March 29, 2023 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Hump Day.
On March 29, 1973, the last United States troops left South Vietnam, ending America’s direct military involvement in the Vietnam War.  Go to article >  
March 29, 1999: Dow Jones tops 10,000 for the first time ever.
March 29, 1990: The Czechoslovak parliament is unable to reach an agreement on what to call the country after the fall of Communism, sparking the so-called Hyphen War.

China discovers strange glass beads on moon that may contain billions of tons of water.  Chinese researchers may have discovered billions of tons of water inside strange glass spheres buried on the moon, and they could be used as a future water source for moon bases, a new study suggests.
The tiny glass spherules could be so abundant that they store up to 330 billion tons (300 metric tons) of water across the moon’s surface.  Full Story: Live Science (3/28)

2,000 mummified rams’ heads were gifted to long-dead ancient Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II.  More than 2,000 mummified rams’ heads have been unearthed at an ancient temple in Egypt, around 430 miles (692 kilometers) south of Cairo.
The severed skulls were likely prepared as an offering to the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II, around 1,000 years after he died.  Full Story: Live Science (3/29)

Gargantuan black hole 30 billion times the mass of the sun is one of the largest ever discovered.  Astronomers have discovered one of the largest black holes ever found — an ultra massive monster roughly 30 billion times the mass of the sun — using a space-time trick predicted by Albert Einstein.
The colossal black hole lurks 2.7 billion light-years from Earth in the brightest galaxy of the galaxy cluster Abell 1201.  Full Story: Live Science (3/28)

Brightest gamma-ray burst ever detected defies explanation.  The brightest gamma-ray burst ever detected is revealing new mysteries as scientists study it in greater detail.  Astronomers have found that the evolution of the radio waves released by an enormous stellar explosion seen in 2022 was slower than models predicted, raising new questions.  Full Story: Live Science (3/28)

An Old Master’s secret ingredient?  Leonardo da Vinci, Sandro Botticelli and Rembrandt may have used egg yolk in their oil paintings, according to a new study.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Colombo, Sri Lanka
Hindu worshippers take part in an annual festival at Vishnu temple
Photograph: Ishara S Kodikara/AFP/Getty Images

Mammoth Lakes, US
A person walks between snow banks covering condominiums in the Sierra Nevada mountains after another storm. After years of drought, the state snowpack average for California may reach a record high
Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Fuzhou, China
Tourists pick tea leaves in Fujian province
Photograph: VCG/Getty Images
Market Closes for March 29^th, 2023

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1989, Michael Milken was indicted on 98 counts of racketeering and securities fraud while head of Drexel Burnham Lambert’s junk-bond desk—placing him at the heart of an insider-trading scandal that came to epitomize Wall Street in the 1980s. Mr. Milken went on to serve less than two years in prison.
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 0.9%, or 180.12 to 19,837.65 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.2% on March 3.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.1%.
Aritzia Inc. had the largest increase, rising 7.4%.
Today, 173 of 234 shares rose, while 58 fell; all sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 2.3%
* This month, the index fell 1.9%
* The index declined 10% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 14% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 10.7% below its 52-week high on April 5, 2022 and 11% above its low on Oct. 13, 2022
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 1.6% in the past 5 days and fell 1.9% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 12.7 on a trailing basis and 13 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$3.16t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 12.51% compared with 12.09% in the previous session and the average of 10.26% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 58.8888| 1.0| 22/6
Energy | 52.3942| 1.6| 32/8
Information Technology | 26.4032| 2.1| 6/6
Consumer Staples | 9.7851| 1.2| 10/1
Utilities | 9.5457| 1.1| 16/0
Consumer Discretionary | 9.3958| 1.3| 13/2
Industrials | 6.5945| 0.2| 22/4
Real Estate | 5.4648| 1.1| 21/0
Health Care | 1.2958| 2.0| 5/1
Communication Services | 0.2904| 0.0| 3/3
Materials | 0.0571| 0.0| 23/27
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 25.2700| 5.1| 10.6| 34.7
Enbridge | 18.8800| 2.7| -24.4| -3.0
Brookfield Corp | 14.9900| 3.7| 37.8| -0.6
Canadian Pacific | -2.5690| -0.4| 2.2| 2.0
Agnico Eagle Mines | -2.8340| -1.3| -46.2| -0.3
Barrick Gold | -3.4060| -1.1| -61.5| 8.3
US
By Isabelle Lee and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — US stocks advanced as risk appetite continued to recover from turmoil in the banking sector, led by gains in technology and financial shares.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 entered a bull market, rising 20% from a December low.
The S&P 500 powered back above 4,000, with 92% of components ending higher — the first time that has happened in 2023, according to Susquehanna.
Meanwhile, the CBOE Volatility index closed at the lowest in three weeks.
US Treasuries were little changed and the dollar strengthened as investors digested the latest remarks by Fed officials and looked ahead to core PCE data for the clues on how the Fed’s path for interest rates might change after turbulence in the financial sector upended market expectations.
Financial stocks were hit hard by the collapse of three US banks this month but were able to stage a rally Wednesday, even after a report the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was mulling a squeeze on big banks to help cover the almost $23 billion in costs from the bank failures.
Wall Street strategist are struggling to predict how US stocks might react in the months ahead, given the uncertainty of the Fed’s path forward.
Their average year-end target for the S&P 500 has stayed at 4,050 for a third straight month in a streak of inaction not seen since 2005.
“The Fed remains in a very difficult position (largely of its own doing),” wrote Chris Senyek of Wolfe Research in a note.
“With banks stabilizing, inflation still way above target, the labor market still historically strong, and the Fed desperately needing to rebuild credibility, our sense is that the FOMC will hike by 25 basis points on May 3.
However, Powell does not like to surprise markets, so this is far from a certainty.”
Fed Chair Jerome Powell pointed to Fed officials’ forecast for another quarter percentage-point hike this year when asked by lawmakers Wednesday when the central bank will stop raising interest rates, Bloomberg News reported. However, traders are pricing in roughly 50-50 odds that move will occur at the Fed’s next meeting in May.
With easing concerns about the safety of bank deposits, Peter Tchir of Academy Securities said analysts are turning their attention back to examining the economy and prepping for upcoming earnings.
In the latest batch of corporate results, Lululemon Athletica Inc. jumped after its earnings and outlook topped estimates.
A profit drop at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. could spell trouble for other bank earnings.
Meanwhile, weaker homebuying demand from a March survey of real estate agents could be a potential early sign buyers are unnerved by the turmoil in the banking sector.
Gold fell, Bitcoin extended its climb to $28,500, and oil erased an earlier gain from a decline in US crude stockpiles.
Key events this week:
* Eurozone economic confidence, consumer confidence, Thursday
* US GDP, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Boston Fed President Susan Collins and Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin speaks at event. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen also speaks, Thursday
* China PMI, Friday
* Eurozone CPI, unemployment, Friday
* US consumer income, PCE deflator, University of Michigan consumer sentiment, Friday
* ECB President Christine Lagarde speaks, Friday
* New York Fed President John Williams speaks, Friday

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 1.4% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.9%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro was little changed at $1.0840
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.2313
* The Japanese yen fell 1.5% to 132.83 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 4% to $28,408.45
* Ether rose 1.9% to $1,808.65
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 3.57%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced four basis points to 2.33%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.47%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.3% to $72.97 a barrel
* Gold futures fell 0.4% to $1,982 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Honor is a harder master than law. –Mark Twain, 1835-1910.

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