July 3, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Dog Days: hottest days of he year July 3 – August 11.
July 3, 1886: Karl Benz drives the first ever automobile (for the first time in public) in Mannheim, Germany.
July 3, 1985: The time-travel comedy “Back to the Future,” starring Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, was released in movie theaters. Go to article >>

The Milky Way will be visible without a telescope this summer. Here are the key nights to watch for.
Summer is the best time to see the Milky Way in the Northern Hemisphere without a telescope. The key is to find clear, dark skies on moonless nights. Read More.

Bionic legs plugged directly into nervous system enable unprecedented ‘level of brain control’
A first-of-its-kind study demonstrated that a new nervous system-controlled bionic leg helps leg amputees walk more naturally than traditional prosthesis. Read More.

Get ready for the most extravagant wedding of the year
The son of Asia’s richest man is getting married this month in one of the most anticipated — and lavish — weddings of 2024. The pre-wedding bash in March already included a massive drone show and performance by Rihanna.

Novak Djokovic celebrates a win at Wimbledon
The 37-year-old tennis star won his first match at Wimbledon less than a month after undergoing surgery for a torn meniscus.

Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese are named to the WNBA All-Star team
This marks the first time that two rookies are WNBA All-Stars in the same season since 2014.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Beijing, China
A tourist takes a selfie against the blooming wildflowers and sunflowers in the Olympic Forest Park
Photograph: Vincent Thian/AP

Whitewater, Kansas, US
‘It has been a stormy spring in the central United States. These mammatus clouds followed a strong storm that passed over our Kansas farm.’
Photograph: Jason Schmidt

Brighton, UK
‘The passengers of the Brighton British Airways i360 were in for a spectacular treat tonight, as the nearly full moon was rising in the east over the south coast.’
Photograph: Manja Williams
Market Closes for July 3^rd, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 2001, the European Union officially blocked the proposed $43 billion merger of General Electric and Honeywell, the first time foreign authorities nixed a major merger between U.S. corporations.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 1.2%, or 269.87 to 22,223.67 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.4% on June 24.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.5%.
Calibre Mining Corp. had the largest increase, rising 7.2%.
Today, 162 of 226 shares rose, while 60 fell; all sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain 11 times. The next day, it advanced nine times for an average 0.6% and declined twice for an average 0.5%
* The index advanced 10% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 23% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.5% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 18.9% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2% in the past 5 days and rose 0.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.9 on a trailing basis and 15.1 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$3.49t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.66% compared with 11.09% in the previous session and the average of 10.84% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 89.2220| 3.4| 48/3
Financials | 69.7058| 1.0| 22/5
Industrials | 43.9031| 1.4| 16/12
Information Technology | 20.0677| 1.1| 4/6
Energy | 18.1459| 0.5| 26/14
Utilities | 12.6261| 1.5| 11/3
Consumer Discretionary | 6.0424| 0.8| 8/5
Consumer Staples | 3.7569| 0.4| 7/4
Real Estate | 3.1505| 0.7| 14/5
Communication Services | 2.8670| 0.4| 3/2
Health Care | 0.3858| 0.6| 3/1
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
RBC | 22.2500| 1.5| 10.9| 11.4
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 19.3600| 2.8| -37.4| 5.7
Brookfield Corp | 16.3800| 2.9| -40.5| 11.4
Cenovus Energy | -1.3820| -0.5| -62.8| 25.0
Enbridge | -1.4860| -0.2| -40.4| 2.4
Descartes Systems | -1.5550| -1.9| -46.2| 20.0
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street traders sent stocks higher as bonds yields fell after a string of weaker-than-estimated economic reports reinforced the case for the Federal Reserve to start cutting rates this year.
In a shortened session ahead of the US holiday, the S&P 500 hit a fresh all-time high on bets Fed policy easing will keep fueling Corporate America.
Treasuries climbed as data showed the services sector contracted at the fastest pace in four years, private payrolls rose at a more moderate pace and continuing jobless claims increased for a ninth straight week.
To Win Thin and Elias Haddad at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co., if the data cooperate, a September Fed cut will be “very much in play.”
“Bad news is good news,” said Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and Forex.com. “That’s how risk assets reacted in the aftermath of today’s US data releases, which all came out weaker than expected.”
Traders will get further insight into the state of the American labor market Friday.
Economists anticipate a 190,000 gain in June nonfarm payrolls — a step-down from the previous month — with the unemployment rate holding at 4%.
The S&P 500 rose to around 5,535, notching its 33rd record in 2024.
Tesla Inc. extended its rally into a seventh straight session, leading gains in mega-caps — though Amazon.com Inc. fell.
The stock market closed at 1 p.m. New York time, while the recommended close for Treasuries is 2 p.m. — when the Fed minutes will be released.
Treasury 10-year yields fell nine basis points to 4.34%.
Swap traders are projecting almost two rate cuts in 2024, with the first in November — though bets on a September reduction increased.
The dollar slipped.
“Clouds are developing in the macro picture, but the glass-half-full mindset of investors continues to drive markets higher,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide.
A survey conducted by 22V Research shows that 40% of investors think the market reaction to Friday’s employment data will be negligible/mixed, 34% said “risk-on” and 26% “risk-off.”
“Investors are paying the most attention to payrolls,” said Dennis DeBusschere at 22V.
“The focus on wage growth has dropped some, which is a bit surprising given Powell’s explicit focus on wages yesterday. He said service inflation, which has been sticky, is dependent on wages.”
The 22V survey also showed there is an “upside skew” to the unemployment rate assumptions.
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Tuesday that the latest economic data suggest inflation is getting back on a downward path, but emphasized officials need more evidence before lowering interest rates.
When he was asked what keeps him up at night, he pointed to the delicate balance between taming inflation and avoiding a significant deterioration in the labor market.
“Until employment weakens significantly there remains a fundamental support for the US economy, though there is some evidence of slowing,” said Don Rissmiller at Strategas.
“Fed members have indicated they want to see more progress on inflation – fortunately the US economy still looks robust enough currently to take an extended rate pause. But the clock is ticking.”
Meantime, Fed Bank of New York President John Williams, who has deeply researched the natural rate of interest known as r-star, pushed back against recent commentary that it has risen since the pandemic.
The idea of a long-run natural rate of interest, which prevails when the economy is not responding to shocks and is growing at its potential, is central to monetary policy but cannot be directly observed. Officials aim to raise rates above
the neutral level to cool the economy and fight inflation.

Corporate Highlights:
* Novo Nordisk A/S’ best-selling diabetes and weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy appear to be associated with a higher risk of a rare form of vision loss, according to an analysis by doctors at Massachusetts Eye and Ear, a Harvard-affiliated hospital.
* Paramount Global jumped after a merger deal with independent film and TV producer Skydance Media was revived.
* Nvidia Corp. Chief Executive Officer Jensen Huang unloaded shares worth nearly $169 million in June, the most he’s netted in a single month, as insatiable demand for the chips used to power artificial intelligence drove the stock to fresh peaks.
* Jeff Bezos disclosed a plan to unload 25 million additional shares of Amazon.com Inc. worth $5 billion on the day the stock hit a fresh record.
* Lyft Inc., which operates the popular Citi Bike program, said it will raise fares for e-bike rentals in New York City by 20%, blaming higher-than-expected operating costs.
* Ford Motor Co.’s F-Series pickup truck sales dropped in the second quarter as the automaker slowly rolls out a redesign of its top-selling model to avoid quality problems and recalls.
* Southwest Airlines Co. has adopted a shareholder rights plan to defend against a push for a leadership overhaul by activist firm Elliott Investment Management.
* LL Flooring Holdings Inc. is considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to people with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be named discussing private deliberations.

Key events this week:
* UK general election, Thursday
* US Independence Day holiday, Thursday
* Eurozone retail sales, Friday
* US jobs report, Friday
* Fed’s John Williams speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.5% as of 1 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.7%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.0795
* The British pound rose 0.5% to $1.2754
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 161.52 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 2.4% to $60,417.99
* Ether fell 3.1% to $3,310.68
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined nine basis points to 4.34%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.59%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined eight basis points to 4.17%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.4% to $83.18 a barrel
* Spot gold rose 1.2% to $2,356.39 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from John Viljoen, Sujata Rao and Winnie Hsu.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
The best way to cheer yourself up is to try to cheer somebody else up. –Mark Twain, 1835-1910.

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