May 16th,2025,Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday!
Carolann is away from the office for Sohn Investment Conference in New York, I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

May 16, 1770: Marie Antoinette, age 14, married the future King Louis XVI of France, who was 15. Go to article
May 16, 1817: Mississippi River steamboat service begins
May 16, 1881: World’s first electric tram enters service in Lichterfelde near Berlin

International Day of the Boy Child. Read more.

Scientists use AI to encrypt secret messages that are invisible to cybersecurity systems
Scientists say that hiding secret messages using AI chatbots could lead to a world of iron-clad encryption.

World’s oldest star chart may be 2,300 years old and from China — but not everyone agrees
Is the Star Manual of Master Shi the oldest known astronomical catalog? Experts are divided.

NASA spacecraft snaps eerie image of eclipsed sun with an extra moon overhead. What’s going on?
NASA’s PUNCH mission, a tiny constellation of four satellites, captured a photo of the moon drifting across the sky through a haze of sunlight. The mission is still undergoing commissioning and is expected to start science operations June 9.

Physicists may be on their way to a ‘theory of everything’ after reenvisioning Einstein’s most famous theory
A new physics paper takes a step toward creating a long-sought “theory of everything” by uniting gravity with the quantum world. However, the new theory remains far from being proven observationally

Dinosaur age tsunami revealed from tiny chunks of Japanese amber, study finds
Amber deposits in Japan show unique deformations that suggest trees were swept out to sea during a tsunami about 115 million years ago, giving paleontologists a new way to identify past tsunamis.

The sun just spat out the strongest solar flares of 2025 — and more could be headed toward Earth
The sun has released several powerful M- and X-class solar flares over the past few days, resulting in radio blackouts around the world.

Humans reached southern South America by 14,500 years ago, genomes from 139 Indigenous groups reveal
A large-scale genome study shows that Indigenous peoples in the Americas split off several times, resulting in loss of important genetic diversity.

‘Very rare’ African ebony figurines found in 1,500-year-old Christian burials in Israeli desert
Three 1,500-year-old burials in the Negev desert have pendants of bone and ebony that may depict the deceased individuals’ ancestors.

Living lunch box? Iceland orcas are unexpectedly swimming with baby pilot whales, but it’s unclear why.
Newborn pilot whales have been spotted mysteriously swimming among pods of orcas. Scientists are trying to puzzle out how the pilot whale calves got there and what happened to them.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

All aboard … cygnets take the dry option and hitch a lift on their mother’s back at Walcot Pool, Shropshire, UK
Photograph: Andrew Fusek-Peters/SWNS
Alberobello, Italy
A cyclist pedals among typical trulli, a traditional dry-stone hut in the region of Puglia, before the start of the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia cycling race, from Alberobello to Lecce. Casper van Uden claimed his maiden grand tour victory in a sprint finish to top an all-Dutch podium in Lecce
Photograph: Marco Alpozzi/AP

​​​​​​​A water vole in Britain. Water vole populations look to be bouncing back; overall, numbers have declined but in some regions of the UK there are signs of recovery, thanks to habitat restoration and tighter control of its main predator, the American mink
Photograph: Ian West/PA
Market Closes for May 16^th, 2025

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
“In the short term, the market is a voting machine; in the long run, it is a weighing machine.”– Warren Buffett
Canada
(MT Newswires)
The Toronto Stock Exchange closed at a second-straight record high on Friday while rising for a ninth-straight session as investors continue to add risk.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed up 74.45 points to 25,971.93, gaining just more than 1,000 points over its winning streak.
Rising sectors were led by Health Care, up 3.19%, followed by Energy, up 0.41%.
Base Metals, down 1.19%, was the biggest decliner.
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.3%, with 10 of 11 sectors higher, led by health care stocks.
As of market close, 145 of 217 stocks rose, while 70 fell.
MEG Energy Corp. led the advances, rising 19%, while South Bow Corp. decreased 4.1%.
Markets at a Glance:
* S&P/TSX Index rose 0.3% to 25,972
* 10 of 11 sectors rose
** Health care gained, up 2%
** Materials declined, down 0.3%
* Crude oil rose 1.3% to $62/bbl
* Natgas fell 1.3% to $3.32/mmbtu
* Gold fell 0.8% to $3,202/oz
* Silver fell 1% to $32/oz
Advancers:
* MEG Energy Corp. (MEG CN) +19%: MEG Soars as Board Considers Strathcona Bid, Engages BMO (1)
* Tilray Brands Inc. (TLRY CN) +9.7%: Global X Marijuana Life Rises 9.4% This Week
* Athabasca Oil Corp. (ATH CN) +9%
* AtkinsRealis Group Inc. (ATRL CN) +4.6%: AtkinsRealis RSI Overbought; Up 11%, Most in About Six Months
* Canadian Tire Corp. (CTC/A CN) +3.3%: Canadian Tire to Buy Hudson’s Bay Company Brand Assets for C$30M
Decliners:
* South Bow Corp. (SOBO CN) -4.1%: South Bow’s Keystone Pipeline Transporting 585k B/D After Spill
* Ero Copper Corp. (ERO CN) -3.8%
* Capstone Copper Corp. (CS CN) -3.4%
* Denison Mines Corp. (DML CN) -3.3%
* Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (IVN CN) -3.1%
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Stocks got hit in late hours and bond yields climbed after the US credit rating was downgraded by Moody’s amid concerns about the increase in government debt that threatens America’s status as the world’s safe haven.
A $606 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 dropped after the close of regular trading.
That followed a rally that put the US equity benchmark on the brink of a bull market on hopes that Donald Trump’s tariff war is cooling.
Treasury futures slid to session lows after the statement, with the market notching its third straight week of losses — the longest slide this year.
Moody’s lowered the US credit score to Aa1 from Aaa on Friday, joining Fitch Ratings and S&P Global Ratings in grading the world’s biggest economy below the top, triple-A position.
The one-notch cut comes more than a year after Moody’s changed its outlook on the US rating to negative.
The credit assessor now has a stable outlook.
“Being asked why Moody’s would downgrade the US now,” said Andrew Brenner at NatAlliance Securities.
“Moody’s is trying to send a message to Congress to get their act together.”
A key House committee on Friday failed to advance House Republicans’ massive tax-and-spending bill after hard-line conservatives bucked President Trump and blocked the bill over cost concerns.
Negotiations will continue through the weekend, with the committee planning to meet again late Sunday night.
US deficits are already large by any measure today.
The US deficit has been in excess of 6% of gross domestic product for the past two years an unusually high burden outside of economic recessions or world wars.
The ratio was 6.4% for fiscal 2024, after 6.2% in 2023.
Equities climbed in regular hours Friday as the Financial Times reported the US and the European Union broke an impasse to enable tariff talks, fueling the risk-on tone that had been sparked by a trade truce with China.
Traders were able to look past data showing US consumer sentiment unexpectedly fell and inflation expectations climbed to multi-decade highs.
Since the US-China truce, banks across Wall Street have been watering down calls for a recession.
The optimism around trade deals has propelled American stocks ahead of most global equity benchmarks this week.
The shift came after a period in which money managers grew skeptical about the US equity market and started to pull away from growth stocks and rotate into defensive names, due to escalating concerns from trade wars to economic growth and geopolitical tensions.
In the first three months of the year, hedge funds boosted positions in healthcare stocks while reducing exposure in the technology sector.
The furious comeback in US equities from the depths of last month’s rout is poised to come to a halt, according to Morgan Stanley’s Lisa Shalett.
The chief investment officer of the bank’s wealth management division says decelerating revenue growth from the Magnificent Seven mega cap companies and waning earnings momentum more broadly will limit further market upside after a double- digit recovery in the S&P 500 from April’s lows.
“I think we’re going to stall out here,” Shalett said Friday in an interview with Bloomberg Surveillance.
“It’s hard to justify the numbers.”
One thing is clear as the first-quarter earnings season draws to a close: The uncertain outlook for the global economy is superseding better-than-feared results even as stocks rally on signs of easing trade tensions.
In the US, a measure that reflects the proportion of S&P 500 members that raised their earnings outlook compared to those that held or reduced, the so-called profit guidance momentum, fell to the lowest level since at least 2010, according to an analysis from Bloomberg Intelligence’s equity strategists Gina Martin Adams and Wendy Soong.
That is in spite of S&P 500 companies delivering double the profit growth that was expected in the first quarter, according to BI.
“There is little question that the trade agreement between the US and China is a bullish development as it lowers the odds of a recession,” said Matt Maley at Miller tabak.
“Now, we have to figure out just how much this will actually improve the outlook enough to justify today’s level in the stock market and/or a further rally over the coming months.”

Corporate Highlights:
* The US Justice Department is considering an agreement that would allow Boeing Co. to avoid a criminal charge for two fatal crashes of its 737 Max jets, according to lawyers representing family members of the victims.
* CoreWeave Inc. surged 22% to a record high after Nvidia Corp. reported a larger-than-anticipated stake in the cloud-computing provider.
* Applied Materials Inc. tumbled after giving a lackluster forecast for the current period, highlighting the potential cost of the US trade dispute with China.
* Charter Communications Inc. has agreed to combine with closely held Cox Communications in a cash-and-stock deal that would unite two of the biggest US cable providers.
* Coinbase Global Inc.’s rally has been unconquerable this week, as even a one-two punch of negative headlines did little to stop the crypto exchange operator’s climb ahead of its inclusion in the S&P 500.
* Binance and Kraken are among major crypto exchanges that have been targeted by the same type of social-engineering hack that was recently disclosed by Coinbase Global Inc., according to people familiar with the situation.
* Billionaire Michael Novogratz said Galaxy Digital Holdings Ltd. is talking with the US Securities and Exchange Commission about tokenizing its own stock as well as other equities using its digital-asset platform.
* Apple Inc. and Epic Games Inc. sparred over whether the iPhone maker was obstructing access to the hit game Fortnite, the latest tussle in a long-running feud over Apple’s control of game distribution revenue.
* The Federal Trade Commission wrapped up its case Thursday for breaking up Meta Platforms Inc. as an illegal social-media monopoly, with the company now set to lay out its defense in the ongoing antitrust trial.
* OpenAI is rolling out a new artificial intelligence agent for ChatGPT users that’s designed to help streamline software development as the company pushes into a crowded market of startups and large tech firms offering AI tools for coders.
* Novo Nordisk A/S is replacing Chief Executive Officer Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen as the drugmaker wrestles with increased competition for its Wegovy obesity shots that transformed the weight-loss industry and made the Danish company the star of corporate Europe.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.5%
* Bloomberg Magnificent 7 Total Return Index rose 0.5%
* The Russell 2000 Index rose 0.9%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.2%
* The euro fell 0.3% to $1.1150
* The British pound fell 0.2% to $1.3276
* The Japanese yen fell 0.2% to 145.94 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 0.5% to $104,015.59
* Ether rose 2.1% to $2,591.41
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced five basis points to 4.48%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 2.59%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 4.65%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.2% to $62.35 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 1.4% to $3,193.18 an ounce

Have a wonderful long weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Shab
“I want to live my life, not record it.”– Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis “Jackie”

Shab Mohammadpour
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.
340A – 730 View Street
Victoria BC  V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778-430-5851
Fax: 778-430-5828