January 27, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.  International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

January 27, 2010: Apple announces the iPad.
On Jan. 27, 1967, Astronauts Virgil I. ”Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White and Roger B. Chaffee died in a flash fire during a test aboard their Apollo I spacecraft at Cape Kennedy, Fla. Go to article » 
1973: Vietnam Peace Agreement signed.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer, b. 1756.
Lewis Carroll, writer, b.1832.
Mikhail Baryshnikov, dancer, b.1948.

Beneath a busy street in Jerusalem sits a 1,000-year-old moat with a secret handprint: A mysterious hand imprint carved into the wall of a previously buried moat has grabbed the attention of archaeologists in the Old City of Jerusalem.  Archaeologists made the discovery during survey work ahead of a street infrastructure project near one of the city’s main thoroughfares.  Full Story: Live Science (1/26)

Mysterious 12-sided Roman object found in Belgium may have been used for magical rituals: A metal detectorist in Belgium has unearthed a fragment of a mysterious bronze artifact known as a Roman dodecahedron that is thought to be more than 1,600 years old.  More than a hundred of the puzzling objects have been discovered in Northern Europe over the past 200 years. But no one knows why or how they were used.
Full Story: Live Science (1/26)

Ancient Roman residences with ‘pigeon towers’ discovered in Luxor, Egypt:  Archaeologists have discovered a residential area in Luxor dating to the time when the Roman Empire ruled Egypt.  Archaeologists found a number of residential buildings, along with workshops and pigeon towers, where pigeons could be raised for eating. Full Story: Live Science (1/27)

Eerily perfect galaxy-shaped spiral appears over Hawaii. What is it?  An eerily-perfect “whirlpool” of light in the shape of a spiral galaxy briefly appeared in the night sky above Hawaii.  But what was it?
Full Story: Live Science (1/26)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Berlin, Germany
Visitors walk between stelae of the Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe in Berlin on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. The memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust was designed by the architects Peter Eisenman and Buro Happold
Photograph: Stefanie Loos/AFP/Getty Images

Dacha-Suu, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyz riders compete during the Alaman-Ulak traditional horse game. Alaman-Ulak is considered Kyrgyzstan’s national sport. Players grab a goat or a calf carcass from the ground in full gallop and try to throw it in the place indicated by the judge
Photograph: Vyacheslav Oseledko/Getty Images

Paris, France
Models walk the runway during the Valentino haute couture spring-summer 2023 collection at Paris fashion week
Photograph: Lewis Joly/AP
Market Closes for January 27^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1938, and after a protracted war with the new Securities and Exchange Commission, the New York Stock Exchange finally recommended an internal reorganization to install a board of governors, a salaried independent president and a specialized administrative staff
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite advanced slightly to 20,714.48 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 3.5%.
Lightspeed Commerce Inc. had the largest increase, rising 6.9%.
Today, 125 of 236 shares rose, while 108 fell; 5 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 6.9%
* So far this week, the index rose 1%
* The index advanced 0.8% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 6.2% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 6.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 15.9% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.7 on a trailing basis and 13.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.29t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 12.69% compared with 12.92% in the previous session and the average of 13.10% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 28.6854| 0.8| 28/11
Information Technology | 24.6564| 1.9| 11/3
Industrials | 10.5700| 0.4| 21/5
Real Estate | 3.4139| 0.6| 17/6
Health Care | 0.7489| 0.9| 4/3
Consumer Discretionary | -1.5368| -0.2| 7/8
Consumer Staples | -4.2730| -0.5| 7/4
Communication Services | -4.9091| -0.5| 1/5
Utilities | -5.8698| -0.7| 5/10
Financials | -16.6719| -0.3| 12/16
Materials | -20.8199| -0.8| 12/37
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 18.4000| 3.5| -4.0| 41.8
Canadian Natural Resources | 12.7700| 2.1| -1.0| 10.1
TD Bank | 8.1420| 0.7| -45.9| 4.3
Manulife Financial | -5.0720| -1.5| 64.1| 8.3
Couche-Tard | -6.7350| -2.1| 29.7| 0.3
RBC | -9.2290| -0.7| -37.7| 5.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street brushed off disappointing outlooks from some of the world’s largest technology companies to push stocks higher on speculation of smaller Federal Reserve hikes as inflation shows signs of easing.
The nascent year’s tech resurgence gave the Nasdaq 100 its best week since November — with Tesla Inc. and Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc. climbing at least 3% Friday.
The gauge also notched its fourth straight weekly advance.
That’s even after a bleak forecast from Intel Corp. that followed recent worrisome remarks from Microsoft Corp. and Texas Instruments Inc.
Looking into next week, heavyweights Apple Inc.. Amazon.com Inc. and Meta are set to report their quarterly figures, and investors will get a sense on whether market projections are still too rosy as the economy slows down.
The mega caps that have reported so far have mostly beaten estimates by a small margin, said Dennis DeBusschere, founder of 22V Research.
“Strong results from these names will help keep index level estimates from deteriorating too far.”
Companies in the S&P 500 that have exceeded projections on both earnings per share and sales have outperformed the benchmark by an average of 1.45% within a day of reporting, exceeding the norm of the past six years, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
And those that fell short underperformed by just 1.7%, the least negative reaction in eight quarters, as many companies report taking steps to adjust to shifting business conditions.
Traders found solace in data showing the Fed’s preferred inflation measures eased in December to the slowest annual pace in over a year and spending fell.
A separate report from the University of Michigan showed US inflation expectations continued to retreat in late January, helping boost consumer sentiment.
The central bank watches long-term views especially closely, as expectations can become self-fulfilling and lead to higher prices.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she’s encouraged by recent data on inflation and jobs, but conceded the economy is at risk of recession.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers urged the Fed to refrain from signaling its next move after an expected hike next week because of the highly uncertain economic outlook.
“The market has been rallying on the idea that inflation is whipped. But I’m not so sure it’s settled yet,” said Kara Murphy at Kestra Investment Management. “When you think about how monetary policy works, it’s generally slow. Imagine trying to turn the Titanic way in advance of the iceberg — you have to start long before the iceberg is right in front of you, and you can’t always be sure how the economy is going to react.”
Hopes are high for the Fed deliver a 25 basis-point increase on Feb. 1 — shifting away from last year’s bigger moves — but expectations for end-2023 rate cuts are “a step too far,” according to Erick Muller, head of product and investment strategy at Muzinich & Co.
“We will probably see the Fed say ‘we are entering the final phase, but listen carefully guys: we will continue to raise rates,’” Muller said. “A lot of volatility in rates will depend on the path of inflation from here.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Bed Bath & Beyond Inc.’s efforts to find a buyer in bankruptcy have stalled, potentially putting it on a path toward liquidation as it faces a Chapter 11 filing, according to people with knowledge of the matter.
* American Express Co. predicted that revenue and earnings for this year will surge well above what analysts estimated.
* Chevron Corp. posted disappointing results just days after surprising investors with a mammoth buyback program.
* Colgate-Palmolive Co. sold fewer personal-care and household products than expected at the end of last year.
* Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. will eliminate about 500 jobs in response to weak demand and rising inflation.
* Hasbro Inc., one of the world’s largest toymakers, said it would cut 15% of its workforce, after a disappointing holiday shopping season.  US equities have flown in the face of many dire signals this year, from recession fears to weak earnings. Yet a peek into the trading activity behind the benchmark suggests the bullish run lacks conviction.
Flows into the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (ticker SPY) show that, while the fund is on pace to see net inflows in January after two straight months of investors taking assets out, the total amount of money coming in weekly has been steadily declining this month.
Flows into two other major funds tracking the S&P 500 — the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) and iShares Core S&P 500 ETF (IVV) — tell a similar story.
The S&P 500 is on pace for its second-best January since the turn of the century, trailing only the 7.9% jump in 2019.
If history is any guide, the gauge is also likely to be in the green on Dec. 31, as the direction in the first month — a gain or loss — has matched the annual result two-thirds of the time since 1973.
The positive-positive periods delivered a full-year average gain of 20%, while the negative-negative years saw a typical decline of 17%.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed
* The euro fell 0.2% to $1.0867
* The British pound fell 0.1% to $1.2392
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 129.88 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.2% to $23,132
* Ether fell 0.1% to $1,600.62
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 3.51%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 2.24%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.32%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2% to $79.41 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,944.50 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Cecile Gutscher, Sujata Rao, Stephen Kirkland and Vildana Hajric.
Have a  wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The more you have, the more you owe to others.  Be modest, and if you do happen to have any advantages
don’t let those who are less favored know it. –Princess Zenaida Youssoupoff,1861-1939.

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