March 10, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.
Here comes another time change (yes, we’re still doing this).  Daylight saving time starts this weekend, springing our clocks forward an hour.

Changing our clocks is silly.

March 10,2000: the Dot-com bubble peaks with the NASDAQ Composite Index reaching 5,048.62.
March 10, 2008: New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer apologized after allegations surfaced that he had paid thousands of dollars for a high-end call girl, a scandal which eventually led to his resignation. Go to article » 

Jimmy Fallon pranks judges on ‘The Voice’: The comedian shocked the judges with an unexpected performance of Michael McDonald’s “I Keep Forgettin’.” Watch the video here.

World’s biggest spokeless Ferris wheel will be built in South Korea.  Normally, Ferris wheels have complex cables running through the middle. This attraction, on the other hand, takes a much more futuristic approach.

NASA rover shares stunning photo of sunset on Mars.  The rover recently sent back photos of night-shining clouds at sunset.

Gladiators fought in Roman Britain, action-packed cremation urn carvings reveal.  Vivid depictions of battling gladiators on a clay vase are the first concrete evidence that these combatants duked it out in Roman Britain, new research finds.  A forthcoming study has revealed that the vase was made with local clay as a souvenir of a specific match in the second century A.D., giving researchers unprecedented insight into sporting events in the outskirts of the empire.  Full Story: Live Science (3/9)

Scientists use optical tweezers to play world’s smallest game of catch with individual atoms.  Scientists using tiny optical tweezers have played the world’s smallest game of catch — throwing and catching individual atoms using light.
The feat, achieved with highly-focused laser beams that held atoms in place before launching them, is the first time that atoms have been thrown from one pair of optical tweezers to another. Full Story: Live Science (3/9)

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Merseyside, UK
Snow surrounds one of the Antony Gormley statues that make up Another Place at Crosby Beach
Photograph: Peter Byrne/PA

Plobannalec-Lesconil, France
A huge wave hits the coast
Photograph: Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty Images

Donetsk, Ukraine
A cat looks down at a Ukrainian soldier resting in a trench on the frontline with Russian-backed separatists near Krasnogorivka village
Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Market Closes for March 10^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in1912: John Marks Templeton was born in Winchester, Tenn. He went on to found the Templeton Growth Fund and invent the discipline of global investing.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 1.6%, or 311.8 to 19,774.92 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest loss since Nov. 9.
Today, financials stocks led the market lower, as all sectors lost; 194 of 236 shares fell, while 41 rose.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.2%.
Enghouse Systems Ltd. had the largest drop, falling 24.7%.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 14 times. The next day, it declined 11 times for an average 0.8% and advanced three times for an average 1.4%
* This quarter, the index rose 2%
* So far this week, the index fell 3.9%, heading for the biggest decline since the week ended Sept. 23
* The index declined 8.4% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 10% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 11% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 10.6% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.8 on a trailing basis and 12.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.21t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 10.25% compared with 9.29% in the previous session and the average of 8.18% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -136.7129| -2.2| 0/29
Energy | -44.1651| -1.2| 6/33
Information Technology| -40.0707| -3.1| 1/13
Industrials | -31.6873| -1.2| 3/23
Consumer Staples | -17.2942| -2.1| 0/11
Utilities | -14.0321| -1.6| 0/16
Real Estate | -11.1701| -2.2| 1/21
Consumer Discretionary| -9.4903| -1.3| 1/14
Materials | -8.1914| -0.4| 26/24
Communication Services| -2.5082| -0.3| 2/4
Health Care | -2.2080| -2.9| 1/6
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points| | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move |% Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
TD Bank | -23.2100| -2.2| 170.4| -4.4
RBC | -21.9500| -1.7| 10.6| 4.6
Brookfield Corp | -21.2300| -4.9| 94.5| -2.6
Rogers Communications| 2.0840| 1.4| 198.6| -2.2
Barrick Gold | 5.9850| 2.3| 48.9| -5.2
Wheaton Precious | | | |
Metals | 6.0930| 3.6| 60.2| 5.8
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — A renewed bout of volatility rattled markets around the world as SVB Financial Group’s turmoil spurred concern about further distress in the banking industry at a time when the Federal Reserve is deploying its most-aggressive tightening campaign in a generation.
Not even remarks from prominent voices that a systemic financial crisis is unlikely was able to appease investors.
Equities sold off, with the S&P 500 coming close to wiping out its 2023 gains.
Traders rushed in droves to the safety of bonds, which also soared after jobs figures offered a glimmer of hope that the Fed may refrain from accelerating its pace of rate hikes.
As risk assets got pummeled, the US stock benchmark suffered its worst week since September.
Wall Street’s so-called “fear gauge” spiked, with the CBOE Volatility Index hitting the highest this year.
Treasury two-year yields plummeted 28 basis points to 4.59%.
The trigger for further de-risking was the official news that Silicon Valley Bank became the biggest US financial failure in more than a decade, after its long-established customer base of tech startups grew worried and yanked deposits.
It’s the second regional lender to fold this week after Silvergate Capital Corp. announced it was voluntarily liquidating its bank.
Anxiety is also running high ahead of next week’s consumer price index report, especially after Fed Chair Jerome Powell recently emphasized that a move to a faster pace of tightening would be based on the “totality of the data.”
“We are just beginning to feel the effects of quantitative tightening on markets and the economy,” said Peter van Dooijeweert at Man Solutions. “As such, the market seems to be reverting to a 25 basis-point hike next meeting after almost being certain of 50 basis points only a few days ago.
The worst-case scenario ahead would be a high CPI next week forcing the Fed’s hand despite hints of financial stability issues.”
Swap traders now see a 25-basis point hike at the March policy meeting as more likely than half-point move.
They also lowered expectations for how high the Fed will push the borrowing costs — once again fully pricing in a rate cut from the peak level by year-end.
The rate hikes of the past year were not a prelude to a steady Goldilocks economy that’s running neither too hot nor too cold, but instead to a “hard landing and credit events,” strategists led by Michael Hartnett wrote in a note on fund flows pointing to another risk-off week in markets.
Investors pulled $500 million from equity funds and piled $18.1 billion into cash and $8.2 billion into bonds, according to BofA citing EPFR Global data for the period through March 8.
Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said the US banking system “remains resilient” and regulators “have effective tools” to address developments around Silicon Valley Bank.
Former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers said the meltdown of SVB shouldn’t pose a threat to the financial system as long as depositors are made whole.
“Contagion risk and the systemic threat can be easily contained by careful balance sheet management and avoiding more policy mistakes,” Mohamed El-Erian, the chairman of Gramercy Funds and a Bloomberg Opinion columnist, said in a tweet on Friday.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 fell 1.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 1.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.1%
* The MSCI World index fell 1.4%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.4%
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.0639
* The British pound rose 0.8% to $1.2026
* The Japanese yen rose 1% to 134.83 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.2% to $19,974.68
* Ether fell 1% to $1,418.3
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined 22 basis points to 3.68%
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined 13 basis points to 2.51%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined 16 basis points to 3.64%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.1% to $76.56 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 2.1% to $1,873.60 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Isabelle Lee and Michael P. Regan.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann
You take on what’s right in front of you.  You want to do the best you can with the opportunities that you have. -Don Shula, 1930-2020.

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