September 14, 2020 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Tangents:
On Sept. 14, 1959, the Soviet space probe Luna 2 became the first man-made object to reach the moon as it crashed onto the lunar surface. Go to article »

1939 – World’s 1^st practical helicopter, the VS-300 designed by Igor Sikorsky takes (tethered) flight in Stratford, Connecticut.

Area geese adopt duck. -Zoe DeStories, Bloomberg.

A toxic gas on Venus could be a sign of life. –Bloomberg.
There was awe, excitement and plenty of wry jokes about heading there after scientists asserted today that something now alive is the only explanation for the existence of a chemical, phosphine, detected high in the planet’s toxic atmosphere. The discovery needs to be confirmed by additional telescope observations and future space missions.-NY Times.

PHOTOS OF THE DAY

The Milky Way in the background, Jupiter shining bright on the left and even a meteor on the right of this amazing picture of St Michaels’ Mount off the coast of Penzance in Cornwall.
CREDIR: SIMON HUDSON/ SWNS.COM

People at Lake Paranoa in the city of Brasilia, Brazil
CREDIT: JOEDSON ALVES/EPA -EFE/SHUTTERSTOCK

Autumn has arrived in the New Forest, a misty morning at Rockford Common
CREDIT: PETE HUMPHRY /SWNS
Market Closes for September 14th, 2020 

International Markets

Bonds

Currencies

Commodities

Market Commentary:
On this day in 1960, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed into law the Real Estate Investment Trust Act, which created REITs, enabling retail investors to buy shares in commercial real estate for the first time.
Canada
By Aoyon Ashraf
(Bloomberg) — Canadian shares rose with the global equity markets amid a flurry of deal activity and signs of progress toward a coronavirus vaccine.
The S&P/TSX gained 0.9% in Toronto. Health care, materials stocks were the best performing sectors, while energy and communication services stocks were the worst performers.
Meanwhile, Canada’s largest lenders are warning Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government it doesn’t have carte blanche to run massive budget deficits, even though there’s some room for additional spending in the next couple of years.
Commodities
* Western Canada Select crude oil traded at a $7.95 discount to West Texas Intermediate
* Spot gold rose 0.9% to $1,956.35 an ounce
FX/Bonds
* The Canadian dollar was flat at $1.3180 per U.S. dollar
* The 10-year government bond yield was flat at 0.554%

By Bloomberg Automation:
(Bloomberg) — The S&P/TSX Composite rose for the second day, climbing 0.8 percent, or 137.68 to 16,360.14 in Toronto.
Shopify Inc. contributed the most to the index gain, increasing 2.0 percent. Mag Silver Corp. had the largest increase, rising 10.0 percent.
Today, 161 of 221 shares rose, while 58 fell; 9 of 11 sectors were higher, led by materials stocks.
Insights
* This quarter, the index rose 5.4 percent
* This year, the index fell 4.1 percent, heading for the worst year since 2018
* The index declined 1.9 percent in the past 52 weeks. The MSCI AC Americas Index gained 12 percent in the same period
* The S&P/TSX Composite is 9 percent below its 52-week high on Feb. 20, 2020 and 46.4 percent above its low on March 23, 2020
* The S&P/TSX Composite is up 0.9 percent in the past 5 days and fell 0.9 percent in the past 30 days
* S&P/TSX Composite is trading at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25 on a trailing basis and 23.7 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$2.47t
* 30-day price volatility little changed to 13.00 percent compared with 12.99 percent in the previous session and the average of 10.93 percent over the past month
================================================================
| Index Points | |
Sector Name | Move | % Change | Adv/Dec
================================================================
Materials | 71.3369| 2.8| 45/5
Industrials | 24.3340| 1.2| 19/9
Financials | 20.8409| 0.4| 21/4
Information Technology | 19.7826| 1.3| 7/3
Consumer Discretionary | 9.3579| 1.7| 11/2
Real Estate | 5.8577| 1.2| 23/3
Health Care | 4.2315| 2.8| 9/0
Utilities | 1.5737| 0.2| 7/8
Consumer Staples | 0.7421| 0.1| 6/5
Communication Services | -6.6168| -0.8| 5/3
Energy | -13.7442| -0.7| 8/16
US
By Sarah Ponczek and Casey Wagner
(Bloomberg) — U.S. stocks rose for a second day amid a flurry of deal activity and signs of progress toward a coronavirus vaccine. The dollar weakened and Treasuries were little changed.
Oracle Corp. jumped 4.3% on reports the company beat Microsoft Corp. in negotiations for the U.S. operations of TikTok. Immunomedics Inc. almost doubled after Gilead Sciences Inc. agreed to buy the cancer drugmaker for $21 billion.
The S&P 500 touched a week high before paring gains, while the Nasdaq 100 Index broke a two-day slide. Pfizer Inc. Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said it’s “likely” the U.S. will deploy a Covid-19 vaccine to the public before year-end.
“I know that we’re in the middle of a pandemic, but the reality is that the current economic environment has typically been very good for M&A activity,” said Jim Paulsen, chief investment strategist at Leuthold Group. Global stocks are coming off the back of the first consecutive weeks of declines since March and traders remain on edge given the recent reassessment of valuations and volatility in options markets. The Federal Reserve is expected this week to maintain its dovish stance on policy as investors look for signs the global economy is recovering from the pandemic. Strategists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG suggested the
recent pullback in the U.S. is nearing an end.
“The path of least resistance is up,” said Kevin Caron, portfolio manager for Washington Crossing. “We still have a lot of monetary stimulus in the pipeline, there’s still a decent amount of momentum in the market, the underlying data in earnings seem to be reasonably positive.”
The pound strengthened against peers as Prime Minister Boris Johnson faced a rebellion in Parliament against legislation that would override key elements of the divorce
treaty signed with the European Union.
In Asia, stocks rallied with South Korea leading gains. SoftBank Group Corp. shares climbed after Nvidia Corp. agreed to buy the firm’s chip division Arm Ltd. for $40 billion.
Here are some key events coming up:
* China industrial production and retail sales data is due on Tuesday.
* Wednesday sees the FOMC policy decision and news conference from Chair Jerome Powell.
* Bank of Japan, Bank Indonesia and Bank of England policy decisions come Thursday.
* Friday sees quadruple witching for U.S. markets when the quarterly expiration of futures and options on indexes and stocks happens on the same day.

These are the main moves in markets:
Stocks
*The S&P 500 Index gained 1.3% to 3,383.45 as of 4:00 p.m. New York time.
*The Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 1.2% to 27,992.38, the highest in more than a week.
*The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 1.9% to 11,056.65.
*The Nasdaq 100 Index advanced 1.7% to 11,277.76.
Currencies
*The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index declined 0.3% to 1,165.64, the lowest in more than a week.
*The euro increased 0.2% to $1.1864, the strongest in almost two weeks.
*The Japanese yen appreciated 0.4% to 105.70 per dollar, the strongest in more than two weeks on the largest gain in more than two weeks.
*The British pound advanced 0.5% to $1.2855, the biggest gain in more than two weeks.
Bonds
*The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 0.67%.
*The yield on 30-year Treasuries gained one basis point to 1.42%.
*Germany’s 10-year yield increased less than one basis point to -0.48%.
Commodities
*West Texas Intermediate crude declined 0.1% to $37.29 a barrel.
*Gold strengthened 0.9% to $1,958.15 an ounce, the highest in almost two weeks on the largest gain in more than two weeks.
*Copper advanced 0.9% to $3.07 a pound, the highest in more than two years.
–With assistance from Vildana Hajric and Claire Ballentine.
Have a great night.

Be magnificent!
As ever,

Carolann

The best thing to give to your enemy is forgiveness; to an opponent, tolerance;
to a friend, your heart; to your child, a good example; to a father, deference;
to your mother, conduct that will make her proud of you;
to yourself, respect; to all men, charity.
                                                   –Benjamin Franklin, 1706-1790

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