February 28, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Feb. 27, 1991, President George H.W. Bush declared that “Kuwait is liberated, Iraq’s army is defeated,” and announced that the allies would suspend combat operations at midnight. Go to article »

The 28th Annual SAG Awards: If you’re searching for a top-tier TV series or movie to watch, look no further. Here are the winners of the year’s best television and film performances. 

Elon Musk activates SpaceX satellite internet service in Ukraine.  Ukraine asked Musk to provide internet service to the country amid Russian attacks, and Musk delivered.

“The Batman” hits theaters Friday.  Ladies and gentlemen… Robert Pattinson is Batman and Zoë Kravitz is Catwoman. Intrigued? 

Want some more inspiration on travels for the year ahead? Here are 24 other irresistible ideas.

Don’t be too quick to dismiss everything about the Gilded Age. — Adrian Wooldridge 

The sun could help make desalination cheap.

What you eat affects how you sleep.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Flooding around Tewkesbury Abbey close to where the Rivers Severn and Avon meet
CREDIT: Ben Birchall/PA

Tourists enjoy a flower viewing tour at Meihua
CREDIT: Sipa Asia/Rex/Shutterstock

Staff members from the Hoshinoya Tokyo hotel demonstrate its lantern dining experience, where lanterns made by Kojima Shoten – a shop in Kyoto – are used to shroud diners for mask-free dining
CREDIT: Philip Fong/AFP/Getty Images

Market Closes for February 28^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1950, New York City financial executive Frank McNamara and his attorney Ralph Schneider had dinner at the Major’s Cabin Grill Restaurant on 33rd St. in Manhattan. When the check came, Mr. McNamara handed the waiter a small paper Diners’ Club card and asked to charge the bill. After a year of preparation by Mssrs. McNamara and Schneider, the first charge-card transaction had taken place.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Canadian energy equities rose Monday, thanks to a 4.6% jump in crude oil futures, and led gains on the S&P/TSX Composite Index.
The Composite advanced slightly to 21,126.36 in Toronto.
Nutrien Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.7%.
Ballard Power Systems Inc. had the largest percentage increase, rising 16.5%.
Today, 124 of 240 shares rose, while 112 fell; 4 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index was little changed
* The index advanced 17% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 13% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.1% below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 17.8% above its low on Feb. 26, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.6% in the past 5 days and was little changed in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.5 on a trailing basis and 14.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.37t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.37% compared with 14.62% in the previous session and the average of 13.43% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | 75.1814| 2.3| 32/0
* Information Technology | 18.3705| 1.3| 10/6
* Materials | 15.9886| 0.6| 27/27
* Utilities | 9.8964| 1.1| 15/1
* Health Care | -0.6548| -0.5| 4/2
* Industrials | -3.8434| -0.2| 16/13
* Real Estate | -6.0525| -1.0| 5/18
* Communication Services | -6.0658| -0.6| 2/5
* Consumer Discretionary | -7.8196| -1.1| 5/9
* Consumer Staples | -15.3931| -2.0| 1/10
* Financials | -59.2294| -0.8| 7/21
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Nutrien | 22.8700| 5.7| 186.8| 14.7
* Shopify | 15.5600| 2.3| 17.4| -49.5
* Canadian Natural Resources | 10.2600| 1.8| 15.1| 32.5
* Couche-Tard | -8.4130| -2.9| 139.8| -6.1
* CIBC | -9.8200| -1.9| 123.2| 8.8
* TD Bank | -30.0000| -2.3| 31.6| 5.5

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks pared losses, while bonds joined gains in haven assets after a wall of sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine roiled markets around the world.
The S&P 500 trimmed most of its earlier drop, led by gains in energy and industrial companies.
The gauge still headed toward its second month of declines — the longest losing streak since October 2020.
The Cboe Volatility Index, known as the market’s “fear gauge,” surged.
Treasuries jumped, driving two-year yields near where they were before a steeper-than-expected inflation report earlier this month.
The Swiss franc staged its biggest gain against the euro since 2018, and gold held near the more than 13-month high hit last week.
Oil pared its advance as the U.S. and its allies considered releasing about 60 million barrels of crude from emergency stockpiles to quell supply fears.
Bitcoin rallied almost 12%.
The mounting sanctions against Russia are increasing the risk for investors that the nation’s stocks and bonds could be kicked out of major global benchmarks, effectively cutting them off from a big segment of the investment-fund industry.
MSCI Inc. said it is consulting with clients to understand the implications of those sanctions for markets and could move to kick the nation’s assets out of its key equity gauges.
At the same time, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. warned of the risk of Russian debt being removed from a widely followed JPMorgan Chase & Co. index.
As Russia canceled trading of stocks in Moscow on Monday, London-listed shares of Russian companies cratered.
Depositary receipts for lender Sberbank of Russia sank 74%, the most on record, while retailer Magnit slid 80%.
Gas giant Gazprom dropped 53%.
Traders struggled to price the ruble, with the currency losing a third of its value in offshore trading at one point.
Quotes were infrequent and volatile at the start of the session, with low liquidity making it difficult to match buyers and sellers.
President Vladimir Putin announced countersanctions as countries around the world piled up penalties against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The government in Kyiv reported that civilians were killed by shelling in the second-largest city Kharkiv as fighting intensified across the nation.
Britain stepped up its own sanctions, including telling ports not to service Russian-flagged vessels, while Poland warned Moscow may try to seal off part of Ukraine’s border with the European Union.
Comments:
* “The situation in Ukraine remains highly unpredictable with no simple off-ramp. Investors are advised to stretch their time horizon, as events in the region continue to create challenges in the near term,” said Robert Teeter, managing director of Silvercrest Asset Management.
* “This invasion simply adds another risk to the mix that’s unlikely to disappear quickly,” wrote Morgan Stanley strategists led by Mike Wilson, referring to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“In a world where valuations remain elevated and earnings risk is rising, last week’s tactical rally in equities will likely run out of momentum in March as the Fed begins to tighten in earnest and the earnings picture deteriorates,”
* “We do not view this as a time to de-risk,” said Solita Marcelli, chief investment officer Americas at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Drawdowns based on geopolitical events have been brief: If we look at S&P 500 performance following key military conflicts since 1945, markets were usually down within the first week. But on 14 of the 18 occasions they were up within three months, with a median performance of around 2%.”

What to watch this week:
* President Joe Biden State of the Union address, Tuesday
* Reserve Bank of Australia policy decision, Tuesday
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies to Congress on monetary policy, Wednesday and Thursday
* OPEC+ meeting, Wednesday
* Eurozone CPI, Wednesday
* Bank of Canada rate decision, Wednesday
* ECB publishes the account of its February meeting, Thursday
* U.S. unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.2% as of 3:58 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.5%
* The MSCI World index was little changed
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.1212
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3413
* The Japanese yen rose 0.5% to 114.97 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 13 basis points to 1.84%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined 10 basis points to 0.13%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 1.41%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 4.9% to $96.05 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1.2% to $1,910.80 an ounce
–With assistance from Akshay Chinchalkar, Abigail Moses, Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee, Peyton Forte, Emily Graffeo, Matt Turner and Divya Balji.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

When love and skill work together, expect a masterpiece. –John Ruskin, 1819-1900.

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