January 28, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Jan. 28, 1986, space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members. Go to article »

NASA’s Perseverance rover will begin ‘epic journey’ on Mars next month.  It will collect samples of rocks and dirt from the red planet, and we will cheer it on every step of the way. 

Youth poet laureate Amanda Gorman to recite poem before Super Bowl.  Poetry and football: the collaboration we didn’t know we needed.

$1.8 million:  That’s how much Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders has raised for charity through the sale of inauguration meme-inspired merchandise.

WHAT TO WATCH: The documentary series “Pretend It’s a City” chronicles the acerbic Fran Lebowitz through the lens of her longtime friend Martin Scorsese. Their pre-pandemic strolls through New York City give the episodes a wistful, bittersweet quality.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Stunt biker Danny MacAskill films his new cycling adventure video,’Danny MacAskill – The Slabs’, on the Isle of Skye, using lockdown to focus on even more extreme mountain biking
CREDIT: DAVE MACKISON/PA
A man walks along Rajpath, a ceremonial boulevard, during smoggy conditions in New Delhi, India
CREDIT: Jewel SAMAD/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
This photograph of a fox in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, is the Overall winner and Gardeners World category winner in the Essex Wildlife Trust Photograph Competition 2020
CREDIT: JULIE LEVERE / SWNS.COM
Market Closes for January 28^th, 2021 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1965, less than a year after breaking the 800 mark, the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 900 for the first time, finishing the day at 900.95.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rebounded Thursday after sliding the previous two days. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 1.3%, the most since Nov. 5, with nine of 11 sectors gaining. Utilities and communication services fell. BlackBerry Ltd. dropped 32%, the most since April 2000, after Robinhood and Interactive Brokers Group curbed trading in the stock after a Reddit-driven surge. Oil declined the most in nearly a week with the spread of new Covid-19 variants and tighter lockdown measures weighing on nascent hopes of a demand recovery.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $12.80 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.1% to $1,842 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.2% to C$1.2823 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 2.2 basis points to 0.815%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.3 percent at 17,657.20 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 1.9 percent on Nov. 5 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 2 percent. Today, materials stocks led the market higher, as 9 of 11 sectors gained; 175 of 221 shares rose, while 45 fell. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.6 percent. First Majestic Silver Corp. had the largest increase, rising 21.6 percent.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 1.3 percent
* So far this week, the index fell 1.1 percent
* The index advanced 0.9 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 17 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.2 percent below its 52-week high on
Jan. 8, 2021 and 58 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.4 percent 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
25.8 on a trailing basis and 16.9 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$2.69t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.67 percent compared with
10.10 percent in the previous session and the average of 8.60 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 76.9427| 3.4| 50/2
Financials | 61.5960| 1.2| 18/8
Industrials | 49.0068| 2.3| 20/8
Energy | 19.5899| 1.0| 15/7
Consumer Discretionary | 12.6973| 1.9| 11/2
Health Care | 10.2944| 3.9| 8/1
Consumer Staples | 3.4554| 0.5| 8/3
Real Estate | 3.3256| 0.6| 21/5
Information Technology | 0.1607| 0.0| 8/2Communication Services | -2.0893| -0.2| 6/1
Utilities | -2.2256| -0.2| 10/6
US
By Vildana Hajric and Lu Wang
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities mounted a comeback from their worst loss since October as moves to limit retail traders’ speculation in some companies opened the door for hedge funds to load up on stocks they had been ditching. The S&P 500 Index rose 1% after trading platforms restricted activity in stocks whipsawed by internet chatter, from GameStop Corp. to AMC Entertainment Holdings Inc. and American Airlines Group Inc. Hedge funds that had shorted the stocks were burned in recent days, forcing them to reduce holdings in shares they loved in order to cut risk. That dynamic reversed Thursday, and a Goldman Sachs basket of stocks favored by hedge funds jumped the most since early November, halting a five-day slide. An index of the most-shorted shares tumbled more than 7%, the most since June. GameStop whipsawed, rising as much as 39% in early trading before plunging as much as 68%. It closed down 44%. AMC sank 57%, American was up 9.3% and Tootsie Roll Industries lost 9.5%.   
     The trading restrictions sparked outrage on the WallStreetBets forum where day traders have convened to drive the manic rallies that burned hedge funds across Wall Street. Washington took notice of what some have called inequitable rules, with Democratic and Republican lawmakers criticizing restrictions imposed on retail investors. All 11 industry groups in the S&P 500 traded higher, with sentiment also boosted by solid corporate earnings from the likes of Mastercard Inc. and Comcast Corp. and a surprise drop in jobless claims. Stocks have seen volatile trading after a prolonged rally that spurred talk of possible asset bubbles and predictions of a
pullback given a raging pandemic and patchy rollout of vaccines. The turmoil created by internet chat rooms has stoked fears of broader consequences for Wall Street, particularly hedge funds, but that fear seemed to fade on Thursday. “Earnings are great and guidance is better and we’re picking up the pace of getting vaccines out and eventually we’ll have fiscal stimulus coming out of Washington,” said Arthur Hogan, chief market strategist at National Securities Corp. “The market is trying to digest a lot of things at the same time.”
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index edged higher. Earnings beatsfrom STMicroelectronics NV and Diageo Plc were accompanied by a miss from Swatch Group AG and a revenue drop at EasyJet Plc. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield rose after touching the lowest level since Jan. 5. Bitcoin climbed past $32,000. Stocks in Hong Kong and Australia saw the bulk of Asian losses. These are some key events coming up in the week ahead:
* U.S. personal income, spending and pending home sales come Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index jumped 1% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 0.1%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index fell 1.8%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 1.4%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.2%.
* The euro rose 0.2% to $1.2129.
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3736.
* The Japanese yen weakened 0.1% to 104.23 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose four basis points to 1.05%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to -0.54%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose two basis points to 0.285%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1% to $52.31 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.1% to $1,842.54 an ounce.

–With assistance from Cormac Mullen, Gregor Stuart Hunter, Michael Msika, Adam Haigh, Cecile Gutscher and Yakob Peterseil.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Adversity is a mirror that reveals one’s true self.
                                          -Chinese proverb

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