June 17, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
June 17, 1972~ Watergate arrests, Washington, D.C.
On June 17, 1994, the police charged O. J. Simpson with murdering his former wife and a friend of hers, and then pursued him for about 50 miles along Southern California highways before he finally surrendered outside his home. Go to article »
Igor Stravinsky, composer,  b. 1882
M.C. Escher, artist, b. 1898
Venus Williams, tennis player, b. 1980

Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

The Late Night Hosts weigh in on the Geneva tête-á-tête between Putin & Biden:

“The ‘Boniva in Geneva’ didn’t have to clear a very high bar. It just had to be less embarrassing than the ‘Stinky in Helsinki.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“That’s right, President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin met in Geneva today for about four hours with a few breaks, but no meals because nobody would volunteer to be the food taster.” — SETH MEYERS

“‘In life there is no happiness.’ That’s basically how Russian soccer moms say ‘Live, laugh, love.’” — TREVOR NOAH, on Putin’s quoting Leo Tolstoy in a news conference.

“It was pretty much the opposite of the ‘Friends’ reunion.” — JIMMY FALLON

“You do not want this guy giving a toast at your wedding. [imitating Putin] ‘Congratulations to Jeffrey and Diane. May the specter of happiness haunt you. Now, please have some cake. It is made of vanilla and children’s tears, for what is life but a difficult birth astride a grave? The light gleams for an instant, then it is night once more. Mazel tov!’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“I’m guessing this is probably why Putin isn’t asked to speak at a lot of graduations.” — JAMES CORDEN

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Young Scottish football fans get in the mood in Glasgow’s Central Station before boarding trains to London
CREDIT: JEFF J MITCHELL/GETTY IMAGES

Brazilian indigenous from different ethnic groups take part in a protest demanding the land demarcation and against the illegal mining on their lands which is being analyzed by the Justice Commission of the Chamber of Deputies in the National Congress
CREDIT: SERGIO LIMA /AFT VIA GETTY IMAGES

A 1929 O.M. 665 SMM Superba 2000 passes during the ‘Mille Miglia’ vintage car rally’s, in Viareggio (Lucca), Italy. The classic Mille Miglia (1,000 Miles) is a race from Brescia to Rome and Back.
CREDIT: FABIO FRUSTACI/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Visitors enjoy a ride on a roller coaster at Cinecitta World amusement park in the outskirts of Rome on Thursday, the day of its reopening. Amusement parks have been closed since Oct. 25 2020, when Italy’s second national lockdown started.
CREDIT: ALESSANDRA TARANTINO/AP

Visitors enjoy at the Mad Tea Party during the official reopening of the Disneyland Paris theme park in Marne-la-Vallee, near Paris, France. The park reopened with a reduced capacity and is asking visitor older than six to wear a mask.
CREDIT: CHRISTPOHE PETIT TESSON/EPA-EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Market Closes for June 17^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     I sold enough papers last year of high school to pay cash for a BMW. – Michael Dell, b. 1965 (Founder Dell computer, Forbes).
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell on Thursday, after cyclical stocks underperformed, while investors rotated into tech stocks after U.S. Federal Reserve officials signaled they’re preparing the way for a tapering of bond purchases. The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 0.4% in Toronto. Miners, energy and financials were the worst performers, while tech stocks rallied. Meanwhile, foreign investors are piling back into Canada’s $3.2 trillion stock market after a pandemic-driven exodus.  The nation’s equities are on pace to record the highest foreign inflows since 2017, adding $22.7 billion as of the end of April, according to Bloomberg calculations based on Statistics Canada data.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $13.60 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 2.1% to $1,773.88 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.7% to C$1.2358 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 4 basis points to 1.4%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.4 percent, or 86.92 to 20,144.04 in Toronto.  The move was the biggest since falling 0.6 percent on May 31. Today, materials stocks led the market lower, as 7 of 11 sectors lost; 148 of 229 shares fell, while 78 rose. Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.7 percent. Yamana Gold Inc. had the largest drop, falling 7.8 percent.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.7 percent
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* The index advanced 31 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 37 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.7 percent below its 52-week high on June 16, 2021 and 33 percent above its low on June 24, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3.4 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.2 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$3.17t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.53 percent compared with 8.38 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.28 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Materials | -96.7530| -3.9| 2/50
* Energy | -55.5819| -2.1| 2/21
* Financials | -43.9582| -0.7| 7/20
* Industrials | -10.9173| -0.5| 8/22
* Utilities | -2.3380| -0.3| 10/6
* Health Care | -1.0364| -0.4| 7/3
* Consumer Discretionary | -0.1477| 0.0| 7/6
* Real Estate | 1.9076| 0.3| 12/11
* Communication Services | 3.9329| 0.4| 5/3
* Consumer Staples | 6.6907| 0.9| 8/5
* Information Technology | 111.2840| 5.4| 10/1
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* Barrick Gold | -19.3400| -5.7| 51.1| -9.9
* Suncor Energy | -12.4400| -3.8| -32.7| 38.9
* Nutrien | -12.0300| -4.0| 58.8| 19.4
* Lightspeed POS | 4.1490| 7.5| 5.2| 6.6
* Couche-Tard | 5.1270| 2.0| 2.1| 4.4
* Shopify | 93.6300| 7.2| 74.0| 24.5
US
By Kamaron Leach and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — The reflation trade that has ruled markets for most of 2021 was in retreat Thursday, replaced by a stodgier group of winners that included giant cash-spewing technology companies and longer-dated bonds. The reordering, including a fifth day of losses in commodities, came after Federal Reserve officials signaled they’re preparing to slow stimulus. Apple, Nvidia and Microsoft helped push the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 to a record high as investors rotated from cyclical stocks. The benchmark S&P 500 Index finished slightly in the red, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped. Yields on longer-maturity Treasuries tumbled amid speculation investors were unwinding curve steeping trades.
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index also rose for a fifth day, the longest winning streak since March 2020, making commodities that are priced in the currency more expensive. “Money is just rotating from cyclicals and other reopening plays, it’s all about growth now,” said Haris Khurshid, portfolio manager at Fate Capital Management. “We’re seeing money being put back into growth-at-a-reasonable-price related names.” Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell acknowledged the risks of inflation and said Wednesday that policymakers had begun a discussion about scaling back bond purchases. Policy makers’ dot plot showed they anticipate two rate increases by the end of 2023, a faster-than-expected pace of tightening. This marked a turning point in the Fed’s communication to global markets, which had so far been ultra-dovish. While Powell downplayed the risk of any immediate rate increase, some investors interpreted his comments as preparing markets for a hawkish tilt and an eventual tapering. His remarks followed the Fed’s latest projections, which included upward revisions to its outlook for inflation and interest rates. “2023 is a long way off and I think we’ve already started to see markets stabilize,” said Chris Gaffney, president of world markets at TIAA Bank. “This economic environment is still an excellent environment for companies.”
Elsewhere, CureVac NV plunged 43% in German trading after a study found that its Covid-19 vaccine fell short of targets.  The findings, though preliminary, throw the future of the vaccine into question as wealthy nations around the world move swiftly to inoculate their populations with shots already available. Copper fell in London to the lowest in two months. The rally in metals has stalled in recent weeks and copper has retreated from last month’s record as concerns about cost pressures spurred expectations stimulus that had been supporting the global recovery would be scaled back. Copper producers Freeport-McMoran and Newmont slumped.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 was little changed as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.3% to a record high
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.6%, falling for the fourth straight day, the longest losing streak since Jan. 27
* The MSCI World index fell 0.5%, more than any closing loss since May 19
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.6%, climbing for the fifth straight day, the longest winning streak since March 23, 2020
* The euro fell 0.8% to the lowest since April 9
* The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.3921
* The Japanese yen surged 0.4%, more than any closing gain since June 4
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined six basis points, more than any closing loss since June 4
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced five basis points, more than any closing gain since March 3
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points, more than any closing gain since June 3
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $70.97 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 4.7%, the most in about 10 months
–With assistance from Claire Ballentine.

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions. –Winston Churchill, 1874-1965.

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