February 4, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 4, 2004 – Mark Zuckerberg launches Facebook from his Harvard dormitory room.

1977 The album “Rumours” by Fleetwood Mac was released. Go to article »

Archaeologists unearth Egyptian mummies with golden tongues.  Put those back! This is how horror movies start! 

Archaeologists in Israel find purple fabric from the time of King David. (h/t Ellen Kominers) 

Five minutes to make you love string quartets.

And finally, wisdom from an internet prophet. 
You may never have heard of Michael Goldhaber, but the former theoretical physicist saw the dominance of the internet coming in the 1980s.
He helped frame the idea of the “attention economy,” which has expanded, writes the Times Opinion columnist Charlie Warzel, to the point that “any discussion of power is now, ultimately, a conversation about attention and how we extract it, wield it, waste it, abuse it, sell it, lose it and profit from it.”
Now 78, Mr. Goldhaber sees examples ranging from the Trump presidency to the welter of influencers and news outlets that, surrounding Jan. 6, amplified increasingly dangerous conspiracy theories on platforms designed to encourage outrage: “It felt like an expression of a world in which everyone is desperately seeking their own audience and fracturing reality in the process.”
It’s only going to accelerate, he said, so why not practice a little more intent in allocating our attention?

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Gardeners clear a path through the first snowdrops of the season at English Heritage’s Audley End House and Gardens in Saffron Waldon, Essex
CREDIT: JOE GIDDENS/PA
Russell and Michelle Hoyer try to find their driveway under the snow in Mt. Arlington, New jersey, USA.
CREDIT: SETH WINIG/AP
Conservator Keith Barley MBE works on large stained glass windows from All Saints North Street Church at Barley Studio in York. The windows of All Saints North Street Church, York, date to the 14th and 15th centuries, and comprise some of the finest medieval glass in the country
CREDIT: DANNY LAWSON/PA

Market Closes for February 4^th, 2021 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1863, the Stockholm Stock Exchange opened for trading. The first day’s volume: 22 trades for a total of 14,105 Swedish dalers (the currency of the time).
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose for a fourth day, closing within a whisker of the Jan. 8 record high, as technology and consumer stocks soared. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.7% to 18,041.97, just shy of all-time high of 18,042.07. The move was led by Canada Goose, which was the best-performing stock on the index. The parka maker rose 22% on Thursday after revenue and earnings for its key quarter came in well above analysts’ estimates. Meanwhile, job losses in Canada probably slowed last month in another sign the nation’s economy is handling the current wave of lockdowns better than it did last year.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.60 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 2.2% to $1,793.57 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.3% to C$1.2824 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose to 0.966%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.7 percent, or 126.06 to 18,041.97 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Jan. 8. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.4 percent. Canada Goose Holdings Inc. had the largest increase, rising 22.4 percent. Today, 129 of 220 shares rose, while 85 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 4.1 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 6
* The index advanced 3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC
Americas Index gained 19 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.2 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 4, 2021 and 61.5 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.2 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.5 on a trailing basis and 17.2 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$2.77t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.68 percent compared with
13.56 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.62 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 44.9581| 0.8| 21/5
Information Technology | 39.1733| 2.0| 6/4
Energy | 19.1198| 0.9| 18/4
Consumer Staples | 8.5728| 1.3| 8/3
Communication Services | 7.5409| 0.9| 3/3
Industrials | 7.0249| 0.3| 20/9
Consumer Discretionary | 6.7525| 1.0| 9/4
Utilities | 4.3358| 0.5| 7/8
Real Estate | 3.8637| 0.7| 20/5
Health Care | -2.3118| -0.8| 3/6
Materials | -12.9621| -0.6| 14/34
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended their rally into a fourth day as traders parsed through a flurry of corporate results amid signs the U.S. labor market may be gradually improving. The dollar rose. The S&P 500 climbed to a record, led by banks and tech shares, as the Russell 2000 Index jumped 2%. EBay Inc. and PayPal Holdings Inc. surged on upbeat forecasts, while Netflix Inc. gained after raising the price of its service in Japan. Meanwhile, GameStop Corp. plunged as day traders flocked to other stocks like drug developers, and Nordstrom Inc. slid after announcing plans to win back customers — a sign that Wall Street may have expected a more comprehensive overhaul. A widely watched segment of the Treasury yield curve steepened to levels last seen in 2015. The bull market in U.S. stocks remains on “solid footing” as the rebound in activity and corporate profits alongside an accommodative Federal Reserve create a supportive environment for equities, according to UBS Group AG.
A report Thursday showed jobless claims fell to the lowest since November, and the next major update on the economy comes on Friday – with analysts forecasting the labor market added about 100,000 jobs in January after a 140,000 drop in December. Selected high-frequency data, such as weekly consumer-confidence readings, also point to some strengthening. “We certainly seem to have shifted our focus back to fundamentals,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. “The virus news is getting incrementally better at the very same time that the earnings season and economic data seem to be showing some improvement. Markets are actually focusing on what we’re supposed to be focused on and less concerned about the machinations of getting fiscal policy out and what’s going on in Reddit-land. ”The Reddit fueled rumble in the U.S. stock market may have heightened fears of another burst of volatility, according to options data tracked by Bloomberg. Over the last two weeks, the Cboe Volatility Index’s futures curve has shifted markedly higher, showing a pronounced peak in April before a gradual decline. The move suggests investors expect more volatility in the short-term amid concerns about extended valuations, the pace of the vaccine rollout and the impact of retail-trading activity.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 increased 1.1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.6%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.7%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%.
* The euro dipped 0.6% to $1.1965.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 105.55 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell less than one basis point to 1.14%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.45%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped seven basis points to 0.44%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $56.26 a barrel.
* Gold lost 2.1% to $1,794.80 an ounce.
* Silver fell 2% to $26.35 per ounce.
–With assistance from Vivien Lou Chen, Adam Haigh, Cecile Gutscher, Yakob Peterseil, Cormac Mullen and Claire Ballentine.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you
if you realized how seldom they do. -Eleanor Roosevelt, 1884-1962

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