February 17, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
February 17, 1753: In Sweden, February 17^th is followed by March 1^st as the country moves from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar.
On Feb. 17, 1972, President Nixon departed on his historic trip to China. Go to article » 

Michael Jordan, b. 1963.
Paris Hilton, b. 1981.

Meet Hinat, a Nabataean woman who lived 2,000 years ago in what is now Saudi Arabia: Researchers in Saudi Arabia have unveiled the facial approximation of a Nabataean woman whose remains were buried among 80 skeletons inside a 2,000-year-old tomb in Hegra, a UNESCO World Heritage site located in the ancient city of AlUla.
Archaeologists unearthed the woman’s skeleton in 2015 and named her Hinat based on an inscription about the deceased carved into the tomb’s façade.  Full Story: Live Science (2/17).

NASA rover snaps photos of ancient ‘waves’ carved into Mars mountainside: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover has photographed rocks imprinted with tiny ripples from an ancient lake.  And these tiny ripples are making waves on Earth, as they are the clearest evidence yet that water once existed on the Red Planet. Full Story: Live Science (2/16)

Plants ‘slept’ with curled leaves 250 million years ago, ancient insect bites reveal: Each night at sunset, a handful of plants “fall asleep.” Species as diverse as legumes and daisies curl up their leaves and petals for the evening and do not unfurl until morning.  Now, a new study suggests that plants may have been folding their leaves at night for more than 250 million years. Full Story: Live Science (2/16)

Monster black holes could be the source of dark energy driving the accelerating expansion of the universe, study suggests: Supermassive black holes could be the engines driving the expansion of the universe, according to research that proposes a solution to “one of the biggest problems in cosmology.”
By comparing supermassive black holes across nine billion years of cosmic history, astronomers have discovered a clue that the ravenous behemoths lurking at the hearts of most large galaxies may be the source of dark energy — the mysterious force that makes up 68% of the known universe and causes its accelerating expansion. Full Story: Live Science (2/16)

Winning images from Underwater Photographer of the Year competition.  A photo of a dolphin seemingly posing for the camera has won the top prize. See the breathtaking images here.

From the late night hosts last night:
“So today, Joe Biden had his annual physical. It was a clean bill of health, although his X-ray did reveal several classified documents. Gotta look everywhere.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
“The White House said Biden’s exam took three hours. It’s never good when your physical has an intermission, you know what I’m saying? Nothing says ‘peak physical condition’ like a doctor’s visit with the same running time as ‘Avatar 2.’” — JIMMY FALLON
“Yeah, it’s never good when the doctor examining you is like, ‘I don’t know if they even make these parts anymore.’” — JIMMY FALLON
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Rafha, Saudi Arabia
Desert bloom, triggered by heavier than usual winter rains, has carpeted sand dunes in the north of the kingdom, drawing sightseers from across the Arabian peninsula
Photograph: Fayez Nureldine/AFP/Getty Images

Lushan, China
Snow and ice blanket Mount Lu
Photograph: Rex/Shutterstock

Chesterfield, UK
Projections including Bess of Hardwick and Queen Elizabeth I light up the facade of Hardwick Hall as part of the National Trust’s Shine a Light celebration of the county’s history and heritage
Photograph: Jacob King/PA
Market Closes for February 17^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1874: Thomas J. Watson was born in Campbell, N.Y. After working as a bookkeeper, an itinerant peddler of musical instruments, and a salesman for NCR, he became the dynamic head of IBM. His famous motto, “THINK,” was shortened from his saying, “‘I didn’t think’ has cost the world millions of dollars.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4%, or 91.18 to 20,515.24 in Toronto.
The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Jan. 20.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.6%.
Air Canada had the largest drop, falling 8.4%.
Today, 118 of 237 shares fell, while 116 rose; 4 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index fell 0.5%
* The index declined 3.1% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 7.6% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 7.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 14.8% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.4 on a trailing basis and 12.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.28t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 7.45% compared with 7.25% in the previous session and the average of 10.73% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -80.7858| -2.3| 1/38
Materials | -41.2499| -1.7| 16/33
Information Technology | -19.7488| -1.5| 4/10
Industrials | -13.4342| -0.5| 13/13
Health Care | 1.5133| 1.8| 4/3
Real Estate | 4.0756| 0.7| 20/3
Consumer Discretionary | 5.6068| 0.8| 11/4
Consumer Staples | 7.2369| 0.8| 11/0
Utilities | 8.2057| 0.9| 14/2
Communication Services | 11.5481| 1.2| 4/1
Financials | 20.1437| 0.3| 18/11
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -27.7500| -4.6| 46.8| -0.2
Nutrien | -15.0100| -4.0| -18.0| 1.9
Shopify | -13.8800| -2.8| -2.2| 24.9
Telus | 4.9260| 1.8| -47.2| 6.4
BCE | 4.9730| 1.3| 20.7| 3.8
Fairfax Financial | 10.1000| 7.4| 23.5| 16.3
US
By Denitsa Tsekova and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US equity indexes were mixed Friday as dip buyers brushed off hawkish comments by Federal Reserve officials to help keep weekly losses at a minimum.
The S&P 500 Index dropped 0.3% after falling as much as 1%, lifted by consumer staples and utility stocks.
The benchmark closed down 0.3% on the week but the Nasdaq 100 managed to gain 0.4% in the five-day period.
Traders fully priced in quarter-point interest rate increases at the Fed’s next two meetings after policymakers said Thursday that bigger hikes were not out of the question.
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said Friday that he favored a quarter-point interest rate hike in February to give the central bank “flexibility” in its quest to tamp down inflation.
Fed Governor Michelle Bowman said rates need to keep going higher since inflation remains “much too high.”
“Markets seem to be in a new tug of war, with the Treasury curve reflecting higher-for-longer, and equities signaling the potential for a soft landing,” said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley. “That dichotomy seems to manifest in equity markets opening lower every day, like today, and then clawing back losses.”
Investors have been upping bets on how far the Fed will raise rates this tightening cycle.
They now see the federal funds rate climbing to nearly 5.3% in July, according to trading in the US money markets.
That compares with a perceived peak rate of 4.9% at the start of the month.
“If investors are really finally starting to believe the Fed about their claim that rates will stay ‘higher for longer,’” Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co., wrote, “we could be looking at a significant decline in the
weeks ahead.”
Friday’s index trading volumes remained somewhat below their 30-day averages during February’s options expiry, though the day’s sharp moves could have reflected the growth of fast-twitch options.

“Markets are acting weird,” said Cliff Hodge, chief investment officer for Cornerstone Wealth. “The narrative for bulls has changed from soft-landing to strong economy. What this ignores is that strong economy means a more aggressive Fed, which means higher rates and stronger dollar. Neither of these support current valuations. Bulls could be on borrowed time.”
Bank of America Corp. strategists wrote that the delayed arrival of a recession will weigh on US stocks in the second half of the year, noting that a resilient economy thus far means interest rates will stay higher for longer.
A BofA team led by Michael Hartnett is among those predicting a scenario known as “no landing” in the first half, where economic growth will stay robust and central banks will likely remain hawkish for longer.
That will probably be followed by a “hard landing” in the latter part of 2023, they wrote.
Bitcoin posted a fourth straight day of gains Friday, even after the US Securities & Exchange Commission accused Do Kwon and Terraform Labs Pte of fraud over the wipeout of digital currencies he created.
In commodities, oil capped its longest string of daily losses on the year as rising US inventories and the prospect of further tightening by the Federal Reserve eclipsed the lift from signs that Chinese energy demand is improving. 
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.3% to the lowest since Jan. 31 as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.7% to the lowest since Feb. 10
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%
* The MSCI World index fell 0.7%, more than any closing loss since Feb. 6
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0696
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2043
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 134.20 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin strengthened 1.1%,rising for the fourth straight day, the longest winning streak since Jan. 17
* Ether strengthened 1.6%,rising for the fourth straight day, the longest winning streak since Feb. 4
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points, more than any closing decline since Feb. 8
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to 2.44%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.51%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.8%, falling for the fourth straight day, the longest losing streak since Dec. 9
* Gold futures were little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Angel Adegbesan and Peyton Forte.
Have a wonderful long weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,
Carolann

The greater the obstacle, the more glory in overcoming it. –Jean Baptiste Poquelin, ”Molière”, 1622-1763.

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