March 1, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:

“March is the month of expectation,” wrote Emily Dickinson.
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.

On March 1, 1961, President John F. Kennedy issued an executive order creating the Peace Corps, enlisting men and women for voluntary,
unpaid service in developing countries around the world.  
Go to article »

1872~ Yellowstone National Park established.

1975~the Five Nations Rugby Championship match between Scotland and Wales at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh attracts a world record attendance of 104,000.  Scotland win 12-10.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The waning gibbous moon appears in the sky following the weekend’s full “Snow Moon”, near the Eiffel Tower in Paris
CREDIT: THOMAS COEX/AFP

Vinzenz Geiger of Germany competes during the Men’s Nordic Combined Team event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships Oberstdorf 
CREDIT: ALEXANDER HASSENSTEIN.GETTY IMAGES

Sophia Gibson holds a Crocus on the first day of Meteorological Spring at Kirkstall Abbey Park in Leeds, Yorkshire.
CREDIT: DANNY LAWSON/PA
Market Closes for March 1^st, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1935, the first U.S. savings bond (Series A) was issued after Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau observed that the U.S. lacked a government savings plan like those of France and Britain.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares rallied with the broader equity markets, after investors shook off concern about the impacts of higher Treasury yields. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 1.3% in Toronto, the most since Feb. 1, after falling the previous two sessions. Health care, led by pot stocks, was the best- performing sector. Aerospace stocks led the rally in industrials on vaccine optimism. On the M&A front, deals among cashed-up mining companies are poised to pick up once lingering uncertainties from the pandemic dissipate, according to the most-active investment bank in the industry. Miners are flush with cash and ready to expand through acquisitions, with resurgent demand and supply shortfalls driving up metals prices and company earnings to levels not seen for a decade, according to global metals and mining group co-heads Ilan Bahar and Jamie Rogers of BMO Capital Markets. The firm is hosting one of the world’s largest mining conferences this week.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.30 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell -0.5% to $1,725.41 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.7% to C$1.2651 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell to 1.341%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 1.3 percent at 18,299.62 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since rising 2.1 percent on Feb. 1 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.9 percent. Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.3 percent. CAE Inc. had the largest increase, rising 12.8 percent. Today, 161 of 219 shares rose, while 57 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 5 percent
* The index advanced 13 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 33 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.5 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 16, 2021 and 63.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 0.6 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
26.8 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.8 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.8t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 15.08 percent compared with
14.58 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.79 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 76.9525| 1.4| 25/1
Industrials | 56.8737| 2.6| 24/5
Energy | 33.8401| 1.6| 12/10
Information Technology | 26.6111| 1.3| 10/0
Consumer Discretionary | 14.4139| 2.0| 13/0
Communication Services | 10.2240| 1.2| 7/0
Health Care | 7.9055| 2.8| 9/0
Real Estate | 7.8772| 1.4| 25/1
Utilities | 6.4791| 0.8| 13/3
Consumer Staples | 3.5244| 0.6| 7/4
Materials | -5.3444| -0.2| 16/33
US
By Rita Nazareth and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks climbed as confidence returned to markets, with investors shaking off concern about the impacts of higher Treasury yields. In a broad-based rally, the S&P 500 notched its biggest advance in almost nine months, the Nasdaq Composite jumped 3% while the Russell 2000 of small caps outperformed. GameStop Corp. added to last week’s surge of over 150%, with retail investors promoting the stock on social-media platforms such as Reddit and StockTwits. After the close of regular trading, Zoom Video Communications Inc. soared as its revenue forecast topped Wall Street’s estimates.
Longer-dated Treasuries resumed their selloff even as intermediate maturities found support, with traders priming themselves for how Federal Reserve officials slated to speak this week might respond to the recent tumult. Investors piled back into risk assets as stocks rebounded following a rout that was triggered by concern that massive stimulus as well as progress in battling the coronavirus have left some areas of the economy at risk of possibly overheating. The S&P 500 extended a rally from its March 2020 lows to about 75%. “Equity investors are still looking at the rise in rates mostly as ‘a good thing’ and not yet as a threat, notwithstanding some shaking of the tree in high multiple stocks and other parts of the market last week,” wrote Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Advisory Group.
“The benefits of the vaccines versus the challenge of higher rates will be the theme this year.” Bitcoin rallied after a volatile weekend session, riding a broad resurgence in risk assets and a bullish report from Citigroup Inc. The bank’s strategists laid out a case for the digital asset to play a bigger role in the global financial system, saying the cryptocurrency could become “the currency of choice for international trade” in the years ahead.
There are some key events to watch this week:
* U.S. Federal Reserve Beige Book is due Wednesday.
* OPEC+ meeting on output Thursday.
* U.S. factory orders, initial jobless claims and durable goods orders are due Thursday.
* The February U.S. employment report on Friday will provide an
update on the speed and direction of the nation’s labor market recovery.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index surged 2.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index climbed 1.8%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 1.8%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index rose 1.7%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index dipped 0.1%.
* The euro declined 0.2% to $1.2046.
* The Japanese yen depreciated 0.2% to 106.78 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose two basis points to 1.43%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield sank seven basis points to -0.33%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined six basis points to 0.759%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude declined 1.8% to $60.40 a
barrel. * Gold fell 0.6% to $1,723.42 an ounce.
* Silver dropped 0.6% to $26.51 per ounce.

–With assistance from Joanna Ossinger, Andreea Papuc, Emily Barrett and Lynn Thomasson.

Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It is better for fail in originality than to succeed in imitation.
                                         -Herman Melville, 1819-1891

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