February 12, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

It’s the start of the Lunar New Year!  Welcome to the Year of the Ox.

1554 – Lady Jane Grey, who had claimed the throne of England for nine days, was beheaded after being charged with treason.  Go to article »

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

Stonehenge may be a rebuilt stone circle from Wales, new research suggests.  That means those 43 huge stones were moved 150 miles. 

Here’s more evidence humans absorbed Neanderthals.

In pictures | Award-winning shots of Britain’s glorious night sky.

For Valentine’s Day: Celebrate love by learning to do it better.
Here are five movies about the power and resilience of romance, and five more about its misfortunes. Make your cinematic choices wisely

Quote of the Day:  “All of it washed down with red wine” – How a French nun celebrated her 117th birthday.  Everything’s aged to perfection.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Street actor Usman Khan, dressed up as silent film star Charlie Chaplin, performs at a train station in Pakistan’s northwestern city of Peshawar
CREDIT: ABDUL MAJEED/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

An ice diver prepares to dive in a hole on the frozen Lac de Montriond, at the Avoriaz ski resort, French Alps
CREDIT: JEFF PACHOUD?AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

People ice skate on the icy Hofvijver pond in The Hague
CREDIT: BART MAAT/ANP?AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

A baby kangaroo has a loving cuddle with its mother in Batemans Bay, New South Wales, Australia
CREDIT: LEAH-ANNE THOMPSON/ CATERS NEWS

Gary and Julie Winn enjoy a romantic moment on the snow covered hills above Downholme, in Swaledale, North Yorkshire
CREDIT: LORNE CAMPBELL/GUZELAIN
Market Closes for February 12^th, 2021

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. Hit by the bear market of 1970, Mr. Searles was forced to give up his membership that November.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities gained for a second straight week as energy firms, including Inter Pipeline Ltd. and Enerplus Corp., led the charge. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.4% Friday, with eight of 11 sectors higher. Industrials led Friday’s gain. Air Canada’s top executive is growing more optimistic about the chances of a government aid package, as a prolonged travel slump forces the Montreal-based airline to further cut capacity. Purpose Investments Inc. said Canadian securities regulators have cleared the launch of the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, making it the first to gain regulatory approval in North America. Oil in London climbed for a fourth straight week as efforts to clear an oil surplus are seen holding the market over until demand comes back in force.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $12 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,822 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose less than 0.1% to C$1.2700 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 3.0 basis points to 1.026%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.4 percent at
18,460.21 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4 percent.
Canadian National Railway Co. contributed the most to the
index gain, increasing 2.3 percent. PrairieSky Royalty Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 8.2 percent.
Today, 135 of 220 shares rose, while 83 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by industrials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.8 percent
* The index advanced 3.5 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 10, 2021 and 65.2 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.4 on a trailing basis and 17.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.84t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 13.76 percent compared with
13.80 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.89 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Industrials | 32.8048| 1.5| 20/9
Energy | 20.3860| 0.9| 20/2
Financials | 18.2222| 0.3| 16/10
Consumer Staples | 5.2923| 0.8| 8/3
Materials | 2.8435| 0.1| 35/16
Real Estate | 0.3778| 0.1| 14/11
Communication Services | 0.0304| 0.0| 5/2
Consumer Discretionary | 0.0203| 0.0| 4/9
Health Care | -0.3838| -0.1| 4/4
Utilities | -4.0370| -0.4| 6/10
Information Technology | -8.3537| -0.4
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced as investors looked toward signs that Washington is moving ahead with a spending bill. Oil futures rallied, while yields on benchmark Treasury notes rose past 1.2%. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high ahead of a three-day weekend, adding more than 1% for the week, with energy producers among the best performers. Expedia Group Inc. fell after reporting results that missed expectations. European stocks gained. Hovering near record highs, stocks are looking for fresh catalysts. Even as vaccines are distributed to millions, the emergence of new virus variants threaten to extend lockdowns and delay economic recoveries.
House Democrats made progress on the spending bill, approving $1,400 checks to most Americans. The Senate remained occupied by former President Donald Trump’s impeachment trial. “Largely moving sideways is a reflection of the fact that we’ve had some pretty significant volatility in the two weeks preceding that and now we’re waiting for some of the current catalysts to manifest themselves,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. The MSCI World index of global stocks climbed 1.8% in the past five days, setting its own record. Part of the driver for the rally is that investors believe President Joe Biden’s Covid-19 relief package will deliver plenty of aid to the U.S. economy. At the same time, the vaccine rollout is making progress. Biden announced on Thursday that the U.S. has finished deals for 100 million additional vaccine doses each from Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc.

Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index rose 0.5% at 4 p.m. in New York.
The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.5%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.1%.
The MSCI All-Country World Index gained 0.4% with its 10^th straight advance.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose less than 0.1%.
The euro fell 0.1% to $1.2116.
The Japanese yen weakened 0.2% to 104.97 per dollar.
Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 1.21%.
Germany’s 10-year yield jumped three basis points to -0.43%, the highest in more than five months.
Britain’s 10-year yield rose five basis points to 0.52%, the highest in about 11 months.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2.3% to $59.59 a barrel, the highest in more than two years.
Gold slipped 0.3% to $1,819.54 an ounce.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Fortune favors the brave. –Virgil,  70 BC-19 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