October 4, 2024, Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

October 4, 1675: Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens patents the pocket watch.
On Oct. 4, 1957, the Space Age began as the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made satellite, into orbit. Go to article >>
October 4, 1965: Pope Paul VI holds mass at Yankee Stadium during a fourteen-hour visit to New York City.

St. Francis of Assisi, b. 1181.

Costco is now selling platinum bars for $1,089
Costco is expanding its collection of precious metals. But if shoppers aren’t interested in platinum and silver, it could potentially tarnish the company’s recent success with gold.

Caitlin Clark caps remarkable season with near-unanimous WNBA Rookie of the Year honor
After an outstanding season in which she undoubtedly exceeded lofty expectations following a historic career at the University of Iowa, Caitlin Clark was named the 2024 WNBA Rookie of the Year in a near-unanimous vote.

Eminem is going to be a grandpa
Eminem, or Slim Shady, will soon have another nickname: Grandpa! The rapper announced via a new music video that his daughter Hailie Jade, 28, is expecting her first child.

‘Ghost Ship of the Pacific,’ which fought on both sides in WWII, discovered near San Francisco
The newfound wreck could help maritime archaeologists better understand how 20th-century warships were designed. Read More.

Medieval walrus ivory may reveal trade between Norse and Indigenous Americans hundreds of years before Columbus, study finds
The Thule Inuit people and Norse both hunted walrus in the High Arctic in the 13th century, according to a new study.
Full Story: Live Science (10/3)

We’re one step closer to finding out why Siberia is riddled with exploding craters
A new physical model suggests meltwater from thawing permafrost on Russia’s Yamal Peninsula can unlock methane sources at depth, triggering explosions that open enormous craters at the surface.
Read More.

‘Ring of fire’ solar eclipse blazes over Easter Island in incredible new image
On Oct. 2, a partial “ring of fire” solar eclipse was visible from the remote island of Rapa Nui, also known as Easter Island, where around 1,000 stone moai statues stand. You can see the whole celestial event play out in this incredible composite image. Read More.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Pelican crossing … A girl shares a bench with a pelican in the beautiful sunshine in St James’s Park, London, UK. The water birds have lived in and around the park since 1664
Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

Dortmund, Germany
Visitors watch the audiovisual presentation Ocean Odyssey, projected on the walls of a former steelworks at the Phoenix des Lumieres exhibition
Photograph: Martin Meissner/AP

​​​​​​​London, UK
An art handler holds Andy Warhol’s Self-Portrait in front of Bridget Riley’s Gaillard 2
Photograph: James Manning/PA
Market Closes for October 4^th, 2024

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
📈 On this day in 1957, the U.S.S.R. launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first orbiting satellite, taking an early lead in the space race. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 9.1% over. the next 12 trading days
Canada
By Bloomberg Automation
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.8% at 24,162.83 in Toronto.
The move was the biggest since rising 1.2% on Sept. 19 and follows the previous session’s decrease of 0.1%.
Today, financials stocks led the market higher, as 8 of 11 sectors gained; 143 of 223 shares rose, while 77 fell.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 5.6%.
Silver Crest Metals Inc. had the largest increase, rising 9.7%.
Insights
* This year, the index rose 15%, heading for the best year since 2021
* So far this week, the index rose 0.9%
* The index advanced 27% in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 34% in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is at its 52-week high and 29.3% above its low on Oct. 27, 2023
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.3 on a trailing basis and 16.7 times estimated earnings of its members for the coming year
* The index’s dividend yield is 2.9% on a trailing 12-month basis
* S&P/TSX Composite’s members have a total market capitalization of C$3.79t
* 30-day price volatility fell to 9.41% compared with 9.62% in the previous session and the average of 11.63% over the past month
================================================================
|Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 68.5615| 0.9| 24/3
Information Technology | 58.8813| 2.9| 8/2
Energy | 57.3540| 1.4| 34/7
Materials | 9.1013| 0.3| 29/23
Consumer Discretionary | 5.7843| 0.7| 9/2
Industrials | 2.6609| 0.1| 19/8
Utilities | 1.3466| 0.1| 7/8
Health Care | 0.2850| 0.4| 2/2
Communication Services | -1.9814| -0.3| 2/3
Real Estate | -3.0167| -0.6| 5/12
Consumer Staples | -4.6310| -0.5| 4/7
================================================================
| | |Volume VS |
| Index | | 20D AVG |YTD Change
Top Contributors |Points Move| % Change | (%) | (%)
================================================================
Shopify | 50.1700| 5.6| 23.1| 8.5
RBC | 16.4200| 1.0| 61.6| 24.0
Manulife Financial | 10.8100| 2.2| -4.1| 40.1
Waste Connections | -3.4990| -0.8| -42.0| 21.1
Thomson Reuters | -3.5170| -1.6| -43.4| 16.3
Agnico Eagle Mines Ltd | -5.0050| -1.3| -22.8| 47.2
US
By Rheaa Rao and Isabelle Lee
(Bloomberg) — Treasuries sank after a stronger-than- expected jobs report forced traders to rethink their bets on the size of the Federal Reserve’s next rate cut.
Stocks ended the day near session highs as the data underlined the resilience of the US economy and boosted soft-landing hopes.
The policy-sensitive two-year US Treasury yield touched 3.93% after employers added 254,000 jobs in September — the most in six months — and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined.
The dollar had its best week in two years.
Traders are now pricing in less than a quarter-point worth of easing in November.
The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 rose the most since Sept. 19. Both eked out a small gain for the week.
Apart from Friday’s labor-market report, a slew of other economic data this week — including private-sector job numbers and a measure of the services sector — painted a picture of a strong US economy.
“Coming off a string of relatively weak jobs data over the summer months, the September jobs report was just what the doctor – or in this case the Fed – ordered,” Jim Baird, chief investment officer at Plante Moran Financial Advisors.
It “broke the recent trend and provided reason for optimism in the underlying resiliency of the labor economy.”
He added that while the report doesn’t change the economic outlook, it should assuage any concerns investors or the Fed had about the jobs market.
Earlier this week, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said he wouldn’t want to see the labor market weaken further.
One of the main reasons the central bank decided to cut rates by a half a percentage point last month was softer hiring and a rise in the unemployment rate earlier this year.
Not all investors were positive about the report. Mohamed El-Erian warned that it means the Fed’s fight against inflation isn’t over.
“This is not just a solid labor market, but if you take these numbers at face value, it’s a strong labor market late in the cycle,” El-Erian, the president of Queens’ College, Cambridge, told Bloomberg Television.
The wage increases reflected in the report will likely remind the central bank that inflation will remain sticky, said Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist of 248 Ventures.
Still, overall, Friday’s data boosted hopes that the Fed will be able to pull off a soft landing.
“Today’s report should give the Fed more flexibility as it looks to continue lowering rates and it should help counter arguments that the Fed acted too late,” said Eric Merlis, managing director and co-head of global markets at Citizens.
Policymakers will get one more jobs report — along with inflation data — ahead of its meeting next month.
Meanwhile, oil posted its biggest weekly advance since March 2023.
Geopolitical concerns persist as Israel carried out bombing raids in the suburbs of Beirut alongside ground attacks in southern Lebanon, while Iran said it would support a conditional cease-fire in the conflicts involving its allied groups Hezbollah and Hamas.

Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
* The S&P 500 rose 0.9% as of 4:04 p.m. New York time
* The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.2%
* The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.8%
* The MSCI World Index rose 0.6%
Currencies
* The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index rose 0.4%
* The euro fell 0.5% to $1.0977
* The British pound was little changed at $1.3128
* The Japanese yen fell 1.2% to 148.73 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
* Bitcoin rose 2.7% to $62,388.71
* Ether rose 3.7% to $2,428.88
Bonds
* The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced 12 basis points to 3.97%
* Germany’s 10-year yield advanced seven basis points to 2.21%
* Britain’s 10-year yield advanced 11 basis points to 4.13%
Commodities
* West Texas Intermediate crude rose 1% to $74.44 a barrel
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $2,650.87 an ounce

This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Emily Graffeo, Sid Verma and Sydney Maki.
Have  a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!

As ever,

Carolann
Do not let your fire go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not-at-all. -Ayn Rand, 1905-1982.

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