February 7, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
February 7^th,1992: European Community members signed the Maastricht Treaty, which led to creation of the euro.  Go to article >>.

Charles Dickens, b.1812.

Coca-Cola is making a new flavor permanent
Coca-Cola’s wacky offerings frequently come and go, but its latest flavor is the company’s first permanent addition in three years.

ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery are teaming up to launch a sports super-streamer
Three of the biggest sports broadcasters are uniting to create a super-platform that will house all of their sports assets under one streaming roof. (Warner Bros. Discovery is the parent company of CNN)

Bronze Age ‘treasure’ was crafted with extraterrestrial metal
Researchers determined that two artifacts in the Bronze Age hoard were made with meteoric iron. Read More.

Iceland volcano: Mass of magma pooling beneath power plant north of Grindavík indicates imminent eruption
Magma continues to accumulate in a chamber beneath Svartsengi and has now reached levels thought to have triggered the volcanic eruption that sent lava flowing into Grindavík on Jan. 14. Read More.

James Webb telescope makes ultra-rare detection of 2 planets orbiting dead stars
The James Webb Space Telescope has detected two alien planets orbiting white dwarfs, the collapsed husks of once-mighty stars. The discovery offers a hint of what our solar system will look like after the sun’s eventual demise.
Read More.

‘Remarkable’ new algorithm could dramatically speed up web browsing
SIEVE is a new approach to web caching that’s simpler and more effective than today’s state-of-the-art algorithms, its creators claim.

On Tuesday, a federal appeals court rejected former President Donald Trump’s claims that executive immunity protected him from criminal charges related to subverting the 2020 election.
From the Late Night Hosts:

“Trump’s campaign said that he respectfully disagrees with the ruling. Although, if Trump knew to respectfully disagree with a loss, he wouldn’t be on trial in the first place.” — JIMMY FALLON.

“The Supreme Court hasn’t announced if they’ll hear the case, but Clarence Thomas announced that he’d like an Apple Vision Pro and Super Bowl tickets if they do.” — JIMMY FALLON.

“According to a new poll from CNN, a majority of Americans want to see a verdict in the Jan. 6 case before they vote in the election. It’s vitally important that we find out whether the former president did what we all saw him do on television or not.” — JIMMY KIMMEL.

“OK, so he doesn’t have immunity, but after all these trials, he must have built up some antibodies.” — SETH MEYERS.

“The three-judge panel shot down his arguments in a strongly worded 57-page ruling. It was a devastating moment for Trump, especially when Melania started clapping.” — JIMMY KIMMEL.

“I mean, kind of a bummer because poor guy drank all that bleach for nothing,” Jimmy Kimmel said.

“And now Trump plans on going to the Supreme Court. And if he loses there, he plans on going to Brazil.” — JIMMY FALLON

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A Sky Full of Stars by Lorcan Taylor-Hood, runner-up in the Nature at night category
Photograph: Lorcan Taylor-Hood/SDNPA/PA

Golden Moonrise by Giles Embleton-Smith was highly commended
Photograph: Giles Embleton-Smith/SDNPA/PA

​​​​​​​Doha, Qatar
Britain’s Kate Shortman and Isabelle Thorpe compete in the preliminary round of the women’s duet free Group B artistic swimming event during the 2024 World Aquatics Championships at the Aspire Dome
Photograph: Oli Scarff/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for February 7^th, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1958, the Advanced Research Projects Agency of the U.S. Department of Defense, better known as Darpa, was established. It created Arpanet, the prototype of the World Wide Web.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,969.18 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.3%.
Birchcliff Energy Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 9.7%.
Today, 101 of 225 shares rose, while 116 fell; 3 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* The index advanced 1.2% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 19% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.3% below its 52-week high on Jan. 31, 2024 and 12.2% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.3% 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 16.5 on a trailing basis and 15.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.32t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.04% compared with 8.27% in the previous session and the average of 10.12% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 42.3752| 2.2| 5/4
Industrials | 13.9339| 0.5| 16/9
Real Estate | 1.4890| 0.3| 9/10
Consumer Staples | -0.1644| 0.0| 5/5
Consumer Discretionary | -0.2227| 0.0| 6/7
Health Care | -0.4270| -0.7| 1/3
Communication Services | -3.1393| -0.4| 2/3
Utilities | -7.8816| -1.0| 3/11
Energy | -8.6834| -0.2| 24/16
Financials | -9.8311| -0.2| 17/10
Materials | -16.0224| -0.7| 13/38
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 39.7700| 4.3| 11.7| 11.2
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 8.1450| 1.1| -7.4| 9.6
Manulife Financial | 5.0700| 1.3| 17.7| 3.9
Enbridge | -5.7970| -0.8| 34.7| -2.8
Canadian Natural Resources | -7.4250| -1.2| -15.6| -6.4
TD Bank | -11.3700| -1.1| -26.9| -6.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — The historic rally in US stocks continued to power ahead, with the S&P 500 closing within a striking distance of its 5,000 milestone.
Gains on Wednesday were fueled by a renewed surge in tech mega-caps and a strong sale of 10-year Treasuries that dimmed supply concerns.
While bonds barely budged, equities extended a torrid surge from their October 2022 lows on prospects that a solid economy will continue fueling corporate profits.
Traders shrugged off concerns about lofty valuations, February’s weak seasonality and cautious commentary from Federal Reserve officials — with stocks hitting fresh records.
“The market continues to climb the wall of worry, including shifting Fed expectations, geopolitical tension, and overbought market conditions,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide. “We are entering a sluggish seasonal period, but the market has strong momentum.”
That positive tone in equities continued to prevail after the US government sold a record $42 billion of 10-year Treasuries at a lower-than-anticipated yield — a sign of confidence the Fed will pivot to rate cuts this year.
“The 10-year note auction was pretty good,” said Peter Boockvar, author of the Boock Report.
Also on Wall Street’s radar was a raft of central bank speakers — all showing no rush to cut rates as already signaled by Fed Chair Jerome Powell.
Governor Adriana Kugler presented an optimistic case for a continued slowdown inflation while indicating little urgency to reduce borrowing costs.
Fed Bank of Boston President Susan Collins said she’s looking for more evidence that inflation is durably set to align with the target before moving to cut rates — though that step is likely “later this year.”
Her Minneapolis counterpart Neel Kashkari told CNBC that said officials need to see “a few more months” of inflation data before easing policy.
“Our base case is still for a soft landing where growth slows throughout the year, but remains healthy overall, while inflation does not prove to be overly sticky,” said Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management. “And we do believe  this environment will allow the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates by May, and by 100 basis points through year-end.”
Following the steps of all major US equity benchmarks, the MSCI World Index of developed-market shares also rose to a record.
Resilient economic growth in the US and an expected rebound in Europe are likely to support equities — even as some parts of the stock market look “frothy,” according to Barclays strategists led by Emmanuel Cau.
While one of the world’s largest exchange-traded funds sits at a crucial inflection point following a torrid 22% rally since late October, further gains may be in store in the coming weeks.
The $244 billion Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 (QQQ), which that tracks the Nasdaq 100, is trading near key resistance levels from three years ago relative to the broader SPDR S&P 500 ETF, better known by its ticker SPY.
If resistance from February 2021 is decisively pierced, the QQQ/SPY ratio is poised to rally more from here, with bullish confirmation for QQQ on absolute basis climbing to a new high, according to Anthony Feld at Bloomberg Intelligence.

Corporate Highlights:
* Ford Motor Co., buffeted by electric vehicle losses and rising labor costs, posted fourth quarter results that soundly beat expectations and forecast higher profits in 2024.
* Roblox Corp., a gaming company, reported higher-than-ever revenue and player counts.
* Snap Inc., the parent company of the Snapchat app, reported lower-than-projected revenue over the peak holiday season, disappointing investors just a week after much-larger rival Meta Platforms Inc. posted its best sales growth in two years.
* Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. green-lit another $25 billion in stock repurchases, aiming to assuage investors worried about plateauing growth at a Chinese e-commerce and cloud pioneer struggling to fend off new rivals such as PDD Holdings Inc.
* Uber Technologies Inc. reported gross bookings that beat analyst estimates, showing strong global demand for rides and food delivery during the holiday period.
* Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.’s fourth-quarter sales and profit beat expectations as both transactions and check sizes rose, defying fears of waning consumer sentiment.
* 23andMe Holding Co. Chief Executive Officer Anne Wojcicki is considering splitting the DNA testing company’s consumer and therapeutics businesses in an effort to revive a sagging stock price and avoid being delisted

Key events this week:
* China PPI, CPI, Thursday
* US wholesale inventories, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen speaks at a Senate banking committee hearing on the Financial Stability Oversight Council annual report, Thursday
* Pharma CEOs speak at a Senate panel on prescription drug prices, Thursday
* ECB Chief Economist Philip Lane speaks, Thursday
* ECB publishes economic bulletin, Thursday
* US CPI revisions, Friday
* Germany CPI, Friday
* President Joe Biden hosts German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House, Friday

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%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0773
* The British pound rose 0.2% to $1.2625
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 148.18 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.3% to $44,161.79
* Ether rose 2.4% to $2,437.57
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 4.12%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 2.32%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 3.99%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.1% to $74.13 a barrel
* Spot gold was little changed
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Jessica Menton.
Have  a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
I think track records are very important.  If you start early trying to have a perfect one
in some simple thing like honesty, you’re well on your way to success in this world. –Charles Munger, 1924-2023.

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