February 26, 2021 Newletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
Full moon tonight.  The “snow moon” is so named because February is the month when there is the greatest snowfall.

February 26^th, 1848: Communist manifesto published
1919: Grand Canyon National Park established.
On Feb. 26, 1993, a bomb exploded in the garage of New York’s World Trade Center, killing six people and injuring more than 1,000 others. Go to article »

Victor Hugo, writer, b. 1802
Johnny Cash, singer, songwriter, b. 1932

Lives Lived: In 1974, Rajie Cook’s design firm won a contract to develop symbols that could efficiently convey information in public places. The 34 pictographs Cook helped come up with — depicting bathrooms, train stations, airports and more — are still in use. Cook died at 90.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

An early morning walker passes in front of the Snow Moon as it sets over Victoria Tower, Castle Hill, Huddersfield. The tower was built to commemorate Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee of 1897 however the history of human activity on the Castle Hill dates back over 4000 years
CREDIT:MARK COSGROVE/NEWS IMAGES

Children in fancy dress in Stamford Hill during Purim in London, England. Purim is usually celebrated by Jewish communities around the world with parades and costume parties. Purim commemorates the defeat of Haman, the advisor to the Persian king, and his plot to massacre the Jewish people, 2,500 years ago, as recorded in the biblical book of Esther. This year the celebration will be scaled back significantly, with Rabbis asking that, among other measures, mishloach manos traditional gifts of food to family and friends be left on doorsteps with people stepping back to a safe distance.
CREDIT: DAN KITWOOD/GETTY IMAGES

People celebrate the Jewish holiday of Purim in the Brooklyn borough of New York City
CREDIT: REUTERS/STEPHAINE KEITH

Early morning mist in Richmond Park, London
CREDIT: JOHN WALTON/PA
Market Closes for February 26^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1987, Templeton Emerging Markets Fund, the first portfolio of emerging markets stocks for retail investors, was launched.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares fell for a second week after a spike in U.S. Treasury yields pressured prices across the equity spectrum. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.9% Friday to its lowest level since Feb. 4. Tech rose while energy and materials led the decliners. Oil fell the most since November with a stronger dollar and concerns surrounding inflation weighing on crude’s best start to the year on record. Gold headed for its worst month since late 2016 as a stronger dollar and expectations for improving economies diminish demand for the haven asset. Canadian banks just posted encouraging earnings increases. But whether they can keep up the momentum depends on what happens in the bond market to the south. Mark Machin quit as head of Canada Pension Plan Investment Board after he went to the United Arab Emirates and received a Covid-19 vaccine, defying guidance from Justin Trudeau’s government to avoid international travel.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 2% to $1,734.75 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 1% to C$1.2728 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 11 basis points to 1.352%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.9 percent, or 163.28 to 18,060.26 in Toronto. The index dropped to the lowest closing level since Feb. 4. Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.8 percent. Pretium Resources Inc. had the largest drop, falling 8.8 percent. Today, 139 of 219 shares fell, while 79 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 4.2 percent
* So far this week, the index fell 1.8 percent
* The index advanced 6 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC
Americas Index gained 23 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.8 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 16, 2021 and 61.6 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.8 on a trailing basis and 16.6 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$2.82t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 14.58 percent compared with
14.33 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.13 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -75.8765| -1.3| 8/18
Materials | -74.9558| -3.3| 10/40
Energy | -53.4874| -2.4| 2/19
Industrials | -7.6015| -0.3| 17/12
Consumer Staples | -5.4387| -0.9| 2/9
Communication Services | -4.9347| -0.6| 3/4
Utilities | -4.4946| -0.5| 5/11
Health Care | 0.4198| 0.1| 5/4
Real Estate | 1.6118| 0.3| 13/13
Consumer Discretionary | 7.9870| 1.1| 9/4
Information Technology | 53.4739| 2.8| 5/5
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. tech stocks staged a modest rebounded on the last day of a tumultuous week as a global bond rout eased, sending the yield on 10-year Treasuries tumbling below 1.5%. Gains for Microsoft Corp. and Amazon.com Inc. helped lift the Nasdaq 100 about 0.6%. Energy producers and banks were among the worst performers, dragging down the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The dollar jumped for a second day, helping fuel a slump in commodities from oil to gold to copper. Asian shares tumbled in line with Thursday’s rout in the U.S., and European gauges also closed lower. Global bonds stabilized after central banks from Asia to Europe moved to calm a panic that had sent U.S. government bond yields to their highest level in a year and spurred a selloff in stock markets. Investors are getting increasingly worried that accelerating inflation could trigger a pullback in monetary policy support that has fueled gains in risk assets amid the pandemic. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says higher Treasury yields reflect optimism on the outlook for growth and officials have stressed that the central bank has no plans to tighten policy given lingering weakness in the labor market. “Higher rates will create a situation where investors will not accept the kind of sky-high valuations that they’ve been willing to accept in recent years,” wrote Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “Although what Chairman Powell said this week was bullish for the economy, it was not particularly bullish for the stock market.” The Nasdaq 100 pared its weekly loss to about 5%, still the worst since October, amid concern that valuations for tech stocks that soared during the pandemic have gotten out of hand. Elsewhere, copper slid the most in four months, falling from a nine-year high. Gold fell to the lowest since June. Emerging-market stocks posted the worst weekly loss in almost a year. Bitcoin fell below $47,000.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.5% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 index dropped 1.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific index declined 3.7%.
* The MSCI Emerging Markets index retreated 3.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%.
* The euro was 0.8% lower at $1.2075.
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.3935.
* The Japanese yen slipped 0.4% to 106.58 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries tumbled 10 basis point to 1.42%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dropped three basis points to -0.26%.
* The yield on U.K. 10-year bonds rose four basis points to 0.82%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.8% to $61.73 a barrel.
* Gold fell 2.2% to $1,732.10 an ounce.
–With assistance from Emily Barrett, Cormac Mullen and Robert Brand.
Have a wonderful weekend.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

As you grow older, you’ll find the only regrets
are the things you didn’t do. –Zachary Scott, 1914-1965

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