November 27, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:  Happy Friday.
1942 The French navy at Toulon scuttled its ships and submarines to keep them out of the hands of the Nazis.  Go to article »

Jimi Hendrix, b. 1942
Bruce Lee, b. 1940
Gail Sheehy, b. 1937.

Archaeologists found a grave and more than 12,000 artifacts, including an ink bottle, doll fragments and coins, at the site of a historic Black church in Colonial Williamsburg.

Here are seven new books to watch for in December.

Read about Adriene Mishler, the reigning queen of pandemic yoga

While Covid-19 has emptied some urban neighborhoods, including the tonier parts of Manhattan and San Francisco, most of the wealthy’s favorite haunts have only gotten more popular. Here is where the super-rich live

The Rockettes perform at Thanksgiving Parade while wearing masks.  Pulling off a flawless precision dance number? Impressive. Doing it in toy soldier hats and masks? Legendary. 

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

A closed chairlift is seen at the ski resort of Passo Tonale in the Dolomites, Italy,  which has become a virtual ghost town after the government decision to close everything down in fear of the rising numbers of coronavirus.
CREDIT: REUTERS/GUGLIELMO MANGIAPANE

Misty view from the Kilpatrick Hills looking towards Dumbarton, Scotland, UK.
CREDIT: MICHAEL MCGURK

A group of cormorants fiercely battle each other for a fish. The four birds flocked around another which had made a catch. Following the brief scuffle the victor emerged and swallowed the trout whole. The photographs were taken at the Ed R. Levin County Park in Milpitas, California, on the West Coast of the United States. 
CREDIT: JUDY TSENG/SOLENT NEWS & PHOTO AGENCY

A baby Sumatran orangutan has been born at Prague Zoo, Czech Republic. The unnamed baby ape has been hailed as “the most precious in Europe. Zookeepers said its mother Mawar has been taking good care of her baby and has started drinking milk. The baby is the sole great-grandchild of an orangutan imported to the zoo from forests in Sumatra.
CREDIT: MIROSLAV BOBEK/TRIRANGE NEWS

Market Closes for November 27^th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1991, in a voice vote not recorded by the customary roll call—so that infuriated constituents wouldn’t know for sure who was to blame—both houses of Congress passed legislation bailing out the dying savings and loan industry. The bailout bill—the Resolution Trust Corporation Refinancing, Restructuring and Improvement Act of 1991—sank another $25 billion of taxpayers’ money directly into the S&L bailout, while authorizing up to $35 billion in new borrowings to finance the government’s purchase of bad loans.

Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities advanced for a fourth straight week after a strong showing from energy and marijuana companies. The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.3% Friday, posting its longest winning streak since May, with cannabis stocks leading the charge after an updated U.S. House schedule showed a vote will be held on marijuana decriminalization next week. Real estate and materials underperformed. Gold plunged while copper soared amid increasing optimism that a vaccine will spur a global economic recovery from the pandemic-led recession. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said widespread vaccination against Covid-19 will begin early in 2021, and is expected to inoculate a majority of Canadians by this time next year.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $11.20 discount to West Texas Intermediate, as of yesterday
* Spot gold fell 1.5% to $1,787.79 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.2% to C$1.2990 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell 1.3 basis points to 0.673%
By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the seventh day, climbing 0.3 percent, or 45.22 to 17,396.56 in Toronto. The index advanced to the highest closing level since Feb. 24. Enbridge Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.1 percent. Aurora Cannabis Inc. had the largest increase, rising 17.9 percent. Today, 129 of 222 shares rose, while 91 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by energy stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index rose 2.2 percent
* This month, the index rose 12 percent, heading for the biggest advance in at least 10 years
* This year, the index rose 2 percent, heading for the best year since 2019
* The index advanced 1.7 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 16 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 3.2 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 55.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.1 on a trailing basis and 23.5 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.66t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.86 percent compared with 15.31 percent in the previous session and the average of 15.27 percent over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | | Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Energy | 13.4236| 0.7| 20/3
Information Technology | 12.8808| 0.8| 8/1
Health Care | 9.8550| 4.7| 7/3
Industrials | 5.1885| 0.2| 19/8
Communication Services | 4.3557| 0.5| 4/3
Consumer Staples | 3.7004| 0.5| 11/0
Utilities | 3.4906| 0.4| 13/3
Financials | 2.7554| 0.1| 9/17
Consumer Discretionary | 0.4442| 0.1| 8/5
Real Estate | -2.9496| -0.5| 8/18
Materials | -7.9378| -0.3| 22/30

US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose in to a record in thin post-holiday volume as investors assessed valuations with pandemic still raging in parts of Europe and the U.S. Oil retreated amid rising tensions among OPEC+ members. The S&P 500 closed at an all-time high after rallying 11% in November. Trading volume was only 60% of the average over the past year. The Nasdaq 100 Index jumped 0.8%. The stock market closed at 1 p.m. in New York, while bond trading ends an hour later. Treasuries advanced and the dollar headed for a second weekly decline. “If you start looking out over the horizon, there are a lot of things that have lined up incredibly well,” said Mark Stoeckle, a Boston-based fund manager at Adams Funds with $2.5 billion of assets. “You have the vaccines, you have a plan to get them out, you’ve got incredibly low interest rates for likely a very long time.”
     The Stoxx Europe 600 index edged higher. The dollar weakened versus major peers. The 10-year Treasury yield slipped below 0.84%. Global stocks are on track for the best month on record, up 13%, and that’s lifted valuations to near the highest in about 20 years. Still, sentiment remains fragile as the virus toll continues to rise in Europe and the U.S., while economic recoveries wobble. Investors are pinning their hopes on a swift rollout of vaccines, but the logistical challenges are considerable. “To see whether the market will continue to have legs we will have to have confirmation of those vaccine hopes,” Nannette Hechler-Fayd’ Herbe, Credit Suisse’s chief investment officer for international wealth management and global head of economics and research, said in an interview with Bloomberg TV. “So very quickly now we want to see approvals, we want to see production outlooks as far as the vaccines’ broader distribution is concerned.”
Political clarity has also driven risk assets this month, as President-elect Joe Biden continues his transition to power. President Donald Trump said he’ll relinquish power if the Electoral College affirms Biden’s win, but he signaled he may never formally concede defeat, and may skip the Democrat’s inauguration.
     In China, data showed profits at industrial enterprises surged at the fastest pace in a single month in almost nine years in October, a further sign the country’s economic recovery is gathering pace.
Here are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 climbed 0.3% at 1 p.m. in New York.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 index added 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.2%.
* The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.1%.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%.
* The euro rose 0.3% to $1.1955.
* The British pound lost 0.3% to $1.3313.
* The yen was at 104.24 per dollar, up 0.2%.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries four basis points to 0.84%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at -0.59%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude decreased 0.7% to $45.38 a barrel.
* Gold futures fell 1.2% to $1,790 an ounce.
–With assistance from Robert Brand and Francine Lacqua.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

I invent nothing, I rediscover.
-Auguste Rodin, 1840-1917

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