May 22, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Carolann is away from the office; I will be writing the newsletter on her behalf.

No two are alike: The colossal stone heads of Olmec in Mexico
he massive statues likely depict rulers from the ancient Olmec civilization.

32 stunning centuries-old hoards unearthed by metal detectorists
Archaeologists and amateurs armed with metal detectors have discovered previous hoards from centuries past.

50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones harbor oldest-known human viruses
A new analysis of two skeletons suggests that three modern human viruses infected Neanderthals around 50,000 years ago.

‘We’ll be studying this event for years’: Recent auroras may have been the strongest in 500 years, NASA says
Vibrant auroras that were recently observed by millions of people across the globe were some of the most widespread in the last five centuries, NASA says. The light shows may have also reached the equator.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Seoul, South Korea
Dancers wearing traditional clothing perform before the Dano festival
Photograph: Jeon Heon-Kyun/EPA

Andalucia, Spain
‘Sunset over the mouth of the Rio Guadalquivir where it meets the Atlantic – taken while wild camping on the beach in our campervan in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, Cádiz province.’
Photograph: Damian Connelly

​​​​​​​Ontario, Canada
‘This was was taken in our garden in Guelph. Even on a grey, drizzly day, this male Baltimore oriole shines on his migratory return here.’
Photograph: Brad Morley
Market Closes for May 22^nd, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1928: Oil prospector and trader Thomas Boone Pickens was born in Holdenville, Okla. He shook up the oil industry with hostile takeover bids in the 1980s, and was known for his plain speaking and folksy catchphrases such as “I’d rather be lucky than good.”
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.5% at 22,346.76 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.3% on April 30 and follows the previous session’s little change.
Today, materials stocks led the market lower, as 7 of 11 sectors lost; 161 of 223 shares fell, while 60 rose.
Canadian Natural Resources Ltd. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 2.0%.
Iamgold Corp. had the largest drop, falling 10.3%.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2.9%
* The index advanced 9.8% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 26% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.9% below its 52-week high on May 21, 2024 and 19.6% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.5% in the past 5 days and rose 2.2% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.7 on a trailing basis and 15.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.57t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.06% compared with 9.18% in the previous session and the average of 8.96% over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | -89.1782| -3.1| 5/45
Energy | -47.5168| -1.1| 4/36
Financials | -25.3303| -0.4| 8/19
Utilities | -3.7200| -0.4| 4/11
Consumer Discretionary | -3.2572| -0.4| 1/11
Real Estate | -2.9487| -0.6| 5/15
Health Care | -0.8842| -1.5| 0/4
Communication Services | 6.3513| 0.9| 3/2
Consumer Staples | 9.6385| 1.1| 5/6
Industrials | 10.6873| 0.3| 16/11
Information Technology | 24.7605| 1.5| 9/1
================================================================
| | |Volume VS| YTD
|Index Points | | 20D AVG | Change
Top Contributors | Move | % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Canadian Natural Resources | -15.3900| -2.0| 35.3| 18.9
Teck Resources | -11.0700| -4.7| 23.6| 23.9
TD Bank | -10.1800| -1.1| -46.9| -10.3
Bombardier | 7.5470| 15.7| 249.9| 71.3
Couche-Tard | 8.6860| 2.2| 2.3| -0.5
Shopify | 21.6300| 3.3| -28.7| -22.1
US
By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Big tech climbed in late trading after Nvidia Corp.’s solid results and outlook bolstered confidence in the artificial-intelligence frenzy that has powered the stock rally.
A $270 billion exchange-traded fund tracking the Nasdaq 100 (QQQ) gained after the giant chipmaker predicted another blowout sales gain.
The poster child for AI said second-quarter revenue will be about $28 billion — beating estimates.
The company also announced a 10-for-1 stock split and boosted its quarterly dividend by 150% to 10 cents a share.
“Even in the face of huge expectations, the company once again stepped up and delivered,” said Ryan Detrick at Carson Group. “The always important data center revenue was strong, while future revenue was also impressive. Bottom line, the bar was high and cleared it once again.”
In regular hours, stocks fell as the latest Federal Reserve minutes signaled officials remain in no rush to cut rates.
“Many” Fed officials expressed uncertainty over the degree to which policy is restraining the economy — but the minutes also noted policy “was seen as restrictive.”
The S&P 500 closed around 5,307. US two-year yields climbed four basis points to 4.87%.
The dollar rose, weakening the appeal of commodities priced in the currency.
To Ryan Grabinski at Strategas Securities, Nvidia’s earnings are “more important” than the Fed in the near term.
Not only has its weight increased to almost 3% of the S&P 500’s net income, but it has been the poster child for the AI craze — which has kicked off a capital-expenditure cycle among the largest tech players, he noted.
“As we all know, the stock market has pushed to new all- time highs recently,” said said Matt Maley at Miller Tabak + Co.
“If Nvidia’s earnings or anything else push these indices further above their recent highs, it’s going to create another round of ‘FOMO’.”
US tech earnings so far have been among the strongest in the first-quarter reporting season, with revisions in the sector outpacing the rest of the market. However, earnings results also suggest a broadening market, according to Solita Marcelli at UBS Global Wealth Management.
“We stay positive on the AI trend and maintain our preference for big tech given the advantageous market positions,” she said. “We forecast global tech earnings growth of 20% and 16% this year and next, respectively, led by the
semiconductor sector where we see investment opportunities.”
To Tom Essaye at the Sevens Report, Nvidia is still the most-important single stock in the market.
But more importantly, the market broadening is an ongoing phenomenon and one we think can continue as long as Goldilocks is here.
“Ensuring balanced exposure to that broadening is one way we think investors can continue to outperform in 2024,” he noted.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chief Executive Officer David Solomon said he currently expects the Fed won’t cut rates this year amid an economy that’s proved more resilient thanks to government spending.

Wall Street Reacts to Fed Minutes:
* Peter Boockvar, author of the Boock Report:
The bottom line: ‘Play it by ear’ is the stance of monetary policy right now. The use of the word ‘restrictive’ by some Fed members with regards to policy is code word for ‘no more hikes’ with a lean to cutting, but asking them to define ‘restrictive’? Not so easy.
* Alex McGrath at NorthEnd Private Wealth:
Hawkish surprise (kind of) from the Fed minutes. The investing world will have to wait at least another month to hear anything about rate cuts — but the kicker in this report was the willingness of some participants to restrict policy further.
* Paul Ashworth at Capital Economics:
It will take at least several more months of better data before officials would have the confidence to cut rates, which we don’t think will happen before September.
* Chris Larkin at E*Trade from Morgan Stanley:
Today’s minutes were from a meeting that preceded last week’s cooler inflation data, so their somewhat hawkish tone wasn’t surprising. But the initial down moves in the major stock indexes suggested the market didn’t appreciate the sentiment, regardless.
* Chris Zaccarelli at Independent Advisor Alliance:
Higher for longer is the official mantra as the Fed officially acknowledged that inflation is staying more sticky than they would have liked and although they wanted to cut rates, they are not going to be able to do that in the near future.
* Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial:
Although inflation in April eased a bit, Fed officials need more confirmation that the trajectory is favorable for their 2% target. In general, the committee believes policy is restrictive and so the next move for the Fed will likely be a cut later this year.

Key events this week:
* Eurozone S&P Global services and manufacturing PMIs, consumer confidence, Thursday
* G-7 finance meeting, May 23-25
* US new home sales, initial jobless claims, Thursday
* Fed’s Raphael Bostic speaks, Thursday
* US durable goods, consumer sentiment, Friday
* Fed’s Christopher Waller speaks, Friday

— This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation

Have a wonderful evening everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Shabnam
” Courage is very important. Like a muscle, it is strengthened by use.” — Ruth Gordon

Shabnam Mohammadpourmarzbali
Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff
Queensbury Securities Inc.

340A – 730 View Street
Victoria BC  V8W 3Y7
Tel: 778-430-5851
Fax: 778-430-5828