March 16, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
James Madison, 4^th president, b. 1751
Ruth Bader Ginsberg, jurist, b. 1933

2003 Vice President Dick Cheney predicted on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that American troops would be “greeted as liberators” by the Iraqi people. Go to article ».
Speaking of Cheney, we just happened to watch the movie “Vice” on Netflix this past weekend, the movie  released in  2018 on Dick Cheney’s rise to power as George W. Bush’s Vice-President.  It is very insightful and the acting is excellent with Christian Bale as Dick Cheney accompanied by Amy Adams, Steve Carrell to name a few.  Definitely worth a watch if you haven’t seen it yet.

Millennials are saving the art market.

Lake Baikal: Usually it’s foreigners who cavort at the world’s deepest lake. This winter, it’s Russians.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The sun sets behind Stonehenge in Wiltshire
CREDIT: NICK BULL/ PICTUREEXCKUSIVE.COM

People wearing Napoleonic era costumes stand on the beach to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Napoleon’s death in Saint-Helene, in Golfe-Juan, southeastern France
CREDIT: VALERY HACHE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

This 10,500-year-old basket dating back to the Neolithic period was unearthed in Murabaat Cave in the Judean Desert in Israel.
CREDIT: AMMAR AWAD/REUTERS

Young female wildcat Nell, with her siblings
CREDIT: ROYAL ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SCOTLAND/PA

Market Closes for March 16^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1999, the Dow Jones Industrial Average topped 10000 for the first time.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equity markets fell on Tuesday, ending a seven-day rally, as cyclical sectors underperformed. The S&P/TSX Composite index fell 0.4% in Toronto. Pot stocks pared back gains from Monday when New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said the state is very close on legalizing marijuana. Resource stocks also underperformed as oil and copper prices fell. On the M&A front, Empire Co. is in a pact to acquire 51% of Longo’s.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold was flat around $1,731.63 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.3% to C$1.2440 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield rose 3 basis points to 1.568%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.4 percent at 18,874.01 in Toronto. The move was the biggest since falling 1.1 percent on March 4 and follows the previous session’s increase of 0.5 percent. Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 1.9 percent. Aphria Inc. had the largest drop, falling 9.3 percent. Today, 118 of 219 shares fell, while 96 rose; 5 of 11 sectors were lower, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 8.3 percent
* The index advanced 53 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 70 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.5 percent below its 52-week high on
March 16, 2021 and 68.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 2.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.9 on a trailing basis and 16.9 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.94t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.43 percent compared with
11.53 percent in the previous session and the average of 14.13 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | -45.2454| -1.9| 2/20
Materials | -28.6483| -1.2| 11/38
Information Technology | -15.9696| -0.9| 6/4
Health Care | -13.4754| -4.5| 2/7
Consumer Discretionary | -6.5542| -0.9| 5/8
Real Estate | 1.6466| 0.3| 16/7
Utilities | 2.0846| 0.2| 9/6
Industrials | 4.6093| 0.2| 14/15
Financials | 5.5742| 0.1| 16/10
Consumer Staples | 6.0410| 0.9| 10/1
Communication Services | 9.2093| 1.0| 5/2
US
By Lu Wang and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks fell for the first time in six trading sessions while yields on benchmark Treasury notes lingered close to more than one-year highs as investors weighed the strength of the global economic recovery. The S&P 500 closed lower after setting all-time highs for three consecutive trading sessions, led by declines in the energy and industrials sectors. Apple Inc. and Microsoft Corp. lifted the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average also fell from a record high, with Boeing Co. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. among the biggest decliners. Treasury 10-year yields fluctuated as the Federal Reserve began its two-day policy meeting.
“The actual growth numbers keep coming out ahead of almost all of what experts predict, so the market is trying to sort out what that means over the longer term,” said Stephen Dover, chief market strategist and head of the Franklin Templeton Investment Institute. “Growth had so far outperformed value that there was a rotation, but a lot of that rotation has happened, and so now they’re closer to each other and there’s a tug and pull back and forth between those areas and sectors.” In Europe, traders shrugged off decisions by Germany, France and Italy to suspend the AstraZeneca Plc vaccine ahead of a meeting of regional health ministers to discuss the future of the Covid-19 shot. The Stoxx 600 Index advanced 0.9%.
Markets saw modest gains in Japan and China, where investors were watching for a possible broader crackdown on the internet sector. Oil retreated for a third day, while the dollar was mixed versus its major peers. With the global economy increasingly on a path out of the pandemic, focus turns to the Fed’s communications on Wednesday, which will include fresh economic and interest-rate projections. Reflation trades stand to benefit if the central bank maintains a hands-off approach to the recent rise in yields. Bets on a faster economic recovery have already helped push one market gauge of inflation to its highest level since 2008, and a renewed climb in yields could spur the rotation from growth to value stocks. “As bond vol drops and rates are pinned by European risk near term, the pain trade that started yesterday continues,” with growth stocks outperforming, said Dennis DeBusschere, head of portfolio strategy at Evercore ISI. “Eventually bond yields will catch up to inflation expectations again.” Looking further ahead, investors are assessing the potential for an infrastructure spending package and tax increases in the U.S. Elsewhere, Bitcoin traded around $56,000, down from a weekend peak above $61,000.
These are some key events this week:
* Fed Chair Jerome Powell will likely reaffirm his steady policy stance at the Fed policy meeting Wednesday.
* Bank of England rate decision Thursday. BOE is expected to leave monetary policy unchanged.
* Bank of Japan monetary policy decision and Governor Haruhiko Kuroda briefing Friday.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index fell 0.2% to 3,962.71 as of 4:04 p.m. New York time, the first retreat in more than a week.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 0.4% to 32,825.95, the first retreat in more than a week.
The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.1% to 13,471.57, the highest in more than two weeks.
The Nasdaq 100 Index increased 0.5% to 13,152.28, the highest in more than two weeks.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.9% to 426.82, the highest
in about 13 months on the largest climb in more than a week.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed at 1,139.61.
The euro dipped 0.2% to $1.1905, the weakest in a week.
The British pound was little changed at $1.3897, the weakest in a week.
The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 109 per dollar, the largest advance in a week.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries fell less than one basis point to 0.15%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed one basis point to 1.61%.
Britain’s 10-year yield dipped one basis point to 0.785%.
Germany’s 10-year yield declined less than one basis point to -0.34%, the lowest in two weeks.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.1% to $64.66 a barrel, the biggest fall in a week.
Gold was little changed at $1,731.90 an ounce, the highest in two weeks.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

In real life, illusions can only transform our life for a moment, but in the
domain of thoughts and the intellect, misconceptions may be accepted as
truth for thousands of years, and make a laughingstock of whole
nations, mute the noble wishes of mankind, make slaves from people and lie
to them.  These misconceptions are the enemies with which the wisest
men in the history of mankind try to struggle.  The force of the truth is
great, but its victory is difficult.  However, once you receive this victory, it can
never be taken from you. –Arthur Schopenhauer, 1788-1860.

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