March 2, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1925-Highway numbers introduced.
1899- Mount Rainer National Park established

Theodore Geisel, “Dr. Seuss”, author, b. 1904
Tom Wolfe, writer, b. 1941
Mikhail Gorbachev, statesman, b. 1931

5 is your lucky number of fruits and veggies to live longer, but not all of them count.  Sorry, a diet of grape juice and french fries probably won’t cut it. 

People rarely leave conversations when they want to. Here’s how to change that.  OK ………….. bye! 

VIRTUAL TRAVEL: Pretend you’re in the scenic Riviera Maya in Mexico.

A decades-long quest reveals new details of antimatter. 

What might be Asia’s longest-missing bird just came out of hiding.  For the first time in 170 years, the black-browed babbler was found in an Indonesian forest. Ornithologists first described the bird around 1850, after the one and only known specimen of the species was collected. Then the enigmatic bird disappeared.  One conservationist said the discovery was “as shocking as rediscovering the passenger pigeon or Carolina parakeet.”
In other discoveries, a team of scientists reconstructed the outer and middle ear of Neanderthals and concluded that they listened to the world much like we do, adding a new piece to the puzzle of whether early humans could speak.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The International Space Station is captured on camera in a super-rare photo – as the spacecraft was illuminated for a split-second while passing in front of the moon. The amazing image shows the whole structure of the ISS changing as its solar ‘panels’ – or arrays – shifted as it prepared to live-stream its mission to NASA. Photographer Andrew McCarthy, who captured the rare photograph at 2.45am, said those on board the space station were preparing for an extravehicular activity (EVA) – in other words, a space walk outside the station. He had less than a second to capture the ISS in transit across the moon – but managed to capture the spacecraft grazing across the Copernicus crater before it disappeared from view.
CREDIT: ANDREW MCCARTHY/COSMIC_BACKGROUND / SWNS

A man releases a pigeon backdropped by the Giza pyramids in the Egyptian capital Cairo
CREDIT: KHALED DESOUKI/AFP

The mountains that surround Buttermere in Cumbria reflect into the still water this morning as the sun send beams of light through the hills.
CREDIT: ADNREW MCCAREN/LNP

A monk visits the Wat Rong Khun, White Temple, a Buddhist temple in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province.
CREDIT: ROMEI GACAD/AFP
Market Closes for March 2^nd, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     1807 Congress outlawed the importation of slaves to the United States, effective the following year. Go to article >>
On this day in 1844, the New York Stock Exchange raised the initiation fee for new members to $400, equivalent to more than $9,400 in modern money.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities gained for a second day as materials and consumer staples stocks advanced. The S&P/TSX Composite index rose 0.7% in Toronto, extending this week’s gain to 2%. Materials were the best performing sector, with gold miners rebounding as the price of gold snapped a five-day losing streak. However, Bank of Montreal’s investment bank is building up its capabilities to help clients establish blank-check companies as the Canadian firm seeks to play a bigger role in the fast-growing trend.  Meanwhile, industrials were the worst performing sector.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at an $11.10 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold gained 0.6% to $1,735.22 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1 to C$1.2628 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell to 1.329%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.7 percent, or 121.98 to 18,421.60 in Toronto. Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.4 percent. Spin Master Corp. had the largest increase, rising 23.9 percent. Today, 134 of 219 shares rose, while 81 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 5.7 percent
* The index advanced 11 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 27 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9 percent below its 52-week high on
Feb. 16, 2021 and 64.9 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3.1 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27 on a trailing basis and 16.7 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$2.84t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 15.18 percent compared with
15.08 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.88 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 48.7776| 2.2| 37/11
Financials | 46.2215| 0.8| 19/7
Energy | 21.9138| 1.0| 12/8
Consumer Staples | 8.1953| 1.3| 9/2
Communication Services | 7.0016| 0.8| 6/1
Utilities | 2.8451| 0.3| 9/7
Real Estate | 1.9424| 0.3| 18/8
Consumer Discretionary | 1.5443| 0.2| 6/7
Health Care | 0.8660| 0.3| 4/5
Information Technology | -3.7808| -0.2| 3/7
Industrials | -13.5306| -0.6| 11/18
US
By Rita Nazareth and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks dropped after the biggest rally in nine months spurred speculation about excessive investor optimism. Treasuries stabilized, following a recent spike in yields. The dollar retreated. Technology shares led losses in the S&P 500 as Apple Inc. and Tesla Inc. dragged down the Nasdaq 100 — with the electric- car maker tumbling more than 4%. Target Corp. sank on an underwhelming profitability outlook. Rocket Cos., a Detroit- based holding company, soared after a news report that the stock could become a Reddit target for its high short-interest.
Bullishness among Wall Street strategists is near levels that have presaged potential trouble for stocks, according to a Bank of America Corp. gauge. The measure assesses the average recommended allocation to equities and is close to triggering a sell signal. A valuation methodology, sometimes called Fed model that compares corporate profits to bond rates, recently showed stocks were losing their edge. Earlier Tuesday, China’s top banking regulator said he was “very worried” about risks from bubbles in global financial markets.
Last week, the correlation between real yields and U.S. equities dropped to its most-negative level in five years. That strong inverse relationship suggests inflation-adjusted Treasury rates have reached a point where further gains could quickly send the S&P 500 lower — as they feed into steeper borrowing costs and lessen the appeal of other assets. The benchmark gauge of American shares has surged more than 70% from its March 2020 lows. For Bill Northey, senior investment director at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, rising rates are seen as an important element of what’s “giving investors pause at this point in time.” He also noted that they’re relevant when it comes to figuring out the appropriate level of valuations against the stream of corporate earnings. “Did we come too far, too fast in pricing in a strong economy and corporate earnings recovery?” he said.

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 fell 0.8% at 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index increased 0.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index declined 0.4%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index decreased 0.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index decreased 0.3%.
* The euro gained 0.3% to $1.2089.
* The Japanese yen was unchanged at 106.76 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 1.41%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to -0.35%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased seven basis points to 0.687%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 1.6% to $59.65 a barrel.
* Gold rose 0.5% to $1,733.71 an ounce.
* Silver added 0.5% to $26.71 per ounce.

–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Joanna Ossinger, Namitha Jagadeesh, Lynn Thomasson, Cormac Mullen and Lu Wang.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Quality is more important than quantity.  One home run
is much better than two doubles. –Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

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