September 11, 2020 Newsletters

Dear Friends,

Tangents: Happy Friday.

On Sept. 11, 2001, suicide hijackers crashed two airliners into the World Trade Center in New York, causing the 110-story twin towers to collapse. Another hijacked airliner hit the Pentagon and a fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Go to article »

13 coffins thought to have mummies were discovered after 2,500 years in an Egyptian well.  Oh, no no no. This is 2020, and we don’t trust anything anymore. Leave those things ALONE.  –CNN.

Starbucks is fully transitioning from straws to long-awaited sippy cup lids .  That’s “strawless lids,” if you want to make it sound more grown-up. –CNN.
 
Frank Frazetta’s “A Princess of Mars” painting sold for a bargain $1.2 million.-Bloomberg.
Azerbaijan rug is woven to look like it’s melting. – Scott Kominers, Bloomberg.
At least 11 fish species are able to walk. –Bloomberg.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

Ali Brady plays with her dog as the sun goes down at Garrylucas Beach, Co. Cork, Ireland.
CREDIT: DAVID CREEDON/ ALAMY LIVE NEWS

Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery Original description: A gallery assistant looks at a socketed axe on display during a preview of the Havering Hoard: A Bronze Age Mystery exhibition at the Museum of London Docklands, east London. The exhibition features a selection of the 453 artefacts from the largest bronze-age hoard to be found in London, which were discovered at a site overlooking the River Thames in 2018.
CREDIT: AARON CHOWN/PA WIRE

A woman walks along The Embarcadero under an orange smoke-filled sky in San Francisco, California, US. More than 300,000 acres are burning across the northwestern state including 35 major wildfires, with at least five towns “substantially destroyed” and mass evacuations taking place.
CREDT: BRITTANY HOSEA- SMALL/ AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Market Closes for September 11th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1789, Alexander Hamilton was sworn in as the first Secretary of the U.S. Treasury.
Canada
By Michael Bellusci
(Bloomberg) — Canadian equities eked out a gain Friday and finished the week little changed after sessions of volatility in information technology stocks.
The S&P/TSX Composite Index rose 0.2% Friday, and 0.03% for the week. Seven of 11 sectors finished higher for the day, with laggards coming from information technology and health care.
Teck Resources Ltd. gained 10.7% after Metal Bulletin reported that seaborne premium prices rose on Chinese demand.
Empire Co. also jumped after an upgrade from TD.
The prospect of a slowdown in the economic recovery and the risk of a second wave of Covid-19 has hurt the loonie of late.
Oil’s weakness is also a factor in the currency’s 1.1% drop against the greenback this month.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $8.00 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold fell 0.2% to $1,942 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar rose 0.02% to $1.3190 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield fell to 1.6 basis points to 0.547%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose 0.2 percent at 16,222.46 in Toronto. The move follows the previous session’s decrease of 1.2 percent. Canadian National Railway Co. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 1.6 percent. Teck Resources Ltd. had the largest increase, rising 10.7 percent.
Today, 114 of 221 shares rose, while 107 fell; 7 of 11 sectors were higher, led by financials stocks.
Insights
* So far this week, the index was little changed
* This quarter, the index rose 4.6 percent
* This year, the index fell 4.9 percent, heading for the worst year since 2018
* The index declined 2.3 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 11 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9.7 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 45.2 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.8 on a trailing basis and 23.5 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$2.46t
* 30-day price volatility rose to 12.99 percent compared with 12.97 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.81 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Financials | 34.2526| 0.7| 22/3
Industrials | 22.1081| 1.1| 20/8
Consumer Staples | 6.3186| 0.9| 9/2
Communication Services | 3.4289| 0.4| 3/5
Energy | 3.1201| 0.2| 11/13
Utilities | 2.6003| 0.3| 10/6
Consumer Discretionary | 0.7279| 0.1| 8/5
Health Care | -2.0283| -1.3| 2/7
Real Estate | -2.0629| -0.4| 11/16
Materials | -7.5050| -0.3| 18/32
Information Technology | -23.8107| -1.5| 0/10
US
By Vildana Hajric
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks ended a volatile session with major averages mixed, as declines in technology shares continued after a five-month rally came to a halt last week.
The S&P 500 ended little changed, while the Nasdaq 100 fell for the fifth time in seven days to cap its worst week since March. The tech-heavy index traveled 3% from high to low Friday and is 11% from its Sept. 2 record. The rout comes after a torrid August capped a 58% rally from late March. Apple Inc. has plunged 16% from its 10-day old high, but remains only at the lowest in a month.
“You see this kind of volatility when there is a vacuum of information for investors, and we don’t have good data,” said Erika Karp, founder and CEO of Cornerstone Capital Group. “Markets can adapt when there is certainty, but when there is extreme uncertainty and when we’re in a period of transition, you’re going to get volatility.” Most stock in the S&P 500 rose, with three up for every two down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average advanced on rallies in Nike, Dow and Caterpillar. The small-cap Russell 2000 index lost 0.7%.
Tech, the scene of fervent bullish options activity, gave up early gains for a second day, as investors assessed whether the pullback had run its course. Selling picked up Friday after Bloomberg reported SoftBank Group Corp. is considering revamping a controversial strategy of using derivatives to invest in tech companies. Microsoft took a hit after a report that China doesn’t favor a forced sale of TikTok’s U.S. operations.
Treasuries advanced, sending the 10-year yield below 0.67%, while the dollar weakened. The yen was flat, oil climbed little changed and gold slumped. Global stocks notched the first back-to-back weekly declines since March after a rally that added $7 trillion to U.S. equity values. The pandemic is continuing to upend the global economy, with U.S. data showing cracks in recent labor- market strength and virus cases continuing to climb globally.
“When you see these short-term, sudden moves after a run-up like we’ve had, it doesn’t mean you avoid the sector, but you have to be prepared that it’s the price of admission of being there,” said Charles Day, a managing director and private wealth advisor at UBS Global Wealth Management. “Investors should stay invested, we’re still positive on equities.”
In Europe, traders are closely watching comments from European Central Bank officials after President Christine Lagarde spurred a rally in the euro on Thursday when she delivered relatively mild comments on the currency’s surge.
Chief Economist Philip Lane set a tougher tone on Friday, signaling more monetary stimulus may be needed. Meanwhile, the British pound headed for its biggest weekly drop since March as Brexit talks frayed.

     These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 rose 0.1% as of 4 p.m. in New York.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 0.6%.
*The Nasdaq 100 Index dropped 0.6%.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%.
*The Japanese yen was little changed at 106.09 per dollar.
*The euro increased 0.2% to $1.1842.
Bonds
*The yield on two-year Treasuries decreased one basis point to 0.13%, the lowest in a week.
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries dipped one basis point to 0.67%, the lowest in a week.
*The yield on 30-year Treasuries fell one basis point to 1.41%, the lowest in a week.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.6% to $37.52 a barrel.
*Gold futures lost 0.7% to $1,950.60 an ounce.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

Do all the good your can, in all the ways you can, to all the souls you can, in every place you can, at all the times you can, with all the zeal you can,
every time you can.       

                                                                                                                                                                       -John Wesley, 1703-1791

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