February 12, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

Darwin Day
Charles Darwin, naturalist, b. 1809
Abraham Lincoln, b. 1809
R. Buckminster Fuller, architect, engineer, b. 1895

Virginia Woolf, Diary, February 12, 1927:
But I am forgetting, after three days, the most important event in my life since marriage  – so, Clive [Bell] described it.  Mr. Cizec has bingled me.  I am short haired for life.  Having no longer, I think, any claims to beauty, the convenience of this alone makes it desirable.  Every morning I go to take up brush and twist that old coil round my finger and fix it with hairpins and then with a start of joy, no I needn’t.
In front there is no change; behind I’m like the rump of a partridge.  This robs dining out of half its terrors.
          A “bingle” is a hair style somewhere between a bob and a shingle.

-from Bloomberg today:
Scientists find a repeating radio signal from deep space. (h/t Scott Kominers)
The last woolly mammoths were a genetic disaster. (h/t Mike Smedley)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A tourist poses for photographs with a pelican enjoying the sunshine in St. Jame’s park in London.
CREDIT: FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA/EPA-EFE/REX

Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show held in New York City at the Madison Square Garden.
CREDIT: TAYFUN COSKUN/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

These stunning photos show hundreds of penguins letting their hair down in the frozen wastes of the South Atlantic. Taken by photographer Bella Falk, 40, the images show hundreds of King Penguins at the Salisbury Plain and St Andrews Bay breeding colonies in South Georgia, South Atlantic. The two colonies are well-known for their massive penguin populations, with an estimates 60,000 breeding pairs at Salisbury Plain alone. Bella said: The penguin couples come here to incubate their eggs and raise their chicks. They don’t build nests, they incubate the egg on their feet with a flap of skin over the top to keep it warm.
CREDIT:PASSPORT & PIXELS/CATERS NEWS

Market Closes for February 12^th , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1970, after 178 years, the New York Stock Exchange finally elected its first African-American member, Joseph L. Searles III. Lest any of its members be embarrassed by having to decide whether to let him sit next to them in the NYSE’s private luncheon club, the Exchange gave Mr. Searles his own table. Hit by the bear market of 1970, he was forced to give up his membership that November, but the color barrier had at last been crossed.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.3 percent, or 55.74 to 17,832.85 in Toronto. Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 8 of 11 sectors gained; 134 of 232 shares rose, while 96 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 7.7 percent. Bombardier Inc. had the largest increase, rising 10.6 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 14 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 22 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 12, 2020 and 14.4 percent above its low on Feb. 12, 2019
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3.5 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.3 on a trailing basis and 15.9 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$2.73t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 6.59 percent compared with 6.57 percent in the previous session and the average of 5.11 percent over the past month

================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 40.9097| 3.7| 8/2
Energy | 15.8284| 0.6| 24/6
Industrials | 7.7224| 0.4| 19/11
Communication Services | 2.9628| 0.3| 5/3
Real Estate | 2.5980| 0.4| 20/5
Utilities | 2.3523| 0.3| 10/6
Consumer Discretionary | 1.5131| 0.2| 10/6
Financials | 0.3570| 0.0| 14/13
Health Care | -1.6975| -0.8| 3/7
Consumer Staples | -4.4522| -0.6| 4/7
Materials | -12.3590| -0.6| 17/30

US
By Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities closed at record highs on Wednesday as optimism grew that the global economy can recover from the impact of the coronavirus amid signs the spread of the illness is slowing. Crude rallied and Treasuries fell. The S&P 500 Index gained for the third straight session, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq Composite Index also hit new heights, after China’s Hubei province reported the lowest number of new virus cases this month and suspected infections on the mainland declined. “The virus is an uncertainty, but it seems to be more of a manageable uncertainty and I think that’s the way that the market is looking at it,” said Chuck Cumello, chief executive officer of Essex Financial Services, which has about $2.8 billion in assets under management. Carmakers and banks led the advance in the Stoxx Europe 600 Index, even as data showed a deep slump in euro-area industrial output at the end of last year. Asia saw gains for most equity benchmarks, with those in Shanghai and Hong Kong outperforming.
Oil climbed above $51 a barrel in New York, holding that advance even after OPEC slashed forecasts for global demand and U.S. inventories came in higher than estimated. Raw materials including copper and iron ore gained, while core European bonds tracked Treasuries lower and the yen also slipped. New Zealand’s dollar jumped the most in about two months after its central bank said the impact from the virus will be short-lived and it doesn’t project a need for rate cuts this year. Confidence is increasing among some investors that the impact of the coronavirus outbreak will ultimately prove short- lived. President Xi Jinping vowed China would meet its economic goals while winning the battle against the virus that has now claimed 1,115 lives, while Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said on Tuesday the central bank is keeping a close eye on fallout from the epidemic. Meanwhile, peripheral European bonds bucked declines and the yield on 10-year Greek debt dropped below 1% for the first time.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Earnings season continues with reports still due from the likes of Alibaba, Nissan, Credit Suisse, Airbus, Nestle and AIG.
* Thursday brings a gauge of underlying U.S. inflation, the core consumer price index. It is forecast to increase to 0.2% in January, a faster pace than in December.
* China and the U.S. on Friday lower tariffs on billions of dollars of respective imports as part of the trade deal signed last month.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index advanced 0.6% to 3,379.38 as of 4:02 p.m. New York time, the highest on record.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 0.8% to 29,550.80, the highest on record.
* The Nasdaq Composite Index increased 0.9% to 9,725.96, the highest on record.
* The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.6% to 580.81, the highest on record.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index advanced 0.1% to 1,206.98.
* The euro decreased 0.4% to $1.0875, the weakest in almost three years.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.3% to 110.08 per dollar, the weakest in more than three weeks.
* New Zealand’s dollar advanced 0.9% to $0.6465, the biggest rise in 10 weeks.
Bonds
* The yield on two-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 1.44%.
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed three basis points to 1.63%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield gained one basis point to -0.38%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased four basis points to 0.611%.
Commodities
* Gold weakened 0.1% to $1,566.76 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude advanced 3.2% to $51.54 a barrel, the highest in more than a week on the biggest gain in almost 10 weeks.
* LME copper advanced 1.4% to $5,745 per metric ton, the highest in more than two weeks.

–With assistance from Robert Brand.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The charm of history and its enigmatic lesson consist in the fact that, form age to age,
nothing changes and yet everything is completely different.
                                                                             -Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963

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