January 28, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

All the tributes surrounding us these day to the late great Kobe Bryant, I found this one particularly remarkable.  I t shows just how many lives he touched and the inspiration he provided to so  many.  It is from Dr. Sanjay Gupta and appeared this morning in CNN’s Healthy Returns:

It was April 12, 2013, and I was filming a segment for “60 Minutes” with one of the owners of the Los Angeles Lakers. That evening we were at the Staples Center watching the Lakers in a real battle against the Golden State Warriors. With three minutes left on the clock, Kobe Bryant made what looked like a pretty routine move around a defender, then suddenly crumpled to the ground.

The crowd came roaring to their feet.

Kobe had been fouled, but he had also heard a pop and felt like someone had kicked him hard in the back of his calf. While we weren’t sure, I heard the trainers immediately suspect a torn Achilles tendon — one of the most devastating injuries in sports. As Kobe sat on the court holding the back of his ankle, we subsequently learned that he was actually trying to feel if the tendon was there or not. When he realized it wasn’t there, he actually tried to grab the torn end of it and pull it up on his own. I can’t even imagine the pain.

And despite the terrible injury, Kobe stayed in the game long enough to sink two free throws before hobbling off the court. It made all the difference.

The Lakers ended up beating the Warriors 118-116.

I have always loved basketball, and getting to see an iconic athlete like Kobe Bryant play was the athletic equivalent of seeing The Beatles in concert. You just knew you were witnessing a level of talent that rarely graces this Earth. But with Kobe it wasn’t just talent, it was also his grit. That night, after suffering what seemed to be a career-ending injury, Kobe told his girls in the locker room, “Daddy’s going to be fine, work hard and go from there.”

Like most of you, I sat around this weekend with my family, my own three girls, and delicately talked about what happened. While I had long followed Kobe for basketball, my girls had been enamored with his family – all girls, just like our family. This weekend even happened to be my middle daughter’s 13^th birthday, the same age as Kobe’s daughter Gigi.

It was just so sad, they told me. As someone who always tries to make sense of things for a global audience, there are some things, I told them, that are simply inexplicable. And sometimes, that is OK.

Instead, I spent the time with my girls taking them back to that night of April 12, 2013. I did my best to demonstrate the superhuman feats of an extraordinary man. They laughed as I pivoted around the room with an imaginary basketball pretending I had mastered the perfect fadeaway shot. And then I told them that Kobe did in fact make good on his promise to his own daughters. He did recover and play again just eight months later, despite the long odds that had been stacked against him.

Then together we watched the highlights of his final NBA game, when he put on a show, scoring 60 points and ended his career by blowing a kiss to the fans.

“Mamba out,” he said.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A helicopter flies over a Kobe Bryant mural in downtown Los Angeles.
CREDIT: APU GOMES/AFP

An explorer has become the first Brit and the third ever person to climb the world’s remotest mountain-so isolated only ten people have ever seen it.
CREDIT: MARK SEDON/SWNS

A spectacular ice castle built by hand over thousands of hours towers almost 50 cm into the sky. Huge icicles dangle from the ceilings and the exterior while the whole structure is filled with carefully designed tunnels.
CREDIT: OE CHOWAINE/SOLENT NEWS

Market Closes for January 28^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 2002, Global Crossing Ltd. went Chapter 11, filing for protection from creditors under the Federal bankruptcy code. The telecom company had spent some $15 billion building fiber-optic networks in 27 countries since it was launched by former Drexel Burnham junk-bond trader Gary Winnick in 1997—one of the most stupendous spending binges in corporate history. Two Hong Kong-based companies, agreeing to buy Global Crossing out of bankruptcy, valued it at a total of $1.25 billion. That meant the stock had lost more than 97% since it was valued at an astounding $49 billion during the peak of the telecom bubble in early 2000. Mr. Winnick, however, had long since sold at least $600 million in stock, leaving him high and dry.

Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares advanced, along with the global stock market, as investors moved past coronavirus-related concerns. Pot producer Canopy Growth surged on Tuesday after BMO Capital Markets upgraded the stock, citing shifting sentiment. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.33% to 17,500.88. The move was the biggest since rising 0.4% on Jan. 17. Health Care stocks were the best performing sector, while materials were the worst. Shopify contributed the most to the index advance, increasing 3.5%. Ballard Power Systems had the largest gain, rising 13%. Barrick Gold was the biggest drag on the index, declining 3.6% along with other gold miners as precious metals fell on lack of safe haven demand. Meanwhile, Superior Plus Corp. fell 7.4% after the company said it won’t proceed with the sale of its specialty chemical business. BMO said the move reduced flexibility to lower the company’s debt and “execute an ambitious propane acquisition plan.”
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $22.75 discount to WTI
* Spot gold fell 0.9% to $1,568.41 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.2% to C$1.3165 per U.S. dollar
* The Canada 10-year government bond yield rose 5 basis points to 1.370%

US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks climbed the most since October on speculation that efforts to contain the coronavirus will prevent a major economic fallout. The S&P 500 Index rebounded from its worst sell-off in four months, with technology shares leading the charge. Some of the companies that suffered the biggest losses during the latest equity rout, such as chipmakers, casino operators and airlines,
advanced on Tuesday. Demand for havens cooled, sending Treasuries and gold lower. After the close of regular trading, Starbucks Corp. reported earnings that beat analyst estimates. Stocks Turnaround Got Few Cheering With Uncertainty Running High Equities rallied after a slide that wiped about $1.5 trillion off the value of world stocks since Jan. 20. As it’s too early to assess the full impact of the deadly virus, traders digested some positive readings on U.S. consumer confidence and home prices. With earnings continuing to roll in, investors will be looking for signs of how the disease is affecting operations in China. “We kind of stall a little bit on the Chinese recovery, but we have a lot of other things going in favor of a global recovery anyway,” Stephen Auth, chief investment officer of equities at Federated Investors, told Bloomberg TV. “We still think that’s coming.”

Some corporate highlights:
* PulteGroup Inc. climbed after reporting better-than-expected quarterly orders.
* Lockheed Martin Corp. rose on sales that beat the highest estimate.
* Acceleron Pharma Inc. surged on mid-stage results for its medicine aimed at treating a type of lung and heart disorder.
* 3M Co. sank after revealing it had received a grand jury subpoena in an environmental probe and saying it would cut 1,500 jobs.
* Harley-Davidson Inc. slid after quarterly profit missed estimates.
* Pfizer Inc. tumbled as a drop in sales overshadowed the company’s projections for a better-than-feared 2020.

Here are some events to watch out for this week:
* Wednesday brings reports from GE, Boeing and Facebook; Samsung Electronics, International Paper, Unilever and Shell report on Thursday, followed by South Korean chip maker SK Hynix, Chevron, Caterpillar and Exxon Mobil all on Friday.
* Federal Reserve policy makers on Wednesday are expected to open 2020 the same way they closed 2019 — by holding rates steady.
* Goldman Sachs will hold its first-ever Investor Day on Wednesday.
* The Bank of England meeting on Thursday is highly anticipated after a series of dovish comments raised speculation policy makers could lower interest rates.
* The U.S. reports fourth-quarter GDP Thursday.
* The U.K. is scheduled to leave the European Union Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.8%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index was little changed.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.1%.
* The euro was unchanged at $1.1019.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.2% to 109.14 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 1.65%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed four basis points to -0.34%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield jumped four basis points to 0.552%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index advanced 0.1%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose to $53.48 a barrel.
* Gold decreased 0.5% to $1,575.80 an ounce.
–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Christopher Anstey,
Cormac Mullen, Todd White, Sam Potter, Sophie Caronello and Sarah Ponczek.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Everything negative – pressure, challenges – is all an opportunity for me to rise.
-Kobe Bryant, 1978-2020

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
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com