974: Private U.S. citizens were allowed to buy and own gold for the first time in more than 40 years. Go to article

New Year’s celebrations around the world

New Year’s Eve dinner recipes that will dazzle your guests. Read more.

This red giant star has star spots larger than the entire sun
Astronomers modeled sunspot activity on a nearby red giant star to learn about its chaotic interior. Read more.

There’s a weird, disappearing dark spot on Saturn’s moon Enceladus
“After staring at dozens and dozens of image pairs, she found something interesting.” Read more.

10 jaw-dropping space photos that defined 2024
From solar storms to “shooting stars” over Stonehenge, here are our top 10 favorite space photos of 2024 — and what they told us about our beautiful cosmos. Read more.

Earth from space: ‘Lake of clouds’ appears between volcanic nesting dolls in Russia via rare mirror-like phenomenon
A photo captured a rare effect, known as sunglint, transforming the surface of one of Russia’s deepest lakes into a sea of swirling clouds. The crater lake is sandwiched between a pair of unusual volcanic “nesting dolls” on a Pacific island. Read more.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sydney, Australia
The 9pm fireworks are seen during New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney
Photograph: Bianca de Marchi/AAP

Lyon, France
A sound and light show is projected onto the facade of the Notre Dame de Fourvière basilica
Photograph: Mourad Allili/Sipa/Rex/Shutterstock

Seoul, South Korea
People take pictures as they observe the last sunset of the year on a viewing deck at Namsan tower
Photograph: Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for December 31, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.4% at 24,727.94 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 0.6% on Dec. 23 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.7%.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.2%.
Brookfield Business Partners LP had the largest increase, rising 7.1%.
Today, 188 of 223 shares rose, while 33 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 18%, poised for the best year since 2021
* This quarter, the index rose 3%
* This month, the index fell 3.6%
* The index advanced 18% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 22% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 4.3% below its 52-week high on Dec. 9, 2024 and 20.8% above its low on Feb. 13, 2024
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5% in the past 5 days and fell 3.6% in the past 30 days
* 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$3.89t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.52% compared with 10.48% in the previous session and the average of 8.99% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 41.3700| 1.0| 38/5
Materials | 24.9387| 0.9| 48/2
Industrials | 16.5062| 0.5| 25/3
Financials | 11.9703| 0.1| 20/5
Communication Services | 9.4905| 1.7| 5/0
Consumer Discretionary | 4.1585| 0.5| 10/1
Consumer Staples | 4.0864| 0.4| 8/2
Real Estate | 3.8814| 0.8| 19/1
Health Care | 0.9408| 1.3| 3/1
Utilities | -1.7297| -0.2| 9/6
Information Technology | -8.2760| -0.3| 3/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | 14.0400| 2.2| -73.6| 2.2
Enbridge | 8.0830| 0.9| -66.8| 27.9
BCE | 6.0680| 2.9| -40.4| -36.1
Shopify | -1.7830| -0.1| -54.8| 48.3
Bank of Nova Scotia | -2.0040| -0.3| -0.1| 19.7
Constellation Software | -4.2450| -0.7| -55.0| 35.3
US
By Rheaa Rao
(Bloomberg) — A string of volatile sessions for US stocks extended into 2024’s last day, marking an ominous close to an otherwise stellar year for North American equity investors.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 dropped for a fourth consecutive session in a year-end pullback that has shaved more than a trillion dollars from large-cap market values.
Still, losses remain just a blip in a advance that has lifted the S&P 500 more than 50% since the start of 2023, the best two-year gain since the late 1990s.
While yields remained higher across maturities on Tuesday, a broad gauge of Treasuries eked out an annual gain, albeit a smaller one than in 2023.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index had its best year in nearly a decade.
It was a year in which stocks, particularly those of US technology companies, outshone virtually every other asset class.
The S&P 500 has gained 23% in 2024, rising for the fifth time in six years, in an advance that added $10 trillion to US equity values.
The MSCI All-Country World Index climbed 16%.
In fixed income, the Vanguard Total Bond market exchange- traded fund finished with a gain of 1.5% including dividends, while the Bloomberg Commodity Index was essentially unchanged.
An ETF tracking a cross-asset portfolio encompassing equities, bonds and commodities, the RPAR Risk Parity ETF, was also little changed after dropping 6% in December.
Even as the US economy chugs along, cross-asset investors are heading into 2025 facing an array of challenges, first among them inflation and the Federal Reserve’s response to it — especially after Chair Jerome Powell signaled there would be fewer interest-rate cuts going forward. Another question is how President-elect Donald Trump’s pro-growth policies will affect consumer prices and federal finances.
Among individual commodities, gold had its best year since 2010.
Oil rose in thin holiday trading to close out a flat performance in 2024 as the market braces for a global surplus next year.
Cocoa’s 178% annual gain was driven by market volatility and concerns about supply.
European natural gas prices rose to the highest level since last November in anticipation of a halt in Russian flows via Ukraine on New Year’s Day.
European trading was muted in the final session of the year, with several markets shut on New Year’s Eve and shortened sessions in London and Paris.
In Asia, trading was also thin because several regional markets including South Korea’s were shut for a public holiday.
Japanese markets are closed through Jan. 6. Stocks fell in Australia and mainland China, with those in Hong Kong flat.

Key events this week:
* New Year’s Day holiday, Wednesday
* US construction spending, jobless claims, manufacturing PMI, Thursday
* US ISM manufacturing, light vehicle sales, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.4% as of 4:02 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.4% to $1.0361
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2521
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 157.33 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.7% to $93,503.26
* Ether rose 0.9% to $3,343.93
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.57%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.37%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 4.57%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.1% to $71.80 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.6% to $2,623.12 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from John Viljoen, Elizabeth Stanton and Isabelle Lee.

Happy New Year 2025!

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Shab
” The opportunity for brotherhood presents itself every time you meet a human being.” — Jane Wyman

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
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com