March 23, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: U.N. World Meteorological Day
On March 23, 2010, President Barack Obama signed into law the Affordable Care Act, the most sweeping piece of federal legislation since Medicare was passed in 1965.  Go to article »

The oldest wooden sculpture is 12,500 years old. It’s teaching us about prehistory.

Virtual Travel:  See the Meroe pyramids — around 200 in total, many of them in ruins — in Sudan.

news from the cosmos: A strange interloper came zooming through our solar system in 2017. Was it a comet? Or an alien space wreck? Astronomers this month offered the most solid explanation yet: Oumuamua, as it is known, was a chip off a faraway planet from another solar system.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The sun sets behind Stonehenge in Wiltshire with a military Osprey flying in the background
CREDIT: NICK BULL/PICTUREEXCLUSIVE.COM

Dana McGregor (l) and Pismo his surfing goat catch a wave with friends while surfing with kids in San Clemente, California, US
CREDIT: MIKE BLAKE/REUTERS

A harrier hawk faces a formidable opponent as she tries to steal a short-eared owl’s prey in Skagit County, Washington, US
CREDIT: KATHY WADE/ WENN

One of the eleven audio and visual installations created by local, national and international artists, during a preview of River of Light, an outdoor illuminated art gallery along
CREDIT: PETER BYRNE/PA

A mahout walks next to his elephant through a busy street in Horana, a suburb of Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo
CREDIT: LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Market Closes for March 23^rd, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1720, the South Sea Bill, granting virtual monopoly powers to the South Sea Co., passed in the British House of Commons after six hours of fierce debate, during which the price of South Sea shares fluctuated from 270 to 400. The speculation in the stock, which drove the earliest bull market in equities, was in full swing—but it would end in a terrible crash in the fall.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks fell to their lowest level since March 9 as commodities retreated. The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 0.8%, with eight of 11 sectors lower. Health care, materials, and energy led the drop while consumer staples rose. Oil tumbled to the lowest since early February as a string of renewed lockdown measures in Europe clouded the prospects for a speedy recovery in consumption. Gold headed for a second straight decline as a strengthening dollar diminished demand for the metal as an alternative asset. George Weston Ltd. is selling Weston Foods, cutting off a business that’d been in the family since the 1880s to focus on its supermarket and drugstore chains at Loblaw Cos., as well as its vast real estate holdings.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.50 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.7% to $1,727.80 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar slipped 0.5% to C$1.2581 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield slid 5.7 basis points to 1.497%
By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 0.8 percent, or 145.33 to 18,669.80 in Toronto. The index dropped to the lowest closing level since March 9. Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 5.1 percent. Westport Fuel Systems Inc. had the largest drop, falling 10.1 percent. Today, 173 of 231 shares fell, while 51 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.1 percent
* This month, the index rose 3.4 percent
* The index advanced 66 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 79 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.9 percent below its 52-week high on
March 17, 2021 and 67.1 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.1 percent in the past 5 days and rose 1.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.8 on a trailing basis and 16.8 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$2.93t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 11.59 percent compared with
11.35 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.67 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -59.4421| -2.6| 3/49
Energy | -44.3136| -1.9| 2/20
Financials | -32.9859| -0.6| 5/23
Health Care | -8.5867| -2.9| 0/10
Consumer Discretionary | -6.4808| -0.9| 4/9
Industrials | -3.4693| -0.2| 7/22
Real Estate | -3.0939| -0.5| 6/19
Communication Services | -0.0861| 0.0| 3/4
Utilities | 2.5736| 0.3| 10/6
Information Technology | 4.2702| 0.2| 3/7
Consumer Staples | 6.2957| 0.9| 8/4
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. equities fell, with companies that would benefit from an end to lockdowns faring the worst, amid concern that rising virus cases and new restrictions in Germany signal the global reopening will be delayed. The S&P 500 Index slumped and the small-cap Russell 2000 dropped 3.6% as beneficiaries of the reopening trade including Carnival Corp. and TripAdvisor Inc. tumbled. An index of airline shares fell the most since October. The dollar strengthened, while the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield slid for a second day after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell played down the risk that economic growth would spur unwanted inflation. Oil dropped below $60 a barrel on concern the market is oversupplied.
While setbacks in the coronavirus fight are putting investors on the back foot, the stabilization in bond yields is providing some relief against fears that heavy U.S. spending could reignite inflation and force tighter central-bank policy. Investors also took stock of equity gains on the one-year anniversary of the S&P 500’s bear-market bottom. The gauge has surged about 75% since then. “When you consider how far we’ve come it is truly staggering,” said Chris Larkin, managing director of trading and investing product at E*Trade Financial. “The market today has some jitters as it considers what a return to normal means for easy money policies, fiscal support, and interest rates, but for any investor thinking we’re poised for a drop, it’s important to remember that the market is going through historically healthy growing pains and there is still a lot more recovery ahead of us.” Elsewhere, European shares slumped after Chancellor Angela Merkel put Germany into lockdown over Easter to try to defuse another wave of coronavirus infections. Asian shares also declined.

These are some key events to watch this week:
* The U.S. Treasury holds auctions of five- and seven-year debt.
* EIA crude oil inventory report on Wednesday.
* U.S. personal income and spending data on Friday.

These are some of the main moves in financial markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index fell 0.8% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 0.2%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index decreased 0.9%.
* The MSCI Emerging Market Index fell 1.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index gained 0.6%.
* The euro fell 0.7% to $1.1849.
* The British pound weakened 0.8% to $1.3752.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 108.62 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries fell eight basis points to 1.62%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dropped three basis points to -0.34%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 0.76%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude declined 6.6% to $57.48 a barrel.
* Gold fell 0.6% to $1,727.75 an ounce.

–With assistance from Cormac Mullen, Cecile Gutscher and Emily Barrett.
Have  a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

Vision is the art of seeing things invisible. -Jonathan Swift, 1667-1745

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