February 5, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

February 5, 1969 – US population reaches 200 million.
1988 – Panamanian military leader Gen. Manuel Noriega was indicted on bribery and drug trafficking charges in Florida.  Go to article »

Long-haul travel might not resume until 2023.
Childhood diet has a lifelong impact.

Super Bowl Sunday!
Tom Brady, who’s 43 years old, is the most successful quarterback in N.F.L. history. But if any player has a chance to match him someday, it’s Patrick Mahomes, Brady’s 25-year-old counterpart in this weekend’s Super Bowl. “The sport’s biggest legend is about to face its biggest legend in the making,” The Ringer’s Danny Heifetz wrote. -The New York Times.

Super Bowl LV will be a bonanza for gambling companies this weekend.  Chiefs or Bucs, who ya got? 

from The Late Night Hosts:
“So he’s now out of the actors’ union. That’s too bad — I was positive he was going to be the next James Bond.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“Meanwhile, Melania heard and was like, ‘Um, Donald, while we’re on the subject of leaving unions.’” — JIMMY FALLON

February is Black History Month, and every day we’re highlighting Black pioneers in American history. -CNN  Amelia Boynton Robinson, civil rights icon, 1911-2015   Robinson was known as the “the matriarch of the voting rights movement.” A shocking photo of her being beaten by White police officers during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965 in Selma, Alabama, horrified the nation and led to the passage of the Voting Rights Act. It also showed Robinson’s true grit. As far back as the 1930s, she was registering Black voters in Alabama, an act that could have cost her life. In 1964, she became the first African American woman to run for Congress in Alabama.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A stockbreeder walks with his flock through the snow in the Gurpinar district of Van, Turkey
CREDIT: MESUT VAROL/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES

Joe and Luke Furguson have been fossil hunting since they were children and have an impressive collection, but this latest find is their best yet. They found this 60lb humerus bone, thought to be from a straight-tusked elephant or mammoth, near Brighstone Beach on the Isle of Wight after weather eroded a cliff
CREDIT: PAUL JACOBS

Sparkling snowboarding suits, tutus and headgear are all created by the LED clothing company SER Brothers. Creator Egor Krukovich
CREDIT: SER BROTHERS / SWNS.COM
Market Closes for February 5^th, 2021 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1637, “Tulipmania” hit its peak in the Netherlands, with the price of the rare Witte Croonen tulip bulb reaching 1,345 guilders per half-pound, up 2,506% in 33 days. Over the next five years, the bulbs lost an annual average of 76% of their value, until they fetched only 37.5 guilders in 1641.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets climbed to a fresh record on Friday, with materials and tech stocks leading the way. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.5% in Toronto. The benchmark advanced 4.6% in the past five days, the biggest weekly gain since April 2020. Meanwhile, the newest wave of Covid lockdowns in Canada is having little impact outside close-contact sectors like retail, easing worries about spillover effects and long-term scarring from the restrictions.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.40 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $1,810.53 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.5% to C$1.2767 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 4 basis points to 0.997%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fifth day, climbing 0.5 percent, or 93.93 to 18,135.90 in Toronto. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.8 percent. Eldorado Gold Corp. had the largest increase, rising 12.0 percent. Today, 141 of 220 shares rose, while 76 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 4.6 percent, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended April 10
* The index advanced 2.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 5, 2021 and 62.3 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 17.3 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$2.79t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.73 percent compared with
13.68 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.84 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 43.3307| 1.9| 44/6
Information Technology | 28.6214| 1.5| 6/4
Industrials | 12.8779| 0.6| 16/13
Financials | 9.9726| 0.2| 18/7
Energy | 6.3769| 0.3| 16/6
Utilities | 1.7523| 0.2| 9/7
Real Estate | 1.6605| 0.3| 13/12
Consumer Discretionary | 0.4359| 0.1| 8/5
Communication Services | -1.5215| -0.2| 5/2
Health Care | -2.1584| -0.7| 4/5
Consumer Staples | -7.4229| -1.1| 2/9
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks extended their weekly rally after weaker-than-forecast U.S. jobs data bolstered the case for President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package.  The dollar fell. The House adopted the budget resolution that cleared the Senate early Friday, paving the way to pass a stimulus bill in coming weeks with only Democratic votes. The S&P 500 climbed to another record in its best week since November as all of its major groups but tech rose. The surge in GameStop Corp. after Robinhood Markets Inc. removed limits on buying the stock did little to repair the video-game retailer’s weekly plunge of about 80%. Two-year Treasury note yields matched their record low amid a drop across shorter-dated rates. The recovery in the U.S. labor market disappointed for a second month as modest job growth highlighted the persistently difficult prospects for millions of unemployed Americans.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by just 49,000 after a downwardly revised 227,000 December drop, strengthening the case for another relief package. President Biden gave the strongest indication yet he’ll push for stimulus without Republican support, saying Friday’s weak economic data show the risk of doing “too little.” “The market is going to be in a bad news is good news scenario — bad news is temporary and likely to be met with additional support,” said Steve Chiavarone, portfolio manager and equity strategist at Federated Hermes. “Many investors would have a very hard time selling a market when they know vaccination is coming and they know additional stimulus is coming. It’s just really hard to sell that.” In corporate news, Pinterest Inc. surged as the digital scrapbooking and search company reported sales that topped estimates. In the meantime, Peloton Interactive Inc. sank after saying said it can’t keep up with surging demand for its exercise machines and warning that profit will be squeezed.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was unchanged.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index increased 0.9%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.6%.
* The euro climbed 0.7% to $1.2046.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 105.40 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose three basis points to 1.17%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced one basis point to -0.45%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield increased four basis points to 0.482%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 1.4% to $57.03 a barrel.
* Gold rose 1% to $1,811.97 an ounce.
* Silver added 2.1% to $26.90 per ounce.

–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Robert Brand, Cecile Gutscher, Claire Ballentine, Sophie Caronello and Nancy Moran.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Too bad ninety percent of the politicians
give the other ten percent a bad reputation.  -Henry Kissinger, b. 1923

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