July 13, 2023, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.

Obon: Feast of Lanterns, Japan.
July 13,1930: First World Cup soccer championship.

The ‘man in the moon’ may be hundreds of millions of years older than we thought
Much of the moon’s surface is much older than previously estimated, a new analysis suggests. Read More.

X-ray scans reveal ‘hidden mysteries’ in ancient Egyptian necropolis paintings
New scans reveal that Ancient Egyptian artists flubbed a tomb painting depicting royalty. Read More.

Earth’s newest ‘baby’ volcano is painting Iceland’s Fagradalsfjall region with incandescent lava
An eruption opened a 1.7-mile-long fissure in the ground on Monday (June 10). Read More.

These are the nominees for the 75th Emmy Awards.  *Drumroll please* These are the 2023 contenders for television’s top honor.

Incredible US national park campgrounds you can’t drive to.  Most national park campgrounds are easily accessible by vehicles, but these picturesque campsites can only be reached by foot or boat.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Dharamshala, India: Langurs groom each other. Photograph: Ashwini Bhatia/AP

Litli Hrútur, Iceland: Walkers watch as smoke billows from lava during an volcanic eruption south-west of Reykjavik that began on 10 July, the third time in two years that lava has gushed out in the area near the capital. Photograph: Jeremie Richard/AFP/Getty Images

Montreux, Switzerland: Skye Edwards of the British electronic band Morcheeba performs on the Auditorium Stravinski stage during the 57th Montreux Jazz Festival, which runs from 30 June to 15 July and features over 400 concerts. Photograph: Valentin Flauraud/EPA
Market Closes for July 13^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1852, Wells, Fargo & Co. opened its first bank branches in San Francisco and Sacramento. The bank, a creature of the California Gold Rush, was set up to convert miners’ gold dust into cash.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the third day, climbing 1%, or 206.87 to 20,277.64 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.2% on June 30.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as all sectors gained; 158 of 229 shares rose, while 67 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 6.1%.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 2.3%
* The index advanced 8.9% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 18% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 2.7% below its 52-week high on Feb. 2, 2023 and 13.5% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.4% in the past 5 days and rose 1.4% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.2 on a trailing basis and 14 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.4% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.18t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.26% compared with 10.97% in the previous session and the average of 11.32% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 73.7644| 1.2| 24/5
Information Technology | 60.8029| 3.9| 10/1
Energy | 25.7904| 0.8| 32/8
Industrials | 12.0417| 0.4| 17/8
Materials | 10.4319| 0.4| 25/24
Utilities | 10.2605| 1.2| 15/1
Consumer Staples | 6.8962| 0.8| 10/1
Communication Services | 5.7624| 0.7| 3/1
Consumer Discretionary | 0.9268| 0.1| 7/8
Health Care | 0.1789| 0.3| 2/2
Real Estate | 0.0103| 0.0| 13/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 44.7200| 6.1| 55.4| 96.2
Brookfield Corp | 17.4400| 4.0| -3.2| 6.5
TD Bank | 15.1100| 1.4| -20.7| -5.0
ARC Resources | -1.5820| -1.9| -4.4| 2.2
Intact Financial | -1.6550| -0.7| 72.3| -0.8
Fairfax Financial | -2.7340| -1.8| -7.5| 18.4
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street got an extra dose of encouragement to bid up stocks after another inflation report reinforced bets the Federal Reserve is approaching an interest-rate peak.
All of a sudden, disinflation becomes the buzzword across trading desks, with investors looking on the bright side of data showing a slowdown in prices — even though core inflation is still running above the central bank’s 2% target.
Equities gained further traction on news that Fed Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard — who called for aggressive hikes — has resigned.
Tech mega-caps led gains on Thursday, with the S&P 500 topping 4,500 and the Nasdaq 100 up over 1.5%.
Amazon.com Inc. hit a 10-month high after reporting record sales during its Prime Day sale.
Google’s parent Alphabet Inc. rallied about 4.5%.
Banks also gained ahead of results from JPMorgan Chase & Co., Citigroup Inc. and Wells Fargo & Co.
Two-year yields fell 11 basis points to 4.64%.
The dollar dropped for a fifth straight day.
The producer price index for final demand rose 0.1% in June from a year earlier, the smallest advance since 2020.
The figures came just a day after data showed consumer prices increased at the slowest pace since 2021.
“The disinflation narrative is in full effect,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance. “It does appear that inflation is coming down across the board, and although the Fed is still likely to raise rates again at the end of this month, there is a very strong possibility that they are done raising rates for the year.”
The recent economic figures have sent clear signals that the Fed’s policy is working, but it’s possibly too early to claim victory against inflation, according to Fiona Cincotta, senior market analyst at City Index.
“If I had to choose a camp, I would probably go in the two rate hikes to come – July and possibly another one later in the year,” Cincotta added. “And I think that there will be a growing number of Fed officials who will be questioning whether more rate hikes are actually needed after July.”
Fed Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly told CNBC Thursday that it’s too soon for policymakers to say they have done enough to return US inflation to their target.
While the latest consumer-price report “is very positive,” the official said she’s in a “wait-and-see mode on that, because I remain resolute to bring inflation down to 2%.”
Aside from the economic debate, traders also awaited the unofficial start of the second-quarter earnings season Friday.
The focus is going to be mostly on the corporate outlooks given that beating profit expectations seems to be a low hurdle — even as some estimates have started to rise slowly.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists expect US companies to be able to meet the low bar set by consensus.
And Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Gina Martin Adams says “the S&P 500 earnings season will likely reveal more of the ‘less bad than feared’ trend that emerged in 1Q.”
“The thing I’m focusing on in the market, of course, is earnings, to see where the numbers come in, to try to get a gauge on how companies are doing, and really what they’re forecasting
going forward,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank.
In other corporate news, Delta Air Lines Inc. said it will make more money this quarter than Wall Street anticipated as it reported better-than-predicted results for the prior three months.
PepsiCo Inc. raised its sales and earnings estimates once again after a strong quarter.
Exxon Mobil Corp. agreed to buy Denbury Inc. for $4.9 billion, its biggest acquisition in six years.
Key events this week:
* US University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* US banks kick off earnings, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.7%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.1%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.7%
* The euro rose 0.9% to $1.1226
* The British pound rose 1.1% to $1.3133
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 138.02 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 4.2% to $31,613.29
* Ether rose 6.6% to $1,996.36
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 10 basis points to 3.76%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 2.49%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined nine basis points to 4.42%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 2.1% to $77.31 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.2% to $1,964.70 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Brett Miller, Tassia Sipahutar, Robert Brand, Lynn Thomasson, Isabelle Lee and Vildana Hajric.
Have a lovely evening

Be magnificent!
As always,

Carolann
It is easier to perceive the error than to find the truth, for the former lies on the surface
and it is easily seen, while the latter lies in the depth,
where few are willing to search for it.  –Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749-1832.

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