July 20, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday Eve.  It’s Moon Day today.

July 20^th, 1969: Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to set foot on the moon, proclaiming, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
Astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.  Go to article >>

Sir Edmund Hilary, explorer, b. 1919
Carlos Santana, guitarist, b. 1947

Disneyland-sized theme park planned along Route 66:  An “Americana-themed” amusement park is set to be a $2 billion destination in northeast Oklahoma, according to new plans for the development.

Stolen 15th-century letter from Christopher Columbus has been returned to Italy:  This letter, in which Columbus announced his discoveries on the American continent to Spain’s King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, is back in Italy after being missing for decades.

Microsoft is giving out free cybersecurity tools.  The tech giant is offering free cybersecurity tools to some government and commercial customers in the wake of a major hack.

Thousands of medieval coins unearthed by metal detectorists in Romania
A literal pot of buried treasure was discovered deep within a forest in western Romania. Read More.

Hundreds of ‘ghost stars’ haunt the Milky Way’s center. Scientists may finally know why.
Ghostly nebulas created by exploding stars appear to align in the Milky Way’s bulging center. Read More

Genetic quirk could explain why not everyone shows symptoms of COVID-19
In a large cohort of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, a specific gene variant was more common in people who didn’t show symptoms. Read More

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Mount Merapi spews lava as it erupts in the Sleman district.  Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Asahikawa, Japan: Penguins gather around a block of ice at Asahiyama zoo in Hokkaido.  Photograph: AP

Frankfurt, Germany: A bird of prey in a field on the outskirts of the city.  Photograph: Michael Probst/AP
Market Closes for July 20^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1992: Charles Schwab opened its “mutual fund supermarket,” allowing investors to choose from hundreds of different funds without paying transaction fees.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.3% at 20,436.87 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.5% on July 6 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.6%.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 4.1%.
Nuvei Corp. had the largest drop, falling 8.0%.
Today, 143 of 228 shares fell, while 80 rose; 5 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 1.4%
* So far this week, the index rose 0.9%
* The index advanced 7.4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 14% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.9% below its 52-week high on Feb. 2, 2023 and 14.3% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.8% in the past 5 days and rose 3.5% 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 14.4 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$3.24t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.01% compared with 9.99% in the previous session and the average of 10.98% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -41.4833| -1.7| 4/46
Information Technology | -40.6573| -2.5| 1/10
Real Estate | -1.9853| -0.4| 4/16
Consumer Discretionary | -1.9441| -0.2| 3/12
Health Care | -0.0244| 0.0| 1/3
Industrials | 0.9756| 0.0| 8/18
Financials | 1.2387| 0.0| 13/15
Communication Services | 1.3791| 0.2| 2/3
Consumer Staples | 3.0266| 0.4| 10/1
Utilities | 4.6250| 0.5| 12/3
Energy | 20.5325| 0.6| 22/16
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | -31.0500| -4.1| 61.6| 83.4
Agnico Eagle Mines | -7.5690| -3.1| -10.2| -2.8
Barrick Gold | -5.8940| -2.1| -25.6| -2.0
Waste Connections | 6.8460| 2.1| -42.6| 5.5
TC Energy | 7.8700| 2.2| -4.4| -3.9
Enbridge | 8.2160| 1.2| 1.4| -7.2
US
By Cecile Gutscher and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — US equities and Treasuries fell Thursday as investors digested a round of disappointing tech earnings and fresh signs of labor-market resiliency that could support another hike in interest rates this year.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 fell 2.3%, with Netflix Inc. notching its biggest decline of the year after a disappointing revenue forecast.
Tesla Inc. slid after profitability shrank in the second quarter.
And the yield on 10-year Treasuries rose 10 basis points as an unexpected drop in weekly initial jobless claims prompted traders to price in higher odds of a quarter-point rate hike beyond the Federal Reserve’s meeting next week.
The losses are hitting the pause button on this year’s blistering stock rally that’s seen the S&P 500 rise 18%, and the Nasdaq 100 gain 41%, against a shaky economic outlook during the Fed’s aggressive tightening campaign.
“In the last 24 hours alone there has been talk of a worsening of the conflict in Ukraine, a further slowdown in China and major US banks facing significant real estate losses,” Lewis Grant, senior portfolio manager at Federated Hermes, wrote in a note. “Each of these threats, along with uncountable unknowns, has the potential to halt the sentiment rebound in its tracks.”
On Wednesday, wheat prices had surged following an escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine in the Black Sea.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. had reported a plunge in profits.
And early Thursday, China had stepped up its support for the yuan amid a ramp up in rhetoric to bolster business confidence.
Against such a backdrop, returns on the back of a handful of tech stocks are “overdone” and may be the precursor to a downturn, Aegon Asset Management strategist Cameron McCrimmon warned.
“The breadth of returns on the S&P 500 has become increasingly narrow, driven by a few mega-cap tech stocks on AI optimism, which is a classic sign of an ageing bull,” McCrimmon wrote in a note.
The sentiment was echoed by Louise Goudy Willmering, a partner at Crewe Advisors.
“To be just driven simply by a few names in technology is not great,” Goudy Willmering said by phone. “Earnings will definitely determine where we go from here as we look into the third and fourth quarters.”
In Europe, tech stocks including ASML Holding NV slumped after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. cut its outlook despite the boom in AI development.
Meanwhile, equities in Asia including Japan, Hong Kong and mainland China fell.
Elsewhere, the dollar reversed losses to trade stronger against major peers. Gold declined and the price of oil wavered.
Key events this week:
* Japan CPI, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 0.7% as of 4:01 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 2.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.5%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.1%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.6% to $1.1131
* The British pound fell 0.6% to $1.2864
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 140.09 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $29,754.13
* Ether fell 0.6% to $1,887.87
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 10 basis points to 3.85%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points to 2.49%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced six basis points to 4.28%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $75.63 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.4% to $2,010.60 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Kurt Schussler, Tassia Sipahutar and Joel Leon.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.  -Bruce Lee, 1940-1973.

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