May 13, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On May 13, 1981, Pope John Paul II was shot and seriously wounded in St. Peter’s Square by Turkish assailant Mehmet Ali Agca.  Go to article »

Restaurant to enforce social distancing, creepy vibes by filling tables with old mannequins. (h/t Ellen Kominers) -Bloomberg.

How a photographer re-created the outdoors with household stuff. -Bloomberg.

Behold the faded beauty of abandoned cars. (h/t Mike Smedley) –Bloomberg.

Summer reading will have to do more than usual to help us get away from it all while we can’t get away, writes our writer-at-large Sarah Lyall.
Here are her suggestions for falling into fictional worlds. -The NY Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A polar bear cub takes a tumble as it tries to use its mother as a climbing frame as she walks across the snow. The three month old cub was clinging to its mother’s neck as it attempted to wrestle her to the floor. The bears were on their way toward the Arctic Ocean to hunt for food.
CREDIT: HAO JIANG/SOLENT NEWS

Three eight-week-old great horned owls at Scottish Owl Centre in West Lothian. These owl chicks are getting ready to take flight after growing to nearly the same size as their parents – in just eight weeks. The horned owl chicks, named Storm, Ciara and Dennis, hatched between March 21 and 23 and will grow up to be ‘the most aggressive birds of prey in the world’. Despite only being a few months old, the birds have already grown to 1.5ft tall and are getting ready to fly, according to ornithologist Rod Angus, who owns the center.
CREDIT: KATIELEE ARROWSMITH. SWNS

Rain clouds, wind and rain pass over One World Trade Center and Lower Manhattan in New York City
CREDIT: JOHN ANGELILLO/UPI

Machinery and Turf Horticulturist Nigel Downs puts the finishing touches to a thank you message for NHS staff and carers at RHS Hyde Hall Gardens in Chelmsford, Essex.
CREDIT: STEVE PARSONS/PA WIRE
Market Closes for May 13^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
How Tourist Destinations Are Reconfiguring to Reopen Safely: Resorts are spacing out beach chairs, casinos will toss decks of cards after a single use and amusement parks plan apps to avoid lines for rides—all to reopen safely after the pandemic. -WSJ.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci and Divya Balji
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities fell Wednesday alongside U.S. shares after Fed Chair Jerome Powell warned economic risks from the coronavirus pandemic are significant and as tensions with China flared.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index retreated 2.5%, the most since April 30. Ten of 11 sectors fell, with information technology gaining as Shopify Inc. rose 1.5%.
“Markets have had a great bounce off the lows on expectations there will be a strong recovery in the second half of the year,” Greg Taylor, chief investment officer at Purpose Investments said. “The last few days investors have been questioning if that optimism was warranted and maybe markets have gotten ahead of themselves,” he added.
Meanwhile, oil fell as investors weighed stockpile declines against a darker outlook for demand and economic recovery. Gold prices advanced the most in a week as Powell’s comments added to worries that the pandemic is taking too heavy a toll on the economy. “The fundamental picture hasn’t turned yet,” BlackRock chief investment strategist Kurt Reiman said on BNN Bloomberg earlier. There’s a “tug of war” between a “hopeful” reopening of
the economy and fears of another wave of coronavirus infections. Quebec said it may need as long as five years to balance its books after the coronavirus pandemic upended its budget plans.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $4.35 discount to West Texas Intermediate.
* Spot gold rose 0.8% to about $1,717 an ounce.
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar fell 0.1% to C$1.4097 per U.S. dollar.
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 1 basis point to 0.555%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell for the second day, dropping 2.5 percent, or 377.95 to 14,503.21 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 2.9 percent on April 30.
Toronto-Dominion Bank contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 3.5 percent. Intertape Polymer Group Inc. had the largest drop, falling 16.3 percent.
Today, 209 of 229 shares fell, while 20 rose; 10 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* In the past year, the index had a similar or greater loss 12 times. The next day, it advanced nine times for an average 4.4 percent and declined three times for an average 6.2 percent
* The index declined 10 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 1.1 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 19.3 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 29.8 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 2.2 percent in the past 5 days and rose 3 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.4 on a trailing basis and 21.4 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.6 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.25t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 30.48 percent compared with 31.82 percent in the previous session and the average of 61.86 percent over the past month
================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================
Financials | -162.9240| -3.9| 0/26
Energy | -80.7468| -4.0| 0/30
Industrials | -38.0094| -2.2| 1/30
Utilities | -25.0564| -3.2| 0/16
Communication Services| -18.8296| -2.2| 2/6
Consumer Discretionary| -18.8252| -3.8| 0/14
Consumer Staples | -10.2979| -1.6| 0/11
Real Estate | -9.7289| -2.2| 0/26
Materials | -9.5889| -0.4| 13/34
Health Care | -7.7174| -5.6| 0/10
Information Technology| 3.7845| 0.3| 4/6
US
By Rita Nazareth, Vildana Hajric and Katherine Greifeld
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks slumped to a three-week low after Jerome Powell warned economic risks from the virus are significant and tensions with China flared. Treasuries and the dollar advanced.
The S&P 500 briefly fell below 2,800 — a level that has provided support in the past month — after the Federal Reserve chairman said the threat of a lasting downturn can deepen without additional government spending. Equities also dropped after a federal savings plan delayed moving funds into an index with Chinese stocks, adding to tensions stoked by President Donald Trump. U.S. airlines plummeted after a warning that demand for flights will lag behind pre-coronavirus forecasts for at least 2025.
The stock weakness has the S&P 500 headed for its worst week since March 20, the session before a furious 30% rally started. Health official Anthony Fauci warned Tuesday that the pandemic could worsen if states open too soon, and some Fed chiefs expressed concern the recession will be long. Famed investor Stanley Druckenmiller said equities are too high “It continues the theme from yesterday that the recovery will be slower and more uneven than what markets may currently be discounting,” said Sameer Samana, senior global market strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “With the nice run off the lows, it makes sense to take some profits.”
Traders of fed funds futures pushed bets on a negative policy rate into next year. Powell acknowledged the speculation, but said such a move was not being considered — though he stopped short of completely ruling the tool out as an option in the future.
“Fed watchers might find relief in the fact that Powell remains committed to deploy his remaining arsenal to the fullest extent as we continue to ride out the pandemic,” said Mike Loewengart, managing director of investment strategy at E*Trade Financial. “This means their toolkit primarily relies on additional fiscal stimulus.”
Republicans universally rejected a $3 trillion stimulus measure drafted by House Democrats to bolster the U.S. economy, but the draft plan has the seeds for an eventual, smaller compromise.
Elsewhere, oil fell as investors weighed stockpile declines against a darker outlook for demand and economic recovery.
Here are some key events coming up:
* U.S. weekly jobless claims data is due Thursday.
* China on Friday releases industrial production and retail sales data for April.

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 decreased about 1.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index declined 1.9%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index advanced 0.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index climbed 0.2%.
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.0815, the largest fall in a week.
* The Japanese yen strengthened 0.1% to 107.04 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries decreased two basis points to 0.65%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield decreased three basis points to -0.53%.
* Britain’s 10-year yield dipped four basis points to 0.208%.
Commodities
* The Bloomberg Commodity Index dipped 1.5%.
* West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 0.9% to $25.55 a barrel.
* Gold advanced 0.9% to $1,722 an ounce.

–With assistance from Adam Haigh, Matt Turner, Todd White, Robert Brand, Sophie Caronello and Claire Ballentine.

Have  a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

It is impossible to escape the impression that people commonly use false standards of measurement – that they seek power, success and wealth for themselves and admire them in others, and that they underestimate what is of true value in life.    –Sigmund Freud, 1856-1939.

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