Dear Friends,

Tangents:

May 26, 1896: 1896 The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published. The average price of the 11 initial stocks was 40.94 Go to article.

Scientists are trying to understand Venus’ bright surface formations, called coronae, using new 3D maps.

A striking new image of the Whirlpool Galaxy is helping astronomers solve one of the biggest mysteries in star formation. Read more.

The strength of a nation derives from the integrity of the home. -Confucius.

Knicks fans, rejoice
The New York Knicks blew out the Cavaliers on Sunday to complete a series sweep and reach their first NBA Finals since 1999.

Ferrari unveils its first electric car
Ferrari’s first EV trades the signature growl for silence, with a six-figure price tag still tailored to the ultrawealthy.

Why did T. rex have tiny arms?
A new study suggests those famously tiny limbs may have been more useful than they looked.

Iran’s complex game plan for the World Cup
Iran’s national soccer team will sleep in Mexico and travel to the US for its three World Cup matches after Washington declined to host the squad for the tournament.

Time to move
Taking five-minute movement breaks every 30 minutes while you work can boost happiness and productivity.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Arlington, US

A guest is silhouetted by the candles lighting the Memorial Amphitheater in Arlington National Cemetery during the Freedom 250 National Memorial Day Observance: An Evening of Stories and Service, in Virginia
Photograph: Rod Lamkey Jr./AP

Milan, Italy

People shield themselves from the sun with umbrellas during the heatwave, next to the cathedral
Photograph: Claudia Greco/Reuters

Taipei, Taiwan

Pedestrians shield under umbrellas as they cross the street under a scorching heat in Taipei. The central weather administration issued heat alerts for eight cities and counties, including a red alert for Tainan as temperatures may exceed 38C for three consecutive days
Photograph: Ritchie B Tongo/EPA

Market Closes for May 26th, 2026

International Markets

Bonds

Commodities

Market Commentary:

On this day in 1667, mathematician Abraham de Moivre was born in France. De Moivre discovered the normal statistical distribution (the “bell curve”) and worked out the formula for standard deviation, or short-term volatility. He also published one of the earliest intelligent definitions of financial risk: “The Risk of losing any sum is the reverse of Expectation; and the true measure of it is, the product of the Sum being adventured multiplied by the Probability of the Loss.”
🍒Canada🍓

By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite fell 0.5% at 34,653.87 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since falling 1.3% on May 15 and follows the previous session’s increase of 1%.
Royal Bank of Canada contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 0.7%.
Boyd Group Inc. had the largest drop, falling 4.4%.
Today, 121 of 220 shares fell, while 96 rose; 8 of 11 sectors were lower, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 2%
* The index advanced 33% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 29% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 0.6% below its 52-week high on May 25, 2026 and 33.6% above its low on May 26, 2025
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 2.7% 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 22.7 on a trailing basis and 16.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.2% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$5.49t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 12.75% compared with 12.75% in the previous session and the average of 13.64% over the past month
Index Points
Financials | -64.6542| -0.5| 6/18
Materials | -57.0494| -0.9| 25/34
Information Technology | -24.3089| -1.0| 2/7
Consumer Staples | -20.7344| -1.9| 2/8
Energy | -12.1865| -0.2| 21/16
Consumer Discretionary | -6.4851| -0.6| 4/5
Real Estate | -1.1323| -0.2| 6/13
Health Care | -0.7298| -0.8| 2/2
Industrials | 0.4165| 0.0| 12/15
Communication Services | 2.6700| 0.4| 4/1
Utilities | 7.1808| 0.6| 12/2
RBC | -17.8100| -0.7| -1.0| 12.1
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | -15.5400| -1.7| -13.5| 7.2
Enbridge | -14.8200| -1.2| 23.9| 19.9
Brookfield Renewable Partners | 3.8730| 5.0| 89.3| 37.5
Cameco | 5.1850| 1.2| -16.8| 18.9
Canadian Pacific Kansas | 15.2100| 2.0| -14.0| 21.8

MT Newswires:
The resources-heavy Toronto Stock Exchange closed lower on Tuesday, falling off the record high set a day earlier on some profit taking and weaker commodity prices, while nagging economic concerns continue to weigh, with Canada’s big banks facing rising insolvencies amid a weak housing market and National Bank saying Ottawa’s trade-diversification target has a scale problem.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index fell 177.02 points, or 0.5%, to 34,653.87.
Most sectors were higher, led by the Battery Metals Index, up 5.5%, and Base Metals, up 2%, despite a lower gold price.
Decliners were led by Info Tech, down 1.6%, and Health Care, down 1.3%.
Financials were also down 0.5% ahead of the start of bank earnings season on Wednesday.
Profits at Canada’s largest banks are expected to have increased despite trade tensions, the Middle East conflict and broader economic uncertainty, but now face tougher tests as more consumers struggle to pay debts and a subdued housing market weighs on their core domestic business, according to a Reuters preview.
The big banks; Royal Bank of Canada (RY.TO), Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD.TO), Bank of Montreal (BMO.TO), Bank of Nova Scotia (BNS.TO), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CM.TO) and National Bank of Canada (NA.TO), which together control more than 90% of the market, are expected to report strong second-quarter earnings starting on Wednesday, helped by trading revenue and their capital markets businesses, Reuters said.
"Banks have been beating expectations consistently for the past two years, with credit losses stubbornly elevated and margin expansion potentially stalling this quarter, the onus falls on the capital markets business to deliver, yet again," National Bank analyst Gabriel Dechaine is cited as saying.
On the economy, National Bank said Statistics Canada’s 2025 goods exporter data underscore the scale problem embedded in Ottawa’s ambition to double non-U.S. exports within the next decade.
The bank cited a chart that shows Canada counts nearly 48,000 goods exporting enterprises, but 82% of them employ fewer than 50 workers despite accounting for only 14.3% of total goods exports, while firms with 500 or more employees represent a tiny fraction of exporters but close to 60% of export value.
"This is not a marginal complication. Diversification is not simply a matter of redirecting shipments away from the U.S. market; it requires financing, compliance capacity, distribution networks, foreign-market intelligence, currency-risk management and the ability to withstand a long sales cycle before new relationships become profitable," National Bank said.
"For smaller firms, the constraint is structural because many are embedded in North American supply chains built around proximity, recurring customer relationships, integrated logistics and production specifications that are not easily replicated overseas."
National Bank added: "The irony is that Ottawa’s target may be easier to meet in aggregate than in substance.
Canada can raise non-U.S. export values through commodities and other scale-intensive sectors where global demand is deep and output is more readily redirected across markets.
But that path does less for the employment-intensive parts of the export base, where supply-chain links are stickier and diversification costs are proportionally higher.
The result is a policy tension that could be masked by headline GDP.
A resource-led export pivot may improve the arithmetic of diversification while smaller exporters face higher costs, thinner margins and greater risk of lost capacity.
If building scale is part of the desired outcome, then trade policy cannot be separated from the domestic incentives that shape firm size, including the small-business tax kink highlighted in our MCIA/RBI work."
Of commodities, gold edged lower by midafternoon Tuesday even as the dollar and yields fell as fresh U.S. strikes on Iran heightened concerns over the progress of peace talks between the two countries.
Gold for July delivery was down US$16.90 to US$4,539.50 per ounce.
Also, West Texas Intermediate crude oil closed lower on uncertainty around geopolitical tensions across the Middle East.
WTI crude oil for July delivery closed down US$2.71 to settle at US$93.89 per barrel, while July Brent oil was last seen up US$3.40 to US$99.54.
US

By Rita Nazareth
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street kicked off the holiday-shortened week with stocks joining bonds higher as hopes for a peace deal between the US and Iran overshadowed military strikes in the Persian Gulf.
Expectations of an agreement drove the S&P 500 to a record, with chipmakers leading the charge.
Micron Technology Inc. topped $1 trillion in value.
Treasury yields fell as concerns over a flare-up in inflation eased, making traders pare back their wagers on near-term Federal Reserve rate hikes.
Brent rose to around $100 after sinking more than 7% on Monday.
The US is touting progress toward a deal to end the nearly three-month war, with President Donald Trump saying talks to extend a ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz are proceeding.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio cautioned that any accord would likely take a few days to finalize.
Security in the energy waterway remained unclear after the two sides exchanged strikes overnight and US Central Command pushed back on reports that suggested the military was helping escort vessels.
“Market participants are placing their bets on peace and subsequently buying into very strong equity fundamentals,” said Kyle Rodda at Capital.com.
“While we’d like to share the optimism, there have been enough setbacks in the process of crafting an agreement between Washington and Tehran that we’ll remain cautious until there is more tangible progress,” said Ian Lyngen at BMO Capital Markets.
Traders shouldn’t expect a deal to immediately send the S&P 500 running to 8,000, but the reality is that removing distractions would allow investors to focus on earnings and growth, boosting the market potential, according to Tom Essaye at The Sevens Report.
The gauge closed at 7,519.12 Tuesday.
“Just because a ceasefire isn’t an immediate catalyst, it will still be a steady positive influence on stocks and bonds as long as growth stays solid and inflation doesn’t spike,” he added.
Data showed US consumer confidence edged down in May as views of current economic conditions settled back amid rising prices due to the war.
The Conference Board’s gauge fell to 93.1 after an upward revision to the prior month.
The median economist estimate was 92.
“Given the current pricing pressures, we would have expected a more dramatic decline in confidence,” said Jeffrey Roach at LPL Financial.
“However, consumers feel the employment situation will improve by the end of the year.”

Corporate Highlights:
* Micron Technology Inc. jumped after UBS Group AG raised its price target on the chipmaker to a Street-high view of $1,625.
* Qualcomm Inc. reached a deal with TikTok owner ByteDance Ltd. to supply chips for artificial-intelligence data centers, according to people familiar with the matter, marking a key win for a company trying to expand from smartphone processors into AI infrastructure.
* Space and satellite-related stocks rallied as investor enthusiasm around the industry intensified after Elon Musk’s SpaceX filed for a public offering last week.
** NASA picked Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace and other space firms to send robotic landers, rovers and even drones to the moon as part of the Trump administration’s efforts to jumpstart a lunar base before the end of the decade.
* Eli Lilly & Co. is on a record spending spree, announcing acquisitions worth more than $20 billion so far in 2026 as the drugmaker expands beyond its blockbuster obesity franchise.
* BP Plc unexpectedly fired Chairman Albert Manifold just months into the job due to serious concerns about “governance standards, oversight and conduct,” prolonging a period of turmoil at the UK oil major.
What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“US equities are caught in a feedback loop of Iran peace hopes and AI earnings that will require a steady supply of positive news to counteract crowded bullish positioning.”
—Michael Ball, Macro Strategist, Markets Live.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.8%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.3%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.1%
* The euro was little changed at $1.1633
* The British pound fell 0.4% to $1.3451
* The Japanese yen fell 0.3% to 159.31 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $75,970.06
* Ether fell 1.6% to $2,073.74
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined seven basis points to 4.49%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced three basis points to 2.98%
* Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 4.88%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude fell 3.3% to $93.43 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 1.4% to $4,507.53 an ounce

Have a lovely evening.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

We think too small, like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well.

If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view. –Mao Tse-Tung, 1893-1976.

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 (Text Only)

Toll Free: 1.877.430.5895

Fax: 778.430.5828

www.carolannsteinhoff.com