January 24, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Happy Friday!

On Jan. 24, 1965, Winston Churchill died in London at age 90.  Go to article »

Experience the rainbow
You’ve almost made it through another tough week. Now, relax your eyes with the luminous colors of the Washington National Cathedral’s stained glass windows, shot in time lapse. Ahhh. (Click here to view.)  -CNN

From Bloomberg:
Listen to the re-created voice of an Egyptian mummy.

Brain scans suggest reading to a preschooler is way better than giving them an iPad.

Consciousness may pervade the universe.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The Vessel on Hudson Yards is illuminated with red lights to celebrate the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year in New York, the United States.
CREDIT: XINHUA/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

The moment a cheetah grabs a huge antelope in a stunning takedown on the banks of the Talek river in Masai Mara National Reserve, Kenya.
CREDIT: JEFFREY WU/ SWNS.COM

A drone picture captures the spire on Salisbury’s cathedral poking out above the clouds with the sun rising in the background. The photographer, Declan Spreadbury had been trying top capture the shot for 15 days in a row before finally getting it. The spire of Salisbury Cathedral, at 123 metres tall the tallest in the UK.
CREDIT: DECLAN SPREADBURY/SWNS.COM

A ewe stands in the fog on the outskirts of Aberystwyth in mid Wales.
CREDIT: IAN JONES/ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Market Closes for January 24^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1848 workers dredging a stream to speed up the waterflow into the sluiceway of John Sutter’s sawmill in Coloma, Calif., near Sacramento, struck a bed of soft yellow rock. James W. Marshall, scooping up a dozen pure gold nuggets in his wool top hat, exclaimed, “Boys, I’ve got ‘er now!” The California gold rush began.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci and Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities dropped Friday amid concerns of the spreading coronavirus that has sickened hundreds of people and prompted travel lockdowns in Wuhan, China, and its
surrounding cities. The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3% at 17,565.34 in Toronto. Nine of 11 sectors fell, with health care and consumer discretionary being among the weaker groups. Aphria Inc lost 8.6% after a pact to accept a strategic investment from an institutional investor for 14m units of the company at a price of C$7.12 per unit. Encana Corp.’s Canadian-listed shares dropped 5.3% Friday as the company will be removed from the S&P/TSX Composite and S&P/TSX 60 indexes after it won investor approval to relocate to the U.S. One Wall Street analyst downgraded the stock, while another saw a buying opportunity.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $23 discount to WTIS
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to $1,571.16 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar weakened 0.1% to C$1.3144 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield fell 5 basis points to 1.362%
Insights
* So far this month, the index has risen 2.9%
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -21.6994| -0.4| 7/20
Energy | -19.5716| -0.7| 3/27
Health Care | -10.0560| -4.4| 1/9
Consumer Discretionary | -7.6775| -1.1| 4/13
Information Technology | -4.5194| -0.4| 1/9
Consumer Staples | -3.2121| -0.5| 3/7
Real Estate | -2.6846| -0.4| 3/20
Communication Services | -1.5194| -0.2| 3/5
Industrials | -0.2883| 0.0| 15/16
Utilities | 2.3349| 0.3| 8/6
Materials | 12.4583| 0.7| 30/17
US
By Brendan Walsh and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — The spread of a deadly respiratory virus rattled global markets, sending U.S. stocks lower and fueling demand for havens in government bonds and gold. Oil fell for a fourth day on concern the outbreak will dent economic growth. The S&P 500 Index posted its biggest drop since October amid reports that U.S. officials had confirmed two more cases of the illness, which originated in China and has also spread to several countries in Asia and to Europe. Benchmark Treasury yields fell to a three-month low, while the dollar advanced for a second day. Investors are exercising caution with stocks close to all-time highs,  cognizant of the chance the respiratory virus migrates across the world and develops into a more devastating pandemic like the SARS illness that emerged 17 years ago. Officials in China boosted travel restrictions to cover 40 million people to contain the virus’s spread. “Investors can’t help but be unnerved by constant headlines of new cases all over the world,” said Alec Young, managing director of global markets research at FTSE Russell.
“To make matters worse, the market will be closed when we get the next update on the virus’ spread over the weekend. As such, this is quickly turning into a sell first, ask questions later environment.” In company news, United Airlines Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. each slid more than 3% on concern the virus will limit demand for air travel and tourism. Financial shares also sank, with Citigroup Inc. down almost 2% as UBS warned the sector could be hurt by less credit-card spending and a decline in cross-border payments. Health shares were among the worst performers Friday on growing speculation that upcoming elections in the U.S. may prompt lawmakers to take action on the increasing cost of medicines in the U.S. Intel Corp. was a rare bright spot after giving a bullish revenue forecast. Elsewhere, the pound slipped for a second day versus the dollar, giving back some of its rally from earlier in the week.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.9% at the close of trading in New York; it lost 1% for the week.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index added 0.9%.
* The MSCI AC Asia Pacific Index fell 0.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.1%.
* The British pound declined 0.4% to $1.3076.
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1027.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 109.29 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell five basis points 1.69%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield dipped three basis points to 0.56%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell three basis points to -0.34%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude declined 2.2% to $54.39 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.5% to $1,571.30 an ounce.

–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Adam Haigh and Brian Chappatta.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

There is only one corner of he universe you can be certain of improving and that’s your own self.
-Aldous Huxley, 1894-1963

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