July 29, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Olsok~ it is St. Olaf’s Day today, which is a national day of celebration in Norway and the Faroe Islands.  It commemorates the death of King Olaf in the Battle of Stiklestad, in  Norway on this day in 1030.

July 29, 1958 ~ NASA established.
On July 29, 1981, Britain’s Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London. Go to article »

Turn your desktop into a calming portal to somewhere else. -The NY Times.

Here is the list of 2020 Emmy nominees:
Did your favorite quarantine binge watch make it? –CNN.
 
A clue to Van Gogh’s last day is found in his last painting -Bloomberg.

The World’s Best Restaurants Right Now

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A field of sunflowers is in full blossom in Frankfurt, Germany, as the sun rises.
CREDIT: MICHAEL PROBST/AP

A crow sits in the back light of the rising sun on a wooden pole and basks in Riedlingen-Zell, Germany.
CREDIT: THOMAS WARNACK/DPA

James, 6, and his sister Charlotte Box, 3, pictured among a field of bright, purple blooms near Dorchester in Dorset.
CREDIT: BNPS

An elephant and giraffes at a watering hole in Nxai Pan National Park, Botswana. These stunning animal silhouettes look as if they are walking the edge if the earth as they gather to share a drink at a watering hole
CREDIT: JANNE KEAYER/MERCURY PRESS
Market Closes for July 29th , 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1869, the New York Stock Exchange was formed from the merger of the New York Stock & Exchange Board with the Open Board and the Government Board (where Treasury bonds were traded).
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets rallied on Wednesday after Shopify Inc. climbed to a new record as its sales doubled.
The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 1.1% in Toronto. Shopify climbed 6.8% after the e-commerce platform nearly doubled its revenue in the second quarter, crushing analysts’ estimates as a flood of merchants moved their businesses online during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Element Fleet Management Corp. was the best performing stock, surging 12%, after TD upgraded its rating to buy from hold after the company posted a stronger outlook on “several fronts.”
Meanwhile, about one in seven small- and medium-sized Canadian companies surveyed at the end of June by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said they are at least somewhat considering bankruptcy or winding down operations as a result of Covid-19. That would represent about 158,000 businesses in addition to the ones that have already closed, CFIB said.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $9.75 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to ~$1,968.46 an ounce FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose slightly to C$1.3343 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose to 0.476%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.1 percent at 16,294.66 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 1.7 percent on July 14 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.2 percent.
Today, information technology stocks led the market higher, as 9 of 11 sectors gained; 144 of 221 shares rose, while 72 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 7.1 percent. Element Fleet Management Corp. had the largest increase, rising 12.0 percent.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 5 percent
* The index declined 1.2 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI  AC Americas Index gained 7.5 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.3 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 45.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.8 percent in the past 5 days and rose 5.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.3 on a trailing basis and 24.8 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.45t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 13.05 percent compared with 12.94 percent in the previous session and the average of 18.11 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | 83.6771| 5.2| 9/1
Energy | 37.6033| 1.9| 21/3
Financials | 34.9091| 0.8| 22/3
Industrials | 31.7487| 1.7| 19/9
Consumer Discretionary | 6.7398| 1.2| 9/4
Utilities | 6.2019| 0.8| 14/2
Real Estate | 5.5956| 1.1| 24/2
Consumer Staples | 3.5491| 0.5| 8/2
Communication Services | 3.0923| 0.4| 5/3
Health Care | -6.5979| -3.7| 3/5
Materials | -33.1572| -1.3| 10/38
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks advanced with Treasuries, while the dollar retreated after the Federal Reserve signaled continued stimulus to prop up the world’s largest economy.
The S&P 500 extended its July rally as the Fed kept rates near zero in a widely anticipated decision, pledging to use all of its tools to support a recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. Chairman Jerome Powell said there are signs the increase in infections is starting to weigh on activity while noting that the path forward for the economy is “extraordinarily uncertain.” Investors also sifted through a batch of corporate earnings, with Qualcomm Inc. surging in extended trading on a strong sales forecast.
As the pandemic continues to rage in parts of the U.S., hot spots in Europe and across big emerging economies, governments are having to double down on the $11 trillion dollars worth of stimulus and unprecedented central bank support unleashed since the crisis began. The Fed has kept rates pinned near zero since the outbreak’s onset in March and rolled out several emergency lending programs geared toward fostering liquid trading conditions in financial markets.
“The Fed’s large, looming presence and ability to act more if needed has provided a backstop for risk assets over the near term,” according to Jason Pride, chief investment officer of private wealth at Glenmede. “The focus now shifts to the FOMC’s September meeting, when investors might expect more action,” he said, referring to the Federal Open Market Committee.
Meanwhile, Scott Minerd, chief investment officer at Guggenheim Partners, said a failure in Washington to agree to another Covid-19 relief package could push unemployment higher, undermining the stock market and forcing the Fed to expand asset purchases.
“We are in a particularly vulnerable time of the year for risk assets,” Minerd said Wednesday in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “The markets could get easily rattled.”
Some corporate highlights:
* Advanced Micro Devices Inc. gave strong forecasts, suggesting the company is winning orders from larger rival Intel Corp. in the lucrative market for server chips.
* Starbucks Corp.’s Chief Executive Officer Kevin Johnson said a key measure of sales turned positive in July.
* Boeing Co. delayed the debut of its newest plane and slowed production across the heart of its commercial lineup as cash burn worsened.
* General Motors Co. reported its first quarterly loss since it emerged from bankruptcy, but the balance-sheet damage was less than expected.
* General Electric Co. predicted slow gains in operations this year and next after the pandemic battered results in the second quarter.

Some 19% of S&P 500 companies that have posted results so far have reported per-share profits that beat or missed estimates by 50% or more. That’s the highest proportion of companies with surprises of this magnitude since at least 2010, data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence’s Gina Martin Adams and Wendy Soong show.
Yet earnings may fail to deliver the kind of support needed to sustain the four-month rally in American stocks any time soon, according to Liz Ann Sonders, Charles Schwab Corp.’s chief investment strategist. She compared the S&P 500 with its forward earnings, based on projected profit during the next 12 months, in a report Monday. While the S&P 500 made up 85% of the gap between this year’s high and low through Tuesday, the profit gauge only rebounded 20%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
“Earnings will eventually need to do more than just beat an extremely low bar” to justify the surge in share prices, she wrote.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Apple Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., L’Oreal SA, Credit Suisse Group AG and Samsung Electronics Co. report earnings Thursday; results from Chevron Corp. and Caterpillar Inc. are due Friday.
* U.S. second-quarter GDP is expected on Thursday.
* China PMI data comes Friday.
These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 1.2% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index fell 0.1%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.2%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.3%.
* The euro increased 0.5% to $1.178.
* The Japanese yen appreciated 0.1% to 105.02 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped two basis points to 0.56%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield climbed one basis point to -0.50%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 0.118%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index rose 0.7%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude climbed 0.6% to $41.29 a barrel.
* Gold strengthened 0.5% to $1,967.58 an ounce.

–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Adam Haigh, AnchaleeWorrachate, Todd White, David Wilson, Amena Saad, Elena Popina,
Claire Ballentine and Katherine Greifeld.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Defeat is not the worst of failures.  Not to have tried is the true failure.
                                          -George Edward Woodberry, 1855-1930

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