January 3, 2025, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!
Carolann is away from the office; I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

January 3, 1831: First US building and loan association organized in Frankford, Pennsylvania
January 3, 1842: Charles Dickens and his wife Catherine leave Liverpool, England for America on board the RMS Britannia
January 3, 1889: German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche suffers a mental breakdown after supposedly witnessing a horse flogging
January 3, 1961: The United States severed diplomatic relations with Cuba. Go to article
January 3, 1977 Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs incorporate Apple Computer, Inc.

Qubits inspired by ‘Schrödinger’s cat’ thought experiment could usher in powerful quantum computers by 2030
Quantum technology company Alice & Bob outlines its plan for quantum computing by 2030, but how feasible is that goal? Read more.

Weird bumps in UK quarry turn out to be 166 million-year-old dinosaur ‘highway’ for some of Jurassic’s biggest dinosaurs
Researchers have excavated the largest dinosaur footprint site in the U.K. after a quarry worker found tracks left by two of Britain’s biggest Jurassic dinosaurs. Read more.

Saturn will disappear behind the moon for skywatchers in Europe on Saturday. Here’s how to see it.
One of the last easily visible lunar occultations of Saturn until 2037 will occur on Jan. 4. Read more.

Massive piece of space junk crashes into village in Kenya — and officials still have no idea where it came from
A 1,100-pound metal ring from a rocket smashed in to a Kenyan village, where it startled residents and flattened trees. Read more.

1,700-year-old oil lamp found in Jerusalem shows a rare Jewish menorah
The lamp depicts Jewish motifs from a time when Jewish worship was suppressed under the Romans. Read more.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Berlin, Germany
A giraffe grazes during the feeding of animals with unused Christmas trees at Berlin zoo
Photograph: Ebrahim Noroozi/AP

Nanjing, China
People walk through the waiting area of a luxury toilet at a shopping mall
Photograph: AFP/Getty Images

​​​​​​​Tynemouth, England
Walkers on the beach at sunrise
Photograph: Owen Humphreys/PA
Market Closes for January 3, 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 2001, the Federal Reserve made a surprise rate cut from 6.5% to 6%, and Wall Street went nuts. Analysts who previously said that interest rates were irrelevant to the value of tech stocks embraced the cut, and the Nasdaq rocketed to its best day ever, gaining 14%.  It is “unambiguously great news” for investors, said Edward Keon of Prudential Securities. “Stocks should do fine this year.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 0.7%, or 175.51 to 25,073.54 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 0.8% on Dec. 20.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.9%.
Aritzia Inc. had the largest increase, rising 7.1%.
Today, 153 of 223 shares rose, while 64 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 1.1%, heading for the biggest advance since the week ended Nov. 22
* The index advanced 20% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 25% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3% below its 52-week high on Dec. 9, 2024 and 22.5% above its low on Feb. 13, 2024
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.7 on a trailing basis and 17.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.93t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.93% compared with 10.72% in the previous session and the average of 9.18% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 54.7715| 0.7| 20/5
Information Technology | 35.2026| 1.4| 9/1
Energy | 28.5866| 0.7| 30/11
Industrials | 26.0836| 0.8| 22/5
Communication Services | 10.3674| 1.8| 4/1
Real Estate | 6.3379| 1.3| 20/0
Consumer Discretionary | 5.9827| 0.7| 9/2
Utilities | 5.2161| 0.6| 12/3
Consumer Staples | 2.1513| 0.2| 9/1
Materials | 0.8528| 0.0| 16/33
Health Care | -0.0277| 0.0| 2/2
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 25.1400| 1.9| -38.7| 3.2
RBC | 16.2500| 1.0| -11.5| 0.3
TD Bank | 15.6700| 1.7| 105.5| 1.6
Couche-Tard | -2.6670| -0.6| -23.0| -1.5
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | -3.2310| -0.8| -32.0| 4.2
Bank of Montreal | -5.2110| -0.7| -56.7| -0.6
US
By Cristin Flanagan
(Bloomberg) — Investors have finally been induced to buy the dip in US stocks.
After a five-day drop that shaved more than a trillion dollars off share prices, Wall Street put the longest equities losing streak since April behind it.
The Nasdaq 100 clawed back losses on Friday, climbing 1.7% while the S&P 500 rose 1.3%.
The gains managed to put a dent in the week’s selloff after an end of December rout had stretched into the first trading day of the year.
Traders shrugged off warnings about slowing earnings growth for the tech stocks dubbed the Magnificent Seven and continued to snap up shares of AI juggernaut Nvidia Corp. 
“For as long as retail investors continue to pour money into the AI theme, the AI led boom in stock markets is likely to continue,” JPMorgan strategists led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou told clients.
To track the mood of day traders they advised watching flows into Invesco’s Nasdaq-tracking exchange-traded fund (QQQ) and a fund from GraniteShares, which provides twice the daily returns of Nvidia (NVDL).
Stocks reached session highs in the afternoon as the reelection of Mike Johnson to House speaker suggested Republicans will be able to coalesce behind the president-elect’s business-friendly deregulatory agenda.
Bond yields pushed higher with the benchmark 10-year touching 4.6% after Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin suggested his preference was to keep rates restrictive for longer.
Earlier data showed US manufacturing rose at a modest pace in the final month of 2024.
The Institute for Supply Management’s gauge hit 49.3, topping estimates, but remained below 50, a level that indicates economic expansion.
New orders rose to the highest since the start of last year.
Treasuries dipped after the report while stocks held onto gains.
Investors sieving through data to find signs the world’s largest economy was still going strong had to weigh that against the prospect of slower and shallower interest-rate cuts after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish pivot in December.
Vital Knowledge’s Adam Crisafulli said the ISM readout was incrementally positive but “but it will reinforce worries about hawkish policy and elevated yields.”
Such concerns saw volatility reemerge this week as the S&P 500 notched intraday gains in the previous two sessions, only to close lower.
Lighter holiday trading amplified the moves.
Investors are also contemplating Donald Trump’s return to the White House in 17 days.
“We really need to see more of that clarity on Jan. 20 for markets to have greater conviction,” Laura Cooper, global investment strategist at Nuveen, said on Bloomberg Television.
“US exceptionalism will continue to be the dominant theme at least in the first half of the year, regardless of what some of those policies that come through are.”
Louis Navellier sees “growing concern regarding the plethora of changes being proposed by the incoming Trump 2.0 administration.”
“The sabre rattling about tariffs brings inflation risks. The deportation of many thousands of illegal immigrants may cause labor disruptions,” the chief investment officer of Navellier & Associates wrote in a note.
The dollar drifted lower after setting a two-year high Thursday.
Among individual stock movers, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae traded near eight-year highs on plans to release the mortgage giants from government supervision.
United States Steel Corp. fell 6.5% after President Joe Biden blocked Nippon Steel Corp.’s proposed purchase of the company.
Biden’s decision to block the $14.1 billion sale of US Steel to Nippon Steel killed a high-profile deal that sparked a political firestorm and tensions between the US and Japan.
Biden announced his formal decision on Friday after the case was referred to him by a US security review panel, ahead of a deadline early next week.
“U.S. Steel will remain a proud American company — one that’s American-owned, American-operated, by American union steelworkers — the best in the world,” the president said in a statement.  
Shares of drinks makers declined after the US Surgeon General said labels on alcohol products like beer and wine should carry warnings of their links to cancer. 
Constellation Brands Inc. slumped as much as 2.3% and Molson Coors Beverage Co. lost nearly 5%.
In Brussels, Anheuser-Busch InBev NV, the maker of Budweiser beer, fell 2.8%.
Chinese stocks extended the worst start to the year since 2016, reflecting worries about the growth outlook.
The yuan fell to breach the psychological milestone of 7.3 per dollar for the first time since late 2023.
The nation’s 10-year government bond yield slipped below 1.6% for the first time ever.
“There’s been many false dawns in China in recent months and it looks as though it’s unraveling again,” said Kenneth Broux, a strategist at Societe Generale.
“We’ve seen three big days of selling which is not really conducive to sentiment.”
In commodities, WTI crude extended a climb into the fifth day reaching $74 a barrel. Gold lodged its best weekly gain since November.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.3% as of 4:05 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World Index rose 1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.1%
* The euro rose 0.4% to $1.0308
* The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.2429
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 157.28 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 1.2% to $98,261.76
* Ether rose 4.4% to $3,602.51
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced four basis points to 4.60%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.43%
* Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.59%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.2% to $74 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.7% to $2,638.43 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Richard Henderson, Divya Patil, Margaryta Kirakosian, Cecile Gutscher, Sujata Rao and John Viljoen.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Shab
“The beginning is always today.” — Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley

Shab Mohammadpour

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.,
St. Andrew’s Square,
Suite 340A, 730 View St.,
Victoria, B.C. V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778.430.5808
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www.carolannsteinhoff.com