March 30, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
1135 – Maimonides, physician, b.
1853 – Vincent Van Gogh, b.
1858 – pencil patented.
1880 – Sean O’Casey, playwright, b.
1945 – Eric Clapton, guitarist, b.

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 »

March 30, 1959 – Dalai Lama flees China and is granted political asylum in India.

On this day in 1867, Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to buy the Alaskan territories from Russia for $7 million—a price so preposterous that newspapers tagged the deal “Seward’s Folly” and named Alaska “the polar bear garden.”

Astronomers discover new galaxy clusters hiding in plain sight. 

Wellness: Is dark chocolate a key to heart health? Nutritionist Carrie Dennett takes a hard look at what the research means.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Sun worshipers head to Dovedale, Derbyshire, on Tuesday
CREDIT: TOM MADDICK, SWNS

Punters and paddleboarders out on the River Cam In Cambridge 
CREDIT: JAMES LINSELL=CLARK / SNWN.COM

Cyclists tackle a gradient in Richmond Park this morning.
CREDIT:RICK FINDLER / STORY PICTURE AGENCY

The sun rises this morning behind the gothic ruins of Whitby Abbey on the Yorkshire coast
CREDIT: ANDREW MCCAREN/LNP

Market Closes for March 30^th, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
      The Stone Age didn’t end for lack of stone and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil. –Sheik Ahmed Zaki Yamani, Saudi Oil Minister 1962-1986.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — The Canadian stock benchmark was little changed as declines in material shares offset gains in the health care sector. The S&P/TSX Composite index slipped less than 0.1% in Toronto. after Monday’s 0.2% loss. Materials were the worst performing stocks as metals fell with the strong U.S. dollar, while health care was the best performers. Meanwhile, as a record-breaking surge in Toronto home sales starts to spark concern that a bubble may be forming, one part of the market in Canada’s largest city is running even hotter than the rest: the luxury end.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at a $10.40 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 1.7% to $1,682.68 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.4% to C$1.2636 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield was little changed at 1.529%

By Bloomberg Automation:
      (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to  18,705.56 in Toronto. Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.9 percent. B2Gold Corp. had the largest drop, falling 6.7 percent. Today, 105 of 231 shares fell, while 124 rose; 4 of 11 sectors were lower, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 7.3 percent
* This month, the index rose 3.6 percent
* The index advanced 43 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI
AC Americas Index gained 54 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.7 percent below its 52-week high on
March 17, 2021 and 49.1 percent above its low on March 30, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 3.6 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of
27.6 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$2.91t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 11.42 percent compared with
11.61 percent in the previous session and the average of 13.13 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -41.0825| -1.8| 15/37
Energy | -17.1059| -0.7| 11/12
Communication Services | -2.6215| -0.3| 2/6
Utilities | -2.1473| -0.2| 7/9
Consumer Staples | 0.1531| 0.0| 6/7
Real Estate | 0.3536| 0.1| 21/5
Health Care | 5.6479| 2.1| 10/0
Consumer Discretionary | 5.9609| 0.8| 6/6
Financials | 9.9212| 0.2| 19/9
Industrials | 11.7407| 0.5| 21/9
Information Technology | 15.5302| 0.9| 6/5

US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — Stocks fell for a second day and Treasury yields touched a 14-month high as traders weighed the consequences of more stimulus from the Biden administration. The utilities, information technology and consumer staples sectors pushed the benchmark S&P 500 lower, though financial shares recovered from Monday’s slide in the wake of the implosion of Archegos Capital Management. Apple Inc. led the Nasdaq Composite into negative territory. The dollar strengthened for a second day and gold slipped below $1,700 per troy ounce.
Oil halted a two-day rally before the April 1 meeting of OPEC and its allies. “The market’s still trying to figure out what the trade is — by that I mean, the stay-at-home stocks were the trade for basically a year,” said JJ Kinahan, chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade. “Now, more people are getting vaccinated, but at the same time, you’re starting to see a rise in cases in many states. So just like that is messy, so is the market.” President Joe Biden, in an address slated for Wednesday in Pittsburgh, will detail a mass expansion of government spending aimed at reducing inequality and strengthening infrastructure.
A revamp of the tax code is also part of the plan and is already proving divisive among economists and lawmakers. Ten-year Treasury yields increased to as high as 1.77%. The five-year rate rose as high as 0.95%, a 13-month high, followed by a block sale in the notes. ViacomCBS and Discovery rose, while the American Depositary Receipts of Chinese companies linked to the Archegos block trades also posted gains. Europe’s equity benchmark rose to its highest level in 13 months as the momentum swung in favor of cyclical stocks such as banks and automakers. Meanwhile, the U.S. reached a record three-day stretch of 10 million shots over the weekend, according to the Bloomberg Vaccine Tracker, and plans to offer inoculations to 90% of adults.

Some key events to watch this week:
* President Biden is expected to unveil his infrastructure program Wednesday.
* EIA crude inventory report Wednesday.
* OPEC+ meets to discuss production levels for May on Thursday.
* China Caixin PMI due Thursday.
* U.S. employment report for March on Friday.
* Good Friday starts the Easter weekend in countries including the U.S., U.K., France, Germany, Australia and Canada.

These are some of the main moves in financial markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 Index dipped 0.3% to 3,958.86 as of 4:02 p.m. New York time.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.3% to 33,070.94, the biggest fall in a week.
The Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.1% to 13,045.40.
The Nasdaq 100 Index declined 0.5% to 12,896.54.
The Stoxx Europe 600 Index jumped 0.7% to 430.65, the highest in more than 13 months.
Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.3% to 1,154.34, the
highest in almost 20 weeks on the biggest advance in a week.
The euro dipped 0.4% to $1.172, the weakest in 21 weeks.
The British pound fell 0.3% to $1.3724.
The Japanese yen depreciated 0.5% to 110.34 per dollar, hitting
the weakest in about a year with its fifth straight decline and the largest decrease in more than three weeks.
Bonds
The yield on two-year Treasuries rose less than one basis point to 0.14%.
The yield on 10-year Treasuries climbed less than one basis
point to 1.71%, the highest in more than a week.
The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell three basis points to 2.37%, the biggest fall in a week.
Britain’s 10-year yield climbed four basis points to 0.824%, the
highest in more than a week on the largest increase in more than a week.
Germany’s 10-year yield increased three basis points to -0.29%, the highest in more than a week.
Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 1.9% to $60.38 a barrel.
Gold depreciated 1.7% to $1,682.95 an ounce, the weakest in more than 11 months on the biggest tumble in more than a month.
–With assistance from Claire Ballentine and Olivia Raimonde.
Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go. -T.S. Eliot, 188-1965

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