May 4, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
May 4^th, 1626 – Dutch explorer Peter Minuit landed on what is now Manhattan. Go to article »

1979 –  Margaret Thatcher becomes the first woman to be elected Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

1970 – The Ohio university became the focus of the anti-Vietnam War movement when, during a demonstration 50 years ago today, four students were killed and nine wounded by the National Guard. Anti-war protests happened on hundreds of other campuses before the last US troops left in 1973. –CNN.

May the Fourth Be With You
Monday is Star Wars Day, and to celebrate, Disney+ is dropping “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” two months early. Its holiday line-up also is set to include the premiere of the eight-episode documentary “Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian” and the finale of the animated series “Star Wars: The Clone Wars.” -CNN.
 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

St Mary’s lighthouse in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside is illuminated blue in recognition and support of NHS workers and carers fighting the coronavirus pandemic. Whitley bay is just 10 miles from the Newcastle RVI Hospital where the first UK COVID -19 patients were treated successfully.
CREDIT: COLIN SCARR/LNP

A large ‘thank you’ rainbow on display in Herrington Country Park in Sunderland to show the city’s appreciation for all NHS, social care, care, key and frontline workers who are working hard through the coronavirus pandemic.
CREDIT: OWEN HUMPHREYS/PA

Ballet dancer Eve Mutso practises her fitness routine at home in Glasgow, after COVID 19 restrictions closed her usual training facilities.
CREDIT: JAMES CHAPELARD
Market Closes for May 4^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1979, the first modern leveraged buyout using high-yield junk bonds—a $381 million deal to take Houdaille Industries private—was completed by Kohlberg, Kravis, Roberts & Co. Over the next six years, Houdaille produced a 33.9% average annual return for KKR’s institutional investors.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canada stocks rose on Monday, erasing earlier losses, led by rallies in Shopify Inc. and crude oil.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index climbed 0.9% in Toronto. Tech was the best performing sector, while real estate was the worst. Shopify contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 7.6%. The e-commerce company was among stocks that got a price-target boost at KeyBanc on digital growth.
Oil rose for a fourth straight day as the pace of stockpile builds at the key U.S. storage hub slowed last week. Chorus Aviation, whose top holder is Air Canada, had the biggest drop in the benchmark index, down 10%. Air Canada, which fell 8.7%, said it expects the impact of the pandemic to last at least three years. The airline announced that its board approved the renewal of its shareholder rights plan. In the U.S., airline stocks tumbled after Warren Buffett dumped his stakes in four major carriers.
Canadian business loans grew at the fastest pace since 1981 in March as companies tapped credit lines to get them through the coronavirus crisis. A report due Friday will likely show employment in Canada was decimated in April as a nationwide lockdown caused mass layoffs.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $5.70 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.5% to about $1,707.70 an ounce FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was flat at C$1.4091 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 8.2 basis points to 0.57%

By Bloomberg Automation:
     (Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.9 percent at 14,745.04 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s
decrease of 1.1 percent.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain and had the largest move, increasing 7.6 percent.
Today, 119 of 230 shares rose, while 107 fell; 8 of 11 sectors were higher, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* The index declined 11 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index lost 4.8 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 17.9 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 32 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.7 percent in the past 5 days and rose 14 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.1 on a trailing basis and 19.6 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.5 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.23t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 50.54 percent compared with 54.00 percent in the previous session and the average of 77.25 percent over the past month
================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================
Information Technology | 55.0261| 4.6| 9/1
Materials | 44.1496| 2.0| 33/13
Energy | 26.6799| 1.4| 19/11
Financials | 11.5712| 0.3| 11/14
Communication Services | 5.4518| 0.6| 5/3
Utilities | 3.5505| 0.5| 8/7
Consumer Staples | 2.4266| 0.4| 7/4
Health Care | 0.2892| 0.2| 5/5
Real Estate | -6.4822| -1.5| 7/19
Consumer Discretionary | -7.1081| -1.3| 4/11
Industrials | -10.8643| -0.6| 11/19
US
By Vildana Hajric and Sarah Ponczek
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks kicked off the week on a positive note, rallying late in the session to close higher as crude oil gained for a fourth consecutive day.
Energy, information technology and utilities were the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, led by Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. U.S. airlines were hit hard after Warren Buffett said over the weekend that Berkshire Hathaway Inc. had exited the sector. Apple Inc. led the Nasdaq Composite Index higher before a big week of earnings.
“When the economy gets back to normal is very uncertain right now,” Tom Essaye, a former Merrill Lynch trader who founded “The Sevens Report” newsletter, wrote in a note. “And given that uncertainty, we can expect markets to be volatile in the near term as investors try and determine when exactly that happens.”
In Europe, the Stoxx Europe 600 slumped, with all 19 industry sectors in the red. West Texas oil futures pushed higher after fluctuating earlier in the day. The dollar strengthened against most major peers.
Global stocks had begun the week lower for a third straight session, a streak not seen in almost two months, as U.S.-China discord flared again and President Donald Trump prodded the nation to reopen for business. Investors are weighing fears of a second wave of infections and a steady stream of bad economic data against efforts by many countries to start easing lockdown restrictions. Earnings roll on this week, with firms including Walt Disney Co., BMW, and Air France-KLM scheduled to report.
In other coronavirus news, Italy began to reopen its economy after two months, but the premier’s plan was criticized for being too cautious. Russia reported more than 10,000 new infections for a second day. New Zealand had no new cases for the first time since March and Hong Kong may soon reopen cinemas and gyms. Equities in Hong Kong saw the bulk of losses in Asia, as traders caught up after a long weekend. China and Japan were closed for holidays. The Chinese yuan held most of Friday’s slide in offshore trading amid concern tensions with the U.S. would increase.
Here are some key events coming up:
* Regional Federal Reserve chiefs are due to speak, including Charles Evans and James Bullard.
* The Reserve Bank of Australia has a policy decision on Tuesday and the Bank of England on Thursday.
* Friday brings the U.S. jobs report for April, expected to show severe impact from the pandemic. The median forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists calls for a 21 million plunge in payrolls.

These are some of the major moves in financial markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index gained 0.4% to 2,842.74 as of 4:02 p.m. New York time.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 0.1% to 23,749.76.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.2% to 8,710.72.
*The MSCI All-Country World Index fell 0.7% to 475.43, the lowest in more than a week.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index increased 0.2% to 1,249.67.
*The Japanese yen strengthened 0.2% to 106.70 per dollar.
*The euro dipped 0.8% to $1.0897, the largest decrease in more than a month.
*The British pound fell 0.5% to $1.2444.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to  0.18%, hitting the lowest in more than eight years with its  sixth straight decline.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries gained two basis points to  0.63%, the biggest advance in a week.
*Germany’s 10-year yield rose two basis points to -0.56%, the  largest rise in more than a week.
*Britain’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 0.231%, the lowest in eight weeks.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude rose 7.2% to $21.21 a barrel, the  highest in more than two weeks.
*Gold strengthened 0.2% to $1,704.31 an ounce.
–With assistance from Nancy Moran.
Have  a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The best life is the one in which the creative impulses play the largest part
and the possessive impulses the smallest.
                                                               -Bertrand Russell, 1872-1970

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
www.carolannsteinhoff.com