February 1, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Lunar New Year – the Year of the Tiger.

February: The month of purification among the ancient Romans (Latin: februum, purgation).  The Dutch used to call the month Spokkel-maand, “vegetation month”. 
The Anglo-Saxons knew it as  Salmōnath, “mud month.”  In the French Revolutionary calendar its equivalent, from 21 January to 19 February , was Pluviôse.

February 1, 2017: British MPs vote in favour of the European Union Bill, allowing the government to begin the Brexit process.  MPs backed the government’s European Union Bill, supported by the Labour leadership, by 498 votes to 114.  But the SNP, Plaid Cymru and the Liberal Democrats opposed the bill, while 47 Labour MPs and Tory ex-chancellor Ken Clarke rebelled.

Record-breaking mega-flash lightning.  Imagine seeing a huge 17-second-long lightning flash. Would you stare, run or hide?

See what it’s like to fly into Beijing’s Olympic ‘bubble’.  Beijing isn’t playing games when it comes to Covid-19. All of the airport workers are wearing hazmat suits.

Thailand braces for a tourist rush with quarantine-free visas.

Tomorrow is the second day of the second month of ‘22. Learn more here.

“Groundhog Day” is more than just a movie, it’s a religion.

The Late Night Hosts weighed in on Trump’s weekend rally in Texas:

“While the Jan. 6 select committee continues to look for the cause of the Capitol riot, the cause admitted to everything and threatened to do it again.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“If it had been him instead of O.J., the quote would have been ‘The gloves don’t fit, but you don’t need gloves to stab a guy.’” — SETH MEYERS

“What a weird platform to run on for president: ‘I will pardon violent criminals.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“There’s no better way to announce a presidential run than to say, ‘I’ll empty the jails!’” — JIMMY FALLON

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Lorries queue for the Port of Dover in Kent, as the Dover Tap (traffic access protocol) is enforced because of the high volume of lorries waiting to cross the Channel
CREDIT: Gareth Fuller/PA

The country’s longest staircase, 1,200 metres long with 1,683 steps, is illuminated on the Torgashinsky mountain ridge outside Krasnoyarsk in central Siberia
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Fishing boats are docked for the Chinese New Year in Liaoning province
CREDIT: VCG/Getty Images

Market Closes for February 1, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1869, the New York Stock Exchange required listed companies to register their securities to prevent “watered stock,” or the manipulated over-issuance of shares by insiders.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Cannabis stocks rallied Tuesday on a fresh legalization push in the U.S., and helped take the Canadian market higher.
The S&P/TSX Composite rose for a third day, climbing 1.1%, or 221.63 to 21,319.92 in Toronto.
The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 17.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7%.
Spin Master Corp. had the largest percentage increase, rising 12.7%.
Today, 184 of 241 shares rose, while 55 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financial stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 15 times. The next day, it advanced 11 times for an average 0.7% and declined four times for an average 0.5%
* The index advanced 21% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.2% below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 21.9% above its low on Feb. 1, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.5% in the past 5 days and rose 0.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.2 on a trailing basis and 14.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.38t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.73% compared with 13.41% in the previous session and the average of 13.20% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | 69.3440| 1.0| 25/3
* Energy | 57.8668| 1.8| 31/1
* Materials | 40.7250| 1.7| 46/9
* Information Technology | 22.9778| 1.3| 11/5
* Industrials | 12.9941| 0.5| 23/6
* Consumer Staples | 10.3673| 1.3| 7/4
* Consumer Discretionary | 7.3014| 1.0| 12/2
* Health Care | 3.8914| 2.6| 6/2
* Real Estate | 2.2220| 0.4| 14/9
* Communication Services | -1.4923| -0.1| 4/3
* Utilities | -4.5541| -0.5| 5/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | 21.1300| 1.7| -50.4| 6.7
* Shopify | 16.1100| 1.7| -2.4| -28.4
* Suncor Energy | 16.0700| 4.4| -21.8| 19.8
* Canadian Pacific | -1.6570| -0.3| -7.3| -0.3
* Fortis | -2.6270| -1.3| -29.7| -2.4
* TC Energy | -8.2610| -1.9| -13.4| 9.5

US
By Vildana Hajric and Emily Graffeo
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks added to their best three-day rally since 2020, as investors bid up companies that benefit from a strong economy amid speculation the Federal Reserve won’t derail growth as it fights inflation.
The S&P 500 rallied into the close of trading, led by gains in energy producers and banks, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 also advanced.
Treasury yields rose and the dollar was weaker.
With the gains, the S&P 500 has now surpassed the midpoint of last month’s peak-to-trough decline, indicating to some chartists a full recovery may be underway.
Earlier in the session, equities had struggled for direction as solid economic data rekindled nerves over the pace of the Federal Reserve’s pivot to more restrictive policy.
Data on job openings and manufacturing showed a resilient economy that the Fed is trying to cool after inflation spiked to the highest in four decades.
However, bank officials have indicated they are aware of the threat to stifling growth.
“It feels like we are starting February with an uneasy truce between buyers and sellers, following the brutal correction we had last month,” said Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners. “Looking ahead, my sense is investors see Jay Powell as having his foot a few inches away from the brakes. Will the market get a gentle tap? Or will the Fed slam on the brakes?”
Waves of volatility have swept across markets after Powell, chairman of the Fed, signaled swifter monetary-policy tightening than many expected.
However, regional Fed presidents Mary Daly and Esther George have expressed caution over faster-than-necessary tightening.
The comments still indicated “that tightening needs to be done, but there was a suggestion that it would be better to run down the balance sheet more quickly rather than hiking rates rapidly,” Fiona Cincotta, senior financial markets analyst at City Index, said by phone. “That’s pushing back on this idea of rapid increases in interest rates.”
Meanwhile, corporate earnings are also providing equities some support, with Alphabet Inc. due to report after markets close.
Exxon Mobil Corp. posted its highest earnings in eight years on aggressive spending cuts. United Parcel Service Inc. projected annual sales above expectations.
And UBS Group AG boosted its buyback program after an earnings beat.
“I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the market has started to stabilize as we start to get into earnings season,” said Giorgio Caputo, senior fund manager of the JOHCM Global Income Builder fund. “You’ve had strong reports from companies like Microsoft and Apple, which are in many ways, bellwethers for the economy of the moment and the parts of the economy that are growing.”
Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research, added: “Fed tightening is still the path forward. But a short term rebound in equities will continue — led by growth and cyclicals – as investors focus on a narrative of ‘peak tightening’ ahead of what is likely to be a weak payroll report.”
What to watch this week:
* Earnings are due from Amazon, Ford Motor, Meta Platforms, Qualcomm, Sony, Spotify
* OPEC+ meeting on output, Wednesday
* Euro zone CPI, Wednesday
* Bank of England, European Central Bank rate decisions, Thursday
* Fed Board of Governors confirmation hearing, Thursday
* U.S. factory orders, initial jobless claims, durable goods, Thursday
* U.S. payrolls report for January, Friday
* Winter Olympics kick off in China, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin due to attend opening ceremony, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.7% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1269
* The British pound rose 0.6% to $1.3523
* The Japanese yen rose 0.4% to 114.69 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 1.80%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 0.04%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 1.30%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.3% to $88.39 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.3% to $1,801.20 an ounce
–With assistance from Lu Wang, Srinivasan Sivabalan, Peyton Forte and Sunil Jagtiani.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

You will never do anything in this world without courage.  It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor. –Aristotle, 384 BC-322 BC.

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