March 1, 2022 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Shrove Tuesday today, otherwise Pancake Day, the day before Ash Wednesday.

March: the month is so called from MARS, the Roman god of war. The old Dutch name for it was Lentmaand.  The old Saxon name was Hrēthmōnath, perhaps meaning “rough month”, from its boisterous winds.  This subsequently became Lenctenmōnath, “lengthening month”.  In the French Revolutionary calendar, the corresponding month was called Ventôse, meaning “windy”, extending from February 20^th – March 21^st.
March comes in like a lion and goes out like a lamb.  March begins with rough boisterous weather and ends calmly.

March 1, 1872: Yellowstone National Park established.
Yellowstone National Park celebrates 150 years.  Never stop exploring! This stunning photo gallery celebrating the park’s special anniversary may inspire you to visit.

1961: Peace Corps established.
1999: UN Land Mine Ban.

March1, 1974: Former Nixon White House aides H.R. Haldeman and John D. Ehrlichman and former Attorney General John Mitchell were indicted on obstruction of justice charges related to
the Watergate break-in.  Go to article »

Physicists are doubting everything about the structure of reality.

Tyrannosaurus rex may have been misunderstood.  Cue the ‘Jurassic Park’ theme song… Apparently, the T. rex may have had two equally terrifying sibling species.

The sad demise of that ship with all the Porsches and Lamborghinis.

Aretha Franklin’s granddaughter auditions on ‘American Idol’.  R-E-S-P-E-C-T to 15-year-old Grace Franklin who went for it – knowing she had very big shoes to fill.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A worker inspects a wind turbine at a power plant in the Gevaş district of Van. Van, with its deep valleys between the high mountains, is among the country’s most productive areas for wind energy
CREDIT: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

High school students run at sunset as they practise for the track and field season in Kansas
CREDIT: Charlie Riedel/AP

Mayara Magri as Odette/Odile and Cesar Corrals as Prince Siegfried appear in the Royal Ballet’s production of Swan Lake at the Royal Opera House
CREDIT: Robbie Jack/Corbis/Getty Images

Market Closes for March 1^st, 2022

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1935, the first U.S. savings bond was issued after Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau observed that the U.S. lacked a government savings plan like those of France and Great Britain.
Canada
By Geoffrey Morgan
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities tumbled as investors plowed into safe haven investments Tuesday, and precious metals continued to gain on risks that sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine would hamper global growth.
The S&P/TSX  Composite fell 0.6% to 21,004.51 in Toronto.
Today, financial stocks led the market lower, as 7 of 11 sectors lost; 130 of 240 shares fell, while 108 rose.
Gold and silver miners surged and dominated the 10 top performing stocks on the Composite on Tuesday.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.3%.
Magna International Inc. had the largest drop, falling 7.9%.
Insights
* This quarter, the index has fallen 1%, heading for the biggest decline since the first quarter of 2020
* The index has advanced 15% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 8.7% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.6% below its 52-week high on Nov. 16, 2021 and 17% above its low on March 4, 2021
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5% in the past 5 days and fell 1.5% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.4 on a trailing basis and 14.3 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.6% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.37t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.01% compared with 14.37% in the previous session and the average of 13.51% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Financials | -135.5380| -1.9| 2/26
* Industrials | -28.7181| -1.2| 10/20
* Consumer Discretionary| -23.9850| -3.3| 0/14
* Information Technology| -22.9021| -1.5| 1/14
* Consumer Staples | -6.5934| -0.9| 3/7
* Real Estate | -4.1625| -0.7| 13/11
* Health Care | -3.0577| -2.1| 1/7
* Communication Services| 2.5672| 0.2| 4/3
* Utilities | 6.5942| 0.7| 10/6
* Energy | 28.5215| 0.9| 24/8
* Materials | 65.4135| 2.4| 40/14
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
* TD Bank | -42.1200| -3.3| 37.1| 2.0
* Royal Bank of Canada | -27.4600| -2.0| 4.2| 2.3
* Canadian National | -22.7200| -3.5| 23.1| -2.3
* Wheaton Precious Metals | 8.8970| 5.2| 36.0| 7.6
* Agnico Eagle Mines | 10.4900| 5.3| -12.8| 0.3
* Barrick Gold | 15.1200| 4.3| 75.7| 24.3

US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A surge in oil sent shivers through risky assets Tuesday, reversing an early recovery in American stocks and sending some European markets down 4%.
Bonds rallied amid concern about the impact of war on global economies, with 10-year U.S. yields posting their worst four-day drop since December.
In the final moments of trading, the S&P 500 sank more than 2% as Apple Inc. said it has halted product sales in Russia.
The equity gauge rebounded from session lows, while closing down for a second straight day. Crude traded near $105 a barrel, raising fears about potentially higher inflation that could complicate
the Federal Reserve’s job at a time when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is seen as a threat to global growth.
Bonds climbed, with swaps linked to the Fed’s March 16 meeting dwindling to 22 basis points of tightening.
That suggests traders don’t even expect a full quarter-point hike — a contrast from last month, when a half-point move was all but fully priced.
“Investors struggle to go long risk as the Russia-Ukraine crisis intensifies and as surging oil prices threaten economic growth prospects,” said Edward Moya, senior market analyst at Oanda. “Stagflation risks have never been greater, and that should continue to fuel the many commodity super cycles that are running hot.”
Commodity prices soared the most since 2009 as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatens key supplies of energy, crops and metals that were already tight as major economies emerged from the pandemic. President Joe Biden is being pressured by lawmakers in both parties to cut off U.S. imports of Russian oil and gas.
Such a move would likely send gasoline prices surging, adding to inflation pressures.
Biden will deliver his State of the Union speech at 9 p.m. in Washington.
Not since 2003, when George W. Bush laid out his case for war against Iraq, or 2010, when Barack Obama was confronting the financial crisis, has a U.S. leader delivered his annual address to Congress in such a fraught moment.
Meantime, Fed Chair Jerome Powell will try to reassure lawmakers this week that the central bank will act to curb the hottest inflation in four decades while remaining flexible in the face of geopolitical uncertainties.
He’s set to testify in a semiannual monetary-policy testimony to House and Senate panels starting Wednesday.

More comments:
* “The Russia/Ukraine conflict is driving oil and other commodity prices higher, which does present the possibility of inflation remaining higher for longer,” wrote Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally.
* “We are wrestling with the news cycle, and how prolonged hostilities in Ukraine would slow economic growth,” said Larry Weiss, head of equity trading at Instinet. “There’s thoughts that this slowdown would be cause for less hawkish moves by the Fed.”
* Given the heightened uncertainty surrounding Ukraine, a half-point Fed hike “would simply be too aggressive at the moment,” wrote Win Thin, global head of currency strategy at Brown Brothers Harriman.
Russia said it would press forward with its invasion of Ukraine as the war enters a more brutal stage. European Union ambassadors agreed to exclude seven Russian banks from the SWIFT financial-messaging system, but spared the nation’s biggest lender Sberbank and a bank part-owned by Russian gas giant Gazprom.

U.S. equities are off to another rocky start this year as prospects for higher interest rates and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine combine to put the “stocks-only-go-up” mantra to the test.
The S&P 500 saw back-to-back monthly declines for the first time in almost a year and a half.
One ray of hope for investors: Each of the last four times the gauge closed lower through February, it finished the year higher by at least 9.5%.
What to watch this week:
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell testifies to Congress on monetary policy, Wednesday and Thursday
* OPEC+ meeting, Wednesday
* Eurozone CPI, Wednesday
* Bank of Canada rate decision, Wednesday
* ECB publishes the account of its February meeting, Thursday
* U.S. unemployment, nonfarm payrolls, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.6%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.8%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.8% to $1.1134
* The British pound fell 0.7% to $1.3328
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 114.81 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 10 basis points to 1.73%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined 21 basis points to -0.07%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined 28 basis points to 1.13%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 9.5% to $104.80 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 2.6% to $1,949.70 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Robert Brand, Matt Turner, Divya Balji, Lu Wang, Isabelle Lee and Vildana Hajric.
Have  a wonderful evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

The future is always beginning now. –Mark Strand, 1934-2014.

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