January 25, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Robert Burns, poet, b. 1759.
O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly played in tune….
                     -Robert Burns
Virginia Woolf, writer, b. 1882.
As an experience, madness is terrific….and in its lava I still find most of the things I write about.
A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction. -Virginia Woolf

W. Somerset Maugham, b. 1874
It’s a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it.
To acquire the habit of reading is to construct for yourself a refuge from almost all the miseries of life. –Somerset Maugham

On Jan. 25, 1915, the inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, inaugurated U.S. transcontinental telephone service. Go to article »
1984- Macintosh computer debuts.

Bernie Sanders turns inauguration meme into sweatshirt for charity
He’s embraced his new role as a cozy fashion inspiration
A woman who won a $60 million lottery said she got the winning numbers from her husband’s dream
Some husbands dream about accidentally showing up to work in their underwear, and others dream of $60 million premonitions.  
The secret ingredient that powers Supernovas

PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Robot Franziska cries because someone stands in its way while cleaning the floor
CREDIT: ANDREAS GEBERT/REUTERS
Horses are dwarfed by their shadows in their meadow in Saint-Gondran, western France
CREDIT: DAMIEN MEYER/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
A field of rapeseed sits in the foreground, with Mount Fuji in the background at Azumayama Park in Ninomiya, Japan
CREDIT: JIJI PRESS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for January 25th, 2021 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1853, basic financial disclosure became mandatory for all companies seeking to list their stock for trading on the New York Stock & Exchange Board.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose Monday with tech stocks in the limelight ahead of corporate earnings. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.3% as BlackBerry Ltd. jumped 31% to its highest level since 2011. Materials and health care were among laggards. Oil gained the most in about a week with expectations for tighter global supply offsetting concerns that a bumpy Covid-19 vaccine rollout will further blunt demand. Moderna Inc. said its vaccine will protect against two known variants of the Covid-19 virus, but it plans to start human studies of a booster shot for a strain from South Africa that may cause immunity to wane more quickly.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $13.75 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.01% to $1,855.44
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% to C$1.2744 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 3.6 basis points to 0.806%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3 percent at 17,906.02 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 1.1 percent on Jan. 7 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.4 percent. BlackBerry Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 28.3 percent. Tfi International Inc. had the largest increase, rising 32.3 percent. Today, 108 of 221 shares rose, while 107 fell; 6 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2.7 percent
* The index advanced 1.9 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.8 percent below its 52-week high on Jan. 8, 2021 and 60.3 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 1.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
26.3 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$2.76t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.19 percent compared with
8.16 percent in the previous session and the average of 8.42 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 30.0351| 1.6| 7/3
Industrials | 25.7655| 1.2| 20/8
Communication Services | 9.3373| 1.1| 5/2
Consumer Staples | 6.7729| 1.1| 7/3
Utilities | 0.7994| 0.1| 8/8
Consumer Discretionary | 0.0283| 0.0| 6/7
Energy | -0.5457| 0.0| 11/10
Health Care | -0.9692| -0.4| 4/4
Financials | -1.0778| 0.0| 16/10
Real Estate | -1.1639| -0.2| 10/15
Materials | -8.8766| -0.4| 14/37
US
By Katherine Greifeld
(Bloomberg) — Technology shares led gains in U.S. stocks as investors awaited earnings from some of the biggest companies. The Nasdaq 100 climbed amid gains for Apple Inc., Tesla Inc. and Microsoft Corp. The S&P 500 Index ended higher, though gains were limited after the top Senate Democrat said lawmakers said an aid package was unlikely before mid-March and a U.S. health official expressed concern about vaccination delays. GameStop Corp. extended its extreme volatility, more than doubling before paring most of the gains. The picture was more negative in Europe, with equity benchmarks in France, Spain and the U.K. ending lower. The Stoxx 600 Travel & Leisure index lost 1.9% amid news France may go into another lockdown, the U.K. may tighten border controls and as Israel moved to bar foreign flights from entering the country.
The S&P 500 is coming off its best week since November, and investors are looking for fresh catalysts to push the index higher or at least justify current valuations. That could come from a slate of earnings reports due this week that will shed light on how the biggest tech companies are faring and whether retailers, travel companies and restaurants are seeing any meaningful pickup in business. “You’ve got 65% of market cap reporting in the next two weeks,” Stuart Kaiser, head of derivatives research at UBS Group AG, said in a Bloomberg Television interview. “The market had rotated into cyclical/value stocks at the end of last year and early into this year, and as earnings have started, I think they’ve been sort of reminded why they liked the leaders to begin with from last year.” In Asia, stocks gained. Chinese internet firm Tencent Holdings Ltd. jumped 11%, the biggest gain since 2011, as mainland traders sparked a buying frenzy. Elsewhere in markets, crude oil in New York climbed toward $53 a barrel and the dollar gained. Sovereign bond yields dipped while Bitcoin rebounded above $34,000 before paring the advance.
These are some key events coming up in the week ahead:
* Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., Tesla Inc., Facebook Inc., UBS Group AG and Samsung Electronics Co. are among companies reporting results.
* Data on U.S. home prices and consumer confidence come Tuesday.
* The Federal Open Market Committee monetary policy decision and briefing by Chair Jerome Powell are scheduled for Wednesday.
* Fourth-quarter GDP, initial jobless claims and new home sales are among U.S. data releases Thursday.
* U.S. personal income, spending and pending home sales come Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index rose 0.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 0.8%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index climbed 1.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%.
* The euro decreased 0.3% to $1.2141.
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.3668.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 103.77 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined five basis points to 1.04%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased four basis points to -0.55%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield fell five basis points to 0.26%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $52.80 a barrel.
* Gold was little changed at $1,855.01 an ounce.
–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Paul Jarvis, Anchalee Worrachate and Sunil Jagtiani.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The secret of success is before attempting anything,
be very clear about why you are doing it. –Guan Yin Tzu.

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