January 4, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Happy New Year.

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.
     -Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1850

Isaac Newton, physicist, b. 1643.
Louis Braille, b. 1809
Jacob Grimm, writer, b. 1785

2007 Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., became the first female speaker of the House. Go to article »

A university that published its annual list of “banished” words and phrases has named the ones it’d like to see less of in 2021. Among them: “unprecedented” and “uncertain times.”

Where to go in 2021.

Ancient pharaohs rowed the Nile. Now Egyptians have rediscovered the practice, finding a new perspective on the river that shaped their country.  The Nile birthed Egyptian civilization thousands of years ago, and still sustains it. But few Cairenes have ever seen the body of water itself because restaurants, private clubs and cruises have hidden much of the Nile from all but those who can pay.  During a year with limited travel possibilities, our World Through a Lens series offered Times readers a weekly escape. Here are some of the highlights.

Our critics suggest these 9 new books and a quirky new comedy from the makers of “Bob’s Burgers”; they also rounded up 11 movies, TV shows, performances, music albums and exhibits they are looking forward to in 2021. –The NY Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ondarreta Beach at dawn, in San Sebastian, Basque Country, northern Spain.
CREDIT: JAVIER ETXEZARRETA/EPA-EFE/REX

A leopard playing with a baby impala, just a few minutes before eventually killing it. A safari guide from Cape Town captured the moment at Greater Kruger National park.
CREDIT: KARL VAN DER WESTHUIZEN/CATERS NEWS

Prince George standing on foam blocks during a Royal Mail photoshoot for a stamp sheet to mark the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.
CREDIT: RANALD MACKECHNIE

Market Closes for January 4^th, 2021 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1865, the New York Stock Exchange opened its first permanent building at the corner of Broad and Wall Streets in Manhattan, after decades of shifting from one rented or borrowed space to another.

Canada
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.5 percent at 17,527.77 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 0.7 percent on Dec. 15 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.6 percent. Today, materials stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 108 of 222 shares rose, while 108 fell. Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 8.6 percent. Brookfield Property Partners LP had the largest increase, rising 18.4 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 2.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 16 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.5 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 56.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.4 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.5 on a trailing basis and 17 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3 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 8.45 percent compared with 8.35 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.29 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 155.3726| 6.5| 44/8
Energy | 15.8985| 0.8| 16/5
Communication Services | 9.4184| 1.1| 5/2
Health Care | 8.3112| 4.2| 5/4
Consumer Staples | 6.8639| 1.0| 10/0
Utilities | 3.8677| 0.4| 10/5
Real Estate | 0.0372| 0.0| 3/23
Consumer Discretionary | -8.2109| -1.2| 1/12
Industrials | -16.3523| -0.7| 3/25
Information Technology | -37.0390| -2.1| 3/6
Financials | -43.7397| -0.8| 8/18

US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Volatility gripped financial markets, spurring a stock selloff amid concern that a surge in global coronavirus cases could crimp the nascent economic recovery. Traders were also jittery ahead of Tuesday’s runoff elections in Georgia, which will determine whether Democrats have control of Congress to push President-elect Joe Biden’s agenda. While equities pared a slide that drove major U.S. benchmarks down more than 2% earlier Monday, the S&P 500 still had its worst day in almost 10 weeks. Giants Apple Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. sank at least 2.1%, Boeing Co. weighed on the Dow Jones Industrial Average after an analyst downgrade, and Tesla Inc. climbed after coming close to meeting its vehicle- deliveries goal. The Cboe Volatility Index — a gauge of expected price swings for the S&P 500 known as the VIX – surged the most since October.
Global coronavirus infections topped 85 million, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson imposing a third lockdown across England and Japan considering another state of emergency for the Tokyo area. Daily cases in the U.S. soared to a record of nearly 300,000 following the New Year holiday, and an easier-to-spread variant detected for the first time last week could intensify the surge. Meanwhile, the political drama of 2020 is also bleeding into the first week of 2021 — with a pivotal election in Georgia, promises of protests in the streets and President Donald Trump’s dragged-out fight over the November vote threatening to tear apart the Republican Party.
“Equity markets will remain sensitive to developments tied to the pandemic that have held the U.S. and global economy hostage for nearly a year,” John Stoltzfus, chief investment strategist at Oppenheimer, wrote in a note. “A nearer hurdle for the markets to consider will be the outcome of the runoff elections for two seats in the U.S. Senate taking place in Georgia. Should the Democrats win both seats, we expect the S&P 500 to become vulnerable to a downdraft in the neighborhood of 6% to 10%” from the end of 2020. For Stoltzfus, it appears that equities have priced in a Republican victory in at least one of the two contests. He added that “markets prefer that Washington’s Capitol Hill have enough checks and balances in place to keep political power out of just one party’s hands.”
Elsewhere, traders see U.S. inflation averaging at least 2% per year over the coming decade — the first time expectations have climbed that high since 2018. Bitcoin’s rally fizzled out as the famously volatile cryptocurrency sank as much as 17%. Oil dropped as OPEC+ talks were unexpectedly suspended after a majority of members, including Saudi Arabia, opposed Russia’s proposal for a February supply hike.
What to watch this week:
* On Tuesday, the state of Georgia holds a run-off election for two U.S. Senate seats that will decide control of the chamber.
* U.S. Congress meets to count electoral votes and declare the winner of the 2020 Presidential election Wednesday.
* FOMC minutes out Wednesday.
* U.S. unemployment report for December is due Friday.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 decreased 1.5% at 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 0.7%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.5%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.1%.
* The euro increased 0.2% to $1.2244.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 103.17 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed one basis point to 0.92%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined four basis points to -0.60%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased two basis points to 0.173%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index advanced 0.7%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 2.5% to $47.31 a barrel.
* Gold rose 2.4% to $1,943.38 an ounce.
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Yakob Peterseil, Cecile Gutscher, Sarah Ponczek and Kamaron Leach.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
                                                             -C.C. Lewis, 1898-1963

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