October 20, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
Notice that autumn is more the season of the soul than of nature. –Friedrich Nietzsche, 1844-1900.

Sky watchers, take note. The Orionid meteor shower peaks early tomorrow morning, lighting up the darkness with the remnants of Halley’s Comet.

Christopher Wren, b. 1632
Mickey Mantle, b. 1931

1864- President Abraham Lincoln formally establishes Thanksgiving as a national holiday.

Archaeologists unearth ‘huge number’ of sealed Egyptian sarcophagi.  And we’re going to leave them sealed, right? … RIGHT?!

Archaeologists discovered a giant, 2,000-year-old image of a cat etched onto a hillside at a UNESCO heritage site known as the Nazca Lines in Peru.

On Oct. 20, 1973, in the so-called Saturday Night Massacre, President Nixon abolished the office of special Watergate prosecutor Archibald Cox, accepted the resignation of Attorney General Elliot L. Richardson and fired Deputy Attorney General William B. Ruckelshaus.  Go to article »

Take a virtual rafting tour through a scenic Alaskan forest (without any of the physical exertion). –NYT.

“Trump then added, ‘Listening to scientists is the craziest thing in the whole wide flat world.’” — JIMMY FALLON

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The barque Sedov, one of the world’s largest tall ships which belongs to Russia’s Federal Agency for Fishery (Rosrybolovstvo), arrives in Murmansk on Russia’s Arctic coast. The Sedov is making a voyage from Vladivostok to Kaliningrad along the Northern Sea Route in the Arctic Ocean
CREDIT: TELEGRAPH, OCTOBER 20, 2020

Competitors practicing for ‘ The Full Power’ Kite and foil wind surfing Competition held on Tarifa’s Beach off the southern tip of spain near Gibraltar and world famous for its very strong winds.
CREDIT: LEO MASON SPORTS/ ALAMY LIVE NEWES

The sky glows red as the sun rises this morning over the Cow & Calf pub on Ilkley moor in Yorkshire as the UK expects heavy rain & gales this week.
CREDIT:ANDREW MCCAREN/LNP
Market Closes for October 20^th, 2020

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1803, the U.S. Senate ratified the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, under which the U.S. paid France less than 3 cents an acre for 828,000 square miles of territory stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The U.S. financed the deal by borrowing $11.25 million in 6% bonds from European investors.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian stocks were flat Tuesday as traders assessed corporate earnings and the economic recovery.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down less than a point, with seven of 11 sectors lower. Materials and energy stocks were the top gainers while health care and tech fell.
Gold rose on renewed optimism for a pre-election aid package in the U.S., while the U.S. dollar fell to a one-week low. TC Energy Corp. plans to start construction of its expanded NOVA Gas Transmission system in December after winning government approval for the project that will help alleviate bottlenecks for Western Canadian producers.
A Quebec judge approved a plan giving lenders of Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group control of the live performance company as it prepares to relaunch some of its shows.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $10.85 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.3% to $1,910 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.5% to C$1.3130 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield rose 1.7 basis points to 0.609%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite declined slightly to 16,273.26 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index decline, decreasing 0.6 percent. Spin Master Corp. had the largest drop, falling 7.5 percent.
Today, 113 of 223 shares fell, while 105 rose; 7 of 11 sectors were lower, led by information technology stocks.
Insights
* This month, the index rose 0.9 percent
* This year, the index fell 4.6 percent, heading for the worst year since 2018
* The index declined 0.6 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 15 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.4 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 45.7 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is down 1.4 percent in the past 5 days and rose 0.5 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.9 on a trailing basis and 23.2 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 3.2 percent on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$2.49t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 14.42 percent compared with 14.60 percent in the previous session and the average of 15.05 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Information Technology | -16.6267| -1.0| 0/10
Health Care | -4.5508| -2.7| 1/9
Financials | -4.3637| -0.1| 9/17
Industrials | -3.9226| -0.2| 13/14
Utilities | -3.0046| -0.3| 3/12
Communication Services | -1.6312| -0.2| 2/5
Consumer Staples | -1.5079| -0.2| 4/7
Real Estate | 0.8030| 0.2| 9/17
Consumer Discretionary | 3.3980| 0.6| 8/5
Energy | 12.2100| 0.7| 20/3
Materials | 18.3783| 0.7| 36/14
US
By Todd White
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose even as lawmakers remained unable to clinch a fresh aid package to bolster the economic recovery. The dollar weakened.
The S&P 500 bounced back from Monday’s selloff as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi continued to negotiate with the White House on a deal near $2 trillion. The Republican-controlled Senate continued to signal it favored a bill about one-quarter that size. Both houses of Congress need to approve any legislation.
Stocks got a boost when Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Charles Evans said he’s “somewhat optimistic” about a
2021 economic recovery. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 turned lower after the cash market closed when both Netflix Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc. reported results. Tech shares mostly shook off the U.S. Justice Department’s decision to sue Google for allegedly abusing its power. Treasuries slumped, along with government bonds in Europe. Oil climbed toward $41 a barrel.
A rally built on stimulus hopes has investors weighing Pelosi’s deadline of striking a deal today against speculation that the looming election will prove too much of a hurdle to overcome. Yet with Federal Reserve policy makers urging for more fiscal support to complement unprecedented monetary aid, many in the market may be willing to let the deadline come and go.
“The behavior of markets is reflecting optimism that there’s going to be big stimulus by January,” said John Normand, head of cross-asset fundamental strategy at JPMorgan Chase & Co. “I don’t think it’s necessarily a faith that Pelosi and Mnuchin and McConnell will agree to anything substantive by Pelosi’s deadline of today. It’s more of a look-through dynamic.”
In Europe, stocks edged lower. UBS gained after the Swiss firm’s traders performed better than most of their Wall Street rivals in the third quarter. Leaders in Europe intensified efforts to slow coronavirus contagion, reviving lockdowns in some areas after piecemeal curbs made little impact on a disease that has infected 4.9 million people regionally.
Meanwhile, global cases exceeded 40 million, with the pandemic showing no signs of slowing. In the U.S., surges in Wisconsin and other battleground states pose a challenge for President Donald Trump two weeks before he stands for re-election.
Here are some key events this week:
* Brexit trade talks are likely to continue at least into next week if the U.K. and EU fail to reach an agreement.
* The final presidential debate before the U.S. election, between President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, will be live from Nashville, Tennessee on Thursday.

Here are some of the main market moves:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 Index gained 0.5% as of 4 p.m. New York time.
* The Nasdaq 100 Index gained 0.3%.
* The Stoxx Europe 600 Index decreased 0.4%.
* The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed.
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.3%.
* The euro rose 0.5% to $1.1825
* The British pound slipped 0.1% to $1.2933.
* The Japanese yen was little changed at 105.48 per dollar.
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries increased 2.6 basis points to 0.7957%.
* Germany’s 10-year yield increased two basis points to -0.606%.
* Italy’s 10-year yield rose one basis point to 0.73%.
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1.5% to $41.46a barrel.
* Gold futures added 0.1% to $1,913.20 an ounce.
–With assistance from Lu Wang and Andreea Papuc.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,
Carolann

The triumph can’t be had without the struggle.
           -Wilma Glodean Rudolph, 1940-1994

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