May 3, 2021 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
May 3, 1948 The Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to blacks and other minorities were legally unenforceable. Go to article >>

Evidence is mounting that it’s better to read physical books than digital ones. — Stephen L. Carter 

AI writing is still not as good as human writing and may never be. — Leonid Bershidsky 

Archaeologists discover a 2-million-year-old home. (h/t Ellen Kominers)

Archaeologists discover an “embassy” in a Mayan city. 

Just how long can people live, exactly?

Are you not entertained? An $18 million refit will give tourists a gladiator’s view of the Colosseum.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

People view an animated video art piece entitled “Remember You Cannot Look At The Sun Or Death For Very Long” by British artist David Hockney at London’s Piccadilly Circus
CREDIT: TOBY MELVILLE/RUETERS

A project to build a high-tech, lightweight stage inside the Roman Colosseum will allow visitors a central viewpoint from within the ancient structure “to see the majesty of the monument,” Italy’s culture minister said

Market Closes for May 3^rd, 2021

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
     On this day in 1998, the New York Times reported in a front-page Sunday article that an obscure biotechnology company, EntreMed Inc., had cured cancer in mice. Nobel laureate James Watson told the Times that EntreMed’s head researcher “is going to cure cancer in two years.” On Monday morning, EntreMed’s stock skyrocketed from $12.06 per share to $85, but by the end of the week it had sagged to $33.25.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities rose Monday after a strong session from key commodities and their corresponding equities. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.6% led by materials and energy. Precious metal miners outperformed after gold and silver prices rallied and the yield on the U.S. 10-year fell along with a weaker dollar. Energy stocks also rose with oil prices.  Power Corp. of Canada’s Wealthsimple online brokerage raised C$750 million ($610 million) in a funding round that valued it about $4 billion, more than triple what it was worth in October.
Commodities
* Western Canadian Select crude oil traded at about a $11.90 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 1.3% to $1,792 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.1% to C$1.2278 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year Canada government bond yield fell 2.4 basis points to 1.523%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.5 percent at 19,213.16 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.8 percent. Today, materials stocks led the market higher, as 8 of 11 sectors gained; 171 of 229 shares rose, while 56 fell. Barrick Gold Corp. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 4.2 percent. NexGen Energy Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 13.8 percent.
Insights
* The index advanced 31 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 50 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 1.2 percent below its 52-week high on April 29, 2021 and 35.4 percent above its low on May 14, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is little changed in the past 5 days and rose 1.2 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.4 on a trailing basis and 17.1 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.7 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.99t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 8.96 percent compared with 8.87 percent in the previous session and the average of 9.36 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
* Materials | 85.1294| 3.6| 50/2
* Energy | 42.4618| 1.8| 21/2
* Financials | 18.4429| 0.3| 22/5
* Real Estate | 9.8311| 1.6| 24/2
* Industrials | 9.5887| 0.4| 15/15
* Consumer Discretionary | 6.3159| 0.8| 10/2
* Communication Services | 3.2892| 0.4| 7/0
* Consumer Staples | 0.5599| 0.1| 7/6
* Utilities | -2.8816| -0.3| 8/8
* Health Care | -9.6335| -3.7| 2/8
* Information Technology | -58.2795| -3.1| 5/6

US
By Rita Nazareth and Claire Ballentine
(Bloomberg) — Stocks closed near Monday’s lows as giants Tesla Inc. and Amazon.com Inc. weighed on the Nasdaq 100. Traders also parsed economic data, with inflation remaining at the forefront of the investment debate. The dollar dropped, while Treasuries rose. Tech and retail companies in the S&P 500 fell, while commodity and industrial shares gained. Pfizer Inc. climbed as the Biden administration will support its move to begin exporting U.S.-made doses of the coronavirus vaccine, while Moderna Inc. rallied after agreeing to provide as many as 500 million doses of its shot to the global program Covax.
Estee Lauder Cos. sank as the cosmetics giant’s sales missed estimates. A report Monday showed that growth at U.S. manufacturers cooled in April, while a gauge of prices paid for materials jumped to the highest since 2008. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the economic recovery is “making real progress,” but the gains have been uneven following a downturn that cut hard along lines of race and income. New York Fed President John Williams noted that current conditions are “not nearly enough” for a shift in the monetary policy stance. Markets have been obsessed over whether higher inflation is coming. Faced with rising prices for everything from lumber to oil and computer chips, chief executive officers have cut costs and boosted prices for their products. The strategy appears to be working, with first-quarter income from S&P 500 companies jumping five times as fast as sales, according to data compiled by Bloomberg Intelligence.
“The earnings season, the economic recovery and the Covid trends — that’s still going to be the near-term catalyst – and looking for any hints of change in direction from the Fed,” said Keith Lerner, chief market strategist at Truist Advisory Services. Ignoring the adage “sell in May and go away” may reward stock investors in 2021, according to LPL Financial. The firm cited the S&P 500’s track record during the past decade in a blog post. In eight of those years, the gauge posted gains for the six months ended in October. Last year’s rally was 12%, the biggest since 2009, when a bull market was just getting started. The benchmark produced an average advance of 3.8% for all 10 years, beating a 1.7% average since 1950.

Here are some key events to watch this week:
* U.S. trade balance, factory orders, durable goods are due Tuesday
* The Reserve Bank of Australia monetary policy decision is scheduled for Tuesday
* Chicago Fed President Charles Evans gives a virtual speech at an event hosted by Bard College on Wednesday.  Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester gives a virtual speech to the Boston Economic Club
* Bank of England rate decision Thursday
* The April U.S. employment report is released on Friday

These are some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.3% as of 4 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 fell 0.4%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7%
* The MSCI World index rose 0.2%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%
* The euro rose 0.3% to $1.2062
* The Japanese yen rose 0.2% to 109.10 per dollar
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries declined two basis points to 1.60%
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.20%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.4% to $64 a barrel
* Gold futures rose 1.4% to $1,793 an ounce
–With assistance from Andreea Papuc, Emily Barrett, Joanna Ossinger, Lynn Thomasson and Vildana Hajric.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.  If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. -Oprah Winfrey, b. 1954.

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