Dear Friends,
Tangents:
December 9, 1968: The first computer mouse is demonstrated publicly by Douglas Engelbart, revolutionizing human-computer interaction.
December 9, 2002: United Airlines filed the biggest bankruptcy in aviation history after losing $4 billion in the previous two years. Go to article.
John Milton, poet, b. 1608.
Jean de Brunhoff, writer, b. 1899.
Redd Foss, comedian, b. 1922.
Joan Armatratrading, singer, b. 1950.
John Malkovich, actor, b. 1953.
| The ‘hobbits’ may have died out when drought forced them to compete with modern humans, new research suggests |
A reduction in rainfall may have played a sizable role in the extinction of Homo floresiensis, the archaic human species nicknamed the "hobbit," a new study finds. Read More.
| Historic search for ‘huge missing piece’ of the universe turns up negative — but reveals new secrets of particle physics |
Scientists hunted dark matter and solar neutrinos with one of the largest experiments yet. While the neutrinos likely appeared, dark matter results couldn’t be confirmed. Read More.
| Is the ‘Star of Bethlehem’ really a planet? A bright visitor this month may hold a clue. |
A brilliant point of light is rising in the eastern sky soon after dark this month, drawing comparisons to the "Star of Bethlehem."
| Glue strong enough to tow a car made from used cooking oil |
Chemists used waste cooking oil to create a sustainable, super-sticky adhesive that’s strong enough to hold up hundreds of pounds of weight. Read More.
A comet flyby
An interstellar comet is about to make its closest pass by Earth. Take a look at the latest images.
Luigi Mangione was arrested one year ago today
Mangione was arrested at a McDonald’s on December 9, 2024, ending a five-day manhunt after the fatal shooting of a healthcare CEO in Manhattan. Here’s how it went down.
Underwater ‘reef music’ could help in coral restoration
Music is said to soothe the soul — and researchers believe it may also help revive coral reefs.
Trump greenlights exports of Nvidia H200 chips to China
H200s — the second most-powerful AI chip in Nvidia’s inventory — are vital for completing tasks performed by artificial intelligence. Read how Trump’s move could impact the global AI race.
Over 90 million people watch this Italian nonna cook carbonara
Nonna Silvana is cooking her way to stardom. The 84-year-old grandma, followed by millions, just won TikTok’s "Creator of the Year" for sharing delicious recipes and no-nonsense wisdom.
PHOTOS OF THE Day
Zhezkazgan, Kazakhstan
The Roscosmo cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov sits in a chair shortly after the landing of the Russian Soyuz MS-27 space capsule, also carrying the Nasa astronaut Jonny Kim and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexey Zubritsky
Photograph: AP
Wincanton, England
Horses and riders head to the start of the PricedUp Daily Racing Boost mares’ novices’ hurdle race
Photograph: Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
Gran Canaria, Spain
A couple and their daughter use a telescope to observe the last supermoon of 2025, known as the cold moon, in Agüimes
Photograph: Borja Suárez/Reuters
Market Closes for December 9th, 2025
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
47560.29 | -179.03 |
| -0.38% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6840.51 | -6.00 |
| -0.09% | ||
| NASDAQ | 23576.49 | +30.59 |
| +0.13% | ||
| TSX | 31244.37 | +74.40 |
| +0.24% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 50655.10 | +73.16 |
| +0.14% | ||
| HANG SENG |
25434.23 | -331.13 |
| -1.29% | ||
| SENSEX | 84666.28 | -436.41 |
| -0.51% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 9642.01 | -3.08 |
| -0.03% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.464 | 3.423 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.878 | 3.847 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.1819 | 4.1643 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.8039 | 4.8019 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7222 | 0.7218 |
| US $ |
1.3846 | 1.3852 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6210 | 1.6101 |
| US $ |
0.8599 | 1.1628 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
4188.25 | 4243.00 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 58.25 | 58.88 |
Market Commentary:
If you’re going through hell, keep going. -Winston Churchill, 1874-1965.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2% at 31,244.37 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.5%.
Pan American Silver Corp. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 11.1%.
Today, 103 of 212 shares rose, while 106 fell; 4 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 26%, heading for the best year in at least 10 years
* This quarter, the index rose 4.1%
* The index advanced 22% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9% below its 52-week high on Dec. 5, 2025 and 40.6% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.6% in the past 5 days and rose 4.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.3 on a trailing basis and 19.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$4.94t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.26% compared with 14.59% in the previous session and the average of 15.13% over the past month
Index Points
Materials | 104.1943| 2.0| 40/10
Financials | 42.8930| 0.4| 20/4
Information Technology | 17.4453| 0.6| 6/3
Health Care | 0.5810| 0.7| 1/3
Real Estate | -0.6452| -0.1| 7/11
Communication Services | -2.8897| -0.5| 1/4
Utilities | -2.9410| -0.3| 4/10
Consumer Staples | -4.9100| -0.5| 3/7
Consumer Discretionary | -9.0173| -0.9| 2/7
Industrials | -31.2377| -0.9| 11/18
Energy | -39.0798| -0.8| 8/29
Pan American Silver| 19.7000| 11.1| 73.6| 130.6
Wheaton Precious | Metals | 18.4400| 4.0| -22.8| 87.0
Shopify | 17.7500| 1.0| -15.9| 45.0
Canadian Natural | Resources | -7.8890| -1.1| 64.6| 5.2
Canadian Pacific | Kansas | -9.3910| -1.4| 42.4| -2.7
Enbridge | -14.3300| -1.4| -35.0| 8.0
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange recorded its first winning day in the last three on Tuesday as Desjardins said heading into 2026 it remains "constructive" on equities and expects the performance gap between the United States and the rest of the world to narrow.
The resource-heavy S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 74.4 points, or 0.24, to 31,244.37, even with commodity prices mixed and with most sectors lower, led by the Battery Metals Index. down 1.7%, Energy fell 1.1% and Industrials were down near 1%.
In contrast, Health Care led the gainers, up near 1.2%, as cannabis related stocks were higher.
Desjardins published an Investment Strategy and Interest Rate Analysis entitled ‘Downside Risks Remain at the Forefront Heading into 2026’.
In it, Desjardins noted the consensus anticipates a broadening of earnings growth.
It shares that view, although it is slightly less optimistic on overall earnings growth.
Desjardins said the United States is likely to avoid recession, and with midterm elections in the fall, significant shifts in economic policy appear less probable.
Federal Reserve easing, particularly in the second half, should provide additional support for valuations, it added.
But Desjardins also said while the AI infrastructure buildout should continue to drive returns in 2026, it also introduces downside risks.
It noted the path from AI infrastructure investment to realized earnings remains unclear, leaving equities vulnerable to disappointment on adoption timelines or monetization metrics.
Diversification away from tech-heavy U.S. indices is likely to continue in 2026, it added.
According to Desjardins, elevated commodity prices should benefit markets with greater exposure to resource sectors, supporting its view that the TSX will outperform the S&P 500.
Desjardins said Canadian banks add to the TSX’s appeal, having navigated the mortgage renewal cycle with relative ease so far thanks to the aggressive cutting cycle from the Bank of Canada.
It noted mutual fund and ETF flows into Canadian equities have already outpaced flows into the equities of other jurisdictions, and Desjardins sees scope for this trend to persist into next year.
"With policy becoming increasingly focused on domestic issues worldwide, equity markets have become less synchronized – a dynamic that should continue to drive asset allocation away from the U.S. at the margin," Desjardins added.
Desjardins also said investors should continue to look beyond bonds for diversification.
It added: "While stock-bond correlations have turned negative, markets are still pricing in a significant premium on upside inflation risks.
Recently, part of that premium has been driven by concerns that AI data centers could strain energy markets in the future.
Managing commodity exposure, whether direct or indirect, will remain a critical component of asset allocation.
Periods of prolonged market stability despite policy uncertainty, as seen this summer, also present opportunities to secure inexpensive downside hedges."
Of commodities, gold prices were up late afternoon Tuesday following two days of losses as the Federal Reserve’s policy committee begins its two-day meeting expected to end with a cut to interest rates.
Gold for February delivery was last seen up $23.50 to US$4,241.20 per ounce.
But West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed lower and remains stuck in a tight range, with traders assigning a geopolitical risk premium even as supply continues to outpace demand.
WTI crude oil for January delivery closed down $0.63 to settle at US$58.25 per barrel, while February Brent oil was down $0.56 to US$61.93.
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — With less than 24 hours to go until the Federal Reserve’s final interest-rate decision of 2025, Wall Street traders put off placing big bets as they waited for clues to the central bank’s path for next year.
The S&P 500 ended Tuesday’s session little changed after JPMorgan Chase & Co. warned about higher-than-expected costs and called consumers “fragile.”
The lender fell more than 4%.
The blue-chip Dow slid while the Nasdaq 100 made a small advance.
The rate on 10-year Treasuries hovered at around 4.19% following a government bond auction, while the dollar was little changed and Bitcoin climbed.
In late trading, shares of GE Vernova Inc. rose more than 6% after the US manufacturer doubled its dividend and increased its scope for share buybacks while raising earnings projections amid soaring demand for electricity.
Money markets are pricing around two cuts in 2026 after a likely quarter-point reduction tomorrow — a retreat from more optimistic forecasts in recent weeks.
Many market watchers, including Tom Essaye, are worried about the risk of a hawkish cut, where the Fed lowers interest rates but signals it’s done with rate cuts for the moment.
“It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that the rate cut is actually the least important part of this meeting,” said the founder of The Sevens Report.
The market “cares much more that the Fed signals it will continue to cut rates and does not signal a pause in the rate-cut cycle.”
Kevin Hassett, the frontrunner in President Donald Trump’s search to replace Fed Chair Jerome Powell, said at an event Tuesday that he sees plenty of room to substantially lower rates, even more than a quarter-point cut.
“If the data suggests that we could do it, then — like right now — I think there’s plenty of room to do it,” he said during the Wall Street Journal CEO Council Summit.
While Powell’s successor remains up in the air, a dayslong slump in US government bonds continued unabated.
Traders have grown cautious about the pace of monetary easing beyond Wednesday’s meeting.
For now, the Fed’s decision and its guidance for 2026 remain the key focus for traders as markets made incremental moves.
The Treasury Department’s monthly auction of 10-year notes at 1 p.m. New York time drew a yield of 4.175%, matching the level indicated by trading just before the bidding deadline, when it was about a basis point higher on the day.
Small stock gains from stale data, delayed by a government shutdown, didn’t hold.
Equities had initially risen after better-than-expected job openings data for October.
The number of available positions climbed to 7.67 million, a Bloomberg survey of economists called for 7.12 million.
“It’s hard to read too much into the JOLTs report – the outperformance in job openings is ostensibly hawkish (which is why yields turned higher on the release), but the pace of layoffs rose too,” said Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli.
US stocks may turn more volatile after tomorrow’s meeting than after other recent decisions, with Bloomberg options data showing an implied move of 0.7% in either direction.
A hawkish cut is likely to trigger volatility, but the market could reset expectations after that.
“If the Fed is too hawkish, we expect the White House to soon announce Powell’s replacement,” said Fundstrat’s Tom Lee.
That would be a “market clearing event,” in his view.
Globally, government debt markets have been under pressure as central bankers signal that their easing cycles are coming to an end.
On Tuesday, Australia’s Michele Bullock declared her country’s easing phase over, following comments from the European Central Bank’s Isabel Schnabel that she’s comfortable with the next move being higher.
The Bank of Japan is expected to hike next week.
“Given all the tension in global bond markets at the moment, the meeting of the Fed could potentially add fuel to the fire,” said Vincent Juvyns, chief investment strategist at ING in Brussels.
“Investors will also be watching very closely the results of Oracle and Broadcom.
There’s a lot at stake this week.”
What Bloomberg strategists say…
“While pretty much everyone and their dog expects the Fed to cut rates on Wednesday and to signal some modest additional easing next year, there seems to be a growing realization that US policy expectations are looking out of sync with the rest of the world.
As such, the expectation that tomorrow will see a ‘hawkish cut’ and divides on the committee seems pretty accurate.
It does, of course, widen the window for a dovish surprise.”
— Cameron Crise, Macro Strategist, Markets Live.
Corporate News:
* JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s Marianne Lake said the bank anticipates spending $105 billion next year, an outlook that surpasses analyst estimates and sent shares tumbling.
* Microsoft Corp. pledged to invest $17.5 billion on artificial intelligence and cloud computing in India, targeting the world’s most populous nation to help fuel its growth.
* Home Depot Inc. is offering cautious preliminary guidance for next year, a sign that the home-improvement retailer doesn’t anticipate the housing market to rebound in the short term.
* Google has been hit by a European Union investigation over fears it may have abused its dominance by using its own artificial intelligence tools to squeeze out competition.
* PepsiCo Inc. reached an agreement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management that includes a 20% reduction in its US product lineup and a sharper focus on affordability, while the soda and snacks company also plans layoffs as part of cost reduction efforts.
* Trafigura Group reported a “strong” year for both its oil and metals divisions as the commodities trading giant boosted payouts to staff and profit remained resilient.
* A Bloomberg basket of European defense stocks rose as German lawmakers prepare to approve a record €52 billion ($61 billion) in military procurement contracts.
* China Vanke Co.’s offshore creditors have started fielding requests for talks with potential advisors, a sign that investors are preparing for a worsening of the developer’s debt crisis.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.4%
* The MSCI World Index fell 0.1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.1627
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3299
* The Japanese yen fell 0.7% to 156.94 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2% to $93,147.92
* Ether rose 5.6% to $3,324.65
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.18%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 2.85%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.50%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $58.33 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,211.86 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Andre Janse van Vuuren, Neil Campling, Julien Ponthus and Ira Iosebashvili.
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
The world breaks everyone, and afterward, many are strong at the broken places. -Ernest Hemingway, 1899-1961, from A Farewell to Arms.
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 (Text Only)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828