March 30, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Maimonides, physician, b. 1135.
Vincent Van Gogh, b. 1853.
Sean O’Casey, playwright, b. 1880.
Eric Clapton, guitarist, b. 1945.

1858: pencil patented.

On March 30, 1981, President Reagan was shot and seriously injured outside a Washington, D.C., hotel by John W. Hinckley Jr. Also wounded were White House news secretary James Brady, a Secret Service agent and a District of Columbia police officer.  Go to article »

How to Survive This
-by Barbara Kingsolver

O misery.  Imperfect
universe of days stretched out
ahead, the string of pearls
and drops of venom on the web,
losses of heart, of life
and limb, news of the worst:

Remind me again
the day will come
when I look back amazed
at the waste of sorry salt
when I had no more than this
to cry about.

Now I lay me down.
I’m not there yet.

The Getty Museum is asking people to recreate famous art using household objects
Gotta harness that quarantine creativity! 

Thieves stole a Van Gogh from a locked-down Dutch museum.  -Bloomberg.

Joseph Pilates worked on his exercise system in a WWI POW camp. -Bloomberg.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People applaud from their houses in support of the medical staff that are working on the CONVID-19 virus outbreak in Barcelona, Spain
CREDIT: EMILIO MORENATTI/AP

Out-of- season snow falls in Tokyo
CREDIT: NEWSCOM

Spring lambs soak in the sun at White Post Farm, Nottinghamshire, UK
CREDIT: SWNS/ TOM MADDICK
Market Closes for March 30^th ,2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1867, U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase the Alaskan territories from Russia for $7 million—a price so preposterous that newspapers around the country immediately tagged the deal “Seward’s Folly” and christened Alaska “the polar bear garden.”
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities bounced higher Monday afternoon as investors saw glimmers of optimism in efforts to deliver rapid virus testing.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 2.8%. Ten of eleven sectors advanced, with real estate being the only laggard. Quebec-based Cominar Real Estate Investment Trust dropped 11% after withdrawing guidance amid the spread of coronavirus.
Energy stocks shook off weakness in crude prices, with oil- sands producers including MEG Energy Corp., Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. and Suncor Energy Inc. all up double-digits. Oil tumbled to an 18-year low as coronavirus lockdowns cascaded through the world’s largest economies, while Western
Canadian Select fell below $4 earlier Monday. Utility equities were also strong, with shares of Brookfield Infrastructure Partners LP and Atco Ltd. Gaining more than 5%. BMO Capital Markets upgraded a handful of utility companies, saying the bank is “shifting our investment preference towards power & utility over pipeline & midstream.”
At least one Canadian strategist thinks it’s too early for investors to boost exposure to equities, citing multiple unknowns in combating the pandemic. “While equities are priced lower than they were a month ago, we do not believe that means they are cheap currently,” Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce strategist Ian de Verteuil said in a note to clients. “We remain cautious, and continue to believe investors should have exposure to gold,” he said.
On Canada’s job front, in the 10 days between March 16 and March 25, some 1.55 million Canadians applied for jobless benefits, according to a senior government official with knowledge of the matter.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $16 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose fell about 0.4% to $1,622 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 1.1% to C$1.4143 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 1.7 basis points to 0.758%
from By Bloomberg Automation
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 2.8 percent at 13,038.50 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s
decrease of 5.1 percent. Suncor Energy Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 15.5 percent. MEG Energy Corp. had the largest increase, rising 22.1 percent.
Today, 141 of 230 shares rose, while 85 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater gain five times. The next day, it declined three times for an average 5.7 percent and advanced twice for an average 3.1 percent
* This quarter, the index fell 24 percent, heading for the biggest decline in at least 10 years
* This month, the index fell 20 percent, heading for the biggest decline in at least 10 years
* The index declined 19 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 9.2 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 27.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 16.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 16 percent in the past 5 days and fell 20 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 13 on a trailing basis and 13.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 4 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$1.94t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 87.34 percent compared with 86.62 percent in the previous session and the average of 56.13 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 112.8273| 2.8| 20/6
Energy | 68.7952| 4.4| 21/7
Industrials | 54.8429| 3.6| 16/14
Information Technology | 38.7620| 4.3| 7/3
Utilities | 32.0852| 4.5| 13/3
Communication Services | 24.1812| 3.0| 7/1
Consumer Staples | 8.6814| 1.5| 10/1
Materials | 8.6537| 0.6| 19/27
Consumer Discretionary | 5.8321| 1.3| 11/5
Health Care | 0.8275| 0.6| 6/4
Real Estate | -4.7264| -1.1| 11/14
US
By Randall Jensen and Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rallied as investors saw glimmers of optimism in efforts to deliver rapid testing for the
new coronavirus. The dollar rose.
The S&P 500 Index climbed for the fourth time in five days, rising 17% over the last week, with health-care shares among the biggest gainers. The Nasdaq 100 advanced nearly 4%, leading the rebound among benchmarks from Friday’s losses. Abbott Laboratories surged after unveiling a five-minute Covid-19 test and Johnson & Johnson announced a vaccine candidate for the virus.
Crude fell more than 5% even after Trump spoke with Russia’s Vladimir Putin about falling oil prices. The 10-year Treasury yield rose, while the dollar was on course to snap a four-session losing streak. Gold dipped.
Investors are grappling with the reality that the world’s biggest economy will stay crippled for longer after Trump heeded advice from the government’s top doctors that re-opening the U.S. in two weeks risks greater loss of life. The president said that social distancing guidelines would remain until at least April 30. But traders also continue to try to plumb the bottom and look for bright spots, such as in health-care companies that could produce products that help curb the outbreak. “We’re going to continue to see volatility,” said Fabiana Fedeli, global head of fundamental equities at Robeco. “We’re going to have a lot of news flow and some of it will be negative — it could be concerns over the outbreak, it could be concerning the balance sheets of companies. And there will also be positive news as well.”
In the latest stimulus moves, China’s central bank lowered short-term funding rates and injected cash into its financial system, Australia announced a job-support program and limited public gatherings to just two people, while Singapore unveiled an unprecedented easing in policy.
Elsewhere, Australian stocks surged by a record thanks to the new stimulus measures. Emerging-market currencies including South Africa’s rand and Mexico’s peso tumbled amid concern about debt downgrades.
These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index climbed 3.4% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 3.3%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index advanced 1.3%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index dipped 0.8%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index jumped 0.7%.
* The euro declined 0.8% to $1.1050.
* The British pound decreased 0.3% to $1.2418.
* The Japanese yen rose 0.1% at 107.78 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries rose one basis point to 0.69%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield dipped two basis points to -0.5%.
Commodities
* Gold fell 0.7% to $1,641 an ounce.
* West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 5.4% to $20.36 a barrel.
–With assistance from Adam Haigh and Todd White.
Have a great night!

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

When you learn, teach.  When you get, give.
                 -Dr. Maya Angelou, 1928-2014

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