June 11, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
Richard Strauss, composer, b. 1864.
Jacques Cousteau, underwater explorer, b. 1910.

On June 11, 1942, the United States and the Soviet Union signed a lend lease agreement to aid the Soviet war effort in World War II. Go to article »

Europeans and Americans may not have discovered Antarctica.  A new study suggests New Zealand’s indigenous Maori people could have sighted the continent 1,300 years earlier.

The Met is sending 3 pieces of African art back to Nigeria.  It’s the latest Western museum to return artifacts to their countries of origin.

What to Watch: “In the Heights,” adapted from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Quiara Alegría Hudes’s Broadway show, is “a dream come true,” A.O. Scott writes in a review. See scenes from the premiere.

From the Late Night Hosts:
While in Britain on Thursday, President Biden announced that his administration would donate 500 million Covid-19 vaccine doses to countries in need.

Trevor Noah said Biden’s plan “seems generous until you remember that Biden can’t get anyone else in America to take them, right? So it’s kind of like giving your friend that old exercise bike that you’ve just been hanging your clothes on.”

“This is based on an old American foreign-policy strategy that used to be called ‘being nice.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“OK, Biden just proved he’s Irish. He’s on vacation, he’s feelin’ good, and he’s buying shots for everybody.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“A senior official said that the donations will be focused in the places that currently need vaccines most — developing areas like Haiti, Indonesia, Alabama, et cetera.” — JIMMY KIMMEL

“I have an idea for this. You know, I think when someone in another country gets one of our doses, they should be told whose vaccine they got. Like, ‘Oh, this Johnson & Johnson was supposed to go to a retired elementary schoolteacher in Florida, but she read on Facebook it was made from demon sperm, so now it’s yours.’” — JIMMY KIMMEL

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sculptor Martin Staniforth installing his new work in Exeter Cathedral. ‘Scension’ comprises four sculptures which appear to float in the air; life-size echoes of human figures emerging from woven willow structures with gentle cotton drapes suggesting movement. On the ground, a 6m high woven willow structure appears to be falling down or growing up, depending on how the viewer interprets it; perhaps a meteorite falling to earth or a bulb shooting sprouting up from the ground. 
CREDIT: JIM WILEMAN

Dancers of the Staatsballett Berlin ballet company perform on an excursion boat on the river Spree as they pass under a bridge full of spectators in Berlin, Germany. After a period of closed cultural institutions due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, theaters and opera houses are reopening again with reduced admission of spectators. The Staatsballett Berlin (Berlin State Ballet) performed excerpts from their repertoire, while could spectators followed the boat through the inner city of Berlin. Berlin State Ballet performs on river Spree, Germany
CREDIT: CLEMENS BILAN.EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

English National Ballet principal, Natascha Mair, outside the Southbank centre’s Royal Festival Hall ahead of Solstice, which opens at the venue next week
CREDIT: IAN GAVAN

Horse rider is silhouetted against a sunset as dust surrounds them. Farmers in the village in Turkey, where the photos were taken, normally banish wild horses from their land or shoot them as they eat crops and are considered a nuisance. But the farmer who owns these horses decided to protect them by gathering up the local animals and domesticating them.
CREDIT: MAHMUT EMRE EROL/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

Market Closes for June 11^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1930, trying to rebuild public confidence in the market, New York Stock Exchange President Richard Whitney had the press witness him making a bid, with his own money, of $160 a share for a 60,000-share block of U.S. Steel stock. Shortly thereafter the stock sank below $150, on its way to $21 in the market bottom of 1932.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities posted a weekly rise for their fourth in a row as investors digest continued economic reopening. The S&P/TSX Composite Index gained 0.4% Friday to 20,138.35, the highest on record. Ten of eleven sectors rose with materials being the only laggard. Tourmaline Oil Corp. rallied after agreeing to buy rival Black Swan Energy Ltd. for about C$1.1 billion ($910 million) as Canada’s largest natural-gas explorer eyes future exports of the heating and power plant fuel from the country’s west coast.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $14 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 1.1% to $1,876.83 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.5% to C$1.2160 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield edged higher to 1.376%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.4 percent, or 88.88 to 20,138.35 in Toronto.  The move was the biggest since rising 1.2 percent on June 1. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.7 percent. AcuityAds Holdings Inc. had the largest increase, rising 10.0 percent. Today, 129 of 229 shares rose, while 98 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.7 percent
* So far this week, the index rose 0.5 percent
* The index advanced 34 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 43 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.1 percent below its 52-week high on June 11, 2021 and 34.8 percent above its low on June 15, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.1 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.15t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 8.58 percent compared with 9.00 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.42 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Information Technology | 23.7137| 1.2| 6/5
* Financials | 21.5623| 0.3| 15/12
* Energy | 19.2119| 0.7| 15/8
* Industrials | 17.3283| 0.7| 25/5
* Consumer Discretionary | 9.7070| 1.2| 11/2
* Communication Services | 3.0788| 0.3| 6/2
* Health Care | 2.2953| 0.8| 7/3
* Utilities | 2.1632| 0.2| 11/5
* Real Estate | 1.7776| 0.3| 11/15
* Consumer Staples | 1.5485| 0.2| 6/7
* Materials | -13.5268| -0.5| 16/34
================================================================
| | |Volume VS | YTD
| Index | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Shopify | 19.4500| 1.7| -40.7| 5.6
* Royal Bank of Canada| 13.9000| 1.1| -8.4| 20.6
* Tourmaline Oil | 4.8530| 8.3| 94.1| 93.8
* Wheaton Precious | | | |
* Metals | -2.6010| -1.4| 3.5| 9.7
* Franco-Nevada | -4.3670| -1.8| 14.2| 15.3
* Barrick Gold | -5.3310| -1.5| -45.0| -2.1

US
By Richard Richtmyer and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities eked out a gain in choppy trading as investors continued to assess the outlook for inflation and the path of Federal Reserve monetary policy.  Ten-year Treasury yields held at around the lowest since March.  Friday’s advance of 0.2% came a day after the S&P 500 notched its first all-time high since early May as data showed U.S. consumer price increases in May were largely driven by categories associated with economic reopenings, bolstering the view that inflation pressures may ease later in the year. Treasury yields inched higher, with the 10-year rate still ending the week below 1.5%. Stocks swung between gains and losses in lighter-than-average trading volume, with gains in technology shares offsetting losses in the health care and real estate sectors. Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc. fell the most after halting development of a key therapy. The volatility in the U.S. came after global stocks rallied.
With the Fed setting a high bar for reconsidering its dovish stance, Thursday’s inflation report ended up stoking risk appetite across the world. Now investors are looking ahead to next week’s policy meeting for clues about the Fed’s next moves with regards asset purchases and interest rates. “Our base view is still that growth and inflation remain buoyant and supportive of risk assets,” said Rob Haworth, senior investment strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management. “It’s been interesting to watch rates tick lower and stay lower. That seems to imply the market is believing the Fed is going to remain lower for longer and hold rates there.” The U.S. central bank’s view that inflationary pressures are temporary has taken hold in global markets, signaling any changes in ultra-accommodative policy would happen very gradually.
That approach was also reinforced across the Atlantic Thursday, as the European Central Bank raised its inflation forecast and renewed a pledge to maintain  faster emergency bond-buying to sustain the euro area. Eight of the main 11 S&P 500 industry groups rose on Friday afternoon, led by financial and technology stocks. Vertex fell to the lowest since October 2019 after halting its experimental treatment for an inherited disease that affects the liver and lungs. Its competitor, Grifols SA, climbed the most in seven months in Madrid. The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield held below 1.5% after falling to as low as 1.43% on Thursday. The dollar rose against all of its major global peers. European stocks rallied, with the Stoxx 600 gauge posting for a fourth weekly increase, as investors relished the prospects of continued policy support.  A rally in emerging markets also underscored the return of risk appetite. Elsewhere, crude oil prices rose amid an improving demand outlook. The Bloomberg Commodity Index fell from the highest level since 2015.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to a record high as of 4:04 p.m.
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.3%, climbing for the sixth straight day, the longest winning streak since Dec. 8
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2% to a record high
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.5%
* The euro slipped 0.5%
* The British pound slipped 0.4%
* The Japanese yen slipped 0.3%
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced two basis points to 1.45%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined four basis points
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.7% to the highest on record
* Gold futures fell 0.9% to $1,878.60 an ounce

–With assistance from Richard Richtmyer, Kamaron Leach, Sunil Jagtiani, Joanna Ossinger and Claire Ballentine.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Be courageous.  Challenge orthodoxy.  Stand up for what you believe in.  When you are in your rocking chair
talking to your grandchildren many years from now, be sure you have a good story to tell them. -Amal Clooney, b.1978.

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