Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Monday.

May 25, 1961: Apollo Program Moon Goal Speech — President John F. Kennedy announced the goal of landing a man on the Moon before the end of the decade, launching the race toward Apollo 11 Moon Landing.

May 25, 1977: Star Wars premiered in U.S. theaters, becoming one of the most influential sci-fi films ever made and starting a global franchise created by George Lucas.

May 25, 2001: Windows XP was officially released to manufacturing by Microsoft, later becoming one of the most widely used operating systems in history. On this day

Ralph Waldo Emerson, writer and philosopher, b. 1803.

Ian McKellen, actor, b. 1939.

Lauryn Hill, singer-songwriter, b. 1975.

Miles Davis, musician, d. 1991.

Douglas Adams, author of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, d. 2001.

The solar system’s largest moon may be heating up — offering clues to its mysterious origins

The largest moon in the solar system — Jupiter’s Ganymede — has a unique and inexplicable magnetic field. New research could finally explain it: the moon is heating up.

Rare genetic disease makes scientists reconsider what the ‘seat of fear’ in the brain really is

People with a rare genetic disorder that damages the amygdala are helping neuroscientists rethink how the brain shapes fear, trust and concern for others

Bead net funerary shroud: A 2,500-year-old beaded veil from Egypt depicting the deceased’s transformation into Osiris

This funerary shroud was made from thousands of multicolored beads and woven to represent a human face and a large scarab beetle.

Scientists trained an AI model using an IBM quantum computer — and it answered questions correctly that the base model couldn’t

When running an AI model through a quantum computer, scientists have increased accuracy by only adding a relatively small number of parameters.

We can identify these really early, before the clinical diagnosis’: Epigenetic markers may help explain why Native Hawaiians are aging faster

Live Science spoke with Alika Maunakea, an Native Hawaiian epigeneticist, about how epigenetics underpins health disparities between Native Hawaiians and others in Hawaii.

It’s illegal to repair most of our devices. There’s a surprising reason for that.

If your phone breaks, it’s impossible to fix it yourself. The reason for that lies with a set of laws that emerged decades ago.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

El Rocío, Spain

Riders cross a shallow river on the second day of the annual Romería de El Rocío pilgrimage
Photograph: Fran Santiago/Getty Images

Scheveningen, Netherlands

Sunbathers on a warm spring day
Photograph: Robin Utrecht/ANP/AFP/Getty Images

Yellowstone, United States

Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone national park, Wyoming, is the largest hot spring in the US at more than 300ft wide at its widest point and over 120ft deep. The colours outside the pool’s blue centre are created by ‘thermophiles’ – heat-loving microscopic organisms that flourish in many of Yellowstone’s hot springs. The 2.2m acre park thrives as part of one of Earth’s last nearly intact large temperate ecosystems, famously preserving over 10,000 hydrothermal features and around 500 geysers – roughly half of the world’s total
Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

Market Closes for May 25th, 2026

International Markets

Bonds

Commodities

🍒Canada🍓

By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the fourth day, climbing 1%, or 359.53 to 34,830.89 in Toronto.
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.6%.
Hudbay Minerals Inc. had the largest increase, rising 8.9%.
Today, 156 of 220 shares rose, while 62 fell; 10 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2.6%
* The index advanced 35% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 29% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 34.3% above its low on May 26, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.9% in the past 5 days and rose 2.7% in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.8 on a trailing basis and 16.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.1% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.44t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 12.75% compared with 12.49% in the previous session and the average of 13.69% over the past month
Index Points
Materials | 262.4357| 4.4| 56/4
Financials | 105.8163| 0.9| 19/5
Information Technology| 45.1282| 1.9| 8/1
Industrials | 42.0661| 1.2| 24/5
Consumer Discretionary| 13.4622| 1.3| 9/0
Consumer Staples | 3.8126| 0.4| 8/2
Real Estate | 2.3060| 0.5| 15/2
Communication Services| 1.0655| 0.2| 3/2
Utilities | 0.9816| 0.1| 7/7
Health Care | 0.4461| 0.5| 2/2
Energy | -117.9765| -1.9| 5/32
Ltd | 38.9100| 4.6| -54.7| 9.1
Wheaton Precious Metals | 30.9400| 5.6| -56.4| 14.3
Barrick Mining | 27.6900| 4.2| -81.5| -2.0
Cenovus | -16.1200| -4.1| -47.8| 71.3
Suncor | -22.9200| -3.0| -73.1| 48.2
Canadian Natural Resources | -35.5700| -3.6| -62.4| 39.4
MT Newswires:
The resources heavy Toronto Stock Exchange raced to fresh record intraday and closing highs after rising for a fourth straight session on Monday, even as a sharply lower oil price prompted both RBC and National Bank to try and put the related market shock in context.
Today the TSX closed up 359.53 points or 1% at 34,830.89 with most sectors higher.
After climbing above 34,840 early in the session, the index then succumbed to some likely profit taking, but then it recovered from nearer 34,700 mid-afternoons.
According to Dow Jones Market Data, FactSet the TSX going into Monday was month-to-date up 1.49% and year-to-date up 2,758.60 points or 8.70%.
Base Metals led gainers (up 2.3%) as gold traded higher by midafternoon Monday with the U.S. dollar falling on hopes the United States and Iran are nearing a deal to end the three-month war that has caused the largest-ever energy supply shock.
Gold for July delivery was up $49.60 to US$4,606.00 per ounce in electronic trade, with markets closed for the Memorial Day holiday.
But Energy was down 3.3% as oil traded sharply lower midafternoon Monday, falling more than 6% as peace negotiations between Iran and the U.S. continue, raising hopes for a deal that will reopen the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
West Texas Intermediate crude oil for July delivery was last seen down US$6.21 to US$90.39 per barrel in electronic trade, with markets closed for the Memorial Day holiday, July Brent oil was down US$7.40 to US$96.14.
RBC today moved to put the oil price shock in context and noted lots of focus on the nominal price of oil (Brent/WTI).
The bank said nominal prices matter for inflation but added the real oil price (i.e. cost per barrel divided by the price level or equivalently the CPI adjusted price of oil) matters for real GDP growth.
Among observations, RBC noted the current real price of oil is around the average since 2006. "Oil is neither low nor high."
It also noted that to reach the real oil price high in 2022, the nominal price needs to rise to US$131 (+25% compared to current WTI); to reach the average real oil price between 2011-14, the nominal price of oil needs to reach $143 (+38%); and to hit the
2007-2008 average real oil price, the nominal price needs to hit $164 (+58%).
In looking at what does it potentially mean, RBC said, yes, the nominal price will cause headline inflation and maybe cause a rise in core inflation.
According to RBC, economies generally managed growth "just fine" since 2006 with a similar real oil price as now, and demand destruction is probably a long way off.
The bank noted oil intensity, the volume of oil required to generate one unit of gross domestic product (GDP), has been steadily falling over the past 40 years (down 50% since the mid-70s) and particularly in the past 20 years due to improvements in technology & transportation.
"Thinking about it another way, the U.S. consumes roughly the same number of barrels now as in the mid-70s, but real GDP is higher by a magnitude of 3.5x. So, an oil shock has been having a smaller impact on demand/consumption/GDP over time," RBC added.
For policymakers, RBC said "the inflation consequences are real while the demand implications are murkier."
To protect against the worst outcome (inflation), policy might need to be tightened, even if reluctantly, the bank added.
"Now if a US-Iran deal caused oil to fall materially, the calculus would shift significantly less hawkish. This is a generic conclusion on central bank reaction functions."
Elsewhere, Ethan Currie and Taylor Schleich over at National Bank noted economic data in Canada has "stumbled out the gate" so far in 2026, both in absolute terms (for example, the year-to-date employment decline) and relative terms (compared to consensus expectations).
Indeed, last week, Canada’s economic surprise index reached its lowest level since the fall of 2022, they said.
"Back then, the Bank of Canada was bludgeoning the economy with rate hikes, after an oil supply shock that began earlier in the year contributed to an inflation surge. Sound familiar?," the National Bank added.
But when it comes to the economic and inflation environment in 2026, this time is different, allowing the Bank of Canada to take a more patient policy approach, according to the National Bank duo.

US
All US markets are closed today for the Memoria Day Holiday.

Have a lovely Week ahead.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Shima

"Because you are alive, everything is possible."– Thich Nhat Hanh – 1926- 2022

Shima Zangeneh

Assistant to Carolann Steinhoff

Queensbury Securities Inc.

340A – 730 View Street

Victoria BC V8W 3Y7

Tel: 778-430-5851

Fax: 778-430-5828