March 20, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Happy Friday!
Something to smile about. 4 of the 5 happiest countries in the world are in Scandinavia, with Finland coming in first place. -Bloomberg

The latest product to sell out in the stockpiling rush? Coconut water
People are a mystery sometimes. -CNN

Meet Wonderchicken, the oldest modern bird, which lived with dinosaurs and survived their extinction 
Yes, we absolutely do want to meet anything called Wonderchicken. –CNN

Closer look: A photographer in New York has been documenting the anxious purchase of emergency supplies, and other virus-related economic activity.

The 100 best movies on Netflix, and all the HBO shows, ranked. –The New York Times.
PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Early-morning sunlight shines on an empty country road near Bautzen, eastern Germany
CREDIT: FILP SINGER/EPA -EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

A man walks on a snow-covered path during a snowfall in Ankara
CREDIT: ADEM ALTAN/ AFP

Cheviot Mule ewes catch the morning light in their lambing shed at Oxnam village in the Scottish Borders.
CREDIT: CHRIS STRICKLAND / ALAMY LIVE NEWS
Market Closes for March 20^th ,2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1602, the Western world’s first major publicly traded company was born, as the Dutch legislature granted a monopoly on trade to the Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or Dutch East India Company, which dealt in booming consumer products like cloves, tea, black pepper and Chinese porcelain. In 1609, the company’s directors declared that investors could not sell their shares back to the company, but only to other investors—giving birth to the modern stock market.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 2.6 percent at 11,851.56 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s increase of 3.8 percent.
Brookfield Asset Management Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 10.7 percent. OceanaGold Corp. had the largest drop, falling 18.3 percent.
Today, 143 of 230 shares fell, while 85 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.

Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss six times. The next day, it advanced five times for an average 4.2 percent and declined 12.3 percent once
* So far this week, the index fell 14 percent
* This quarter, the index fell 31 percent, heading for the biggest decline in at least 10 years
* This month, the index fell 27 percent, heading for the biggest decline in at least 10 years
* The index declined 27 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 20 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 34 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 4.3 percent above its low on March 19, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.8 on a trailing basis and 11.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 4.4 percent on a trailing 12- month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$1.86t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 73.82 percent compared with 73.75 percent in the previous session and the average of 33.88 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | -140.6847| -3.6| 6/20
Materials | -85.6200| -5.7| 5/42
Industrials | -63.1177| -4.2| 9/22
Communication Services| -37.2592| -4.5| 1/7
Utilities | -20.7231| -3.0| 6/9
Information Technology| -9.9447| -1.2| 4/6
Consumer Discretionary| -1.4239| -0.4| 8/8
Consumer Staples | -1.0074| -0.2| 4/7
Real Estate | 1.6142| 0.4| 17/8
Health Care | 2.1566| 1.8| 7/2
Energy | 37.2995| 2.6| 18/12
US
By Claire Ballentine and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks dropped to cap the worst week for equities since the global financial crisis amid dire warnings about the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic and as governments stepped up efforts to keep people at home.
The S&P 500 Index tumbled to its lowest in three years, ending the week down 15% as the European Union said the recession this year may be as bad as 2009, and Goldman Sachs warned the U.S. economy may shrink 24% on an annualized basis in the second quarter. Oil sank as governments around the world imposed restrictions on movement to slow the disease’s spread, bringing its weekly decline to 29%.
The 10-year Treasury yield fell back below 1%. The dollar was little changed after vaulting more than 8% in the previous eight sessions as the Federal Reserve coordinated action with global central banks to beef up dollar liquidity swap line arrangements. Gold edged higher.
“This is not a market that is going to all of a sudden heal itself,” Marvin Loh, senior global macro strategist at State Street Global Markets, said by phone. Investors are weighing a faster pace of coronavirus infections against flickers of optimism that have followed extraordinary government actions to protect the global economy, from plans for stimulus and cash handouts to nationalizing companies. Hedge funds, stock exchanges, banks and even brick- and-mortar businesses in the U.S. are lobbying Washington policy makers not to shut markets.
Still, the World Health Organization said that the pace of infections is speeding up. Cases doubled to 200,000 in the 12 days through Thursday, but just one day later the tally already was almost halfway to 300,000. U.S. stock trading volumes surged to about 60% above the average in the midst of a phenomenon known as quadruple witching caused by expiring options and futures contracts.
In the latest virus developments,
* Global deaths top more than 10,000, according to Johns Hopkins University; Italy reported 627 deaths, the most in one day
* Governor Andrew Cuomo ordered New Yorkers to stay at home for the foreseeable future following a similar move by California
* The European Central Bank provided capital relief measures to banks
* Air France-KLM and Airbus SE are poised to tap French government-backed loans
* Switzerland announced a 32 billion franc ($32.6 billion) economic support package
* The German government wants to set up a rescue fund for companies hit by coronavirus worth about 500 billion euros.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 4.4% at 4 p.m. New York time; the Nasdaq Composite slid 3.8%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index rose 1.8%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index surged 2.5%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%.
* The euro weakened 0.3% to $1.0665.
* The British pound climbed 0.8% to $1.1574.
* The Japanese yen slipped 0.5% to 111.23 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries dropped 23 basis points to 0.91%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield fell 13 basis points to -0.33%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield decreased 16 basis points to 0.55%.
Commodities
* Gold gained 0.9% to $1,484.98 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 11% to $22.43 a barrel.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh and Jake Lloyd-Smith.
Have  a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Behold my son, with what little wisdom the world is ruled.
               -Count Axel Gustafsson Oxenstierna, 1583-1654
Letter to his son at the conclusion of the Thirty Years War

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