Dear Friends,
Tangents:
February 24, 1582: Pope Gregory XIII issues Inter gravissimas, establishing the Gregorian calendar reform used by most of the world today.
February 24, 1821: Mexico declared its independence from Spain. Go to article.
George Harrison, musician and Beatle, b. 1943.
Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, b.1955.
Lindsey Vonn says her doctor saved leg from amputation
In a heartfelt Instagram video, Lindsey Vonn shared how her doctor saved her leg from amputation after the frightening crash at the Milan‑Cortina Olympics.
Custom treatments for diseases
Federal health officials on Monday laid out a proposal to spur development of customized treatments for patients with rare diseases.
Remembering Robert Carradine
Robert Carradine, known for his roles in "The Long Riders," "Revenge of the Nerds" and the television series "Lizzie McGuire," has died at age 71, his management company told CNN.
A planned snowball fight in Washington Square Park quickly turned chaotic on Monday. See the video.
| 2,800-year-old mass grave of women and children discovered in Serbia reveals ‘brutal, deliberate and efficient’ violence |
An analysis of a mass grave found in northern Serbia is revealing new information about violence in Early Iron Age Europe. Read More.
| Rare ‘planetary parade’ will return to the evening sky this week — but you’ll have to look at exactly the right time |
Six planets will shine together in the evening sky on Feb. 28. Here’s how to get the best view before they disappear. Read More.
| ‘Some of them have accuracy that’s close to zero’: Experts unpack the promise and pitfalls of genetic tests aimed at consumers |
Live Science spoke with a bioethicist and sociologist about emerging genomic technologies, including those that enable parents to "score" and "select" IVF embryos. Read More.
| How can deserts form next to oceans? |
Deserts are notoriously dry, so why do so many of them border oceans? Read More.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. -George Orwell.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Illusion of light
Mayflies (Ephoron virgo), Danube, Budapest. Silver in the Behaviour – Invertebrates category.
Photograph: Reka Baranyi/World Nature Photography awards
Climate change
Ilha do Cardoso state park in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Bronze in the Planet Earth’s landscapes and environments category.
Photograph: Thiago Campi/World Nature Photography awards
Splash
Brown bear trying to catch sockeye salmon, Katmai national park, Alaska. Gold in the Animals in their habitat category.
Photograph: Charlie Wemyss-Dunn/World Nature Photography awards
Market Closes for February 24th, 2026
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| Dow Jones |
49174.50 | +370.44 |
| +0.76% | ||
| S&P 500 | 6890.07 | +52.32 |
| +0.77% | ||
| NASDAQ | 22863.68 | +236.41 |
| +1.04% | ||
| TSX | 33970.38 | +193.88 |
| +0.57% |
International Markets
| Market Index |
Close | Change |
| NIKKEI | 57924.72 | +603.63 |
| +1.05% | ||
| HANG SENG |
26590.32 | -491.59 |
| -1.82% | ||
| SENSEX | 8222.92 | -1068.74 |
| -1.28% | ||
| FTSE 100* | 10680.59 | -4.15 |
| -0.04% |
Bonds
| Bonds | % Yield | Previous % Yield |
| CND. 10 Year Bond |
3.188 | 3.183 |
| CND. 30 Year Bond |
3.682 | 3.682 |
| U.S. 10 Year Bond |
4.0328 | 4.0309 |
| U.S. 30 Year Bond |
4.6865 | 4.7020 |
| BOC Close | Today | Previous |
| Canadian $ | 0.7299 | 0.7303 |
| US $ |
1.3700 | 1.3693 |
| Euro Rate 1 Euro= |
Inverse | |
| Canadian $ | 0.6197 | 1.6135 |
| US $ |
0.8491 | 1.1776 |
Commodities
| Gold | Close | Previous |
| London Gold Fix |
5191.40 | 5053.20 |
| Oil | ||
| WTI Crude Future | 65.94 | 66.31 |
Market Commentary:
On this day in 1982, the first stock-index futures began trading as futures contracts on the Value Line stock index. They opened for dealing in the pits of the Kansas City Board of Trade
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.6% at 33,970.38 in Toronto.
The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.1%.
Brookfield Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.3%.
Thomson Reuters Corp. had the largest increase, rising 11.4%.
Today, 139 of 217 shares rose, while 76 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 6.4%
* The index advanced 35% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 16% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1% below its 52-week high on Feb. 23, 2026 and 52.8% above its low on April 7, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 3.3% in the past 5 days and rose 2.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.9 on a trailing basis and 22.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.34t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 18.27% compared with 18.22% in the previous session and the average of 14.79% over the past month
Index Points
Materials | 129.2476| 1.8| 49/7
Industrials | 52.5271| 1.5| 23/6
Energy | 19.4527| 0.3| 21/15
Consumer Discretionary | 13.8503| 1.3| 9/0
Utilities | 3.1256| 0.3| 10/4
Communication Services | 0.7636| 0.1| 2/3
Health Care | 0.6082| 0.7| 2/2
Real Estate | -0.0129| 0.0| 4/14
Financials | -3.1109| 0.0| 13/11
Information Technology | -5.9525| -0.3| 5/5
Consumer Staples | -16.6290| -1.4| 1/9
Brookfield Corp | 20.8400| 2.3| -5.6| -2.2
Agnico Eagle Mines | Ltd | 17.5700| 1.5| -34.3| 43.8
Lundin Mining | 13.1500| 6.7| 0.6| 50.5
Loblaw | -6.9060| -2.5| 74.3| 8.8
CIBC | -9.2860| -1.1| 1.3| 8.1
TD Bank | -11.5000| -0.7| -29.5| 0.7
MT Newswires:
The Toronto Stock Exchange on Tuesday set its fourth record close in five sessions and its 15th of 2026 already, with the Base Metals sector leading the resources-heavy index upward, even as gold prices eased off three-week highs.
The S&PTSX Composite Index closed up 193.88 points, or 0.55%, to 33,970.38, with most sectors higher, led by Base Metals, up 3.25%, and the Battery Metals Index, up 2.2%, while Info Tech was the biggest loser, but still only lost about 0.33%.
According to Dow Jones Market Data, FactSet, going into today’s session the TSX was month to date up 5.8%, and year to date up 2,063.74 points or 6.51%.
Despite gains for Base Metals, gold traded lower by late afternoon Tuesday as the dollar rose and while stock markets rebounded after dropping a day earlier.
Gold for April delivery was last seen down $45.70 to US$5,179.90 per ounce after rising to the highest since the precious metal’s record high of US$5,345.80 on Jan. 29 a day earlier.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed lower following reports Iran is willing to make a deal in talks with the United States over its nuclear program, easing risk premium on the commodity even as U.S. forces remain poised to strike at Iran as talks between the two countries are scheduled to resume on Thursday.
WTI crude oil for April delivery closed down $0.68 to settle at US$65.63 per barrel, while April Brent oil was down $0.69 to US$70.80.
The Financials sector was flat to lower.
Among specific stocks, the Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO, BNS) lost 0.65%, despite kicking off the fiscal first-quarter earnings season for Canada’s big banks by posting a strong beat, supported by growth across all of its business lines, including Canadian Banking, although revenue came in lower and provisions for credit losses edged higher, despite management saying "2026 is off to a strong start."
The bank posted net income of $2.3 billion in FQ1, up 132% from $993 million in the year-prior quarter.
Earnings per share were $1.73, compared with $0.66.
Adjusted earnings per share, excluding most one-time items, climbed to $2.05, from $1.76 last year, surpassing the consensus estimate of $1.95 according to FactSet.
Revenue for the three months ended Jan. 31 rose 3% to $9.65 billion, from $9.37 billion, missing the C$9.72 billion consensus estimate from FactSet.
Homing in on one particular area of Scotia’s earnings release, its gross impaired loans as of Jan. 31 were $7.25 billion compared to $7.24 billion last quarter.
Net impaired loans in Canadian Banking were $1.76 billion, an increase of $148 million from last quarter.
Some market watchers on BNN TV earlier on Tuesday said these increases might not be ideal for any bank given the economic uncertainty around upcoming trade talks between Canada and the United States.
The issue of bank loans was also raised today by UBS in a note titled ‘OSFI Data Insights: Loan Growth Tracking Slower in F1Q26’.
The report highlighted balance sheet growth trends for Canadian banks, based on regulatory data from the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) through December 2025, two months into Q1 FY26 for the Canadian banks.
UBS extrapolated QTD trends for a read into Q1 FY26 loans, cash, securities and deposit trends.
Offering a glimpse into the fiscal first quarter, UBS said December’s data points to mixed trends in the quarter, with loan growth slowing, driven primarily by weaker commercial and other consumer loan trends.
It noted deposit growth is also decelerating, with slower demand and term deposit growth.
Assuming the Y/Y pace of growth in December is carried through January, UBS estimates Q1 FY26 loan growth at near 1.5% Y/Y (ex-NA), a clear moderation from near 3.1% Y/Y in Q4 FY25.
UBS said the implied Q1 FY26 pace (near 1.5% Y/Y) is below the 2.8% Y/Y average in second half 2025 and well under the near 5.5% Y/Y pre-tariff pace in first half 2025.
Overall, UBS noted, deposit mix is softer in F1Q26 on a Y/Y basis; and deposit growth is tracking at 1.9% Y/Y (ex-NA) in F1Q26 vs. 4.7% Y/Y in F4Q25, with demand deposit growth slowing to 5.2% Y/Y (vs. 8.9% Y/Y in 4Q25) and term deposits declining to -1.3% Y/Y (vs. +0.3% Y/Y in F4Q25 and +7% Y/Y in 1H25).
Traders will be looking for further updates around impaired loans in earnings due tomorrow from both Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO) and National Bank (NA.TO).
For BMO, the consensus estimate on FactSet was for Q1 2026 EPS of $3.21, compared to $3.04 in FQ1 of 2025 and $3.28 in FQ4 of 2025.
For National Bank, the consensus estimate from FactSet was for FQ1 2026 EPS at $2.99, compared to $2.93 in FQ1 of 2025 and $2.82 in FQ4 of 2025.
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A rally in technology firms spurred a rebound in stocks after a rout driven by fears about the disruptive impacts of artificial intelligence, with sentiment also buoyed by an improvement in consumer confidence.
Beaten-down software firms climbed, with the Nasdaq 100 up 1.1%.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. jumped about 9% on Meta Platforms Inc.’s plans to spend billions on its gear.
Texas Instruments Inc. slid on concern about heavy capital spending.
Short-dated bonds underperformed.
Gold fell.
AI Disruption Means Risk for Some, Opportunities for Other Weeks after Anthropic PBC sparked a market meltdown with the release of tools that raised questions about AI’s potential to render entire businesses obsolete, the startup said it’s expanding the reach of its Claude chatbot into new sectors.
It also highlighted how Claude integrates rather than displaces existing systems, noted Adam Crisafulli at Vital Knowledge.
“This ‘we’re here to help, not hurt’ message from Anthropic is helping to trigger a fairly healthy rebound rally in software,” he said.
Traders are also bracing for Nvidia Corp.’s results on Wednesday, expecting the chipmaker to trounce expectations.
The report will follow its recent lackluster stock performance driven by investors rotating away from mega caps.
This week’s earnings will either “calm or exacerbate” AI fears, said David Laut at Kerux Financial.
“We won’t have all of the answers this week, but worried investors are hungry for clarity,” he noted.
Before the chipmaker’s results, President Donald Trump will deliver the State of the Union address Tuesday evening, laying out his administration’s priorities for the year ahead.
The S&P 500 rose 0.8%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.03%.
The dollar wavered.
“AI disruption risk is not new information, but the catastrophizing seems overdone,” said Andrew Tyler, who runs the Global Market Intelligence team at JPMorgan Chase & Co.
While some of the concerns about AI displacing certain sectors could prove justified at the company level, the broader market effect has been a healthy moderation of optimism, according to Anthony Saglimbene at Ameriprise.
“This shift in investor psychology, if lasting, could help lower the odds of valuations becoming unanchored with reality and leave a more constructive environment for the long-term health of the market,” he said.
The business cycle should limit equity drawdown risk despite AI disruption and concerns over geopolitical shocks, according to Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists including Andrea Ferrario and Christian Mueller-Glissmann.
“While somewhat elevated valuations do increase the risk of smaller corrections, our current optimistic macro baseline and broadly supportive market sentiment should limit drawdown risk,” they added.
Corporate Highlights:
* The Pentagon warned Anthropic PBC that it would terminate the company’s military contracts on Friday if the artificial intelligence startup failed to meet government terms for use of its technology, according to people familiar with the matter.
* Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. is considering a new takeover proposal from Paramount Skydance Corp., the latest salvo in a battle for control of one of Hollywood’s most-famed studios.
* Home Depot Inc. reported a key sales metric that beat expectations in the latest quarter on steady demand, though the retailer cautioned that macroeconomic challenges remain.
* Novo Nordisk A/S plans to slash the US list prices for its blockbusters Wegovy and Ozempic next year as the drugmaker struggles to claw back a larger share of the obesity market.
What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“For all the worries over the tech sector’s performance this year, one thing is clear: its earnings outlook is far superior to that of its peers, which will be key to drawing a line under share prices.”
—Kristine Aquino, Managing Editor, Markets Live.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.5%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro was little changed at $1.1775
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3498
* The Japanese yen fell 0.8% to 155.88 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.2% to $64,411.4
* Ether fell 0.4% to $1,856.36
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.03%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.71%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.31%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude was little changed
* Spot gold fell 1.2% to $5,165.25 an ounce
Have a lovely evening.
Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann
Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. -Steve Jobs, 1955-2011.
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 (Text Only)
Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895
Fax: 778.430.5828