July 27, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Procession of the Penitents, Belgium.

July 27, 1866: Atlantic telegraph cable laid.

July 27, 2000: A federal judge approved a $1.25 billion settlement between Swiss banks and more than a half million plaintiffs who alleged the banks had hoarded money deposited by Holocaust victims.  Go to article »

This 13-year-old is headed to medical school.  Impressed is an understatement. Learn more about the stellar student here.

Inflation is changing how products are packaged.  Shorter flaps, thinner boxes, less color. Have you noticed a difference in the packaging of some of your usual store items?

How much exercise do you need for a longer life?  Here’s how much physical activity you should get on a weekly basis to live the longest life.

Debris from a huge Chinese booster rocket could fall to Earth next week.  It’s a bird… It’s a plane… No, it’s pieces of metal. Scientists monitoring the rocket’s trajectory say it’s in an “uncontrolled descent” toward Earth’s atmosphere and it’s not clear where it will land. 

AI successfully impersonated a philosopher.

Turns out Covid came from that seafood market after all.

So it begins: Monkeys are attacking babies, adults in Japan. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The artist Peter Walker with his work Connection, a contemporary twist on Michelangelo’s Creation of Adam, part of his Being Human exhibition at Liverpool Cathedral
CREDIT: Peter Byrne/PA

A wild Asiatic elephant herd makes its way through a tea garden
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

The newly built Pelješac Bridge linking the peninsula with the Croatian mainland is widely regarded as one of the country’s most ambitious infrastructure projects since Zagreb declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991
CREDIT: Elvis Barukcic/AFP/Getty Images

Market Closes for July 27^th, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1694, amid choral chants of “Laus Deo” (Praise the Lord), the Bank of England opened for business in London to print currency and manage the national debt. 
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.5% at 19,254.56 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 1.8% on July 19 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.7%.
Today, energy stocks led the market higher, as 7 of 11 sectors gained; 196 of 238 shares rose, while 40 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 11.0%.
Interfor Corp. had the largest increase, rising 11.3%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain nine times. The next day, it advanced six times for an average 0.6% and declined three times for an average 1%
* This month, the index rose 2.1%
* The index declined 4.6% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 11% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 13.3% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 6% above its low on July 14, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.2% in the past 5 days and was unchanged in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.9 on a trailing basis and 11.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.04t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 19.24% compared with 18.69% in the previous session and the average of 19.63% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Energy | 72.1710| 2.1| 36/2
* Financials | 66.8150| 1.1| 28/1
* Industrials | 55.2774| 2.3| 28/1
* Information Technology | 52.0666| 5.0| 14/0
* Materials | 28.9630| 1.4| 48/3
* Consumer Discretionary | 10.4679| 1.6| 11/2
* Communication Services | 2.7945| 0.3| 5/1
* Utilities | -0.0175| 0.0| 10/6
* Real Estate | -0.6828| -0.1| 10/13
* Health Care | -0.7104| -0.9| 4/3
* Consumer Staples | -5.2666| -0.6| 2/8
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | 35.2600| 11.0| 85.5| -74.1
* Canadian National | 25.8100| 4.2| 47.8| 1.0
* Canadian Pacific | 15.3800| 2.5| 23.1| 8.3
* TC Energy | -1.3520| -0.3| -46.7| 19.9
* Fortis | -1.6760| -0.8| -25.1| -0.8
* Loblaw | -5.1610| -3.8| 98.1| 13.0
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks rallied and Treasury yields fell with the dollar as Jerome Powell said the Federal Reserve will slow the pace of rate increases at one point, while adding that officials would refrain from offering “clear guidance” on the magnitude of their next move.
About 85% of the S&P 500 companies rose, while the Nasdaq 100 soared over 4%, the most since November 2020.
Two-year US yields tumbled as much as 10 basis points.
Expectations for the pace of Fed hikes eased — with swap markets showing 58 basis points of tightening priced in for September.
The Fed’s boss rejected speculation the US is in recession and said the central bank is moving “expeditiously” when it comes to dealing with inflation.
Powell also noted that another unusually large boost in rates would depend on data after officials hiked by 75 basis points Wednesday, taking the cumulative June-July increase to 150 basis points, the steepest since the early 1980s.
Comments:
* “Powell is trying to toe the line between offering useful guidance and avoiding pre-committing to any specific policy path,” said Matt Weller, global head of research at Forex.com and City Index. “He explicitly stated that the committee will go meeting-by-meeting and give less clear guidance now that interest rates are in the range of neutral.”
* “It makes complete sense,” said JPMorgan’s Jay Barry, referring to the Fed offering less clear guidance. “The Fed wanted to move expeditiously to neutral, and with the last three large-sized hikes, we are nominally now in-line with the Fed’s longer-run dot, as a representation of neutral policy expectations.”
* “The July FOMC decision signaled the Fed is nowhere close to pausing rate hikes,” said Anna Wong, chief U.S. economist for Bloomberg Economics. “Market expectations of a Fed put are premature. Looser financial conditions could end up making the Fed’s task of reining in inflation more challenging.”
* “It seems traders aren’t thinking another large move will be justified in September,” said Ed Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “The FOMC decision provided optimism that the end of tightening is in sight and that triggered a nice rally for risky assets.”
Earnings:
* Meta Platforms Inc., parent company of Facebook and Instagram, reported its first ever quarterly sales decline, as economic turmoil caused advertisers to shrink budgets.
* Qualcomm Inc., the biggest maker of chips that run smartphones, gave a lackluster forecast for the current period, fueling concern that weaker consumer spending will hurt demand for mobile devices.
* Ford Motor Co., preparing to slash thousands of staffers to help fund its electric-vehicle future, reported second-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street estimates.
* Best Buy Co. cut its profit forecast, saying high inflation was hammering demand for consumer electronics. 
Fresh economic data reduced the odds the US will report two straight quarters of a contracting economy and avert what is commonly regarded as a recession. economists at Morgan Stanley,
JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted their estimates for second-quarter gross domestic product after government reports showed firmer durable-goods shipments, a narrower trade deficit and gains in inventories last month.
Here are some key events to watch this week:
* Apple, Amazon earnings, Thursday
* US GDP, Thursday
* Euro-area CPI, Friday
* US PCE deflator, personal income, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 2.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 4.3%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.4%
* The MSCI World index rose 1.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.6%
* The euro rose 0.9% to $1.0206
* The British pound rose 1.1% to $1.2165
* The Japanese yen rose 0.3% to 136.52 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 2.79%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 0.95%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 1.96%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 3.3% to $98.16 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 0.9% to $1,751.10 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Abigail Moses, Vildana Hajric, Isabelle Lee, Natalia Kniazhevich and Edward Bolingbroke.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
One, remember to look up at the stars and not down at your feet.  Two, never give up work.  Work gives you meaning and purpose and life is empty without it. 
Three, if you are lucky enough to find love, remember it is there and don’t throw it away. -Stephen Hawking, 1942-2018.

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