February, 1st 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

February 1, 1964: The Beatles have their first number one hit in the United States with “I Want to Hold Your Hand”.
February 1, 1982 “Late Night with David Letterman” premiered on NBC.   Go to article » 

How to watch the rare green comet whiz past Earth tonight
A comet with a greenish glow will make its closest approach to Earth since the age of the Neanderthals tonight (Feb. 1 to 2), and if you look in the right place at the right time, you might be able to spot it.
The comet, known as C/2022 E3 (ZTF), will come within 26.4 million miles (42.8 million kilometers) of our planet, its closest approach in about 50,000 years. Full Story: Live Science (2/1)

Instagram’s founders are back with a new app.  The app’s co-founders announced their next big venture on Tuesday, more than 10 years after they sold Instagram to Meta for $1 billion.

Mysterious flying whirlpool captured in night sky over Hawaii.  Some researchers say this spectacular sight seems to be related to a new SpaceX satellite launch. Watch the video here.

Egyptian mummies covered in gold are rare, and we may have just found the oldest: Archaeologists in Egypt have uncovered a series of tombs dating back around 4,300 years at Saqqara, including a sarcophagus holding the oldest known ancient Egyptian mummy that is covered with gold.
The record-breaking tomb had a sealed sarcophagus containing the mummy of a man that a hieroglyphic inscription identifies as Hekashepes. Full Story: Live Science (1/31)

Ultra-rare ‘rainbow clouds’ light up the Arctic Circle like auroras in stunning new photos: The dark skies in the Arctic Circle recently shone with ethereal multi-colored light. But this jaw-dropping spectacle was not caused by auroras.  Instead, the iridescent rainbows were caused by clouds of tiny ice crystals floating higher in the atmosphere than is normally possible.  Full Story: Live Science (1/31)
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Carinthia, Austria
Speed skaters compete in the alternative Elfstedentocht, inspired by the traditional canal racing event in the Netherlands, on the 12km (7.5 mile) long Weissensee lake in southern Austria
Photograph: Hollandse Hoogte/Rex/Shutterstock

Ankara, Turkey
Walkers get out in a snow covered forest
Photograph: Evrim Aydin/Getty Images

Jieyang, China
Folk artists in eastern Guangdong province perform a fire dragon dance to welcome the lantern festival which brings to a close traditional Chinese new year festivities
Photograph: John Ricky/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 1st, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1946, the U.S. venture-capital industry was born as John Hay Whitney founded J.H. Whitney & Co. to finance promising new businesses. Leading Wall Street figures warned him that his idea of venture-capital financing would never work. Whitney’s firm went on to finance Freeport Sulphur, the Minute Maid Co., Memorex Corp. and Compaq Computer
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 20,751.05 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s increase of 0.9%.
Today, energy stocks led the market lower, as 3 of 11 sectors lost; 87 of 236 shares fell, while 148 rose.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.6%.
Spartan Delta Corp. had the largest drop, falling 11.2%.
Insights
* The index declined 2.7% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.9% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.6% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 16.1% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7% in the past 5 days and rose 7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.5 on a trailing basis and 13.2 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$3.3t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 10.91% compared with 11.79% in the previous session and the average of 12.94% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -83.3025| -2.3| 6/33
Consumer Staples | -13.7859| -1.7| 4/7
Utilities | -6.8547| -0.8| 6/10
Health Care | 0.9260| 1.1| 5/2
Financials | 4.5007| 0.1| 19/10
Industrials | 5.1814| 0.2| 21/5
Communication Services | 5.5285| 0.6| 5/1
Real Estate | 6.0684| 1.1| 16/6
Consumer Discretionary | 12.8954| 1.7| 13/2
Information Technology | 22.9011| 1.7| 11/3
Materials | 29.6093| 1.1| 42/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -22.7000| -3.6| -13.6| 4.7
TC Energy | -22.4900| -5.6| 54.6| 0.2
Cenovus Energy | -9.4480| -3.7| 32.7| -2.6
Magna Intl | 6.5140| 4.1| 103.7| 18.2
CGI Inc | 6.8150| 4.1| 174.8| 1.7
Shopify | 10.0200| 1.9| 37.3| 42.1
US
By Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US stocks rose as Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said the central bank has made progress in its battle against inflation while warning that additional rate hikes are likely warranted.
The S&P 500 jumped more than 1% after Powell said the “disinflation process has started,” suggesting the aggressive tightening cycle is starting to have its desired effect of reducing the pace of price growth.
The Nasdaq 100’s gains exceeded 2%.
Treasuries also rallied.
The two-year yield slid as much as twelve basis points to 4.08%, while the 10-year rate touched 3.38%.
A dollar index fell to its lowest since April.
Powell, during the press conference, also sidestepped a question about the recent easing of financial conditions, a measure of market stresses that the central bank monitors for the effectiveness of its policies.
He said that the focus is “not on short-term moves but on sustained changes.”
Investors had been bracing for harsh commentary from the Fed aimed at cooling the recent run-up in risk assets that could complicate its fight against inflation.
“Powell has said that financial conditions have tightened considerably despite the fact that they have eased considerably.
The fact that he has said this is dovish in its own right,” wrote Neil Dutta, head of economics at Renaissance Macro Research.
The odds are increasing that the Fed is “declaring victory too soon”, Dutta said.  “The Fed’s flirtation with the soft landing today increases the risk of a harder landing later.”
But the Fed’s message wasn’t without warnings for financial markets.
The central bank said ongoing rate increases would likely be warranted and that officials were discussing a couple more hikes to get policy restrictive enough to beat back inflation.
The Fed Funds rate of 4.5% to 4.75% is still more than 25 basis points below where officials in December said they expected it to peak.
“The Fed is essentially speaking out of both sides of the mouth as they signaled further increases are appropriate, but also acknowledged they will consider the cumulative amount of tightening in future policy decisions,” Charlie Ripley, senior investment strategist for Allianz Investment Management, wrote in a note.
Ripley said the Fed’s remarks indicate that it’s near the end of its tightening cycle and “ready to sit tight while the economic data catches up to the policy.”
But markets may be fighting the Fed again on Wednesday, according to Ronald Temple, chief market strategist at Lazard.
Powell’s comments, when taken together with data on Wednesday showing a surge in job openings makes Temple “believe markets remain too dovish regarding how high rates will go and how long they will stay there.”
Key events this week:
* Earnings Wednesday include: Meta Platforms and Peloton Interactive
* Eurozone ECB rate decision, President Christine Lagarde press conference, Thursday
* UK BOE rate decision, Thursday
* US factory orders, initial jobless claims, US durable goods, Thursday
* Earnings Thursday include: Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Qualcomm and Deutsche Bank and Santander
* Eurozone S&P Global Eurozone Services PMI, PPI, Friday
* US unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.1% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 2.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index rose 0.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.8%
* The euro rose 1.2% to $1.0988
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2373
* The Japanese yen rose 1% to 128.84 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.7% to $23,573.78
* Ether rose 3.7% to $1,635.55
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 11 basis points to 3.40%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.28%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 3.31%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.5% to $76.90 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1% to $1,965.30 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Robert Brand and Peyton Forte.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
Work usually follows will. –Louis Pasteur, 1822-1895.

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